What are the prospects of the world's near future? Are they as gloomy as would appear at first sight? These are questions that the ordinary person has been content, until recently, to leave unanswered; and even now there are those who do not think it worth while to bother their heads with such matters.It has been asserted frequently that a very large number of people never really think; that they will not face facts which surround them constantly, but which they persistently ignore, until, taken unawares by circumstance, they find themselves driven to immediate action in relation to some fact they have never observed before. Then they hasten to do something, anything, to relieve the situation, when it is perhaps too late, and when ordinary foresight would have spared them a catastrophe.Men will live near swampy ground, in a hot cli-Table of Contents I-The World's Outlook, 9 II-A Search for Causes,19; PAKT II; General Considerations; III-What is Sound Policy? 29; IV-The Nature and Relations of a State, 37; V-Laws of Life, 43; VI-Principles of National Conduct, 52 VII-The Promise of Recent Practice, 62 VIII-The Lessons of the Centuries, 69; PART III Particular Considerations; IX-A Test of Progress,77; X-The Evolution of State Law, 84 XI-The Evolution of International Law, 95; XII-Its General Character, 105; XIII-Its First Clause,108; XIV-Its Second Clause,119; XV-Its Third Clause,124; XVI-Some Possible Objections136; XVII-Conclusion,145; NOTES; Note A, from p 40-A Nation an Organism, 155 Note B, from p 45 -Unselfishness, 163 Note C, from p 49-The Morality of the Evolutionary; Process,165; Note D, from p 58 -'Splendid Isolation,' or the Interdependence of Nations,167; Note E, from p 73-Christianity, 181 Note F, from p 109-The International Marine Conference, 184; Note G, from p 135-Sully and Kant, 187» Note H, from p 152-The English-Speaking Peoples 194; Addendum-The Czar's Plea for Peace, 2