all subjects. No Power would have agreed to it, not Great Britain or
America any more than Germany. On the other hand, projects for creating
an arbitration tribunal, to which nations willing to use it should have
recourse, were brought forward by both the British and the American
representatives. From the beginning, however, it became clear that Count
Münster, the head of the German delegation, was opposed to any scheme
for encouraging arbitration. "He did not say that he would oppose a
moderate plan of voluntary arbitration, but he insisted that arbitration
must be injurious to Germany; that Germany is prepared for war as no
other country is, or can be; that she can mobilize her army in ten
days; and that neither France, Russia, nor any other Power can do this.
Arbitration, he said, would simply give rival Powers time to put themselves
in readiness, and would, therefore, be a great disadvantage to Germany."
Here is what I should call the militarist view in all its simplicity and
purity, the obstinate, unquestioning belief that war is inevitable, and
the determination to be ready for it at all costs, even at the cost of
rejecting machinery which if adopted might obviate war. The passage has
often been cited as evidence of the German determination to have war. But
I have not so often seen quoted the exactly parallel declaration made by
Sir John (now Lord) Fisher. "He said that the Navy of Great Britain was
and would remain in a state of complete preparation for war; that a vast
deal depended on prompt action by the Navy; and that the truce afforded by
arbitration proceedings would give other Powers time, which they would not
otherwise have, to put themselves into complete readiness."[3] So far the
"militarist" and the "marinist" adopt exactly the same view. And we may be
sure that if proposals are made after the war to strengthen the machinery
for international arbitration, there will be opposition in this country of
the same kind, and based on the same grounds, as the opposition in Germany.
We cannot on this point condemn Count Münster without also condemning Lord
Fisher.