[96] However mischievous some of the manifestations of Nationalism may prove, the worst possible method of dealing with it is by the forcible repression of any of its claims which can be granted with due regard to the general interest. To give Nationalism full play, as far as possible, is the best means of attenuating its worst features and preventing its worst developments. This, after all, is the line of conduct which we adopt to certain religious beliefs which we may regard as dangerous superstitions. Although the belief may have dangers, the social dangers involved in forcible repression would be greater still.
[97] The Great Illusion, p. 326
[98] ‘The Pacifists lie when they tell us that the danger of war is over.’ General Leonard Wood.
[99] The Science of Power, p. 14.
[100] Ibid, p. 144.
[101] See quotations, Part I, Chapters I and III.
[102] The validity of this assumption still holds even though we take the view that the defence of war as an inevitable struggle for bread is merely a rationalisation (using that word in the technical sense of the psychologists) of impulse or instinct, merely, that is, an attempt to find a ‘reason’ for conduct the real explanation of which is the subconscious promptings of pugnacities or hostilities, the craving of our nature for certain kinds of action. If we could not justify our behaviour in terms of self-preservation, it would stand so plainly condemned ethically and socially that discipline of instinct—as in the case of sex instinct—would obviously be called for and enforced. In either case, the road to better behaviour is by a clearer revelation of the social mischief of the predominant policy.
[103] Rear-Admiral A. T. Mahan: Force in International Relations.
[104] The Interest of America in International Conditions, by Rear-Admiral A. T. Mahan, pp. 47-87.
[105] Government and the War, p. 62.