TOPICS OF THE DAY.
• PREPARATION.
WE have received a large number of letters from readers of the Spectator who are in sympathy with our articles declaring that as a nation we must adopt "a new way of life," and that "Prepare, Prepare, and again Prepare" should be our motto. In not a few of these the writers suggest that some sort of league or society should be formed among British men and women Who are determined to do their best to help on the "new way of life," and to make the country face morally and intellectually as well as physically the position. in which it stands. Those who propose the establishment of such league take the highest ground, and ask for an associated effort • of a kind such as Savonarola demanded for the regeneration of his fellow-citizens. We need hardly say that we are not only convinced of the sincerity and of the soundness of purpose of those who have written to us in this wise, but that we are also in sympathy with the spirit which they display. We feel bound to point out, however, that there are certain obvious objections to such action as they propose. To begin with, the lead in such a movement must come from an individual or from a group of individuals, and not from a newspaper. We take no • light view of a newspaper's function in the commonwealth, but we are convinced that its particular business is publicity with a good purpose and public criticism, and that, though it may aim at, and may attain to, the leading of publics opinion, it should not attempt to pass that limit. • When we come to the question whether a league or asso- ciation for promoting "a new way of life" could usefully be founded by others we cannot but express our doubts. The aim of such an association would, it seems to us, be too wide. The leagues which do the best public work are those which have special and particular objects in view, and 'ask for concentration of purpose upon those definite objects,—as, for example, the National Service League, Which" holds that not only would the cause of national defence be helped by the whole youth of Britain receiving a trainbig in arms such as they receive in Switzerland and Norway, but that an improvement would result therefrom in the physical, moral, and intellectual condition of the people. Would not there also be a touch of self- righteousness in men banding themselves together to do What admittedly ought to be done by every good. citizen and good patriot P A body with aspirations which the Vast majority of the people of this country—in fact, every thinking man and woman within it—must admit to be sound would only be the nation under another name.
But though patriotism and good citizenship are too wide a foundation on which to build anything less than a nation, may it not be argued that something in the nature of an associated pledge or resolve might be taken by individuals, and that the taking of that pledge would create, say, a brotherhood of persons, men and women, agreed to prepare themselves individually, and to prepare the nation as a whole, for the sacrifices which must be under- gone if we are to do all that can humanly be done to attain our full strength and nationhood ? Without indulging in metaphysical or psychological subtleties, we cannot doubt that an enormous result would be achieved if the great majority of men and women in this country came to a definite and serious resolve to do their best in the future to prepare themselves for meeting a great national emergency, should it arise, in a calm, vigilant, and self- sacrificing spirit ; to make the sacrifices that may result from such a resolve; to induce the Government to make the necessary preparations, physical and material ; and, further, to render their resolve, not a temporary elort of will, but one which should become a continuing mental habit possessing them at all times and appropriately influencing their actions. A crowd informed by one thought has again and again been shown to be an instrument of mighty force,—no doubt often of an evil force, but always a force. If we can conceive the nation inspired by a single thought, and that thought of a Con- tinuing and not a transitory character, none but materialists will deny that the resultant will-pojer, spiritual force, or whatever else we like to call it, must be of a very potent kind. Much may be achieved if one man resolutely seta his mind to accomplish a particular object. If alongside him he has millions acting on similar lines, and resolved to maintain their determination, who can doubt that a dynamic influence of vast strength would be set going?
We do not, of course, suggest that if the whole of the British people were simultaneously to swear that they would maintain the command of the sea a miracle would thereupon be wrought, and their will instantly achieved. That, at any rate, is one of the miracles which do not happen. We do say, however, that if such a determina- tion were first intelligently conceived by the great mass of the population, and then became a habit of mind, not a mere mental explosion, and if, in addition, part of the determination were to take action appropriate to main- taining their resolve, a very great deal would have been accomplished to ensure us the command of the sea. The philosophers may find it impossible to define Will, the psychologists may be doubtful where Will should appear in a true analysis of mental functions, and the physiologists may be quite incapable of telling us what we do in our brains or with our brains when we will. Yet in spite of the mystery which surrounds the whole subject, we know that there is such a thing as Will. Though it may be one of those things to which the only appropriate reply to the question "What is it ? " is "I know when you do not ask me," still there is such a thing as Will, and it effects far more than mere movement in the grey matter of the brain. We need not, however; enter any further into the fields of psychology. It is enough for our purpose to express a belief that if the individuals who make up the nation can be inspired with a. common determination to will preparation of the kind. we have described, and can maintain that determination, the first step, and the greatest step, will have been taken in the work needful for the maintenance of the national welfare.
What does preparation mean ? We doubt whether any good purpose will be served by an attempt to .define preparation in detail. It is not . more fruitful to do that than to attempt to define duty. Preparation, or making oneself or the nation ready to meet a great strain, isi in truth, but one facet of duty, and duty is best left—in, the abstract to instinct, and in the concrete to the individual judgment, as each case arises. But though we shall make no attempt to define preparation in a positive sense, there is at least one negative condition which may be worth laying down. No man or woman who estimates and undertakes seriously the duty of national preparation will do any- thing or indulge in any habit, mental or physical, which may later on incapacitate him or her from serving, or make him or her less efficient in serving, the Motherland at, a moment of peril. The good citizen will not allow himself to grow weak or effeminate in body or soul, but will do his best to prevent others from falling into such a condition, lest at the appointed hour he and they shall be found wanting. And remember that women may grow effeminate as well as men, and are under as great, or perhaps even greater, temptations to renounce their obligations to the State, or, again, to fail in that strengthening and upholding of the man which is one of their special duties. The final stronghold in every country is that cellular citadel, the family and the home,--Temption et arz, a shrine as Well as a fortress. But how can that stronghold be defended if part of the garrison raises the white flag Before we leave the subject we must, for fear of mis- representation, meet once more the criticism of those who sa.y that we have placed our plea for the "new way of life" and for preparation on too material a basis, and that we have not dared to ask, as we ought to have asked, for a true spiritual and moral regeneration. In other words, we are told that, instead of asking men to adopt the Puritan standpoint and to abandon "the pleasant vices" which arc supposed specially to mark this generation, we have merely called upon them to become materially and intellectually more efficient. Our, answer is plain, and will, we believe, convince any person who will take the trouble to think the matter out. We are not going to ask people to do what is on other grounds a religious and moral duty merely in order to make themselves secure as a nation. To do that would, in our opinion, be little short of blasphemy. Archbishop Whately said finely : "lion,esty is no doubt the best policy ; but he who is honest for that reason is not an honest man." In the same spirit we say that though the practice of religion and morality is the best policy, any nation which became moral and religious on that ground.would be an evil nation. The notion of, as it were, purchasing national security by moral and spiritual regeneration is not only odious in itself, but is neces- sarily a chimera. High heaven rejects such a bargain, and can agree to no such traffic. No doubt the man who leads a moral and religious life will find it far easier to be a good patriot than the materialist who ignores the teachings of religion and morality ; but that, is a very , different matter. Religion and morality must be practised for their own sakes, not for ulterior motives, however useful per se. But we must .go further, no matter how disagreeable the statement we are going to make may seem to certain of those whose minds we are anxious to move by our arguments. It is not enough that the people who make tip the nation should be individually guided by moral and religious aspira- tions. That alone will not secure national safety. • A community will not be saved as a community by the sanctity of its inhabitants. In a political sense it is perfectly true to say that a nation may be ruined by its virtues quite as much as by its vices, or, rather, that a virtuous community which neglects certain political duties may easily fall before a nation far less spiritual, far less moral, which observes those political duties. Cromwell knew this truth, and expressed it with convincing force. Though be had the Word of God in his mouth and in his heart, he told his troops to keep their powder dry. Without the observation of that injunction the spiritual aspirations of the Puritans would have been of no avail, and they would have fallen before the roystering, light. living cavaliers of the King's army,—" the bravos of Alsatia and pages of Whitehall."
Perhaps the strangest; and in one sense the most dis- quieting, sy-mptom which is to be noticed among the moral symptoms of the present moment is a certain fearfulness among many good people that there is something of wickedness in all preparation for war. Surely the truth is that preparation for aggression and for unjust war • is an evil, while preparation for defence and for war levied with a good intent is not evil but good. War in itself, like peace, is a. neutral thing. It is not until you know the purpose of a war that you can tell whether it is righteous or wicked. In the same way, peace, though, we admit, in itself " the benign extreme," cannot be declared good unless we know the foundation upon which it rests. 'Peace maintained because people are too luxurious, too cowardly, too much sunk in self-indulgence to endure the 'sacrifices of war is not a good, and may become a hideous evil. Peace in itself is no more virtuous than sleep.
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