ing the horizon. Twelve nations which at the second Hague Peace Conference solemnly declared for peace have since recklessly declared for war. The greatest champions for peace then were Czar Nicholas of Russia and Emperor William of Germany; as fiercest-grim-visaged-demons of war, these rulers now cry:

"Arm warriors, Arm for fight"

among the millions in the empires they represent. You may cry peace, peace, but there is no peace; over all illfated Europe man is arrayed against man for mutual slaughter. Nations formerly enemies are now allied in war as friends; nations formerly friends are now in warfare bitterest enemies. With the flag of patriotism waving from the mast-head, millions have gone to their doom in war's maelstrom of destruction. Torpedoed is the civilization of two thousand years; - our civilization, listing, sinking with hundreds of millions of victims; — the only explanation, servile allegiance to country.

"Be true to your country and your God"

is a sentiment grand; but grander the sentiment,

"The world is my country, to do good is my religion." From 1519 when, under the reign of Charles the First of Spain, Cortez landed at Vera Cruz; and from 1620 when, under the reign of James the First of England, the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock the history of Mexico and the United States respectively has been one of poetry and song, of romance and tragedy, each history unique in itself as the millions of men and women come on and pass off the stage of human action. In all these

years of history, Mexico has had her invasions by foreign foes from across the seas, her Spain and her France; the United States, her France and her England. Save the one break in friendship's golden chain, that of 1846, a break regretted by our illustrious Grant and our immortal Lincoln, there has existed between "Historic Old Mexico" and the "Great Mother of Free Nations" continuous peace, peace covering one hundred and thirty-eight years, years the most momentous in the world's history. Between these two republics there is now peace; in the interests of the two republics I now speak for continued peace; God grant that between these two republics there may always be peace.

Peace hath her victories no less renowned than war."

No one can enter into sympathy with the Mexican people who does not know Mexican history! Mexico has had her long centuries of struggle for freedom; her liberty bell is her emblem of freedom, but her struggle for freedom still goes on. She has had a Father of her country, her Emancipator and her hundreds of heroes. The thrilling stories of her battle-fields have been handed down from father to son. She has her lakes, her valleys and her mountains; she has her historic dwellings, her edifices of centuries ago and her ancient ruins, — held sacred through the changing years. In all the history of Mexico the Mexican armies have at no time, as the aggressor, crossed the border to acquire new territory; to exact tribute from another nation or to enslave other peoples. It has been her rich possessions which have brought Mexico fiercest foes; when God created conditions and gave Mex

ico her life He also gave her woes; and on through the centuries has turned the fateful wheel of destiny.

"The stroke of fate the strongest cannot shun."

The revolutionary war was a reminiscence; the war of 1812 had passed into history; the United States was growing in prestige; had demonstrated as a republic that the citadel of her liberties was immune from the attack of a foreign foe; was at that time leading the nations of the world on the highway of progress. Not so Imperial Spain. There was a time when the sun never set on the Spanish Dominions; when the Spanish Armada was considered invincible; when the flag of Imperial Spain floated over three-fourths of the globe. But the halcyon days of Spain lingered then only in memory. The Lion and Tower had become the emblem of smouldering national ruins. The Spanish navy had been swept from the seas; the distant provinces of the Spanish peoples disclaimed further allegiance to the Fatherland,-in America the Spanish dependencies were in open revolt; the once worldempire, like Admiral Cevera going out of the Bay of Santiago, was going to her doom.

But backed by the Holy Alliance, Spain hoped to regain her prestige; hoped to re-subjugate her SpanishAmerican colonies. The Holy Alliance, although supposed to be antagonistic to popular rights and to the free conduct within itself of a nation's internal affairs, hesitated to support Spain in her ambitious projects. England and Russia had territorial possessions in the north, over which there were arising complications with the United States. England would lose her over-seas trade