of its own citizens and one from another country, and the fifth should be agreed upon jointly by the two powers; that the report should be rendered within a year; and that during that time there should be no increase of armament or other military preparation by either party, unless threatened with attack by a third power. This scheme was presented to thirty-nine nations, and by thirty-five of them it was promptly accepted in principle, to wit, in the order of their acceptance, by Italy, Great Britain, France, Brazil, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Peru, Austria-Hungary, The Netherlands, Bolivia, Germany, Argentina, China, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Denmark, Chile, Cuba, Costa Rica, Salvador, Switzerland, Paraguay, Panama, Honduras, Nicaragua, Japan, Persia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Uruguay. By the end of 1914 treaties embodying the principle were negotiated with all these countries. Amid this unprecedented profusion of irenic efforts, and probably in part because of them and as a counterblast against them, preparations for the world's greatest war were at first furtively and then openly pushed to completion. At midsummer of the very year in which so many peace treaties were being made, the storm broke. The United States was geographically and diplomatically remote from strife. Yet twentieth century civilization made, in war as in peace, all nations next door neighbors. The principles agreed upon at The Hague, to which agreement this country was a party, were ignored and violated, and the neutrality of this country was challenged and assailed more seriously and more malignantly than it had been before for a hundred years. At the very moment when we were commemorating the completion of a century of peace with the power with which our two chief foreign wars had been waged, we were made to realize, perhaps as never before, that universal peace was still a pious aspiration of the unmeasured future, and that our national security still rested upon the self-same basis that had been wisely prescribed by the Father of His Country at the beginning of our national life. This cursory review of our foreign relations will have failed in its purpose if it does not convince us, with the arguments of a century and a half culminating in the transcendent emphasis of Armageddon, that "Citizens by birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections . . . Nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded. . . . The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.. It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world. . . . There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. . . . To be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace." It is through the sincere and unfaltering pursuit of such policies and maintenance of such principles that America as a worldpower among world-powers must realize fulfilment of the Vision: "Earth's Biggest Country's got her soul and risen up Earth's Greatest Nation." |