Page 270 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

A Twentieth- Century Outlook. 251

even the unconscious thought, of any one man,
as Caesar, or of any few men ? To whatever
cause we may assign it, whether to the simple
conception of a personal Divine Monarchy
that shapes our ends, or to more complicated
ultimate causes, the responsibility rests upon
the shoulders of no individual men. Necessity
is laid upon the peoples, and they move, like
the lemmings of Scandinavia ; but to man,
being not without understanding like the
beasts that perish, it is permitted to ask,
"Whither?" and "What shall be the end
"
hereof ? Does this tend to universal peace,
general disarmament, and treaties of perma-
nent arbitration? Is it the harbinger of ready
mutual understanding, of quick acceptance of,
and delight in, opposing traditions and habits
of life and thought ? Is such quick acceptance
found now where Easterns and Westerns im-

pinge ? Does contact forebode the speedy dis-
appearance of great armies and navies, and
dictate the wisdom of dispensing with that
form of organized force which at present is
embodied in them?
What, then, will be the actual conditions
when these civilizations, of diverse origin and