esteem who writes for peace never fails to take the same stand. Emerson,
in his essay on "War," makes a fine appeal for peace, but he writes: "If
peace is sought to be defended or preserved for the safety of the
luxurious or the timid, it is a sham and the peace will be base. War is
better, and the peace will be broken." And elsewhere on "Politics," he
writes: "A nation of men unanimously bent on freedom or conquest can
easily confound the arithmetic of the statists and achieve extravagant
actions out of all proportions to their means." Yes, and by our
unanimity for freedom we mean to prove it true.




CHAPTER XV

THE EMPIRE


I


With the immediate promise of Home Rule many strange apologists for the
Empire have stepped into the sun. Perhaps it is well--we may find
ourselves soon more directly than heretofore struggling with the Empire.
So far the fight has been confused. Imperialists fighting for Home Rule
obscured the fact that they were _not_ fighting the Empire. Now Home
Rule is likely to come, and it will serve at least the good purpose of
clearing the air and setting the issue definitely between the nation and
the Empire. We shall have our say for the nation, but as even now many
things, false and hypocritical, are being urged on behalf of the