Their citizens were in conflict with each other already, generating
the moods which lead on to war. Emperors, foreign secretaries,
ambassadors, cabinet ministers are not really powerful to move nations
against their will. On the whole, they act with the will of the
nations, which they understand. Let any one ruler try, for example, to
change by edict the religion of his subjects, and a week would see him
bereft of place and power. They could not do this, because the will of
the nation would be against it. They resort to war and prepare for it
because the will of the nation is with them, and this throws us back on
the private citizens, who finally are individually and collectively
responsible for the actions of the State. In the everlasting battle
between good and evil, private soldiers are called upon to fight as well
as the captains, and it is only through the intensive cultivation by
individuals and races of the higher moral and intellectual qualities,
until in intensity they outweigh the mood and passion of the rest, that
war will finally become obsolete as the court of appeal.
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