,  The  establishment  of  homogeneity  in  the  herd  is
the  basis  of  morale.  From  homogeneity  proceed
moral  power,  enthusiasm,  courage,  endurance,  enter-
prise, and  all  the  virtues  of  the  warrior.  The  peace
of  mind,  happiness,  and  energy  of  the  soldier  come
from  his  feeling  himself  to  be  a  member  in  a  body
solidly  united  for  a  single  purpose.  The  impulse
towards  unity  that  was  so  pronounced  and  universal
at  the  beginning  of  the  war  was,  t"hen,  a  true  and
sound  instinctive  movement  of  defence.  It  was
prepared  to  sacrifice  all  social  distinctions  and  local
prejudices  if  it  could  liberate  by  doing  so  Nature's
inexJiaustible  stores  of  moral  power  for  the  defence


IN   PEACE   AND  WAR  145

of  the  herd.  Naturally  enough  its  significance  was
misunderstood,  and  a  great  deal  of  its  beneficent
magic  was  wasted  by  the  good  intentions  which
man  is  so  touchingly  ready  to  accept  as  a  substitute
for  knowledge.  Even  the  functional  value  of  unity
was,  and  still  is,  for  the  most  part  ignored.  We
are  told  to  weariness  that  the  great  objection  to
disunion  is  that  it  encourages  the  enemy.  According
to  this  view,  apparent  disunion  is  as  serious  as
real  ;  whereas  it  must  be  perfectly  obvious  that
anything  which  leads  our  enemy  to  under-estimate
our  strength,  as  does  the  belief  that  we  are  disunited
when  we  are  not,  is  of  much  more  service  to  us
than  is  neutralized  by  any  more  or  less  visionary,
disservice  we  do  ourselves  by  fortifying  his  morale.
