Great Britain has in the past been a powerful contributor to the free development of the European nations, and therefore to the preservation in Europe of variety of national growth.  I believe that she is now called upon to renew that service.  The method open to her lies in such action as may relieve the other European States from the overwhelming pressure which, in case of the disappearance of England from the European community, would be put upon them by Germany.  It seems probable that in default of right action she will be compelled to maintain her national ideals against Europe united under German guidance.  The action required consists on the one hand in the perfecting of the British navy, and on the other of the military organisation of the British people on the principle, already explained, of the nationalisation of war.

XII.

THE NATION

The conclusion to which a review of England’s position and of the state of Europe points, is that while there is no visible cause of quarrel between Great Britain and Germany, yet there is between them a rivalry such as is inevitable between a State that has long held something like the first place in the world and a State that feels entitled in virtue of the number of its people, their character and training, their work and their corporate organisation, to aspire to the first place.  The German nation by the mere fact of its growth challenges England for the primacy.  It could not be otherwise.  But the challenge is no wrong done to England, and the idea that it ought to be resented is unworthy of British traditions.  It must be cheerfully accepted.  If the Germans are better men than we are they deserve to take our place.  If we mean to hold our own we must set about it in the right way—­by proving ourselves better than the Germans.

There ought to be no question of quarrel or of war.  Men can be rivals without being enemies.  It is the first lesson that an English boy learns at school.  Quarrels arise, as a rule, from misunderstandings or from faults of temper, and England ought to avoid the frame of mind which would render her liable to take offence at trifles, while her policy ought to be simple enough to escape being misunderstood.

In a competition between two nations the qualification for success is to be the better nation.  Germany’s advantage is that her people have been learning for a whole century to subordinate their individual wishes and welfare to that of the nation, while the people of Great Britain have been steeped in individualism until the consciousness of national existence, of a common purpose and a common duty, has all but faded away.  What has to be done is to restore the nation to its right place in men’s minds, and so to organise it that, like a trained athlete, it will be capable of hard and prolonged effort.

By the nation I mean the United Kingdom, the commonwealth of Great Britain and Ireland, and I distinguish it from the Empire which is a federation of several nations.  The nation thus defined has work to do, duties to perform as one nation among many, and the way out of the present difficulties will be found by attending to these duties.