ABSTRACT
Because a whole people clamors for a war, and gets it, there is no ground for calling the war democratic. One might just as well call the subjection of negroes democratic because the whole white South desires it, or acquiesce in the oppression of Slavs because the Magyars are united in its favor. The two diplomats who actually speak for the sovereign will start with the infatuation that whatever they say has a peculiar sanctity. To be tentative, experimental, flexible, to be human and sensible in their dealings, is not compatible with complete sovereignty. A community which is self-contained and homogeneous and secluded is intellectually deaf, dumb, and blind. It can cultivate robust virtue and simple dogmatism, but it will not invent or throw out a profusion of ideas. The reason is in part that war is more sensational than peace—the possibility of conflict is a cheaper and more obvious form of news.
