It is probable that if it had been foreseen just
what would happen, just what alliances would be formed, just what forces
arrayed against one another, those who brought the great contest on
would have been glad to substitute conference for force. If we ourselves
had been afforded some opportunity to apprise the belligerents of the
attitude which it would be our duty to take, of the policies and
practices against which we would feel bound to use all our moral and
economic strength, and in certain circumstances even our physical
strength also, our own contribution to the counsel which might have
averted the struggle would have been considered worth weighing and
regarding.
And the lesson which the shock of being taken by surprise in a matter so
deeply vital to all the nations of the world has made poignantly clear
is, that the peace of the world must henceforth depend upon a new and
more wholesome diplomacy. Only when the great nations of the world have
reached some sort of agreement as to what they hold to be fundamental to
their common interest, and as to some feasible method of acting in
concert when any nation or group of nations seeks to disturb those
fundamental things, can we feel that civilization is at last in a way of
justifying its existence and claiming to be finally established.
Pages:
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262