Alliance, and Germany's special effort, which she is about to make, will be neutralized by similar efforts which are being made by Russia and France. It follows that the military forces of the Triple Entente are superior to those of the Triple Alliance-amphibious Great Britain would be a very important factor in a Continental warand if the Triple Entente should be enlarged by the accession of other States, such as the Balkan States, the position of the Triple Alliance would deteriorate still further. Bismarck made Germany and the Triple Alliance supreme in Europe. His successors have undone his work, and have made the Triple Entente supreme, for they have driven England into the arms of France and Russia, and have brought about the downfall of Turkey and the rise of the Balkan States.

It has been the traditional policy of Great Britain to defend the balance of power on the Continent by supporting the weaker Power, or group of Powers, against the stronger. In view of the undoubted superiority which the Triple Entente have acquired over the Triple Alliance through the shifting of the balance of power which the Balkan War has brought about, many believe that Great Britain should now either withdraw from Continental affairs or support Germany and the Triple Alliance. However, the British policy of maintaining the balance of power in Europe is not a soulless and purely mechanical policy of supporting the weaker Powers against the stronger. It is a means to an end. It is a deliberate policy for the promotion of peace which appeals strongly to the peaceful and contented nations. It is a policy which endeavors to insure peace by preserving the status quo, by supporting the satisfied nations, and by restraining those nations which desire to embark upon a policy of adventure, violence, and conquest.

The character and position of the Powers belonging to the Triple Alliance differ widely from the character and position of the Powers belonging to the Triple Entente. If we look at the matter from the economic point of view, we find that the Powers of the Triple Alliance are cramped for space. The emigration from Austria-Hungary and Italy is very great. It is true that Germany has on balance no emigration, but as her population increases by 800,000 per year the time seems to be near at hand when a very large German emigration will set in. Austria-Hungary has no colonies of any kind, and Germany and Italy have no colonies which are suitable for the settlement of large numbers of white people. The position of the Powers of the Triple Entente is entirely different. None of them has insufficient room. Russia has extensive stretches of thinly populated territory suitable for the settlement of her surplus population both in Europe and in Asia; Great Britain possesses vast reserves of virgin land in her Colonies in all parts of the world; France, although she has no surplus population, has extensive colonies situated in the temperate zone. For these reasons Russia, France, and Great Britain are satisfied with the territorial status quo, while the Powers of the Triple Alliance are not satisfied. The Powers of the Triple Entente are satisfied, and have every reason to be contented with their possessions, while those belonging to the Triple Alliance are land-hungry and envious of the position of the Powers of the Triple Entente. They are, therefore, the pacemakers in military and naval armaments.

The policy of political as that of private partnerships is largely shaped by the predominant partner. The predominant partner in the Triple Alliance is undoubtedly Germany; the pre

dominant partner of the Triple Entente is probably Great Britain. Germany is a military State which has grown great by successful wars of conquest waged on the Continent of Europe. Great Britain and the British Empire form a free, commercial, and industrial community which has grown great by commerce, industry, and colonization. The Triple Alliance is land-hungry, restless, expansionist, militarist, and therefore aggressive in character; while the Triple Entente is satisfied, conservative, and peaceful. The Triple Alliance is composed of three monarchies, while the Triple Entente contains two democratic States. The Triple Alliance may perhaps be called a war group and the Triple Entente a peace group. It was not always so. Bismarck created the Triple Alliance for the purpose of preserving the status quo of Europe and of enabling Germany to preserve her conquests and to develop in peace. As that Alliance was considered to be a bulwark of peace, it was supported by the peacefully inclined smaller nations of Europe, but these are now coming round to the Triple Entente, for that group has taken the place of the Triple Alliance, and has become the defender of the peace of Europe and of the status quo.

Policy should be intelligent, and not mechanical. It is not an empty phrase, but a fact subject to proof, that peace is the greatest interest of Great Britain and of the British Empire. Those who do not wish well to Great Britain frequently assert that this country tries unceasingly to involve the nations of the Continent in war, and especially to break up the Triple Alliance so as to weaken Germany. That these assertions are untrue is shown by the fact that during the entire duration of the Balkan War Great Britain took probably the leading part in preventing dissension and war among the

Great Powers. Had this country desired to break up the Triple Alliance it could easily have done so. It need only have caused King Nicholas to remain at Scutari either by encouraging, or by merely not discouraging, him. That event would have led to the joint occupation of Albania by AustriaHungary and Italy, to their quarrel over its division, and to the break-up of the Triple Alliance.

Therefore, Great Britain should not withdraw herself from the Triple Entente in order to produce a mechanical equilibrium between the two groups of European Powers. She should strengthen the peace group by her adherence, and should endeavor to convert the Triple Entente into a Multiple Entente, for an entente for the preservation of peace cannot possibly be too strong. Moreover, as long as Great Britain is a leading member of the Entente, she can more easily restrain that group if some of its members should feel tempted to attack the Central European Powers.

A balance of power, be it ever so nicely adjusted, will not enable the uations of the world to reduce their armaments. That can be done only when the control of the world passes out of the hands of the dissatisfied and ambitious military Powers, which have possessed that control hitherto, into the hands of peaceful and satisfied States. Democracy and militarism do not go well together. Democracy is revolting against militarism, and democracy only can abolish militarism in its most objectionable form. Many questions, such as the Balkan settlement, the question of the Aegean Islands, the Mediterranean question, and the question of Asia Minor, which may easily lead to a great European war, are pending. The peace group may soon find further opportunities for action.

Many ardent lovers of the Empire

and of the race desire that Great Britain should not occupy herself too much with the political affairs of the Continent, that she should devote her thought and strength to the development of the nation and of the Empire. As long as England is the citadel, the navai base, the bank and the clearinghouse of the Empire-and that will remain England's position for a long time-the entire Empire is vitally interested in England's security, and with it in the balance of power, or, better still, in the preponderance of the peaceful elements on the Continent of Europe, which ensures the security of these islands. It is clear that Great Britain will best be able to devote her wealth and her energy to the uplifting of the race and to the development of the great Imperial domain when the position on the Continent is quite se

cure.

Great Britain is, after all, only a small portion of the British Empire. It covers only one ninety-fifth of the territory under the British flag. The great Dominions, with their vast, wealthy and fruitful territories, will gradually fill up, and their population will far exceed the population of these narrow isles. In a few decades the centre of the Empire may shift from London to Montreal. Great Britain's principal interests are Imperial, are extra-European. For her it is highly desirable that the European tension should diminish and that she should be able to devote all her strength to the affairs of the British race throughout the world. But when Great Britain need no longer watch the balance of power in Europe she will have to watch the balance of power of the world. The largest and the most valuable spaces of the world belong to Anglo-Saxons, to Russians, and to Asiatics. Although all the frontiers in all the five continents are carefully marked and delimited, they are not de

the world, as the nations of Europe, may be divided into two groups, into a satisfied group and a dissatisfied one. The earth contains 50,250,000 square miles of land. Of these, 48,500,000 square miles are owned or controlled by white peoples, while only 1,750,000 square miles belong to China proper and to Japan. The 600,000,000 of white people may perhaps be called satisfied, for they own and control 29-30ths of the solid surface of the globe; but the 500,000,000 Chinese and Japanese, who possess only 1-30th of the world's territories, are scarcely satisfied, and they may not much longer consent to be cooped up in their overcrowded countries by the white races who refuse them access to even the most thinly populated countries which they control.

The Anglo-Saxon nations, which own and control the most desirable and the most thinly populated territories of the world, are not beloved by the other nations. They are threatened by two dangers-by the danger arising from the over-populated military States of Europe and by the danger arising from the over-populated States of the Far East. The Anglo-Saxon nations have become the landlords of the universe, and landlords are not loved. It is true that the population of the United States and of the British Dominions is rapidly increasing. Still, very many years will pass by before the disproportion between the AngloSaxon population and the land which it possesses has disappeared. many years will pass before the vast Anglo-Saxon territories will be so well filled that they will be secure against an attack from the military Powers of Europe and from the swarming hosts of Asia. The men of Anglo-Saxon race own or control a full third of the world's surface. Providence has given them a greatly privileged position,

Very

but they can preserve that position only if they are ready to defend it. The white men of overcrowded Continental Europe number 450,000,000, the Chinese and Japanese number 500,000,000, the Anglo-Saxons number only 150,000,000. Cnity makes for strength. The two branches of Anglo-Saxondom should combine for the defence of their possessions, and they can do this all the easier as the men of the British Empire and the United States are one in language, in civilization, in character, in tradition, and in the essential, though not the outward, form of government.

Great Britain and the United States are indispensable to one another. It may be said that the British fleet protects the United States' shores and the Monroe doctrine. If Great Britain should lose her naval supremacy, the United States would have the military States of Europe as direct neighbors, and they would have to create vast armies and navies capable of defeating any conceivable combination which might be formed against them. On the other hand, the United States may have to protect the British possessions in America and elsewhere against the yellow races, which may claim their share of the world.

North America lies exactly half-way between the over-populated countries of the Far East and the over-populated countries of Europe. The United States are threatened by two equally dreaded enemies--by Asiatic cheap labor and by European militarism, by the starvation competition of the East and by war. The danger of the Far East is the more immediate one to the United States, because Great Britain protects the United States against the military States of Europe. China is awakening. The friction between the United States and Japan which exists at present is probably only the beginning of very serious and very pro

tracted differences between that coun

try and the teeming millions of the Far East. Great Britain and the British Empire have no interest in see-ing the United States involved in a difficult and dangerous war with Japan. They have no interest in seeing the Panama Canal falling into Japanese hands and the Pacific Coast. attacked by Japanese fleets and armies.

While Great Britain and the British Empire have no interest in seeing the United States and Japan involved in a struggle which might prove only the beginning of a long series of wars, the United States have no interest in seeing Great Britain's position endangered or weakened by the military Powers of Europe. On the contrary, it is in the interest of the United States that Great Britain should preserve her naval supremacy against the great military States of the world. From the point of view of the citizens of the United States, and from that of many broad-minded Englishmen, it is. perhaps not necessary that Great Britain should rule the waves, but it is certainly necessary that Anglo-Saxondom should be supreme on all oceans. The freedom of the sea and the security of the coasts is, after all, as essential to the United States as it is to Great Britain and to the Dominions and Colonies. It is bad enough that the lands of the Old World are stricken by militarism. It would be worse if militarism should encroach upon the sea as well, monopolize it, and spread then, like a festering disease, across the sea to all the new countries. The expansion of the European Triple Entente into a Multiple Entente, into a Peace-Entente, is certainly important for Great Britain and the British Empire, but the creation of an AngloAmerican Entente is no less important, both for sentimental and for practical reasons. The European Con

cert has proved an ineffective instrument for preserving peace and order within and without Europe. For the settlement of the great extra-European problems, Anglo-American co-operation, an Anglo-American Concert, is needed. It is self-evident that the world must either become Anglo-Saxon or fall a prey to militarism.

The co-operation of the two great Anglo-Saxon nations is particularly important, because the military nations of Europe will, in case of war, probably endeavor to weaken Great Britain and the United States by producing strife between them and by creating trouble in their Colonies. General von Bernhardi wrote in Unsere Zukunft:

The United States of North America occupy a position of absolute independence. A distinct conflict of interests exists between them and England, firstly, because the United States are England's most dangerous competitor in the trade of the world, and especially in the trade with Eastern Asia; secondly, because the United States are determined not to submit to England's naval predominance in any case. The Dominion of Canada forms another point of friction between these two States. On the other hand, there are no material differences between the United States and Germany. It is true that the peaceful division of the world between England and the United States is conceivable. However, at present there are no indications of such an understanding. As matters are at present England would derive from a defeat of Germany an enormous increase in power, an increase which would be unfavorable to the interests of the United States. It follows therefore that the co-operation of the United States and of Germany would be in the interests of both countries.

The Nineteenth Century and After.

easily be given. It is a well-known fact that the German Vote has been organized by Germany in the United States with a view to making mischief between the United States and Great Britain.

Reason and sentiment should teach

the Anglo-Saxons throughout the world that co-operation between the United States and Great Britain is right and is necessary. There is such a thing as racial solidarity. This instinct has drawn the States of the American Union together. It is drawing together at present the States of the British Empire, and it should eventually draw together the British Empire and the United States. The time may come when the Anglo-Saxon nations will have to choose between the militarization of the world, accompanied by the loss in war of large portions of their possessions to an alien race, and an Anglo-American reunion which will save them from-these evils. A great Anglo-Saxon Commonwealth embracing the British Empire and the United States would be the greatest instrument of peace and progress which the world has even seen. It would establish the peace, prosperity and security of the Anglo-Saxon race for all time.

J. Ellis Barker.

LIVING AGE VOL. LIX. 3126