only examples we have of complete emancipation from human bonds. That simple and beautiful thing, minding our own affairs and leaving our neighbours to mind theirs, is unhappily not possible for allies. Neither is a keen and common desire for peace a sufficient basis for agreement. Peace must have terms, and terms require a basis of their own—justice, reason, and the limited gains which are based on mutual concessions. "Whether we are peaceful depends upon whether others are provocative." Mr. W. H. Mallock tells us a pleasant story of an old Devonshire woman who was bidden by the parson to be "conciliating" to her husband. "I labour for peace, sir," was the spirited reply. "But when I speak to he thereof, he directly makes hisself ready for battle."
There are students of history who would have us believe that certain nations are natural allies, fitted by char-
