Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1919-05-16
DISTURBED BY WORLDS HASTE TO BREAK
AWAY FROM THE PAST.

OioS OhuIO " UVHLU y HHOtI Y DnIAF
AWAY FROM The PAST.
Warns That Changes To Be Perma
nent Must Come Gradually.
/ In brief speech at a dinner il
Paris, May 9th President Wilson
touched on the future role of inter
national law in the development Of
the new order Of things. The dinner
was that Of the International Law
Society Association OF which Sil
Thomas Barclay is president.
President Wilson's address in full
follows:
Sir Thomas and Gentlemen:
eteem 1t a very great pleasures to
find myself in this distinguished
company and in this companionship
OF letters. Sr Thomas has been
peculiarly generous, as were the
gentlemen at the other end of the
table, in what they have said of me,
but they have given me too high a
role to play up to. 1t is particu-
larry difficult to believe ones self
to be what has been described in so
small a company as this. When a
great body of people is present, one
can assume a pose which is impos-
sible when there is so small a num-
Der of critical eyes looking directly
at you.
| And yet there was one part Of Sir
| Thomas generous Interpretation
which was true. What I have tried
to do and what have said in speak
Ing for America was to speak the
mind of America, to speak the i'm
pulse and the principles of America.
And the only proof I have of my
success is that the spirit of America
responded, responded without stint
| or limit, and proved that it was
ready to do that thing which 1 was
! privileged to call upon it to do.
And we have illustrated in this
spirit of America something which
| perhaps may serve as partial guide
for the future. May l say tnat one
! of the things that has disturbed me
in recent months Is the unqualified
: hope that men have entertained
everywhere of immediate emancipa-
/ ton from the things that have ham .
| pered them and oppressed them.
You cannot in human experience
rush into the light. You have to go
through the twilight into the broad
ening day before the noon comes and
the full sun is on the landscapes; and
, we must see to it that those whose
hopes are not disappointed by show
ing them the processes by which
hope must be realized. processes of
law, processes of slow disentangle-
ment from the many things that have
/ bound us in the past
! You cannot throw off the habits
I OF society Immediately any more
| than you can throw off the habits of
| the individual Immediately. They
must be slowly got rid of, or, rather,
they must be slowly altered. They
must be slowly adapted. they must
be slowly shaped to the new ends
for which we would use them. That
is the process Of law If law is in
diligently conceived.
l thought it privilege to come
here tonight. because your studies
were devoted to one OF the things
which will be of most consequence
to men in the future, the intelligent
development of international law
III oiS SSiSe lilS 3 cat
ed war was fought to give validity
to international law. to prove that
it had reality which no nation
could afford to disregard; that while
1t did not have the ordinary sane
lions, while there was no interna-
uonal authority as yet to enforce it,
1t nevertheless had something be-
hind 1T which was greater than that,
the moral rectitude of mankind
If we can now give to interna-
tional law the kind of vitality which
1t can have only If it is real express
son OF our moral judgment. we shall
have completed in sWne sense the
| work which this war was intended to
emphasize.
international law has perhaps
| sometimes been little too much
| tional law. has (may | say ! without
cffense?) been handled too exclus.
lively by lawyers. Lawyers like def
mite lines. They like systematic ar,
| engagements. They are uneasy il
they depart fromw hat was done yes.
! terday. They dread experiments
| They like charted seas, and !: they
! have no charts. hardly venture &c
undertake the voyage.
| Now we must venture upon un.
charted seas to some extent in the
future. In the new league Of nations
we are starting out on uncharted
seas. and therefore we must have,
will not say the audacity, but the
Stcadiness Of purpose which Is neCes
! sary in such novel circumstances
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