IMPRESSIONS AND REFLECTIONS 1 In the autumn of 1917 I had a visit from a subject of a neutral state, who is a pronounced upholder of general disarmament and world pacifism.

We began, of course, to discuss the theme of free competition in armaments, of militarism, which in England prevails on the sea and in Germany on land, and my visitor entered upon the various possibilities likely to occur when the war was at an end.

He had no faith in the destruction of England, nor had I; but he thought it possible that France and Italy might collapse.

The French and Italians could not possibly bear any heavier burdens than already were laid on them; in Paris and Rome, he thought, revolution was not far distant, and a fresh phase of the war would then ensue.

England and America would continue to fight on alone, for ten, perhaps even twenty, years.