The quest of perpetual peace at large is no less a paramount and intrinsic human duty today than it was, nor is it at all certain that its final accomplishment is nearer. But the question of its pursuit and of the conditions to be met in seeking this goal lies in a different shape today; and it is this question that concerns the inquiry which is here undertaken,--What are the terms on which peace at large may hopefully be installed and maintained? What, if anything, is there in the present situation that visibly makes for a realisation of these necessary terms within the calculable future? And what are the consequences presumably due to follow in the nearer future from the installation of such a peace at large? And the answer to these questions is here sought not in terms of what ought dutifully to be done toward the desired consummation, but rather in terms of those known factors of human behaviour that can be shown by analysis of experience to control the conduct of nations in conjunctures of this kind. February 1917 CONTENTS CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY: ON THE STATE AND ITS RELATION TO WAR AND PEACE 1 The inquiry is not concerned with the intrinsic merits of peace or war, 2. --But with the nature, causes and consequences of the preconceptions favoring peace or war, 3. --A breach of the peace is an act of the government, or State, 3. --Patriotism is indispensable to furtherance of warlike enterprise, 4. --All the peoples of Christendom are sufficiently patriotic, 6. --Peace established by the State, an armistice--the State is an instrumentality for making peace, not for perpetuating it, 7. --The governmental establishments and their powers in all the Christian nations are derived from the feudal establishments of the Middle Ages, 9. --Still retain the right of coercively controlling the actions of their citizens, 11. --Contrast of Icelandic Commonwealth, 12. --The statecraft of the past half century has been one of competitive preparedness, 14. --Prussianised Germany has forced the pace in this competitive preparedness, 20. --An avowedly predatory enterprise no longer meets with approval, 21. --When a warlike enterprise has been entered upon, it will have the support of popular sentiment even if it is an aggressive war, 22. --The moral indignation of both parties to the quarrel is to be taken for granted, 23. --The spiritual forces of any Christian nation may be mobilised for war by either of two pleas: (1) The preservation or furtherance of the community's material interests, real or fancied, and (2) vindication of the National Honour; as perhaps also perpetuation of the national "Culture," 23. CHAPTER II ON THE NATURE AND USES OF PATRIOTISM 31 The nature of Patriotism, 31. --Is a spirit of Emulation, 33. --Must seem moral, if only to a biased populace, 33.