CHAPTER VII
The Intrinsic Value of One’s Country
The patriot believes that his country is intrinsically a fundamental value. It is a cause that is worthy. He sees various things in the country that furnish the bases for this belief. Sometimes he beholds in the state a sacred or semi-sacred institution. A philosophy which put the theory of the state in such a way as to furnish a basis for this belief was that of Hegel. For Hegel, the state was the development of the absolute Idea in the world. The state did not arise in response to the needs of men, as philosophers like Mill and Spencer[105] have held, and as would probably be held by the patriot who looks upon the country as protector or expression of himself. Hegel said, “It is a very distorted account of the matter when the state, in demanding sacrifices from the citizens, is taken to be simply the civic community, whose object is merely the security of life and property. Security cannot possibly be obtained by the sacrifice of what is to be secured.... The nation as a state is the spirit substantively realized and directly real. Hence, it is the absolute power on earth.”[106] Hegel felt that way about the Prussian State. And others have felt almost the same way about their state. The desire for a solid and immutable condition of life that the view represents is a fundamental one. And when Hegel or any one else takes that view of his state, he is at once likely to be a devoted patriot.
The popular parallel to Hegel’s conclusion is the belief that the country comes from God. Men seem to want to feel that their origins are worthy of reverence, and that they are especially favored. In ancient times most people traced their ancestry back to their God. The Japanese do the same thing in modern times, and have a religion which is the expression of that belief. The Shinto religion inculcates reverence for the sovereign, ancestral memory, filial piety, nature worship, and the belief that the imperial family, which is descended from their god, is the fountain head of the whole nation. These elements have been infused into Bushido, which Nitobe calls The Soul of Japan, and which embodies and inculcates the Japanese national ideals. But the belief in the semi-sacred character of the nation is common in all countries. How often do we hear it said that America is God’s Modern Chosen People. And at least one of the sovereigns of Europe does not cease to mention the patriotism of his tutelary god not only in his prayers, but also in his proclamations.
This belief in the sacredness of one’s country has in monarchies a splendid symbol to which to attach itself in the person of the king or emperor. The ruling classes encourage this attachment; they themselves feel that they rule by divine right. They have inherited the belief from the traditions of the Middle Ages and from such philosophical theories as that of Hegel. And the people, also habituated to a certain extent in those ideas, share the same belief. If they are thoroughly loyal, they take an attitude towards their king similar to that assumed by religious devotees towards their God. But emperor-worship is not at all necessary to state-worship. Many who no longer believe in the divine right of kings still believe in the divine right of states. The state is still often looked upon as sacred and sovereign. The Greek conception of the omnipotent polis is in the hinterland of our minds. There has come down from the Middle Ages a habit of sovereignty which the world has not shaken off. And, moreover, men want a supreme power which guarantees safety. Patriotism thrives in such soil. When people are possessed of these beliefs, patriotism with them can become almost a religion.
The belief that one has a glorious country is a form of the belief in its value. This kind of patriotism is fed by contemplation of the great names of the past and the deeds of conquering heroes. It can attach itself to any characteristic in which the country excels. Some of the reasons for patriotism advanced in a school textbook ran somewhat as follows: Our country is a great nation. Our territory is big. We have an immense population. Our wealth is surpassingly great. Our power is tremendous. Our educational standards are high. And we are the great exponent of a land of freedom.[107] The moral was that any American boy or girl ought to recognize that he lived in a grand and glorious country. One of the very common causes of pride is the extent of commerce, and in this way the economic factor makes another connection with patriotism. A few years ago, one of the potent reasons for the proposal to subsidize an American merchant marine was that the country did not like to feel that the flag was not floating over the sea as it once had.
The consciousness of national glory grows on the pride of power. The belief in the country’s greatness fuses with and derives dynamic from the impulse to power. National power is precious to a certain type of patriot. It is even more precious than peace. “The plain fact is that people do not prize tranquillity above all other goods. They desire influence and power, and are willing to accept the responsibilities and the suffering that these entail.”[108] These facts throw light upon the patriotism of aggressive nations. The patriots of those nations glory in their country’s glory, and grow great in the consciousness of its power. Imperialism grows out of this temper. And once a country is embarked on a career of imperialism, it is hardly to be satisfied short of dominion over the world. Even then it will sigh for new worlds to conquer. And this characteristic of an insatiable lust for glory should not be lost sight of when we are considering the taming of an enemy by nonresistance.
The patriotism that feeds upon the country’s glory is jealous of the national prestige. Prestige is glory. And a nation cannot continue to glory either at home or abroad if it suffers its prestige to be lowered. Consequently it must sometimes fight simply to protect that prestige. Many of our citizens during the period of crisis with Mexico over the exploits of Villa and also during the critical time in our affairs with Germany before war was declared, believed that if we did not fight, our prestige value would be lowered all over the world, and that we should be deprived of the power of acting effectively in world politics. The desire of a nation for revenge also is the desire, as much as anything else, to restore her fallen prestige.
Solicitude for the country’s honor is another outgrowth of the patriotism that delights in national glory. One kind of honor is that of Belgium standing up in the face of aggression for its integrity and for its loyalty to its international obligations. A weaker kind is very much like the desire for prestige. It is a desire for the respect of others. It appears in the reason that Nitobe gives for Japan’s opening its doors to the western world. “The sense of honor which cannot bear being looked down upon as an inferior power,—that was the strongest of motives.”[109] This sense of honor will lead to high achievements, but the tragedy is that it will so easily lead to war. C. D. Broad says, “... It is chiefly when people can be persuaded that questions of honor are involved that they can be got to fight.”[110] And when a war is started, no country wants to accept defeat. Each one emblazons on its sword the device which is said to have been on the sword of a faithful knight of feudal times: “Never draw me without right; never sheathe me without honor.”
The trouble which is implicit in the situation is that nations believe that their glory and welfare are matters of competitive success. It is all too commonly believed that the gain of one nation must mean the loss of another. Consequently, the attitude that is taken on all sides is simply that of intelligent self-interest. Jealousy arises out of such a situation, and jealousy is one of the effective causes of war. One of the most significant factors in the diplomatic history preceding the present war was that of the rivalry of the great European powers for strategic land areas, and for control of the important sea routes of the world. There has been a problem of the Mediterranean, the Adriatic, Constantinople, the North Sea, the Baltic, the China Sea, the Persian Gulf, and so on. Germany, younger than the other nations, has been making a desperate effort to catch up with them, and the present war is in great part the outgrowth of the friction arising out of that effort.[111]
But it is encouraging that the glory of nations does not consist exclusively in competitive success, and that there are those who realize it. There are those who see that the true good of all countries may be worked out at the same time. J. S. Mill expressed a high ideal of patriotism when he said: “I believe that the good of no country can be obtained by any means but such as tend to that of all countries, nor ought to be sought otherwise, even if attainable.”[112] This may be matched by a passage from American patriotic eloquence uttered by no less a patriot than Charles Sumner: “I hope to rescue those terms [national glory], so powerful over the minds of men, from the mistaken objects to which they are applied, from deeds of war and the extension of empire, that henceforward they may be attached only to acts of justice and humanity.”[113] The highest good of nations really lies in the use of those things which do not perish in the using and of which there is enough for all. They are the things of the mind and of the spirit. The hope is that the rivalry of nations may be transferred from destructive to constructive pursuits. Much better would be friendly rivalry in the accomplishments of science, art, scholarship, social welfare, and like things.