When a people becomes so self-complacent that it mistakes its own ignorance for omniscience--so jealous of authority and impatient of contradiction that it refuses to invest with more than a mere shadow of power those whose business it is to govern--when the stock of leadership gives out, or remains hidden and undiscovered under a litter of showy refuse--when those who succeed in pushing themselves to the front are chiefly concerned not to lead, but merely to act the parts of leaders 'in silver slippers and amid applause'--when the chiefs of parties are {171} so fearful of unpopularity that they will not assert their own opinions, or utter timely warnings, or proclaim what they know to be the truth--when such things as these come to pass the nation has reached that state which was dreaded by the framers of the American Constitution, and which--intending to warn mankind against it--they branded as 'Democracy.' [Sidenote: DANGERS OF SELF-CRITICISM] Self-criticism makes for health in a people; but it may be overdone. If it purges the national spirit it is good; but if it should lead to pessimism, or to some impatient breach with tradition, it is one of the worst evils. One is conscious of a somewhat dangerous tendency in certain quarters at the present time to assume the worst with regard to the working of our own institutions. Critics of this school have pointed out (what is undoubtedly true) that Germany has been far ahead of us in her preparations. Every month since war began has furnished fresh evidence of the far-sightedness, resourcefulness, thoroughness, and efficiency of all her military arrangements. Her commercial and financial resources have also been husbanded, and organised in a manner which excites our unwilling admiration. And what perhaps has been the rudest shock of all, is the apparent unity and devotion of the whole German people, in support of a war which, without exaggeration, may be said to have cast the shadow of death on every German home. These critics further insist that our own nation has not shown itself more loyal, and that it did not rouse itself to the emergency with anything approaching the same swiftness. Timidity and a wilful {172} self-deception, they say, have marked our policy for years before this war broke out. They marked it again when the crisis came upon us. Have they not marked it ever since war began? And who can have confidence that they will not continue to mark it until the end, whatever the end may be?