The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-09-02


the chance Of laying before the audi
ence at the American Bar association
at Montreal this thought that induc-
ed him to obtain permission from King
George V to visit this meeting.
Continuing. Lord Haldane presented
the following message from King
George V:
Il have given ny lord chancellor
permission to cross the seas, so that
he may address the meeting at Mon
treal. I have asked him to convey
from me to that great meeting of the
lawyers Of the United States and Of
Canada my best wishes for its sue
cess. l entertain the hope that the
deliberations of the disting uished men
Of both countries who are assembled
at Montreal may add yet further to the
esteem and good will which the peo-
pie Of the United States and Of Can
ada n the united kingdom have for
each other"
The speaker then pointed to the
power Of lawyers in creating and de-
veloping law. as well as changing it. a
power more exercised out of the legis-
lature than within it. He spoke of the
influence of lawyers in the new world
in public affairs, which, he said, was
very striking to the observer. He
quoted from President Wilson as fol-
lows: 1.-THE country must find lawyers
of the right sort and the old spirit to
advise it or it must stumble through
a very chaos of blind experiment. 1t
never needed lawyers who are also
statesmen more than it needs them
now; needs them in it's courts. in it's
legislatures, in its seats of executive
authority; lawyers who can think in
terms Of society ITSELF"
Lord Haldane then dwelt at some
length upon the difference between
formulated law. whether civil or GRIM
inal; the moral rules enjoined by pri-
vate conscience and the spirit of the
community for which is being cut"
no name, but which the Germans call
"Sittlichkeit," and which he defined
as the system of habitual or customary
conduct, ethical rather han legal,
which embraces all those obligations
Of the citizen which it is bad form"
or not the thing to disregard, the so
cial penalty 70 which is being cut"
or looked on askance. He pointed out
that without such restraint there
could be no tOlerable social life, n
said that it was this instructive sense
of what to do and what not to do in
daily life and behavior that was the
sourc Of liberty and ease, and that
this instructive sense of obligation vas
the chief foundation of society. He
described "Sittlichkeit as those prin-
ciples Of conduct which regulate peO-
pie in their relations to each other,
anil which have become matter Of
habit and second nature at the stage
Of culture reached. and Of which there
fore we are not explicitly conscious
After calling attention to the moral
organism of the community which is
actuated by the general ethical will
he distinguished this general will from
the will of a mob, which he character
lied as a mere aggregate Of voices. He
pointed out that in time or crisis his
tory abounds with illustrations of the
general will rising to heights of which
few individual citizens have ever be-
fore been conscious.
Enlarging on this idea. Lord Hal
dane advocated the development of a
full international "Sittlichkeit' Oh
ethical habit among nations, as wei
as within nations. He recognized that
it's development was more hopeful If
the case of nations with some specia
relation than within a mere aggregate
Of nations. In this connection he sale
that recent events in Europe and thu
way in which the great powers ha(
worked together to preserve the peac'
of Europe as If forming one com
munity, pointed to the ethical posi-
bilities of the group system as deserV
ing OF close study by both Statesmen
and students. Drawing his address t
a close, Lord Haldane pointed to the
century of peace which has existed
between the United States n thu
people of Canada and Great Britain
during which the peoples Of thes'
countries have come to a greater pos,
session of common ends and ideal:
natural to the Anglo-SaXon group. Thu
binding quality of this internationa
"~Sittlichkeit," he declared, resulted il
the fact that a vast number Of citizens
would not today count it decent t
violate the obligations which that feel
ing suggested.
He advocated the settlement o
differences between these three coun,
tries in the spirit and in the name
in which citizens settle their differ
ences, and in this connection he saiC
it. was a splendid example to the WorlC
that Canada n the United State!
should have nearly 1000 miles O
frontier practically unfortified.
The Lord Chancellor then pointe,
out the special responsibility Of law
yers for the preservation of the futur,
relations Of friendship between tn
United States, Canada and Grea
Britain, in the fact that lawyers pla.
a large part in public affairs n in