hat a Great Power, consciously or unconsciously, must govern in the
interests of civilisation as a whole; and it is not to those interests
that such mighty forces as gold-fields, and the formidable armaments
that can be built upon them, should be wielded irresponsibly by small
communities of frontiersmen. Theoretically they should be
internationalised, not British-Imperialised; but until the Federation of
the World becomes an accomplished fact we must accept the most
responsible Imperial federations available as a substitute for it" (pp.
23-4).

As however the Manifesto was designed for the general election, this
theme was only sketched, and the greater part was occupied with matters
of a more immediately practicable character. The proposed partition of
China at that time seemed imminent, and our attention had been called to
the efficiency of the German State organisation of foreign trade in
comparison with the _laissez-faire_ policy which dominated our Foreign
Office. We regarded our overseas trade as a national asset, and urged
that the consular service should be revolutionised. "Any person who
thinks this application of Socialism to foreign trade through the
consular system impossible also thinks the survival of his country in
the age of the Powers impossible. No German thinks it impossible. If he
has not already achieved it, he intends to" (pp. 10, 11). We must "have
in every foreign market an organ of commercially disinterested
industrial intelligence. A developed consulate would be such an organ."
"The consulate could itself act as broker, if necessary, and have a
revenue from commissions, of which, however, the salaries of its
officials should be strictly independent" (pp. 10 and 8).

The present army should be replaced "by giving to the whole male
population an effective training in the use of arms without removing
them from civil life. This can be done without conscription or barrack
life" by extending the half-time system to the age of 21 and training
the young men in the other half. From the millions of men thus trained
"we could obtain by voluntary enlistment a picked professional force of
engineers, artillery, and cavalry, and as large a garrison for outlying
provinces as we chose to pay for, if we made it attractive by the
following reforms": full civil rights, a living wage, adequate
superannuation after long service, and salaries for officers on the
civil scale. The other reforms advocated included a mi