provided that we remember always that the justification of any
dominion imposed by a more advanced upon a backward or
disorganised people is to be found, not in the extension of mere
brute power, but in the enlargement and diffusion, under the
shelter of power, of those vital elements in the life of Western
civilisation which have been the secrets of its strength, and the
greatest of its gifts to the world: the sovereignty of a just and
rational system of law, liberty of person, of thought, and of
speech, and, finally, where the conditions are favourable, the
practice of self-government and the growth of that sentiment of
common interest which we call the national spirit. These are the
features of Western civilisation which have justified its conquest
of the world [Footnote: See the first essay in Nationalism and
Internationalism, in which an attempt is made to work out this
idea]; and it must be for its success or failure in attaining
these ends that we shall commend or condemn the imperial work of
each of the nations which have shared in this vast achievement.

Four main motives can be perceived at work in all the imperial
activities of the European peoples during the last four centuries.
The first, and perhaps the most potent, has been the spirit of
national pride, seeking to express itself in the establishment of
its dominion over less highly organised peoples. In the exultation
which follows the achievement of national unity each of the
nation-states in turn, if the circumstances were at all
favourable, has been tempted to impose its power upon its
neighbours,[Footnote: Nationalism and Imperialism, pp. 60, 64,
104.] or even to seek the mastery of the world. From these
attempts have sprung the greatest of the European wars. From them
also have arisen all the colonial empires of the European states.