Excerpt from The Life of the Soul

The problem of force - the ethic of it if you will - has of late been very vividly before us. We have seen capital in arms against labour; each side reckoning up its striking power; labour counting its numbers, its capabilities of offence and resistance; authority calling up its effectives, estimating its reserves. The position means a dozen different things; but unquestionably one of the most prominent of them is a trial of strength. We are not yet at the final end, but that end, whatever it is to be, will have this factor for one of its largest determinants.

In these circumstances, it should be well for us all to ask ourselves some questions about force - what it really means, what part it plays in the system of things, what it can and cannot do, how it is related to a true morality. We are apt to disparage force, - to speak of it as opposed to idealism, as a mere brutality. "Force is no remedy," said John Bright, on a memorable occasion; and, as he meant it, the word rang true. We shall come to that later. But we need here to know what we are talking about and to use our phrases with a full recognition of the facts.

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