The Healing of Nations and the Hidden Sources of Their Strife eBook
Edward Carpenter
merest residue of these—the consequences
undoubtedly will be that, freed from the frightful
burdens which the upkeep of these entails, they will
romp away over the world through an era of unexampled
prosperity and influence. Their science, liberated,
will give them the lead in many arts and industries;
their philosophy and literature, no longer crippled
by national vanities, will rise to the splendid world-level
of former days; their colonizing enterprise, unhindered
by conscriptionist vetoes, will carry them far and
wide over the globe; and even their trade will find
that without fortified seaports and tariff walls it
will, in these days of universal movement and intercommunication,
do fully as well as, if not much better than, ever
it did before. In that day, however, let us hope
that—the more communal conception of public
life having prevailed and come to its own—the
success of Trade, among any nation or people, will
no longer mean the successful manufacture of a dominant
and vulgar class, but the real prosperity and welfare
of the whole nation, including all classes.
And in that day, possibly, the other nations, witnessing
the extraordinary prosperity and success of that one
which has abandoned armaments and Kruppisms, will—if
they have a grain of sense left in them—follow
suit and, voluntarily divesting themselves too of their
ancient armour, give up the foolishness of national
enmities and jealousies, and adopt the attitude of
humanity and peace, which alone can be the worthy
and sensible attitude for us little mortals, when we
shall have arrived at years of discretion upon the
earth.
[Just after writing the above I received the following
remarks in a letter of a friend from South America,
which may be worth reprinting. He says:
“In spite of the events of 1815 and 1870, French
‘culture’ is supreme to-day over all South
America. South America is a suburb of Paris,
and French culture has won its triumphs wholly irrespective
of the defeat of French arms. Therefore I incline
to think that true German culture in science and music
will gain rather than lose by the destruction of German
arms. Not only will that nation cease to spend
its time writing dull military books, but other nations
will be more likely to appreciate what there is in
German thought and culture when this is no longer
offered us at the point of the bayonet! German
commerce in South America has suffered rather than
gained by talk of ’shining armour.’
And the poet, scientist and business man will gain
rather than lose if no longer connected with Potsdam.”]
FOOTNOTES:
[11] It is said that Russia took some steps towards
mobilization as early as the 25th. If she did,
that would seem quite natural under the circumstances.
[12] There may possibly be found another explanation
of these excesses—namely, in the galling
strictness of the Prussian military regime. After
years and years of monotonously regulated and official
lives, it may be that to both officers and men, in
their different ways, orgies of one kind or another
came as an almost inevitable reaction.
