Evening star., 1921-07-31
BRYCE EMPHASIZES
VALUE Of LEADERS
Former Ambassador Tells In
stitute of Politics Masses
Must Follow.
BY the Associated Press.

ny the hssOcidteu ffeBs.
WILLIAMSTOWN. Mass, July 30
The development Of international re-
lations as begun in the days Of an
cient peoples, and as continued to the
present day, when they have been
shattered by a desolating war. and
not resettled by any real peace" was
taken UP by Viscount James Bryce
tonight in the first public lecture be-
fore the Institute Of Politics, now
meeting at Williams College.
Broadly speaking" he declared.
international relations are what the
leaders Of peoples make them, be-
cause under every political constitu-
ton that has ever been devised the
many are led by the few
The opening lecture of the institute
series attracted an audience that
filled Grace Hall to capacity, the
members and guests being augmented
by hundreds of visitors from all parts
of New England.
Discusses Nature Of Man.
Viscount Bryce spoke, in part, as
follows:
The starting point for an inquiry
into the relations of communities is
the nature of man. or shall l say
man as he was in state ofnature?
Let US try to remember through the
whoie course of our inquiry into the
relations of nations two fundamental
propositions. One is that every in
dependent political community is, by
virtue OF its independence, in state
OF nature toward other communities
pelng subject to no control except
that which public opinion, or the fear
OF consequences that MY follow from
d1Sregarding public opinion. may i'm
pose. The other is that the prospect
OF improving the relations of states
and peoples to one another depends on
the possibility of improving human
| nature itself.
"A sound and wise view of national
| interests, teaching the peoples that
they would gain more by the Coroner
! alton OF communities than by their
| conflict, may do much to better those
| relations. but in the last resort the
question Is one Of the moral progress
| OF the individual man who composes
| the communities.
| Lord Bryce briefly sketched the ca :
reers OF Napoleon Ronaparte, Bis
marck, Cavour. kossuth and Max
zini.
| Great Men Unpredictable.
u note the careers OF these men,"
ne went on, as instances to show
| how large is the unpredictable eIe-
| meRt in the field of International as
well as in that of democratic poll
TICS. Modern writer's, claiming to be
scientific, try to represent the general
causes as everything and the indi-
| vlduals as no more than particular
beings in whom the tendencies of an
age are embodied.
~ these had not been embodied in
napoleon or Bismarck OF Cavour, SO
they argue, they would have equally
| well been embodid in and given force
to some other personality. History
| contradicts this assumption. Crises
aaise Wnen some strong man is need
Cd to embody the effort an age seems
to be making, but the man does not
! appear and that which he might have
| done Is not achieved. Had there been
no bismarck and. no Mazzini, we
tu'f snt Eurona mavs oeea today y very differ;
predictions must leave a wide mar
gin for the influence which the pres
| ence or some powerful personality
! may exert.
People What Leaders Make Them
In all political action, and espe-
| cially IN foreign relations. the peo-
tes. P.e hins init,a,tHe ,ttie knewiedEe and even
| they are what their leaders make
them. Under every political constitu-
| tion that has ever been devised the
many are led by the few.
The less the mass knows of the
real facts and the really significant
| issues, the more it must depend on
prominent individual men for guild
ance; and the fewer are the promi-
nent figures that can be watched and
judged. This is especially true of in.
ternational issues, because those are
least within the knowledge of the
average man. He must trust some
one.
| Whenever one traverses after
nightfall dangerous mountain path.
| the man who knows the path must
be followed whatever the risks. He
may miss the way; he may perhaps
wish to lead you astray, but IL you
have no knowledge OF your own. II
| is better to follow him than Grope
in the dark among precipices Euro
pean people have been cropping in
the dark for the last few years and
their relations to one another during
and since the war have been left to
q few guides