WAR MEMOIRS OF DAVID LLOYD GEORGE 1917

IMPERIAL WAR CABINET AND CONFERENCE 41
stinct — that all wars of aggression are impossible enterprises;
that they accomplish nothing but the destruction of
the aggressor. Men must in future be taught to shun war
as every civilised being shuns a murder; not merely because
it is wrong in itself, but because it leads to inevitable punishment.
That is the only sure foundation for any league of
peace. There has been a good deal of discussion lately about
leagues of peace, and there is no doubt at all that we should
endeavour to establish a league of that kind. But unless you
drive that conviction into the human mind in every land,
the league of peace will be built on a foundation of sand;
and therefore the first thing to accomplish in this War is to
make every country feel that in future, if it attempts to
repeat the outrage perpetrated by Germany upon civilisation,
it will inevitably encounter dire and destructive punishment.
That, I think, is essential to the peace of the world.
I will come later on to consider how far we have accomplished
that.
The second aim which I hope will be achieved by this
war is the democratisation of Europe. It is the only sure
guarantee of peaceful progress. The menace to Europe did
not come from its democratic countries; it came from a military
autocracy. France, before the War, had just elected a
peace Parliament. The majority had been elected on a peace
ticket. It was the most peaceable and peace-loving Parliament
that had ever been chosen in France. The election
was fought on a military issue where the peace party won,
because the French electors regarded the proposals that
were set before them by the militarist party as provocative.
It was essentially a peace Parliament. Rightly or wrongly,
it was an extreme peace Parliament. In spite of dubious
leadership, the French democracy were so bent on peace
that they preferred choosing bad leaders who were for peace
to choosing men of much greater power and genius who