a common will. That creation of a common will is at once the most
difficult and the most imperative thing of all. Every one must be aware
how difficult it is. We know, for instance, how the common law is enforced
in any specified state, because it has a "sanction," or, in other words,
because those who break it can be punished. But the weakness for a long
time past of international law, from the time of Grotius onwards, is that
it apparently has no real sanction. How are we to punish an offending
state? It can only be done by the gradual development of a public
conscience in Europe, and by means of definite agreements so that the rest
of the civilised world shall compel a recalcitrant member to abide by the
common decrees. If only this common will of Europe ever came into
existence, we should have solved most, if not all, our troubles. But the
question is: How?


A HUNDRED YEARS AGO

It may be depressing, but it certainly is an instructive lesson to go back
just a hundred years ago, when the condition of Europe was in many
respects similar to that which prevails now. The problems that unrolled
themselves before the nations afford useful points of comparison. The
great enemy was then Napoleon and France. Napoleon's views of empire were
precisely of that universal predatory type which we have learnt to
associate with the Kaiser and the German Empire. The autocratic rule of
the single personal will was weighing heavily on nearly every quarter of
the globe. Then came a time when the principle of nationality, which
Napoleon had everywhere defied, gradually grew in strength until it was
able to shake off the yoke of the conqueror. In Germany, and Spain, and
Italy the principle of nationality steadily grew, while in England there
had always been a steady opposition to the tyranny of Napoleon on the