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are Christian nations; and our teaching and our practice impel us to avoid such carnage and desolation as civilization has suffered in the last six years.

Already flames of war flare up in the remoter nations of Europe and the Near East, and who can say that they may not burst into another general conflagration. Discontent among the masses threatens the internal social and industrial order of many nations. And the por

tentous menace of Bolshevism, declaring implacable war upon our most cherished social, economic and political institutions, presses from without upon the weakened nations of Europe struggling to their feet.

In the face of this how insignificant are mere names and words, how secondary are internal politics, and how unworthy is human pride! Ought we not to set aside all such things and contribute our all to the preservation of our already shaken civilization?

XVI

SPEECH AT A MEETING OF THE ENGLISHSPEAKING UNION*

TH

HIS Union aims to promote the solidarity of English-speaking people among whom Anglo-Saxon blood is the dominant strain, in the faith that the strengthening of their common institutions will tend to preserve the peace of the world. The Union was conceived in a spirit opposed to philosophy which would establish world dominion through force.

More and more the English language is becoming the chief medium in international intercourse; -as a diplomatic language it is rapidly forcing French into the background. But we could not, if we would, impose it upon the world; for the languages of the great nations of the world serve their needs, produce great literature and are suited to the interpretation of national aspirations. It would likewise be presumptuous for us to assume that our ideals of morality, of religion, of education, or of the fine arts, are superior to those of other nations. What the English-speaking nations may claim, however, is that after centuries they have evolved, but not without struggles and suffering, legal and political institutions which, imperfect though they may be, are yet calculated to cultivate a desire for peace and to afford effective means for its preservation.

* Delivered January 20, 1925.

The mass of the people of all civilized nations are opposed to war; institutions of government through which the wishes of the majority may readily be expressed enable them to satisfy their yearning for peace; and representative government, prevailing in England and America, is the most effective form yet devised for carrying into effect the will of the people. As the masses in those countries, in their domestic affairs are influenced by ideals of justice or, in colloquial phrase, of fair play, so, under their political systems they are more likely than in other countries to apply those ideals to international relations.

It is quite natural for us to take a good many things in our social and governmental system for granted. We feel at liberty to complain that they are not perfect; but a consideration of how they have been evolved tends to teach us their value. And the fundamental things which go to make up the body of the legal and political rights of English-speaking nations are not only worth preservation for their domestic welfare, but, applied to the affairs of the world at large, tend to introduce into international relations, principles of good-will and justice, or fair play, and thus aid in the preservation of the peace of the world. England and America and all dominions and possessions of Anglo-Saxon blood, believe that there can be no impartial justice administered except by judges who are independent of extraneous influences of every kind, political and social. This belief is based upon the most characteristic ideal of Englishspeaking people, who apply it to their practical affairs. In England the tradition goes back to early struggles when Kings by divine right attempted to influence judicial action; it is preserved in this country by dividing

the powers of government into three departments, the executive, the judicial and the legislative, each in the main independent of each other. The impartial administration of the law, without respect to persons, by independent judges, is a feature of Anglo-Saxon government which has produced in the course of centuries ideas of justice by no means so characteristic of the systems of other nations. It is those ideas in international affairs which will inevitably tend to the peaceful settlement of controversies, without resort to the arbitrament of war. If fixed principles of law, applied by impartial judges, can be extended so as to play in the relations among nations the same part that they do in the domestic affairs of Anglo-Saxon nations, we will have advanced far towards removing one of the most fruitful causes of war.

Fear that judges would not be independent delayed the establishment of a World Court for more than a quarter of a century after the United States at the First Hague Conference sought to have it established. It was a great American jurist, Mr. Root, who devised a method by which judges could be selected who in their judicial action would be impartial and could be depended upon to apply to non-political controversies between nations, principles of international law, without reference to mere expediency. The Court is founded upon the ideals of justice and its administration, for which the English-speaking nations have stood for centuries. Unfortunately, we have not joined the Court. It is difficult to understand how, without being false to our record for the last quarter of a century in seeking to procure such a Court, and to our own ideals of fundamental justice impartially administered, we can

long remain indifferent to this concrete effort to establish a tribunal whose decisions will tend, on principles of established international law, to remove from controversy questions whose agitation might well be a cause of war. No nation represented upon the Court is compelled to submit a controversy to its adjudication; the Court is not an appendage of the League of Nations, which deals with international affairs in their political aspect; in the performance of its judicial functions the judges of the Court act in a strictly judicial manner and upon fixed principles of international law; and finally adequate steps are being taken for the formulation of those principles for the guidance of the Court. These are the elements which constitute the World Court a tribunal according to the ideals of English-speaking nations; and if we join the Court, we shall do much to apply to international controversies the conception of justice and fair play which has been the result of our experience for nearly a thousand years. Here then is an opportunity for English-speaking nations to stand together for one institution which will settle many controversies which might lead to war.

Other features of Anglo-Saxon institutions help to make the people potential in avoiding war. Some of them are embodied in our Constitution. They especially tend to the cultivation of an intelligent public opinion. The right of free speech and of free assembly, established after many struggles in England and in this country, is now rarely even questioned. A similar right is that of the free press under which newspapers may express their views, within the limitations imposed by the law of libel, unrestrained by the power of the government. In those countries whose political systems are

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