And the question touches not so much the temper and preconceptions of the British community as known in recent history, but rather as it is likely to be modified by the war experience.

So that the practicability of a neutral league comes to turn, in great measure, on the effect which this war experience is having on the habits of thought of the British people, or on that section of the British population which will make up the effectual majority when the war closes.

The grave interest that attaches to this question must serve as justification for pursuing it farther, even though there can be no promise of a definite or confident answer to be found beforehand.
Certain general assertions may be made with some confidence.

The experiences of the war, particularly among the immediate participants and among their immediate domestic connections--a large and increasing proportion of the people at large--are plainly impressing on them the uselessness and hardship of such a war.

There can be no question but they are reaching a conviction that a war of this modern kind and scale is a thing to be avoided if possible.