The fruits of victory in a world war are never easy to appraise and perhaps it is not wise to look this gift horse of Providence too closely in the mouth. We cannot say with any degree of confidence what our condition would have been if we had lost the war, if we had made a compromise peace, or if we had avoided the conflict altogether by submitting to the will of the enemy. And the results of victory consist only in part in escaping the unpleasant consequences of defeat and the possibly less distasteful consequences of compromise or submission. They include, as well, a fleeting opportunity to reorganize the world on better lines.

So probable is it that this opportunity will vanish in abject failure, as similar opportunities have vanished in the past, and so little can anyone do to enhance its prospects of success, that it bears some resemblance to an expensive lottery ticket, whose holder has paid a high price for an infinitesimal chance of winning a great prize. Mathematics may reveal to us (as they did to Pascal) that an infinitesimal chance may have an immense value if the prize is adequate; but psychologically even the most inveterate of gamblers will shrink from backing an argument such as this.