‘How was this Empire of Britain founded? War founded this Empire—war and conquest! When we, therefore, masters by war of one-third of the habitable globe, when we propose to Germany to disarm, to curtail her navy or diminish her army, Germany naturally refuses; and pointing, not without justice, to the road by which England, sword in hand, has climbed to her unmatched eminence, declares openly, or in the veiled language of diplomacy, that by the same path, if by no other, Germany is determined also to ascend! Who amongst us, knowing the past of this nation, and the past of all nations and cities that have ever added the lustre of their name to human annals, can accuse Germany or regard the utterance of one of her greatest a year and a half ago, (or of General Bernhardi three months ago) with any feelings except those of respect?’ (pp. 8-9.)
[137] Lord Loreburn says: ‘The whole train of causes which brought about the tragedy of August 1914 would have been dissolved by a Russian revolution.... We could have come to terms with Germany as regards Asia Minor: Nor could the Alsace-Lorraine difficulty have produced trouble. No one will pretend that France would have been aggressive when deprived of Russian support considering that she was devoted to peace even when she had that support. Had the Russian revolution come, war would not have come.’ (How the War Came, p. 278.)
[138] Mr Walter Lippmann did tackle the problem in much the way I have in mind in The Stakes of Diplomacy. That book is critical of my own point of view. But if books like that had been directed at The Great Illusion, we might have made headway. As it is, of course, Mr Lippmann’s book has been useful in suggesting most that is good in the mandate system of the League of Nations.
| Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber: |
|---|
| wth Great Britain=> with Great Britain {pg xvii} |
| his colleages=> his colleagues {pg 38} |
| retore devastated districts=> restore devastated districts {pg 39} |
| aquiescence=> acquiescence {pg 45} |
| indispensible=> indispensable {pg 46} |
| the Lorrarine work=> the Lorraine work {pg 86} |
| rcently passed=> recently passed {pg 135} |
| Allied aerodomes on the Rhine=> Allied aerodromes on the Rhine {pg 163} |
| the sublest=> the subtlest {pg 239} |
| the enemy’s propetry=> the enemy’s property {pg 294} |
| a monoply=> a monopoly {pg 299} |
| goverments=> governments {pg 299} |
| econmic=> economic {pg 303} |