The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1910-06-09

rugged strength and courage. rugged
capacity to resist wrongful aggression
by Others. will go hand In hand with
lofty scorD OF doing wrong TO 9th
ers.
The Greatest Empire.
You belong 10 a uation which pos
sesses the greatest empire upon which
the sun has ever shone. ! belong TO
nation which is trying on scale
hitherto uneXampled TO work out the
problems Of government for. of and
by the people, while at the same time
doing the international duty OF great
power.
But there are certain problems which
both Of us have TO solve and as to
which our standards should be the
same. The Engllshman. the man OF
the British isles, In his various homes
across the seas and the American both
OF home and abroad are brought Into
contact with utterly allen peoples,
some with a civilization more ancient
than our own. others still In or having
but recently arisen from the barba-
rlsm which our people left behind ages
ago.
The problems that arise are OF well
nigh inconceiyable difficulty. They
cannot be solved by the foolish senu-
mentality OF stay at home people with
little patent recipes and those cut and
dried theories Of the political nursery
which have such limited applicability
amid the crash OF elemental forces.
Neither can they be solved by the
raw brutality OF the men who. wheth'
er at home or on the rough frontier OF
civilization. adopt might as the only
standard Of right In dealing with 9TH
er men aud treat alien races only as
subjects for exploitation.
bold that the laws OF morality
which should govern individuals In
their dealings one with the other are
Just as binding concerning nations In
their dealings one with the other. The
application OF the moral law must be
different In the two cases. because In
one case Ii has aud In the other IL has
not the sanction Of civil law with
force behind II. II would be foolish
indeed TO pay heed TO the unwise per-
sons who desire disarmament to be
begun by the very peoples who OF all
others should not be left helpless be-
fore any possible foe. But We aust
reprobate quite as strongly botH the
leaders and the peoples wiz practice
or encourage or condone aggression
and iniquity by the strong CT the ex-
pense Of the weak
We should tolerate lawlessness and
wickedness neither by the weak nor
By the strong. and both weak and
strong we should In return treat with
scrupulous fairness. The foreign pol
icy Of a great and self respecting coun-
try should be conducted on exactly the
same plane of honor. Of insistence
upon ones own rights and OF respect
for the rights OF others, as when a
brave and honorable man is dealing
with his fellows.
Permit me to support this statement
out Of my own experience. For nearly
eight years l was the head Of great
nation and charged especially with the
conduct Of its foreign policy. and dur
ing those years I took no action with
reference to any other people on the
face Of the earth that l would not
have felt justified In taking as an In
dIyidual IN dealing with other individ-
uals
Try at Least.
| believe that we Of the great CIV
illzed nations Of today have a right
to feel that long careers OF achieve
ment lie before our several countries
To each Of US Is vouchsafed the hon.
orable privilege of doing his part. how
ever small. In that work.
Let US strive hardly for success.
even If by so doing we risk failure,
spurning the poorer souls Of small en-
deavor who know neither failure nor
success.
Let us hope that our own blood shall
continue in the land that our children
and children's children to endless gen.
erations shall arise TO take our places
and play a mighty and dominant part
In the world. But whether this be de-
MED or granted by the years we shall
not see, let at least the satisfaction be
ours that we have carried onward the
lighted torch in our own day and gen.
Grafton. II we do this. then. as our