Valparaiso University - Beacon / Record Yearbook (Valparaiso, IN)

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20 absolute monarchs, became ambitious for gain, and, disregarding the rights 07 others, were thrown into that bloody struggle known as the thars of to Rosesfl And upon these ruins was erected that system of royal despotism; from which we trace, directly, the conflict between the .two great classes oi people in England, which lead to American freedom. On the one hand the: lords, on the other the peasantry; or on the one hand the land-owning class, and on the other the laborers. The former made the laws and strove to main-,. tain and perpetuate their vast fortunes through the law courts; the later, a' great part of whom lived in America, were continually asking only for their , rights and justice, and at last, found an ungarrisoned refuge in the courts of equity. So those people living on American soil, seeing that these courts were too weak to battle against the combined force of the king and parlia- ' ment, determined to be free or be a people without a country. They posessed the martyrls spirit and the crusaderls enthusiasm. They were too wise not to know that it was not personally their own cause in which they were embarked; . they realized that the most they could promise themselves was that, having 3 cast forth the seed of liberty, having. shielded its tender germ from the stern E blasts that beat upon it, having watered it with the tears of waiting eyes and ' the blood of brave hearts, their children might gather the fruit of its branches, while those who planted it should moulder in peace beneath its shade. But ours is not the only government thus organized;eeonstituted ttin the image and likeness thereoim are the Dominion of Canada, the German Empire, the Swiss Confederation, and the Commonwealth of Australia. When Immanual Kant affirmed that as a prerequisite to world federation all the nations of the globe should establish representative governments, he t was living in an age when atuocratic government prevailed throughout Europe. He rightly thought that a world union of despotic governments would be the tomb of liberty, both individual and nationalaa world-wide i Russian despotism. Since he wrote his plea for peace, we have seen how, during the past century, the Democratic Revolution in Europe has established, and is still establishing, representative government in all the Christian states. Monarchies and autoeracies have always relied on the cannon and the sword for their existence; the republic, on the other hand, has taught the world that the only true form of government is derived from the citizenis respect for the law, whether it be written or unwritten; and that, if no authority came from the people in creating this law, no appeal could be made to them in preserving it. Just at the close of last century Czar Nicholas surprised the world by proposing to all the governments having representatives at the Russian court a meeting, the significance ofiwhich is without a parallel. This International Peace Conference, which met at the Hague, considered means of insuring world-wide peace and of putting a limit to the progressive increase of arma- ments. This body deliberated upon many proposed solutions, and adopted some measures, the most important of which was the establishment of a per-

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19 ments which were created and maintained only by force, our nation7 states and federal unions are and have ever been the results of this political evolu- tion. When we find the human family even in its, what we call7 semibarbarous state,e-untaught7 uncultured, unrestrained. they are settling all disputes by duel, if they are Personal; and by the sword, if national. Not an opinion is allowed by one of a lower rank over that of a higher, and permitted only in the same rank when the propounder of the argument can overpower his adver- sary. While today, though we are yet but half-eivilized, we respect the opinions of others, and submit our national and international differences to an umpire or an arbitrary board. Formerly, political divisions, separated from each other only by small natural boundaries, knew nothing of each other, save when one trespassed upon the territory of another, and he had the results of an encounter to suffer. Today, because of interstate and international coni- nieree, all the most advanced nations of the world have adopted the same standard units of time, of weights, and other denominations; our modern trans- portation lines and modes of communication have put us within the same walls; our systems of education make it possible to have a iieongress of nations, here in this institution; the strong brotherhood of man which con- served the past, is preserving the present, and insures a progressive future, was never nurtured as it is now; and not until man has faith in himself, in his fellow-being, and in an overruling power, will he recognize his fellowman as his brother, and realize that they have a common interest and a common destiny. The manifestation of this Virtue is the greatest proof of our advancement If we will place ourselves out yonder in space, and View the world as a whole, there is not a tendency in universal history so manifest as the tendency toward world unity. At first we View the race collected into small groups, called clans; then by the union of a few of these clans, we have the tribe; and, likewise, the eityestate; the nai'on state; and lastly, and by far the most advanced yet, the federal state. of which our own Union, consisting of forty-siX states, is the model. Our government was not an accident, but a result. America is libertyis native home. You readers of history remember that, since the beginning of the recording of, events, the great masses of the common people have striven to be freed from the tyranny of despotic rulers. At first the people rightly called their leader the king; but in later years, because of his exorbitant demands for taxes, his lavish expenditures of the peoples money, and his unjust and tyrannical rulings, he was called the tyrant. Then to free themselves from that oppressive ruler, there was established throughout Europe the institution of feudaiism. While in itself a poor form of government, feudalism was as necessary for the devel- opment of the people as was the king in earlier times. Under this form of government, the barons, who had primarily forced the Great Charter from King John, and who had kept him and his successors from reigning like

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21 manent International Court of Arbitration to Which all nations may have recourse for the settlement of their disputes. Since its creation many cases have been submitted and both satisfactorily and amicably settled. It is to be hoped now that in the near future an International Congress shall be estab- lished, necessarily with limited and advisory powers at first, but Which, like the congress of our own Ccnfederation of 1781, may in due time develop into a truly great legislative body, capable of dealing With all problems of inter- state and international concern. At the ter-centenary celebration in Burlington last month, President Taft congratulated himself on having heard uttered those sincere expressions of good Will and the promise of a lasting: era of peace, as came from the accredited representatives of England, France, and Canada. Although we look about us and hear the cry, just as the Greeks and Romans did, ttBring us back our golden age l-the good old days of our fathersW yet we have men to-day Whose lofty and towering geniuses, like that of the cosmopolitan Agricola, drink in the love and beauty of great and excellent glory more ardently than cautiously. The time has come for men to 100k onward and upward for the ttg'olden agell; for, though the race moves on slowly and at times somewhat reluctantly, yet it is building a Hmonument more enduring: than brass and loftier than the regal structure of the pyramids.,, When men are looking for a higher meaning of life, civilization must advance, and the republic is the highest form of civilization. Why should the race look back or bow down to stagnant pools When it is possible, through persever- ance, to approach freely to the crystal spring-heads of perpetual peace? Well did Tennyson express it When he said: ttMen, my brothers, men, the workers, ever reaping something new: That Which they have done but earnest 0f the things that they shall do: For I dipt into the future, far as human eye could see, Saw a Vision of the world, and all the wonder that would be; Saw the heavens fill With commerce, argosies of magic sails, Pilots 0f the purple twilight, dropping down With costly bales; Heard the heavens fill with shouting, and there rained a ghastly dew From the nationsl airy navies grappling in the central blue; For along the world-Wide Whisper 0f the south-Wind rushing warm, With the standards of the peoples plunging throt the thunder-storm; Till the war-drum throbtd no longer, and the battle flags were furlld In the Parliament of Man, the Federation of the Worldf,