Page 275 - The interest of America in sea power, present and future

256 A Twentieth-Century Outlook.

and to which the habit of arms not only con-
tributes, but is essential. India and Egypt
are at present the two most conspicuous,
though they are not the sole, illustrations of
benefits innumerable and lasting, which rest
upon the power of the sword in the hands
of enlightenment and justice. It is possible,
of course, to confuse this conclusion, to ob-
scure the real issue, by dwelling upon details
of wrongs at times inflicted, of blunders often
made. Any episode in the struggling progress
of humanity may be thus perplexed; but look-
ing at the broad result, it is indisputable that
the vast gains to humanity made in the
regions named not only once originated, but
still rest, upon the exertion and continued
maintenance of organized physical force.
The same general solidarity as against the
outside world, which is unconsciously mani-
fested in the general resumption of colonizing
movements, receives particular conscious ex-
pression in the idea of imperial federation,
which, amid the many buffets and reverses
common to all successful movements, has
gained such notable ground in the sentiment
of the British people and of their colonists.