At the same time Mr. Arnoldson justly insists on the steady increase of the power of neutrals. Without accepting the possibility of "a Neutral League," he points out how a necessary regard to the interests of neutrals restrains the powers which are meditating war. And I cannot but believe that he is right when he suggests that the problems of the neutralization of Scandinavia, of Alsace and Lorraine, of the Balkan States, of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, demand the attention of all who seek to hasten "the coming peace."
It would be easy to overrate the direct value of these facts; but their value as signs of the direction in which public opinion is rapidly moving can hardly be overrated. They are symptoms of a growing recognition of the obligations of man to man, and of people to people, of our common human interests and of our universal interdependence.
I should not lay great stress on the deterrent power of the prospect of the ruinous losses and desolations likely to follow from future wars. A great principle might well demand from a nation great sacrifices; and the very strength of a policy of Peace lies in the postponement of material interests to human duties. But none the less the wide expansion of commercial and social intercourse, joint enterprises, even rivalries not always ungenerous, exercise a salutary influence upon the feeling of nation for nation, and make what were once regarded as natural animosities no longer possible.
Under the action of these forces we are learning more and more to endeavour to regard debated questions from the point of sight of our adversaries, to take account of their reasonable aspirations, to make allowance for their difficulties, even to consider how they can best render their appropriate service to the race, while we strive no less resolutely to keep or to secure the power of fulfilling our own. We could not regard our enemies as our grandfathers regarded theirs. Already the conviction begins to make itself felt that the loss of one people is the loss of all.
Meanwhile the growth of popular power and popular responsibility brings a wider and more collective judgment to bear upon national questions. The masses of peoples have more in common than their leaders, among whom individual character has fuller development. The average opinion of men, when the facts are set forth, responds to pleas of fellowship and righteousness, and tends to become dominant.
Such influences in favour of international Peace spring out of steady movements which, as they continue, will increase them. The past does not limit their power, but simply reveals the line of their action. Above all, they correspond with that view of our Christian faith which the Holy Spirit is disclosing to us by means of the trials of our age. Through many sorrows and many disappointments we are learning that the fact of the Incarnation assures to us the unity of men and classes and nations; and a wider study of history, which is now possible, shows that the course of events makes for the establishment of that unity for which we were created.
I cannot therefore but hope that the Essay of Mr. Arnoldson, which gives substantial evidence of the reality and growth of this movement towards Peace, will confirm in courageous and patient labour for an assured end all who join in the prayer that it may please God "to give to all nations unity, peace, and concord."
B.F. Dunelm.
Auckland Castle,
October 14th, 1891.