Jay William Hudson

“ If this is true with regard to individuals, it is still truer with regard to nations. Just as in the case of an individual, a nation may care very little for international public opinion if it happens to go counter to its own cherished aims and ambitions; and this defiance of public opinion on the part of a nation is sometimes reared to the glory of a supposedly just cause through the conception that an exalted patriotism demands it and that the nation's traditions and hopes, its integrity and honor call for self-assertion, even involving the defiance of the welfare of the world. ”

“ For, what is law? It is the outward expression, the visible sign and symbol of the social consciousness and the social conscience. Without it, society might have some sort of order, but it would not be sufficiently articulate, sufficiently self-conscious, to be secure, efficient and progressive. Nations can no more be left to themselves to act alone with regard to international measures affecting other nations than individuals can be allowed to do just what they please, regardless of the fortunes of their fellows. ”

“ There is a place for force in the world, not as the coercer of the international conscience, but as the expression of the international conscience. Force as the expression of international reason is the deification of force; force as the coercer of international reason is the prostitution of force. ”

“ There must be some way of compelling defiant nations to observe the world order. Now, just what this means of compulsion shall be is a question of no little debate. Many have thought that all that the international law and the international court will need is the sanction of the public opinion of each nation added to the sanction of that ever growing and powerful unit, international public opinion. No doubt public opinion is a most important factor in securing obedience to law. No doubt any law would be utterly useless unless public opinion were behind it demanding its enforcement. ”

“ The mere wish that civilization might express to settle international differences hereafter through rational measures rather than by force is not sufficient, no matter how ardent that wish may be. This wish, this desire, in order to prevail, must become objectified, codified, and as familiar to the consciousness of civilized men as the fundamental propositions of the constitution of a nation are familiar to its good citizens and are deemed by them inviolable, no matter what may be the temptations of self-interest and the passing wants of the moment. ”

“ After a desperate war of such magnitude, it is but natural that the peace negotiations will be conducted in somewhat the same temper as the war itself was waged. Any advantage gained by any particular nation will have been dearly bought and will not be easily relinquished. Of course, this is the great danger of the situation: the danger which the participation of neutral nations in the negotiations is designed to meet.
But I wonder if there is not a surer and more feasible way of influencing the terms of peace at the close of the war in favor of a stable international order. ”

“ These are the great fundamental things which civilization must accomplish before the international order is established and war is forever abandoned in favor of reason as a method of settling the world's problems. All these will be made possible by the average man and woman, by whom that large public opinion is molded through which the international mind comes into existence. We have depicted the ideal, and the ideal must be thoroughly understood and kept in mind always in all efforts which are being made for the attainment of the ultimate peace of the world. ”

“ But it is always dangerous for a single nation to make such a protest by itself. Misunderstandings in diplomatic exchanges, long pent up prejudices and emotions are apt to be aroused which may plunge such a protesting nation into the very war against whose procedure its protest is directed. But if the neutral nations protest together, the protest has great weight and becomes a very important factor in maintaining the order of the world. ”

“ The young boy and girl should be taught how much the culture, the civilization of every nation owes to the culture, the civilization of every other nation of the world, so that he shall not feel that the peoples of other nations are really aliens, but shall realize that to his own country's upbuilding have been contributed thoughts and deeds from those whom he is accustomed to call "foreigners." American history is rich in opportunities for this sort of teaching. We sometimes speak of America as being the melting pot of the various races of the earth ”

“ THE European war has awakened the world to a new consciousness. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the enlightened peoples of all countries are almost unanimous in their condemnation of the continuance of the war system as a means of settling international disputes. But the mere condemnation of the war system is not enough. It must be directed forcibly to the attainment of certain specific ends: otherwise, public opinion will simply spend itself in an effervescence of futile generalities which will accomplish little of practical import. ”

“ No longer can we trust ourselves as single nations, either as democracies or monarchies, to decide for ourselves great questions of international policy. I say neither democracies nor monarchies can be so trusted. Not monarchies: for the monarch is a human being, as fallible as are all human beings, with a natural tendency to sacrifice world welfare to national patriotism and aggrandizement ”

“ Very few peace advocates have ever been so unwise as to insist that any nation should practice such an impossible doctrine. Sometimes the impression has gone abroad that all the peace movement means is disarmament of this nation or that. The average man or woman who believes in international co-operation ought to help to remove this impression and make people understand that no great peace advocate is urging that the United States, for instance, shall disarm before the other nations disarm. ”

“ If John Smith wishes, he can openly defy both the law and the decision of the court. What do we then do with John Smith if he persists in thus disregarding these institutions for the securing of social order? There is only one thing left to do: we resort to force; we have him arrested, whether he likes it or not,—we have him confined if necessary. In other words, the law and the courts rely upon the force of a police to execute and make operative their decrees. Without that force, neither the law nor the court would be of any real value. ”

“ Once a people appreciates what it owes to another people in great ideas, it will be very reluctant to start on a killing expedition against those to whom it owes such genuine obligations.
One of the most encouraging aspects of the American public schools is the fact that their pupils are made up of the children of all races and of all nations. Slav, Teuton, Anglo-Saxon, Latin study side by side and learn to ignore racial and national differences in the daily experience of the possession of a common humanity. After all, children are alike the world over. ”

“ Friendship, whether personal or international, is much more a matter of right attitudes than of logic expressed in all sorts of social safeguards and machinery. Stress has been laid so far upon what might be called "the international mind" as part of the attitude men need to acquire, but one might also emphasize as equally indispensable "the prospective mind": the mind that not merely looks about and includes all existent beings in its interests, but looks forward and views the human race in terms of a never ending progress, which is capable of infinite possibilities. ”

“ But while public opinion is thus absolutely necessary for the enforcement of law, it is certainly far from sufficient. There are people in this world who care nothing about public opinion, or who care so little for it that they are willing to defy it for the sake of gaining personal ends. These people must be dealt with by some more drastic power than mere public sentiment. ”

“ There were forty-four nations of the world signatory to the Second Hague Conference. Ten of these nations are now (April 1, 1915) busy in the worst conflict that the world has known. This leaves thirty-four nations not at war, whose interests, nevertheless, are being seriously prejudiced every day that the war lasts. When the rights of any neutral nation are violated, when the safety of her people and the security of her business interests are threatened, it becomes at once imperative to protest against the infringement of such rights and interests. ”

“ The achievement of this law will, of course, be a gradual matter; indeed, it will be a matter of perpetual growth and improvement: but the supreme thing to attain just now is the unswerving and persistent purpose of all the nations to create such a law and to be loyal to it in terms of an international patriotism which shall never allow itself to be misled or betrayed by the narrower interests, often powerful and well-nigh irresistible, of the particular nations. ”

“ The fact is that thinking people have come to see that the "vital interests" of a nation cannot be separated from the vital interests of the world, and that there is no higher "national honor" than the assuming of that supremely honorable courtesy toward other nations which demands and concedes fair play and reasonable deliberation on all questions involving the larger human welfare. ”

“ Not democracies: for while, in Lincoln's phrase, you cannot fool all of the people all of the time, it is not so difficult to persuade an excited majority in times of stress that national patriotism means self-interest to the extent of asserting the so-called rights of the individual nation over against the manifest welfare of the world at large and over against the real and permanent welfare of the nation involved. ”

“ For instance, the American Peace Society has a branch in nearly every state of the Union. Every citizen of the United States, in so far as he is sincere in his desire for the promotion of world peace, should belong to his own state branch of the American Peace Society, for it is only by such universal co-operation that we can expect the ideal of international unity to be speedily realized. ”

“ The deliberations of the warring nations at the close of the war, when they conclude their negotiations for the peace of Europe, will be one of the most important and far-reaching events of all history. It will be an event that will not only profoundly affect the future fortunes of Europe, but will be of vital importance to the whole civilized world. ”

“ Certainly internationalists agree that there should be universal disarmament; but they also agree that no nation can disarm first,—that all nations must disarm together. We are idealists; but we must impress the world with the practicability of our ideals, and especially with the practicability of the immediate means which we advocate for the attainment of them. ”

“ The war came upon public opinion as more or less of a surprise and a shock, and it is not at all inconceivable that when this war shall close, public opinion shall have been educated through its bitter and tragic experience to make itself heard and felt as never before in the history of Europe. ”

“ Indeed, when the world has committed itself to such a system of law and order, even the world court will not have so many disputes brought to it as some people anticipate. The great majority of disputes will be settled by friendly means of a more intimate character: such as diplomacy and special commissions appointed to look into the facts in dispute and deliberate upon them in terms of fair play and common sense. There is rarely any question of a court of law and a resort to police on the part of friends. ”

“ Civilization is not static: it is intensely dynamic. Human nature is not static: it is capable of boundless change and improvement. It is needful for us to realize this last fact, because there are so many people who keep telling us that it is human nature to go to war; that it always has been human nature ”

“ Those who do not understand it are very prone to suppose that the peace movement is a matter of sentiment merely. The mass of the public should be speedily taught that back of the peace movement are some of the most practical minds in the world, including those of eminent statesmen, efficient business men, and practical scientists. ”

“ Thus it is that, for the sake not only of international interests but of that true national welfare which depends upon the conservation of international interests, international law of an adequate sort must be created and must gain the respect and allegiance of all the nations that create it. ”