Peace Theories and the Balkan War | Page 2

the Powers as a cause of their
jealousies and quarrels--- This has prevented settlement--What is the
"economic motive"?--Impossible to separate moral and

material--Nationality and the War System.
CHAPTER IV.
TURKISH IDEALS IN OUR POLITICAL THOUGHT.
This war and "the Turks of Britain and Prussia"--The Anglo-Saxon and
opposed ideals--Mr. C. Chesterton's case for "killing and being killed"
as the best method of settling differences--Its application to Civil
Conflicts--As in Spanish-America--The difference between Devonshire
and Venezuela--Will the Balkans adopt the Turco-Venezuelan political
ideals or the British?
CHAPTER V.
OUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR BALKAN WARS.
Mr. Winston Churchill on the "Responsibility" of Diplomacy--What
does he mean?--An easy (and popular) philosophy--Can we neglect
past if we would avoid future errors?--British temper and policy in the
Crimean War--What are its lessons?--Why we fought a war to sustain
the "integrity and independence of the Turkish dominion in
Europe"--Supporting the Turk against his Christian victims--From fear
of Russian growth which we are now aiding--The commentary of
events--Shall we back the wrong horse again?
CHAPTER VI.
PACIFISM, DEFENCE, AND "THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF WAR."
Did the Crimean War prove Bright and Cobden wrong?--Our curious
reasoning--Mr. Churchill on "illusions"--The danger of war is not the
illusion but its benefits--We are all Pacifists now since we all desire
Peace--Will more armaments alone secure it?--The experience of
mankind--War "the failure of human wisdom"--Therefore more
wisdom is the remedy--But the Militarists only want more arms--The
German Lord Roberts--The military campaign against political

Rationalism--How to make war certain.
CHAPTER VII.
"THEORIES" FALSE AND TRUE: THEIR ROLE IN EUROPEAN
PROGRESS.
The improvement of ideas the foundation of all improvement--Shooting
straight and thinking straight; the one as important as the
other--Pacifism and the Millennium--How we got rid of wars of
religion--A few ideas have changed the face of the world--The simple
ideas the most important--The "theories" which have led to war--The
work of the reformer to destroy old and false theories--The intellectual
interdependence of nations--Europe at unity in this matter--New ideas
cannot be confined to one people--No fear of ourselves or any nation
being ahead of the rest.
CHAPTER VIII.
WHAT MUST WE DO?
We must have the right political faith--Then we must give effect to
it--Good intention not enough--The organization of the great forces of
modern life--Our indifference as to the foundations of the evil--The
only hope.
CHAPTER I.
THE QUESTIONS AND THEIR ANSWER.
What has Pacifism, Old or New, to say now?
Is War impossible?
Is it unlikely?
Is it futile?

Is not force a remedy, and at times the only remedy?
Could any remedy have been devised on the whole so conclusive and
complete as that used by the Balkan peoples?
Have not the Balkan peoples redeemed War from the charges too
readily brought against it as simply an instrument of barbarism?
Have questions of profit and loss, economic considerations, anything
whatever to do with this war?
Would the demonstration of its economic futility have kept the peace?
Are theories and logic of the slightest use, since force alone can
determine the issue?
Is not war therefore inevitable, and must we not prepare diligently for it?
I will answer all these questions quite simply and directly without
casuistry and logic-chopping, and honestly desiring to avoid paradox
and "cleverness." And these quite simple answers will not be in
contradiction with anything that I have written, nor will they invalidate
any of the principles I have attempted to explain.
And my answers may be summarised thus:--
(1) This war has justified both the Old Pacifism and the New. By
universal admission events have proved that the Pacifists who opposed
the Crimean War were right and their opponents wrong. Had public
opinion given more consideration to those Pacifist principles, this
country would not have "backed the wrong horse," and this war, two
wars which have preceded it, and many of the abominations of which
the Balkan peninsular has been the scene during the last 60 years might
have been avoided, and in any case Great Britain would not now carry
upon her shoulders the responsibility of having during half a century
supported the Turk against the Christian and of having tried uselessly
to prevent what has now taken place--the break-up of the Turk's rule in
Europe.

(2) War is not impossible, and no responsible Pacifist ever said it was;
it is not the likelihood of war which is the illusion, but its benefits.
(3) It is likely or unlikely according as the parties to a dispute are
guided by wisdom or folly.
(4) It is futile; and force is no remedy.
(5) Its futility is proven by the war waged daily by the Turks as
conquerors, during the last 400 years. And because the Balkan peoples
have chosen the less evil of two kinds of war, and will use their victory
to bring a system based on force and conquest to