the progress from the ancient wager of battle to the present organization of courts of justice. I am sanguine enough to believe that, as soon as the two governments have once resolved that a fixed system of international arbitration shall 5 be established between them, the same ingenuity which has been exerted in discovering difficulties will then be exerted in removing them, and most of them will be found not to exist. The end to be reached in good faith determined upon, a workable machinery will soon be devised, be it a permanent 10 arbitration tribunal, or the adoption of an organic rule for the appointment of a special tribunal for each case. We may trust to experience to develop the best system.

23. Neither am I troubled by the objection that there are some international disputes which, in their very nature, cannot 15 be submitted to arbitration, especially those involving questions of national honor. When the habit of such submission is once well established, it will doubtless be found that most of the questions now thought unfit for it are entirely capable of composition by methods of reason and equity. And as to se 20 called questions of honor, it is time for modern civilization t leave behind it those medieval notions, according to which personal honor found its best protection in the dueling pistol, and national honor could be vindicated only by slaughter and devastation. Moreover, was not the great Alabama case, which 25 involved points very closely akin to questions of honor, settled by international arbitration, and does not this magnificent achievement form one of the most glorious pages of the common history of America and England? Truly, the two nations that accomplished this need not be afraid of unadjustable 30 questions of honor in the future.

24. Indeed, there will be no recognized power behind a court of arbitration, like an international sheriff or other executionary force, to compel the acceptance of its decisions by an unwilling party. In this extreme case there would be,

as the worst possible result, what there would have been without arbitration - war! But in how many of the fourscore cases of international arbitration we have witnessed in this century, has such an enforcing power been needed? In not a single one. In every instance the same spirit which moved 5 the contending parties to accept arbitration moved them also to accept the verdict. Why, then, borrow trouble where experience has shown that there is no danger of mischief? The most trustworthy compelling power will always be the sense of honor of the parties concerned, and their respect for 10 the enlightened judgment of civilized mankind which will watch the proceedings. We may therefore confidently expect that a permanent system of arbitration will prove as feasible as it is desirable. Nor is there any reason to doubt that its general purpose is intelligently and warmly favored by the best public 15 sentiment both in England and in the United States. The memorial of two hundred and thirty-three members of the British House of Commons which, in 1887, was presented to the President and the Congress of the United States, expressing the I wish that all international differences be submitted to arbitra- 20 tion, was, in 1890, echoed by a unanimous vote of our Congress requesting the President to open negotiations, in this sense, with all countries with which we had diplomatic relations. Again this sentiment broke forth in England as well as here, on the occasion of the Venezuela excitement, in demonstra- 25 tions of the highest respectability. Indeed, the popular desire, as well as the argument, seems to be all on one side. I have heard of only one objection that makes the slightest pretense to statesmanship, and it needs only to be stated to cover its supporters with confusion. It is that we are a young and 30 aspiring people, and that a binding arbitration treaty would hamper us in our freedom of action!

25. Let the light be turned upon this. What is it that an arbitration treaty contemplates? That in all cases of dispute

between this and a certain other country, there shall be an impartial tribunal regularly appointed to decide, upon principles of international law, equity, and reason, what this and what the other country may be justly entitled to. And this arrange5 ment is to be shunned as hampering our freedom of action!

26. What will you think of a man who tells you that he feels himself intolerably hampered in his freedom of action by the ten commandments or by the criminal code? What respect and confidence can a nation claim for its character that rejects 10 a trustworthy and well-regulated method of ascertaining and establishing right and justice, avowedly to preserve its freedom of action? Shame upon those who would have this great Republic play so disreputable a part! I protest that the American people are an honorable people. Wherever its interests or 15 ambitions may lead this great nation, I am sure it will always

preserve the self-respect which will prompt it to court the search light of truth and justice rather than, by skulking on dark and devious paths, to seek to evade it.

27. Therefore, I doubt not that the patriotic citizens assem20 bled here to promote the establishment of a permanent system of arbitration between this country and Great Britain may be confident of having the warm sympathy of the American people behind them, when they knock at the door of the President of the United States, and say to him: "In the name of all 25 good Americans we commend this cause to your care. If carried to a successful issue, it will hold up this Republic to its noblest ideals. It will illuminate with fresh luster the close of this great century. It will write the name of the American people foremost upon the roll of the champions of the world's peace 30 and of true civilization."

OPPORTUNITY

JOHN LANCASTER SPALDING

AN ADDRESS delivered at THE OPENING OF SPALDING Institute, PEORIA, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER 6, 1899

INTRODUCTION

John Lancaster Spalding, writer, preacher, and orator, a descendant of an old English Catholic family, was born in Lebanon, Kentucky, June 2, 1840. He was educated at the Mount St. Mary's College, Cincinnati, Ohio, and at the University of Louvain, Belgium, where he was ordained priest in 1863. In 1865 he entered upon his priestly career at the Cathedral of Louisville. In 1872 he was selected to write the biography of his distinguished uncle, Martin John Spalding, formerly Archbishop of Baltimore, work which has been accepted as the best biography in Catholic literature.

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Father Spalding was consecrated Bishop of Peoria, Illinois, May 1, 1877, and his work has since been centered in this field. Along with the work in his diocese, he has taken a prominent part in various educational and social movements, and his position as an authority in the latter class of questions was recognized by his appointment in 1902 as a member of the President's commission to investigate the coal strike.

He early attracted attention as a pulpit orator. "Priests and people flocked to hear the orator who could make men think." Of late years he has been in constant demand as a speaker for various occasions. A man of strong mentality, he has a happy faculty of crystallizing his thought in brilliant expression. In the volume commemorative of Bishop Spalding's Silver Jubilee in 1899, - the occasion that called forth the address in this volume, – one writer says:

"America has no finer type of the cultured Christian gentleman; an uncynical sage, a thinker unafraid, a churchman without cant, an unselfish patriot, a large-minded, genuine, reverent man. At the beginning of this new century Bishop Spalding stands prophet-like apart to remind men of the nobler purposes of living."

1. How shall I live? How shall I make the most of my life and put it to the best use? How shall I become a man and do a man's work? This, and not politics or trade or war or pleasure, is the question. The primary consideration is not 5 how one shall get a living, but how he shall live; for if he live rightly, whatever is needful he shall easily find. Life is opportunity, and therefore its whole circumstance may be made to serve the purpose of those who are bent on self-improvement, on making themselves capable of doing thorough work. Oppor10 tunity is a word which, like so many others that are excellent, we get from the Romans. It means near port, close to haven. It is a favorable occasion, time, or place for learning or saying or doing a thing. It is an invitation to seek safety and refreshment, an appeal to make escape from what is low and vulgar 15 and to take refuge in high thoughts and worthy deeds, from which flow increase of strength and joy. It is omnipresent. What we call evils, as poverty, neglect, and suffering, are, if we are wise, opportunities for good. Death itself teaches life's value not less than its vanity. It is the background against 20 which its worth and beauty stand forth in clear relief. Its dark form follows us like our shadow, to bid us win the prize while yet there is time; to teach that if we live in what is permanent, the destroyer cannot blight what we know and love; to urge us, with a power that belongs to nothing else, to lay the stress 25 of all our hoping and doing on the things that cannot pass away. "Poverty," says Ouida, "is the north wind that lashes men into Vikings." "Lowliness is young ambition's ladder." What is more pleasant than to read of strong-hearted youths, who, in the midst of want and hardships of many kinds, have