s is only to be realized in the act of destroying or absorbing
other nationalities. To those who are not yet visibly assailed, and who
possibly believe themselves secure, we can only give the warning: _Tua
res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet_.

Of the issue England is not afraid. The most unfavourable issue would
find her still convinced that she has taken the only course compatible
with honour and with public law. Military anarchism shall be destroyed
if England, France, and Russia can destroy it. On this object England
and France have staked their last ship and their last soldier. But, it
may be asked, what state-system do we hope to establish, if and when we
are successful in this great crusade?

What England not only desires but needs, and needs imperatively, is,
first, the restitution to Belgium of her former status and whatever else
can be restored of all that she has sacrificed. This is the
indispensable preliminary to any form of settlement. The next essential
is an adequate guarantee to France that she shall never experience such
another invasion as we have seen in August, 1914; without a France which
is prosperous, secure, and independent, European civilization would be
irreparably maimed and stunted. The third essential, as essential as the
other two, is the conservation of those other nations which can only
exist on sufferance so long as _Realpolitik_ is practised with impunity.

To minor nationalities it should be clear that England is their friend,
and cannot choose but stand their friend. Three times in her history she
has made war upon a would-be despot of the Continent, treating the
'Balance of Power' as a principle for which no sacrifice could be too
great. In these struggles she assisted the small Powers, less from
altruism than because their interest was her own. She supported Holland
against Philip II of Spain and against Louis XIV; against Napoleon she
supported not Holland only, but also Portugal and, to the best of her
power, Switzerland and Piedmont.

We do not argue--it would be absurd to argue--that England has always
been free from reproach in her dealings with the smaller states. Holland
may well remember the naval conflicts of the seventeenth century and the
English Navigation Laws. But Holland should also remember that, in the
seventeenth century, England was not yet a great Power; Holland and
England fought as rivals and on equal terms, in a feud which subsequent
alliances have heale