Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 299
299 war upon it, till it makes submission, and when it does so, they should settle the original dispute between the parties and should not put forward new demands arising out of the conduct of the refractory nation. For, if the nations composing the League were to take advantage of the position of the vanquished nation and impose terms on it calculated to secure advantages to the media- tors themselves, they would be laying the foundations of fresh dissensions and jealousies, and the League would cease to enjoy the respect and confidence of the peoples of different nations. Their final award should, therefore, be confined to the original dispute between the parties and should not travel beyond it. As to the cost of such an international war, it must be borne by the members of the League by whom it is incurred. In the first place, the necessity of such a war would rarely arise. Every nation would realize that it would be futile to contend against the united will of the other nations. Secondly as the whole scheme would be based on honesty and would be free from all trace of selfishness on the part of any nation, all nations would be glad to join the League, and thus the expenses which will fall to the share of each nation would be compara- tively small. Thirdly, as each nation would derive a benefit from the working of this system, each would be prepared to make some sacrifice for it, and wars as fought at present would become less frequent the result- ing security and saving in men and money would be a tremendous gain compared with the price which each nation may be called upon to pay in the form of its share of the expenses of an international war. Even if, how-