a more perfectly developed standard of general excellence. Yes, and even those nations nearest to us in mind and sentiment-German and Scandinavian-we regard on the whole as not so excellent as ourselves, comparing their typical characteristics with ours. Were this not so, our energies would be directed to becoming what they Without doing this, however, we may well endeavour to pick out their best qualities and add them to ours, believing that our compound will be superior to the foreign stock.

are.

'It is the mark of an independent nation that it should feel thus. How far such a feeling is, in any particular case, justified, history alone decides. But it is essential that each claimant for the first place should put forward his whole energy to prove his right. This is the moral justification for international strife and even of war, and a great change must come over the world and over men's minds before there can be any question of everlasting universal peace or the settlement of all international differences by arbitration. More especially must the difficulty caused by the absence of a generally recognized standard of justice be felt in the case of contact between civilized and uncivilized races. Is there any likelihood of the gulf between the

white and the black man being bridged within any period of time that we can foresee? Can there be any doubt that the white man must and will impose his superior civilization on the coloured races ? The rivalry of the principal European countries in extending their influence over other continents should lead naturally to the evolution of the highest attainable type of government of subject races by the superior qualities of their rulers.

'Such, so far as I am able to state them concisely in a connected form, were Hervey's views regarding these problems of higher political ethics. He was clear in his mind that in these matters Great Britain was leading, owing to the peculiar genius of her people and the strength of her historical traditions, as exemplified in her work in India, in Egypt, in East, West, and South Africa.

'Whilst Hervey's way of looking at our national life generally was bravely optimistic, there were parts of our political and constitutional machinery which he regarded with a critical eye. He would quote, as an instance, the want of suitable training for our politicians for the higher duties of officers of State. They grew up in an atmosphere of Parliamentary debating, where party warfare had

established the rules of the game, and compromise was considered the ideal virtue. Debates might afford excellent intellectual schooling, but much debating, especially with necessarily deficient knowledge of the subject, seemed of very doubtful value in developing the power of decision. In order to decide well and rapidly, a definite standpoint combined with comprehensiveness of view is essential. But Parliamentary discussions would naturally tend rather to show every matter under two opposite lights, between which a middle course must be steered.

'The consequent want of the habit of decision was aggravated by a lack of definiteness, and great resulting diversity of view, as to the nature and scope of our national aims. No properly recognized school of thought existed, chiefly, he imagined, because it was nobody's business to think out methodically the problems of a sound national policy, apart from their bearing on the position of the two conflicting parties.

'There was a sad want of historical training, for which Hervey blamed the inefficiency of our higher educational system. Modern scientific methods had not yet been properly applied in dealing with educational problems, and party interests or

ecclesiastical considerations seemed to govern the discussion. Then there remained the extraordinary reluctance to entrust real authority in political matters to men of knowledge. Such men were always suspected of having "fads" or "theories," whilst men called "practical," and said to have "broad common sense," were considered good enough, or rather considered the very best, for dealing with the greatest national affairs. Ignorance was at a premium. Surely knowledge and responsibility ought always to go together. Who would entrust his money to a bank that was managed by a man ignorant of banking, but enjoying "broad common sense," or consult a doctor who was a man of the world, but knew nothing of medicine? Yet all the great departments of State in this country were in fact managed by men generally and professedly untrained in the business.

'But whatever flaws Hervey thought he detected in the fabric of government, he believed in the boundless capacities of the English race. With her ever-growing healthy population, her superfluity of energetic young men, full of resource and of the spirit of enterprise, gifted with the power to rule honestly and justly, ready to go anywhere, and yet dearly attached to their national

ideas, he could see no reason why England should not provide governors and administrators for the whole as yet uncivilized world, just as she was doing for India, Egypt, and the various African territories. A large field stood open in China. Always and everywhere the best energies of Englishmen should be given to the service of the State, in its wider sense, as the world-embracing Power.'

Hervey had as keen an eye as any one for the absurdities of Jingoism, but he believed firmly that it was a privilege to belong to a great nation, and a duty to maintain her prestige.

It was no narrow national egotism which made him glad to be an Englishman, but the conviction that the English race set a finer example, and upheld a higher standard of truth and equity, in the countries it was called upon to govern, than any other nation. On ethical grounds such as these, he based his opinion of the right of Great Britain to be the dominant power of the world. He had a strong feeling of 'noblesse oblige' with regard to being the citizen of a great State; and considered no sacrifice too great to preserve the purity of the ideals essential to the maintenance of its greatness.