The view enunciated so candidly by Germany is not, as
we have said, a ground for denouncing her as an enemy of the human race, and we desire strongly to condemn any attempts to do so. It is, however, a reminder to us and other Powers that we live in a world where not only Nature, but man, the child of Nature, is still red in tooth and claw, and if we are not to be "drowned in security," or bemused by sentimental rhetoric, we shall take note of the fact, and remember that, in spite of all that has been said at the Hague Conference, and in spite of all the yearnings of the world for rest and peace, we are still exposed to the blow at the heart levelled in a sudden attack. Any statesman would be mad who, because of the noble sentiments expressed at the Hague, abated for a moment his anxious care that his country should be capable of defending herself from such onslaughts. The power of instant and effective resistance is the only security of nations. The nation which is content to rely on sentiment for national safety is doomed.
