Powers; and her alliance has been sought by invincible Germany. France
was beaten by Germany in 1870 with a completeness that seemed
impossible; yet France has since enlarged her territory whilst Germany
is still pleading in vain for a place in the sun. Russia was beaten by
the Japanese in Manchuria on a scale that made an end forever of the old
notion that the West is the natural military superior of the East; yet
it is the terror of Russia that has driven Germany into her present
desperate onslaught on France; and it is the Russian alliance on which
France and England are depending for their assurance of ultimate
success. We ourselves confess that the military efficiency with which we
have so astonished the Germans is the effect, not of Waterloo and
Inkerman, but of the drubbing we got from the Boers, who we aid probably
have beaten us if we had been anything like their own size. Greece has
lately distinguished herself in war within a few years by a most
disgraceful beating of the Turks. It would be easy to multiply instances
from remoter history: for example, the effect on England's position of
the repeated defeats of our troops by the French under Luxembourg in the
Balance of Power War at the end of the seventeenth century differed
surprisingly little, if at all, from the effect of our subsequent
victories under Marlborough. And the inference from the Militarist
theory that the States which at present count for nothing as military
Powers necessarily count for nothing at all is absurd on the face of it.
Monaco seems to be, on the whole, the most prosperous and comfortable
State in Europe.

In short, Militarism must be classed as one of the most inconsiderately
foolish of the bogus "sciences" which the last half century has produced
in such profusion, and which have the common characteristic of revolting
all sane souls, and being stared out of countenance by the broad facts
of human experience. The only rule of thumb that can be hazarded on the