absence of effective discussion and criticism of
diplomacy. The lack of criticism creates the
sense of sovereignty, the feeling that a nation is, on
the whole, a law unto itself. The result of this is
to center on foreign affairs only the most primi-
tive emotions of offense and defense, to charge
them with the high explosives of uncorrected and
unconscious emotion. Governments face each
other with an almost savage unity of feeling, a
unity which is sovereign in its pretensions, unedu-
cated, impatient of criticism, gullible, and panicky.

The places where governments face each other
are the lands which are in process of being opened
up to commerce. The competition of concession-
aires and exploiters is severe. These men are
backed by their governments, and their advance-
ment becomes a national concern. The people at
home, living blindly behind their frontiers, regard
these foreign business men almost as their repre-
sentatives, and when the struggle is acute the in-
tensity of it radiates to all the governments and
people represented. The nations themselves come
to regard themselves as competitors, as living or-
ganisms which can win or be defeated. Of course
they wish to win, and they come to measure victory

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