vii THE SETTLEMENT OF EUROPE 187

of military hegemonies, which can quickly rain her, lether lift up her head as the leader and mistress ofEurope in the peaceful practices of the mind.

Nevertheless, these objects are not to be gained bybargaining and cannot be imposed from without.Therefore they must not be dragged into the Separa-tion Settlement. This Settlement must be offeredFrance on one condition only,—that she accepts it.But if, like Shylock , she claims her pound of flesh, thenlet the Law prevail. Let her have her bond, and let ushave our bonds too. Let her get what she can fromGermany and pay what she owes to the United States and England .

The chief question for dispute is, perhaps, whetheran annual payment by Germany of £63,000,000 (gold)is enough. I admit that the payment of a somewhatlarger sum may prove to be within her capacity. ButI recommend this figure because on the one hand it issufficient to restore the destruction done in France ,yet on the other is not so crushing that, to makeGermany pay it, we need be in a position to invadeher every spring and autumn. We must fix the pay-ment at an amount which Germany herself willrecognise as not unjust, and which is sufficientlywithin her maximum capacity to leave her someincentive to work and pay it off.

Suppose that we knew the theoretical maximumof Germany 's capacity to produce and sell abroad asurplus of goods, or could hit on some sliding scale