was passed, when purchase was abolished in the army, when the deceased
wife's sister bill was passed, when the Parliament act became law; and
it will positively sound again when the mediaeval Chinese traditions of
the Diplomatic Service are cast aside. There are many important people
alive today who are so obsessed by those traditions as to believe
religiously that if the British people, and by consequence the German
Government, were made aware of the peace terms, the German Army would in
some mysterious way be strengthened and encouraged, and our own ultimate
success imperiled. Such is the power of the dead hand, and against this
power the new conviction that in a democratic and candid foreign policy
lies the future safety of the world will have to fight hard.

The other subsidiary argument for ignoring the nation is that Ministers
are wiser than the nation, and therefore that Ministers must save the
nation from itself by making it impotent and acting over its head. This
has always been the argument of autocrats, and even of tyrants. It is a
ridiculous argument, and it was never more ridiculous than when applied
to the British Government and the British Nation today. Throughout the
war the Government has underestimated the qualities of the
nation--courage, discipline, fortitude, and wisdom. It is still
underestimating them. For myself, I have no doubt that in the making of
peace the sagacity of the nation as a whole would be greater than the
sagacity of the Government. But even if it were not, the right of the
nation to govern itself in the gravest hour of its career remains
unchallengeable. All arguments in favor of depriving the nation of that
right amount to the argument of Germany in favor of taking Belgium--"We
do it in your true interests, and in our own."

If the Government does not on its own initiative declare that it will
consult--and effectively consult--Parliament concerning the peace terms,