The learned gentleman sat back in his seat and took a refreshing drink of rain water from a glass beside him, while a murmur of applause ran round the table.  It was known and recognised that the speaker had done more than any living man to establish the fact that war is dangerous, that gunpowder, if heated, explodes, that fire burns, that fish swim, and other great truths without which the work of the peace endowment would appear futile.

“And now,” said Mr. Bryan, looking about him with the air of a successful toastmaster, “I am going to ask our friend here to give us his views.”

Renewed applause bore witness to the popularity of The Philanthropist, whom Mr. Bryan had indicated with a wave of his hand.

The Philanthropist cleared his throat.

“In our business—­” he began.

Mr. Bryan plucked him gently by the sleeve.

“Never mind your business just now,” he whispered.

The Philanthropist bowed in assent and continued: 

“I will come at once to the subject.  My own feeling is that the true way to end war is to try to spread abroad in all directions goodwill and brotherly love.”

“Hear, hear!” cried the assembled company.

“And the great way to inspire brotherly love all round is to keep on getting richer and richer till you have so much money that every one loves you.  Money, gentlemen, is a glorious thing.”

At this point, Mr. Norman Angell, who had remained silent hitherto, raised his head from his chest and murmured drowsily: 

“Money, money, there isn’t anything but money.  Money is the only thing there is.  Money and property, property and money.  If you destroy it, it is gone; if you smash it, it isn’t there.  All the rest is a great illus—­”

And with this he dozed off again into silence.

“Our poor Angell is asleep again,” said The Lady Pacifist.

Mr. Bryan shook his head.

“He’s been that way ever since the war began—­sleeps all the time, and keeps muttering that there isn’t any war, that people only imagine it, in fact that it is all an illusion.  But I fear we are interrupting you,” he added, turning to The Philanthropist.

“I was just saying,” continued that gentleman, “that you can do anything with money.  You can stop a war with it if you have enough of it, in ten minutes.  I don’t care what kind of war it is, or what the people are fighting for, whether they are fighting for conquest or fighting for their homes and their children.  I can stop it, stop it absolutely by my grip on money, without firing a shot or incurring the slightest personal danger.”

The Philanthropist spoke with the greatest emphasis, reaching out his hand and clutching his fingers in the air.