The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-02-24
MEANS PEACE
Continues from First Page.

desolte winter at Valley Forge, the
winter which marked the turning point
of the Revolutionary war. Here he
came again as President of the Conven-
tion which framed the Constitution, n
then as President of the United States,
and finally as Northumberland Of the
Army after IL had retired from the
Presidency.
One hundred and eight years ago, just
before he left the Presidency, he issued
Gris farewell address. and in it he laid
down certain principles which he be-
zieved should guide the citizens of this
Republic for all time to come, his own
words being, which appear to me all
important to the permanency Of your
felicity as a people"
Washington, though in some ways ali
even greater man than Lincoln, did not
AVE Lincoln's wonderful gift Of ex-
pression-that gift which makes GER
tain speeches of the r~ail-splitter from.
Illinois read like the inspired u~tteranCe%
of the great Hebrew seers and prophets.
But ne had all of Lincoln's sound COM
mon sense, far-sightedness, and de-
votiOn TO a lofty ideal. Like Lincoln
he sought after tine noblest objects, and
like Lincoln he sought after them by
thoroughly practical methods. These
two greatest Americans "a fairly he
called the best among the great men
of the world, and greatest among the
good men of the world. Each showed
cure unde our system the priceless
in actual practice his capacity TO Sc
union of individual liberty with gov
ernmental strength. Each was as free
from the vices of the tyrant as from
the vices OF the ~demagogue. To each
the empty futility of the mere doctri-
naire was as alien as the baseness Of
n merely self-seeking politician. Each
was incapable alike of the ~wickedness
which seeks by force of arms to wrong
others and of the no less criminal weak
ness which fails to provide effectively
against being wronged by others.
Among Washington'S maxims which
he bequeathed TO his countrymen were
the two following: Observe good faith
apd justice toward all nations" and
L be prepared for war is the most
effective means to promote peace"
These two principles taken together
should form the basis of our whole for
eign policy. Neither is sufficient taken
by itself. 1t is not merely III idle
dream. but a most mischievous dream,
to believe that mere refraining from
WrongdOing will insure us against be-
ing WToEged. Yet, on the other hand
a nation prepared for war is q menace
TO mankind unless the national pur-
pose is TO treat other nations with
good faith and justice. In any COM
immunity it is neither the Conscientious
NAL who is a craven at heart, nor yet
the bold and strong man without the
moral sense, who is of real use to the
community; it is the man who TO
strength and courage adds a realizing
sense Of the moral obligation resting
upon him, the man who has not only
the desire but the power TO do his full
duty by his %neighbor and by the state.
SO, in the world at large, the nation
(which is OF use in the progress Of
mankind is that nation which combines
strength of character, force Of char
acter, and insistence upon it's own
rights. with a full acknowledgment of
its own duties toward others. Just at
present the best way in which we car
show that our loyalty to the teachings
of washington is a loyalty of the heart
and not of the lips only is to see to it
that the work of building up our Navy
goes steadily on, and that at the same
time our stand for International right
eouSneSS is clear and emphatic.
Never since the beginning o. our
Gountry's history has the Navy been
used in an unjust war. Neve has it
failed to render great and sometimes
vital service to the Republic. 1t has
not been too strong for our good, though
often not strong enough to do all the
crnoI az cho111H have done O1r DOS
session of the Philippines, our interest
in the trade of the Orient, our building
he Isthnian Canal, our insistence upon
tie Monroe Doctrine, all demand That
our Navy shall be of adequate size and
for its size of unsurpassed efficiency.
1t it is strong enough I believe it will
minimize the chance Of our being
drawn into foreign war. If we let it
run down it is as certain as the day
that sooner or later we shall have to
choose between a probably disastrous
foreign war or a peace kept on terms
that i1mp'y national humiliation. Our
Navy is the surest guaranty Of peace
and the cheapest insurance against
war, and those who, in whatever capac-
ity, have helped to build it up during
the past twenty years have been In
Spoo VcS~1 III "AA~ f@N ~
one of the most important of the prin-
.ciples which Washington laid down for
the guidance Of his countrynen. Nor
vas washington the only one Of our
great Presidents who SHOWED far
sighted patriotism by support of the
Navy. When Andrew Jackson was in
Congress he voted for h first war
ships we ever built as part of our reg
ular Navy; and he voted against the
grant of money to pay our humiliating
tribute to the pirates of the Barbary
states. Old Hickory was a patriot
through and through, and there was not
an ounce of timidity in his nadure, n
of course he felt only indignant con-
tempt for q policy which purchased
an ignoble peace by cowar!'&c instead
of ~exacting a just peace by Wing
we were as little willing to suo1;iIt to
as to infict aggression. Had a majority
ra.f-o,,s ooIJao o,.aS and S.-ncaSSOrS