During several decades most of the nations of the world, and especially those of the European Continent, have, though at peace, been diligently preparing for war. May not this singular process be now reversed? May not the peoples who are either actors or sorely tried spectators in the present gigantic conflict agree to make, even in the midst of strife, some significant preparation for the future maintenance of international concord? It is possible to regard our brave soldiers as actually engaged in paving a way to true tranquility, through the horrors of the field of battle and of villages and cities laid waste. Should not the thinkers and statesmen of all countries be now planning to establish the world's peace, when it is once more won? There are some patriots who wish to keep passion at white heat, and fear that a reasonable frame of mind and any discussion of peace at so critical a time as the present may interfere with recruiting and military efficiency. My own patriotism is greater than theirs. It extends to regarding my fellow countrymen, from Tommy Atkins to Lord Kitchener and from the humblest civilian to Sir Edward Grey, as essentially reasonable beings, whose sense of duty to the British Empire and her Allies will not be diminished, but stimulated, by the thought that the Allied Nations have now a great opportunity for serving Humanity-for promoting the future peace and progress of the civilized world. The preparation for peace which (at the moment of writing) it is possible to make is not any adjustment of the rival claims of the nations at war. The fighting men must continue to do their part for some considerable period before statesmen can have any hope of effecting a settlement which would not invite a recurrence of strife in the future. The true preparation for peace consists in the preparing of men's minds to take a large and wise view of international relations, in urging the publicists and politicians of the Treaty Powers to exchange views among themselves and with representatives of neutral States on the future regulation of the world, and especially in remembering that no ad hoc settlement of international affairs can ever be final-that what is really wanted is a system for adjusting future differences of nations, whenever and wherever they may arise. It is not too early to turn our thoughts to these matters. It may be too late when the war is ended; when citizens and statesmen are full of pride in national achievements, conscious of their really enormous debt to army and navy, and naturally disposed to defer to militarist counsels. For the purpose of this pamphlet it will be best to leave the vexed question of the various wrongs done or sustained by nations engaged in the present world war to the verdict, not merely of the future historian, but of the Special International Conference which ought to be, and probably will be, convened on the cessation of hostilities. How precisely the great upheaval came about, and who were chiefly responsible, are inquiries likewise lying beyond the scope of the present pages. The practical and pressing question to which it is hoped to give some tolerably clear answer is simply this: - Is it desirable and possible to make an end of war between civilized States?