place
of international law;--to set up and to upset the balance of power as
they please; and to regulate the common concerns of the world? And shall
the United States accept whatever the Czar may be pleased to decide
about those common concerns? And shall the United States silently look
on, however the Czar may grow upon the ruins of common international
law, to an all-overwhelming preponderance?

That is the question. And that being the question, the people has
answered it, and has pronounced about it in a manner too positive and
too evident to be mistaken. It is already more than a year ago, that a
distinguished American diplomatist publicly advertised his
fellow-statesmen, "that it is the popular voice which will henceforth
decide, without appeal, the great coming questions in your foreign
policy, before the Executive or Congress can consider them." Some have
reproached me for unprecedented arrogance in trying to change the
hereditary policy of the United States. But it is not so. I did but
engage public attention to consider the exigencies of time and
circumstances. The _finger of the clock_ only shows the hour, but
makes not the time. And so did I. And allow me to say, that the coming
of such a time was already anticipated by many of your own
fellow-citizens, long before my humble name, or even the name of my
country, was known in America. Please to read the works of your own
distinguished countryman WAYLAND, who for more than thirty years was
engaged at one of your high schools in the noble task of instilling
sound political principles and enlightened patriotism into the heart and
mind of your rising generation. You will find that already in 1825,
after having spoken of the effects which this country might produce upon
the politics of Europe simply by her example, he thus proceeds:--

"It is not impossible, however, that this country may be called to exert
an influence still more direct on the destinies of men. Should the
rulers of Europe make war upon the principles of our Constitution,
because its existence '_may operate as an example_,' or should a
universal appeal be made to arms on the question of civil and religious
liberty, it is manifest that we must take no secondary part in the
controversy. The contest will involve the civilized world, and the blow
will be struck which must decide the fate of men for centuries to come.
Then will the hour have arrived, when, uniting with herself the friends
of Freedom