The Problem Of National Defence PDF Download

Excerpt from The Problem of National Defence No, comes the answer; for, unfortunately, human nature is in its very essence wicked; and men of criminal tendencies must be suppressed by force in the interests of the community. Then, are there never nations with criminal tendencies? Should not a virtuous nation, like a virtuous man, take steps to guard itself? There is, again, another section of the community which considers that though virtue must in the end prosper, that yet the ways of Providence are in scrutable, that the wicked are sometimes permitted to triumph, that modern man, living in a world in which self seeking and lack of scruple are not entirely unknown, must adopt measures to safeguard himself and his possessions by means of a police force, and that nations must act in a similar manner. These deny the justice of an aggressive war, but admit the justification for a defensive one. There are yet others - though in Great Britain these are in a minority - who boldly assert that fraud and force dominate humanity, and that the wicked and unscrupulous usually triumph. These are inclined to laugh at national scruples. They point out that every nation which goes to war claims to have the right of it, and that controversy rages over the rights and wrongs of it sometimes for centuries after the war has terminated. These will cry out, first win your war, and then discuss the ethics of it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.