The publication of this little book was interruptedby an incident which made me realizehow easy it is for one who spends much time intrying to study sincerely a political problem tofind himself out of touch with average opinion.The discovery has made me re-read what Ihave written. But re-reading has not led to anyweakening of my expressions, rather the reverse.I wish only to make a brief general statementabout the point of view from which Iwrite.
I start from the profound conviction thatwhat the world needs is peace. There has beentoo much war, and too much of many thingsthat naturally go with war; too much force andfraud, too much intrigue and lying, too muchimpatience, violence, avarice, unreasonableness,and lack of principle. Before the war Iwas a Liberal, and I believe now that nothingbut the sincere practice of Liberal principles[Pg vi]will save European society from imminent revolutionand collapse. But I am conscious ofa certain change of emphasis in my feeling.Before the war I was eager for large and sweepingreforms, I was intolerant of Conservatismand I laughed at risks. The social order hadthen such a margin of strength that risks couldsafely be taken. Now I feel a need above allthings of the qualities that will preserve civilization.For that preservation, of course,Liberality in the full sense is necessary, andconstant progress and a great development ofdemocracy.
But what is needed most is a return to astandard of public conduct which was practised,or at least recognized, by the best Governmentsof the world before the war, andwhich now seems to have been shaken, if notshattered. I am not demanding in any wildidealist spirit that Governments should act accordingto the Sermon on the Mount—thoughthey well might study it a good deal more thanthey do. I am only saying that they must getback to the standard of veracity, of consistency,[Pg vii]of honesty and economy, and of intellectualcompetence, that we had from Peel or LordSalisbury or Gladstone.
I do not say that is enough. It is emphaticallynot enough. We need in foreign policyand home policy a higher standard than we hadbefore, the standard implied by the League ofNations in international affairs and the idealof Coöperation in domestic affairs. But thefirst thing is to recover our wholesome tradition.
I think few serious students of public affairswill dispute that the long strain of the war, confusingour ideas of good and evil, and at timescentring our hopes upon things which a normalcivilized man regards with loathing, has resultedin a widespread degradation of politicalconduct. Things are done now, in time ofpeace, which would have been inconceivablebefore 1914. And they are don