RUPERT’S JOURNAL—Continued.

March 6, 1908.

I breathe more freely.  The meeting has taken place here at Vissarion.  Nominal cause of meeting: a hunting-party in the Blue Mountains.  Not any formal affair.  Not a Chancellor or Secretary of State or Diplomatist of any sort present.  All headquarters.  It was, after all, a real hunting-party.  Good sportsmen, plenty of game, lots of beaters, everything organized properly, and an effective tally of results.  I think we all enjoyed ourselves in the matter of sport; and as the political result was absolute unanimity of purpose and intention, there could be no possible cause of complaint.

So it is all decided.  Everything is pacific.  There is not a suggestion even of war, revolt, or conflicting purpose of any kind.  We all go on exactly as we are doing for another year, pursuing our own individual objects, just as at present.  But we are all to see that in our own households order prevails.  All that is supposed to be effective is to be kept in good working order, and whatever is, at present, not adequate to possibilities is to be made so.  This is all simply protective and defensive.  We understand each other.  But if any hulking stranger should undertake to interfere in our domestic concerns, we shall all unite on the instant to keep things as we wish them to remain.  We shall be ready.  Alfred’s maxim of Peace shall be once more exemplified.  In the meantime the factories shall work overtime in our own mountains, and the output shall be for the general good of our special community—the bill to be settled afterwards amicably.  There can hardly be any difference of opinion about that, as the others will be the consumers of our surplus products.  We are the producers, who produce for ourselves first, and then for the limited market of those within the Ring.  As we undertake to guard our own frontiers—sea and land—and are able to do so, the goods are to be warehoused in the Blue Mountains until required—if at all—for participation in the markets of the world, and especially in the European market.  If all goes well and the markets are inactive, the goods shall be duly delivered to the purchasers as arranged.

So much for the purely mercantile aspect.