PREPARE THE WORLD FOR PEACE.

OULD it not be well now to reverse the oft-repeated

W maxim and say, "In time of war prepare for peace"?

Whether or not the nations are, technically, at "war," they are certainly in bloody conflict and a dark war-cloud threatens the peace of all the world. With this storm in sight the great heart of humanity moves in anxiety. Men are forecasting the future with great misgivings. And now, more than ever, is the time for leaders of thought to direct the movement toward better methods of protection. Men now stand with bated breath and wait for leaders. Human government is possible without this bloody method. War is not the way to Christian progress. The prelate who counsels it betrays his Master.

It is time now for the wisdom of the age to be concentrated upon this problem. Let statesmen come to the front with studied plans for a civil government of the world that will adjudicate the conflicts between nations as civil courts do between individuals. Such a proposition would now impress itself with favor upon many men of every nation. If it were carefully considered and wisely presented, it might lead to the abolishment of war. Only thus can the world realize a truly Christian civilization.

In this question are involved the deepest interests of the human race. Every consideration of humanity, of economy, and of morality demands that better methods be found; and that life, liberty, and property be made secure from the ravages of

war.

We cannot now see just whither we are drifting. We are told that history repeats itself—that the past is an index to the future. But this must be taken only in a very general way. Conditions are always changing and new factors entering into the problem, so that anything like a scientific forecast, from the historic viewpoint, is always impossible. But men see the future along the line of present movements rather than in any

light of history. The proverb, "Coming events cast their shadows before," expresses the spirit of our prophetic inspiration.

Never, since historian wrote or prophet spoke, was there a time when the future appeared so pregnant with momentous consequences as at the present hour. Every thinking man must view with seriousness the "mad'ning maze of things." Perhaps most men are hopeful, and amid the dark clouds discern the rainbow of promise.

We see in almost all productive and commercial activities a tendency toward coöperation and consolidation—an abandonment of destructive rivalry. These new methods have added immensely to production and development. The introduction of like methods in the world's government would be a blessing beyond estimate. Is it not a coming necessity? Every nation now feels a profound interest in the movements of every other nation. Our wonderful century has brought the peoples of all the earth so near together that it is hardly possible for war to be made between any two nations without, in some way, inflicting damage or inconvenience upon all other nations. The whole world is rapidly becoming one great family. So intimate have commercial and social relations become that a discordant note struck anywhere vibrates around the world.

It will be the great work of the new century to devise some way to adjust international differences and abolish wars between nations. There is no more reason for nations settling their disputes by violence and blood than there is for individuals choosing the same methods. Really, individuals have the better reason for violence. In their case the parties aggrieved become the combatants; whereas in war men are made to slay those who have done them no wrong. We cannot claim to have reached a high civilization until the taking of human life is forbidden to nations as well as to individuals.

We may not hope that the Golden Rule or any principle of ethics will immediately be brought forward and made to end all the strife between nations. Men in authority are not generally actuated by Christian ethics. They look more to precedents and say that they may do what others have done. Only

in adversity do nations appeal strongly to the principles of justice and equal rights. The same people, when made secure, may become less scrupulous. It was in an hour of danger that our fathers so earnestly declared that all governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. But, having secured a place among the nations and become a worldpower, we attach less importance to truths considered so vital in the time of our weakness. The republicans of South Africa and the Philippines cherish these high ideals and confidently appeal to the conscience of mankind for their correctness. But England and America, with their efficient armies and established power, give but a second place, or no place at all, to these sentiments. In a carefully prepared paper, giving an opinion as to what rules should govern Great Britain in dealing with the subjugated republics of South Africa, Sir Sidney Shippard said:

"Altruism is all very well in private life, as an exhibition of Christian virtue; but in a struggle for existence between States, in what is called higher politics, enlightened selfishness is and must be the only guide. A statesman's first duty is to safeguard the interests of his own country, and if this cannot be done without hurting the feelings of another, tant pis pour les autes."

These are the words of a representative Englishman, a judge of the supreme court at the Cape of Good Hope. They are words of authority. The man that makes this statement speaks from the front rank of the most powerful Christian nation of the world. He will be quoted as giving a rule accepted by the Christian world at the end of the nineteenth century-"Enlightened selfishness is and must be the only guide." No Golden Rule; no question of justice, nor of the rights of others. The statesman must safeguard the "interests of his own country," and if others suffer-so much the worse for the others!

This position is not at all peculiar to English statesmen; it is the highest morality that belongs to the code of power. Our own nation is not up to this standard. We are afflicting others where it is not necessary to the interest or safety of our own country.

If we hear Sir Sidney further we may learn more of how the future looks to one standing on vantage-ground. Speaking of Britain's future as a world-power, he says:

Our first care must always be to keep our navy in a state of perfect efficiency, able at any time to vanquish the strongest combination of hostile navies likely to be brought against us; and if, in view of the increase of the navies of Russia, Germany, and France, it becomes necessary for us to double or treble our present naval force, we must double or treble it as the case may be."

Here is a clear statement that may, perhaps, be taken as the English view of the situation to-day. That government must, at whatever cost, continue to maintain a navy able to vanquish any probable or possible combination of navies that can be brought against her. Viewed from any point except that of her own ambition, this position is monstrous. From an economic standpoint it is a menace to her own people; for, although England as a creditor nation has made practically the whole world tributary to her people, yet she cannot continue the course here pointed out without sooner or later oppressing her industries and disturbing the income of her ruling classes. And to other nations she becomes a double menace. She threatens them with impoverishment by the continual necessity of increasing navies and multiplying armies; and she also threatens them with utter destruction, singly, if they should ever neglect or fail to maintain an effective defensive combination.

Statesmen cannot look upon this as a settled condition. So to declare would be to pronounce the human race a failure. Such a condition is one of very unstable equilibrium, and cannot long maintain its poise. Our civilization must soon find a broader foundation. It may settle down upon the absolute supremacy of England, or that empire and all present governments may be superseded by one civil government of the world. Such a government, under a written constitution and with a court having full and final jurisdiction over all differences arising between nations or States, and no further, would at least abolish international war.

With such a civil compact of nations, each reserving the right to choose its own form of government without let or hindrance, no rights would be sacrificed but all made more secure. And nations could not then encroach upon one another any more than citizens can now appropriate or despoil the property of their neighbors. Either this or the strong arm of Empire must yet restrain the ambitious rivalry of aggressive nations.

The Empire method is doubtless a favored dream of English statesmen. For three generations England has cherished an ambition to spread her mantle over the entire human race. That ambition is vigorous; and, but for an unruly member in her own family, she might have now been nearing the goal. The loss of her most valuable colonies, in the last century, checked the growth of British power. But now, to some, the recovery of that loss appears almost in sight. They believe that with the return of the American prodigal British authority will soon be made supreme. If that should come, and be accepted so that the nations would learn war no more, it might be a step forward. There is much to admire in English institutions and English law. Some of her methods might suggest improvements to our own lawgivers. But in the government of her conquered provinces she furnishes an object-lesson that no nation will accept save under compulsion. Perhaps if English rule had been as gentle and as just everywhere as in Canada and Australia, many of the nations might have gladly accepted the shelter of her power. But, while India and Ireland remain as they are, other nations will prefer the storms without to the pressure within.

There are no longer any geographical reasons why the world should not be ruled under a single management. It has grown very much larger than it was under the Roman rule; but improvements in transportation and communication have gone very much beyond the expansion of territory and the increase of population. In improving these facilities more has been done in the last century than was done before in the whole history of man. Distance has been annihilated. The whole world is