should be left with a real grievance, or the peace will not last. Even Germany should not be humiliated; punished it is, and it will be still more, and punished severely; but nothing should be done to create a passion for revenge. That would be most wasteful, and be likely to make a 1914 follow on an 1870.
Little nationalities must be vindicated and guaranteed their full rights of independence and freedom. Belgium must not only arrive at home again after her wanderings, but so replenished that she shall be able to rebuild her waste places, and make her devastated fields as a garden of the Lord. We must enter into new bonds for the security and peace of small States, and recognize with frankness the equality of the weak with the strong.
Then we must win back again to the life of nations what Gladstone called "that iron fidelity to public engagements, and stern regard for public law which is the legitimate defence for small countries against the great and powerful." For to destroy confidence in the pledged word of Governments is to take out the linch-pin from the chariot of progress.
It is also of vital importance that not an inch of territory should change hands except by the wish of the people themselves. The principle of self-government must be the basis of all rearrangements of the map of Europe. It is infinitely better than any external authority. There will be blunders, and they will have to be paid for. Suffering will come, but that will quicken the sense of responsibility. Such is the plan of God, and as humanity gets nearer to that plan it obtains righteousness and peace. The question is not for crowned heads and imperial dynasties; not for diplomats with their balance of power, a balance that a touch may upset; but for the peoples, left entirely free to choose the modes and forms of government which they prefer. Let the people rule themselves, and they will save themselves. They do not want war. They want peace. Philip Snowden told the House of Commons on the 18th of March that "the workers in this country echoed the sentiments of their comrades in France and Germany, and were determined to do all they could to promote peace, the greatest blessing of humanity." And though many of them have been forced into the fight against their choice, we may be sure they will come out of the contest more determined than ever to secure conditions of peace. Anyway, it is certain that the people must stop war. They have to save themselves. They are one, and the sense of
