ORDEAL BY BATTLE BY FREDERICK SCOTT OLIVER With that they looked upon him, and began to reply in this sort: SIMPLE said, _I see no danger_; SLOTH said, _Yet a little more sleep_; and PRESUMPTION said, _Every Vat must stand upon his own bottom_. And so they lay down to sleep again, and CHRISTIAN went on his way. _The Pilgrim's Progress_. MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON 1915 COPYRIGHT TO THE MEMORY OF HUGH DAWNAY COMMANDING THE 2ND LIFE GUARDS WHO WAS KILLED AT ZWARTELEEN ON THE 6TH OF NOVEMBER 1914 AND OF JOHN GOUGH, V.C. CHIEF OF THE STAFF OF THE FIRST ARMY WHO FELL NEAR ESTAIRES ON THE 20TH OF FEBRUARY 1915 THEY WERE BROTHER-OFFICERS OF THE RIFLE BRIGADE AND THOSE WHO KNEW THEM BOTH WILL ALWAYS THINK OF THEM TOGETHER _Works by the Same Author_ ALEXANDER HAMILTON (An Essay on American Union). LIBRARY EDITION. Messrs. CONSTABLE & Co., London. LIBRARY EDITION. Messrs. G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, New York. POPULAR EDITION. Messrs. THOS. NELSON & SONS. FEDERALISM AND HOME RULE (Letters of Pacificus). THE ALTERNATIVES TO CIVIL WAR. WHAT FEDERALISM IS NOT. MR. JOHN MURRAY, LONDON. MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED LONDON * BOMBAY * CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK * BOSTON * CHICAGO DALLAS * SAN FRANCISCO THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. TORONTO {ix} PREFACE It is hardly necessary to plead, in extenuation of those many faults which any impartial reader will discover in the following pages, the impossibility of discussing events which are unfolding themselves around us, in the same detached spirit as if we were dealing with past history. The greater part of this volume has been written in haste, and no one is more alive to its shortcomings than the author himself. Faults of style are a small matter, and will be easily forgiven. It has not been the aim to produce a work of literary merit, but solely to present a certain view of public affairs. It is to be hoped that actual errors of fact are rare. Inconsistencies however--or apparent inconsistencies--cannot be altogether avoided, even by careful revision. But the greatest difficulty of all is to keep a true sense of proportion. In Part I.--_The Causes of War_--an attempt has been made to state, very briefly, why it has hitherto proved impossible to eliminate the appeal to arms from human affairs; to set out the main incidents which occurred at the opening of the present European struggle; to explain the immediate occasions, as {x} well as the more permanent and deep-seated causes, of this conflict; to consider some of the most glaring miscalculations which have arisen out of misunderstanding between nations.