New Britain herald., 1916-11-18

closely together that there is a cer- tain community of national life throughout the world. As the estab- 1shment and enforcement of laws within an organized civilized com mun1ty depend in the final analysis upon the will of the people and upon public opinion within that commun- ity, so the enforcement of public rights through organization of the na- tons prepared in advance must also depend upon the public opinion of the world. Upon the advance and devel- cpment of that opinion must rest the hopes of those who look for a world tribunal backed when necessary by worldwide force for the restra int of an outlaw nation. Many voices ad- mOnish us that all this is idealistic and visionary, that the standards, con- captions and purposes of our present civilization forbid the realization of any such ideal, that there must be the death of this era and the birth of a new before humanity shall attain to so much self-mastery. All conjcc- ture is idle, but to me it Is certain as my own existence that modern civ i1ization will ultimately disintegrate and perish if it fails to achieve this idea.
 ITO us involved in the most ter rible struggle that humanity has ever known-a struggle in which we have taken part of our own free will and because we realize the world compelling consideration which it's issues involve-the events of the past two years have brought both . les son and an inspiration.
 Many hundred thousand men will return after this war to their homes in the Oversea Dominion of the Brit ish commonwealth. They will have thronged upon the stage of the worlds theater of action and taken a mighty part in settling world issues and de- termining the future destiny of civili- zation and humanity. Upon our At 1antic and Pacific shores, by our in land waterways, in the northern hin terlands of Ontario and Quebec, on our vast western plains and still fur ther west within the shadow of ma jestic mountain ranges, these men will take up anew the task of developing and upbuilding our country. They will take up that work with a con- sciousness that Canada has played 8 worthy part in the Hateful struggle which she entered at the call of duty and for the cause of freedom. Theirs will be a inperishab1e recollection "f comradeship with men of the mother land and of all parts of the kings s dominions; theirs also a wider vision and deeper insight from service in a high cause. Hardly less profound will be the influence of the war upon all our people. They have learned that self sacrifice in a just cause is al once duty and a blessing; and this les son has both inspired and ennobled the men and women of Canada.
 '"The overseas men will have learn ed another lesson and they will have learned it so thoroughly that it never can be forgotten. That lesson is two fold; first, that the liberty, the secur- ity and the very existence of our en- pire are dependent upon the safety of the ocean pathways whether in peace or war; next. that while sea power cannot of itself be the instru. ment of world domination it is never theless the most powerful instrum ent by which world domination can be effectually resisted. Three hundred years ago it forever crushed arrogant pretensions then put forward to con- trol western trade routes and to ex- clude therefrom the free nations of the world. Little more than a century ago it maintained freedom against world domination by @ single military