of change. "The social idea cannot be realised under any form whatsoever
before this reorganisation of Europe is effected."


§1. _Nation and Nationality_.--The social idea and the national idea have
been for a century past the twin pivots of European development. The
political structure of the Continent has oscillated this way and that
according as these ideas have in turn assumed ascendancy over men's minds;
and when, as in 1848, both claimed attention at the same time, the whole
edifice was shaken to its very foundations. In England, on the other hand,
it is the social idea alone which has been a motive force in the nineteenth
century, although she has always had to reckon with the national idea
across the St. George's Channel. Owing to her fortunate geographical
situation, she acquired national unity many centuries ago and has always
been able to defend it successfully against the danger of external
aggression. The national idea, therefore, has long ceased to be an
aspiration, and consequently a revolutionary force, among us; it has
been realised in actual fact, we have grown as accustomed to it and as
unconscious of it as of the air we breathe. Thus Englishmen, as their
attitude towards Ireland has shown, find it difficult to understand exactly
what the principle of nationality means to those who have never possessed
national freedom or are in constant danger of losing it. This is perhaps
especially true of the English working classes, who grew to the full
stature of political consciousness some fifty years after the last serious
threat to our national existence was made by Napoleon, and upon whom the
burden of the social idea presses with peculiar weight. And yet, unless
the significance of the principle of nationality and the part which it has
played in the history of modern Europe be realised, it is impossible to
enter fully into the true meaning of the present tremendous conflict.