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.There cannot be secure peace in the world, or any decision ofinternational questions according to international law, until statesare willing to part with their absolute sovereignty as regards theirexternal relations, and to leave the decision in such matters to someinternational instrument of government.[5] An international governmentwill have to be legislative as well as judicial.It is not enoughthat there should be a Hague tribunal, deciding matters according tosome already existing system of international law; it is necessaryalso that there should be a body capable of enacting internationallaw, and this body will have to have the power of transferringterritory from one state to another, when it is persuaded thatadequate grounds exist for such a transference.Friends of peace willmake a mistake if they unduly glorify the _status quo_.Some nationsgrow, while others dwindle; the population of an area may change itscharacter by emigration and immigration.There is no good reason whystates should resent changes in their boundaries under suchconditions, and if no international authority has power to makechanges of this kind, the temptations to war will sometimes becomeirresistible.[5] For detailed scheme of international government see "InternationalGovernment," by L.Woolf.Allen & Unwin.The international authority ought to possess an army and navy, andthese ought to be the only army and navy in existence.The onlylegitimate use of force is to diminish the total amount of forceexercised in the world.So long as men are free to indulge theirpredatory instincts, some men or groups of men will take advantage ofthis freedom for oppression and robbery.Just as the police arenecessary to prevent the use of force by private citizens, so aninternational police will be necessary to prevent the lawless use offorce by separate states.But I think it is reasonable to hope that if ever an internationalgovernment, possessed of the only army and navy in the world, cameinto existence, the need of force to enact obedience to its decisionswould be very temporary.In a short time the benefits resulting fromthe substitution of law for anarchy would become so obvious that theinternational government would acquire an unquestioned authority, andno state would dream of rebelling against its decisions.As soon asthis stage had been reached, the international army and navy wouldbecome unnecessary. We have still a very long road to travel before we arrive at theestablishment of an international authority, but it is not verydifficult to foresee the steps by which this result will be graduallyreached.There is likely to be a continual increase in the practiceof submitting disputes to arbitration, and in the realization that thesupposed conflicts of interest between different states are mainlyillusory.Even where there is a real conflict of interest, it must intime become obvious that neither of the states concerned would sufferas much by giving way as by fighting.With the progress ofinventions, war, when it does occur, is bound to become increasinglydestructive.The civilized races of the world are faced with thealternative of coaperation or mutual destruction.The present waris making this alternative daily more evident.And it is difficult tobelieve that, when the enmities which it has generated have had timeto cool, civilized men will deliberately choose to destroycivilization, rather than acquiesce in the abolition of war.The matters in which the interests of nations are supposed to clashare mainly three: tariffs, which are a delusion; the exploitation ofinferior races, which is a crime; pride of power and dominion, whichis a schoolboy folly.The economic argument against tariffs is familiar, and I shall notrepeat it.The only reason why it fails to carry conviction is theenmity between nations.Nobody proposes to set up a tariff betweenEngland and Scotland, or between Lancashire and Yorkshire.Yet thearguments by which tariffs between nations are supported might be usedjust as well to defend tariffs between counties.Universal free tradewould indubitably be of economic benefit to mankind, and would beadopted to-morrow if it were not for the hatred and suspicion whichnations feel one toward another.From the point of view of preservingthe peace of the world, free trade between the different civilizedstates is not so important as the open door in their dependencies.The desire for exclusive markets is one of the most potent causes ofwar.Exploiting what are called "inferior races" has become one of the mainobjects of European statecraft [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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