ater, in proportion
to their means. Much is required of those to whom much is given. So
viewed, the ability speedily to put forth the nation's power, by
adequate organization and other necessary preparation, according to
the reasonable demands of the nation's intrinsic strength and of its
position in the world, is one of the clear duties involved in the
Christian word "watchfulness,"--readiness for the call that may come,
whether expectedly or not. Until it is demonstrable that no evil
exists, or threatens the world, which cannot be obviated without
recourse to force, the obligation to readiness must remain; and, where
evil is mighty and defiant, the obligation to use force--that is,
war--arises. Nor is it possible, antecedently, to bring these
conditions and obligations under the letter of precise and codified
law, to be administered by a tribunal; and in the spirit legalism is
marked by blemishes as real as those commonly attributed to
"militarism," and not more elevated. The considerations which
determine good and evil, right and wrong, in crises of national life,
or of the world's history, are questions of equity often too
complicated for decision upon mere rules, or even principles, of law,
international or other. The instances of Bulgaria, of Armenia, and of
Cuba, are entirely in point, and it is most probable that the
contentions about the future of China will afford further
illustration. Even in matters where the interest of nations is
concerned, the moral element enters; because each generation in its
day is the guardian of those which shall follow it. Like all
guardians, therefore, while it has the power to act according to its
best judgment, it has no right, for the mere sake of peace, to permit
known injustice to be done to its wards.

The present strong feeling, throughout the nations of the world, in
favor of arbitration, is in itself a subject for congratulation almost
unalloyed. It carries indeed a promise, to the certainty of which no
paper covenants can pretend; for it influences the conscience by
inward conviction, not by external fetter. But it must be remembered
that such sentiments, from their very universality and evident
laudableness, need correctives, for they bear in themselves a great
danger of excess or of precipitancy. Excess is seen in the
disposition, far too prevalent, to look upon war not only as an evil,
but as an evil unmixed, unnecessary, and therefore always
unjustifiable; while pr