It is quite possible that the little rift within the lute, alluded to in the concluding paragraph of last chapter, may widen so far as to cause before long great internal changes and reconstructions in Germany herself; but short of that happening, it would seem that there is no alternative for the Allies but to continue the war until her Militarism can be put out of court, and that for long years to come.  There is no alternative, because she has revealed her hand too clearly as a menace—­if she should prevail—­of barbarous force to the whole world.  It is this menace which has roused practically the whole world against her.  And there is this amount of good in the situation, namely, that while with the victory of Germany a German “terror” might be established through the world, with the victory of the Allies neither England, nor France, nor Russia, nor little Belgium, nor any other country, could claim a final credit and supremacy.  With the latter victory we shall be freed from the nightmare claim of any one nation’s world-empire.

But in order to substantiate this result England must also abdicate her claim.  She must abdicate her mere crass insistence on commercial supremacy.  The “Nation of Shopkeepers” theory, which has in the past made her the hated of other nations, which has created within her borders a vulgar and unpleasant class—­the repository of much arrogant wealth—­must cease to be the standard of her life.  I have before me at this moment a manifesto of “The British Empire League,” patronized by royalty and the dukes, and of which Lord Rothschild is treasurer.  The constitution of the League was framed in 1895; and I note with regret that positively the five “principal objects of the League” mentioned therein have solely to do with the extension and facilitation of Britain’s trade, and the “co-operation of the military and naval forces of the Empire with a special view to the due protection of the trade routes.”  Not a word is said in the whole manifesto about the human and social responsibilities of this vast Empire; not a word about the guardianship and nurture of native races, their guidance and assistance among the pitfalls of civilization; not a word about the principles of honour and just dealing with regard to our civilized neighbour-nations in Europe and elsewhere; not a word about the political freedom and welfare of all classes at home.  One rubs one’s eyes, and looks at the document again; but it is so.  Its one inspiration is—­Trade.  Seeing that, I confess to a sinking of the heart.  Can we blame Germany for struggling at all costs to enlarge her borders, when that is what the British Empire means?

Until we rise, as a nation, to a conception of what we mean by our national life, finer and grander than a mere counting of trade-returns, what can we expect save failure and ill-success?