Very well. We had here in the pre-war period two dangers, either of which in Professor Lindsay's view would make the preservation of civilisation impossible: one danger was that men would over-emphasise their narrower patriotism and surrender themselves to the pugnacities of exclusive nationalism and distrust of foreigners, forgetting that the spiritual life of densely packed societies can only be rendered possible by certain widespread economic co-operations, contracts; the other danger was that we should under-emphasise each our own nationalism and give too much importance to the wider international organisation of mankind. Into which danger have we run as a matter of simple fact? Which tendency is it that is acting as the present disruptive force in Europe? Has opinion and statesmanship--as expressed in the Treaty, for instance--given too much or too little attention to the interdependence of the world, and the internationally economic foundations of our civilisation? We have seen Europe smashed by neglecting the truths which _The Great Illusion_ stressed, perhaps over-stressed, and by surrendering to the exclusive nationalism which that book attacked. The book was based on the anticipation that Europe would be very much more likely to come to grief through over-stressing exclusive nationalism and neglecting its economic interdependence, than through the decay of the narrower patriotism. If the book had been written _in vacuo_, without reference to impending events, the emphasis might have been different.[124]