lay.

[220] Nietzsche, _Beyond Good and Evil_, chap. II. A century earlier
Godwin had written in his _Political Justice_ (Book VII, chap. VIII):
"Men are weak at present because they have always been told they are
weak and must not be trusted with themselves. Take them out of their
shackles, bid them enquire, reason, and judge, and you will soon find
them very different beings. Tell them that they have passions, are
occasionally hasty, intemperate, and injurious, but that they must be
trusted with themselves. Tell them that the mountains of parchment in
which they have been hitherto entrenched, are fit only to impose upon
ages of superstition and ignorance, that henceforth we will have no
dependence but upon their spontaneous justice; that, if their passions
be gigantic, they must rise with gigantic energy to subdue them; that if
their decrees be iniquitous, the iniquity shall be all their own."

X

THE WAR AGAINST WAR

Why the Problem of War is specially urgent To-day--The Beneficial
Effects of War in Barbarous Ages--Civilization renders the Ultimate
Disappearance of War Inevitable--The Introduction of Law in
disputes between Individuals involves the Introduction of Law in
disputes between Nations--But there must be Force behind Law--Henry
IV's Attempt to Confederate Europe--Every International Tribunal of
Arbitration must be able to enforce its Decisions--The Influences
making for the Abolition of Warfare--(1) Growth of International
Opinion--(2) International Financial Development--(3) The
Decreasing Pressure of Population--(4) The Natural Exhaustion of
the Warlike Spirit--(5) The Spread of Anti-military Doctrines--(6)
The overgrowth of Armaments--(7) The Dominance of Social
Reform--War Incompatible with an Advanced Civilization--Nations as
Trustees for Humanity--The Impossibility of Disarmament--The
Necessity of Force to ensure Peace--The Federated State of the
Future--The Decay of War still leaves the Possibilities of Daring
and Heroism.

There are, no doubt, special reasons why at the present time war and the
armaments of war should appear an intolerable burden which must be
thrown off as soon as possible if the task of social hygiene is not to
be seriously impeded. But the abolition of the ancient method of
settling international disputes by warfare is not a problem which
depends for its solution on the conditions o