and seem to have rested in that condition for untold centuries.
For such peoples the only chance of improvement was that they
should pass under the dominion of more highly developed peoples;
and to them a European 'Empire' brought, for the first time, not
merely law and justice, but even the rudiments of the only kind of
liberty which is worth having, the liberty which rests upon law.
Another vast section of the world's population consists of peoples
who have in some respects reached a high stage of civilisation,
but who have failed to achieve for themselves a mode of
organisation which could give them secure order and equal laws.
For such peoples also the 'Empire' of Western civilisation, even
when it is imposed and maintained by force, may bring advantages
which will far outweigh its defects. In these cases the word
'Empire' can be used without violence to its original
significance, and yet without apology; and these cases cover by
far the greater part of the world.

The words 'Empire' and 'Imperialism' come to us from ancient Rome;
and the analogy between the conquering and organising work of Rome
and the empire-building work of the modern nation-states is a
suggestive and stimulating analogy. The imperialism of Rome
extended the modes of a single civilisation, and the Reign of Law
which was its essence, over all the Mediterranean lands. The
imperialism of the nations to which the torch of Rome has been
handed on, has made the Reign of Law, and the modes of a single
civilisation, the common possession of the whole world. Rome made
the common life of Europe possible. The imperial expansion of the
European nations has alone made possible the vision--nay, the
certainty--of a future world-order. For these reasons we may
rightly and without hesitation continue to employ these terms,