of organisation which could give them secure order and equal laws.  For such peoples also the ‘Empire’ of Western civilisation, even when it is imposed and maintained by force, may bring advantages which will far outweigh its defects.  In these cases the word ‘Empire’ can be used without violence to its original significance, and yet without apology; and these cases cover by far the greater part of the world.

The words ‘Empire’ and ‘Imperialism’ come to us from ancient Rome; and the analogy between the conquering and organising work of Rome and the empire-building work of the modern nation-states is a suggestive and stimulating analogy.  The imperialism of Rome extended the modes of a single civilisation, and the Reign of Law which was its essence, over all the Mediterranean lands.  The imperialism of the nations to which the torch of Rome has been handed on, has made the Reign of Law, and the modes of a single civilisation, the common possession of the whole world.  Rome made the common life of Europe possible.  The imperial expansion of the European nations has alone made possible the vision—­nay, the certainty—­of a future world-order.  For these reasons we may rightly and without hesitation continue to employ these terms, provided that we remember always that the justification of any dominion imposed by a more advanced upon a backward or disorganised people is to be found, not in the extension of mere brute power, but in the enlargement and diffusion, under the shelter of power, of those vital elements in the life of Western civilisation which have been the secrets of its strength, and the greatest of its gifts to the world:  the sovereignty of a just and rational system of law, liberty of person, of thought, and of speech, and, finally, where the conditions are favourable, the practice of self-government and the growth of that sentiment of common interest which we call the national spirit.  These are the features of Western civilisation which have justified its conquest of the world [Footnote:  See the first essay in Nationalism and Internationalism, in which an attempt is made to work out this idea]; and it must be for its success or failure in attaining these ends that we shall commend or condemn the imperial work of each of the nations which have shared in this vast achievement.

Four main motives can be perceived at work in all the imperial activities of the European peoples during the last four centuries.  The first, and perhaps the most potent, has been the spirit of national pride, seeking to express itself in the establishment of its dominion over less highly organised peoples.  In the exultation which follows the achievement of national unity each of the nation-states in turn, if the circumstances were at all favourable, has been tempted to impose its power upon its neighbours,[Footnote:  Nationalism and Imperialism, pp. 60, 64, 104.] or even to seek the mastery of the world.  From these attempts have sprung the greatest of the European wars.