Part 18

I ask you again to rise and lift your glasses high to the joint toast of the other Allies: to his Majesty the King of the Belgians, whose valiant and heroic people have suffered frightfully and have again shown, as Cæsar taught us, that "_horum omnium fortissimi sunt Belgae_;" his Imperial Majesty the Czar of all the Russias, whose brave soldiers have stood so much of the brunt of the battle and paid such an awful toll, and to his Majesty the King of Italy, and his courageous army and navy, whose help may yet prove decisive.

As the permanent object of the France-America Committee, which was organized long before the present war, is to perpetuate the traditions and bonds of friendship which bind the governments and peoples of France and America together, our guests will readily appreciate why France should seem, at the moment, to be foremost in our thoughts.

Monsieur Homberg, Monsieur Mallet: Le Comité France-Amérique de New York éprouve un très vif plaisir à saluer en vous les délégués de la République Française. Le Comité tient à vous témoigner l'amitié des Américains pour la France, notre admiration de l'héroïsme que le peuple français de toutes classes a montré pendant l'année affreuse qui vient de s'écouler, nos ardentes sympathies pour vos souffrances, et nos souhaits pour votre avenir.

Notre hospitalité est malheureusement imprégnée d'une tristesse poignante, car un souci de tous les instants ne nous permet pas d'oublier la guerre brutale et féroce qui a dévasté une grande partie de la France et presque toute la Belgique, et qui menace non seulement les libertés des peuples français et belge, mais la civilisation de toute l'Europe. Il est vrai que notre gouvernement national, pour des raisons d'état, se trouve forcé de maintenir une neutralité légale, tâche si difficile et si complexe, mais le peuple américain ne saurait être indifférent aux malheurs et aux détresses des Français. Un grand Américain a bien dit que c'est en apprenant l'histoire de son pays que l'enfant américain apprend à aimer la France. Nous ne pourrions jamais oublier l'aide généreuse, la sympathie, le dévouement, et le désintéressement que le peuple français nous a témoignés au début de notre histoire. Le souvenir, Messieurs, en est ineffaçable. Innombrables sont mes compatriotes qui prient de tout cœur qu'une nouvelle Bataille de Poitiers contre les Sarrasins délivre bientôt la belle et sainte terre de France de ses envahisseurs.

Le service que la France a rendu aux Etats-Unis est souvent méconnu et quelquefois oublié. L'heure est venue de réfuter et les dénigrements et les préjugés. Le Comité France-Amérique voudrait saisir cette occasion pour rappeler hautement ce que nous devons à la France et exprimer la reconnaissance profonde que le peuple américain ressent envers le peuple français.

La plupart des historiens, cherchant leurs matériaux dans les archives des gouvernements et dans les notes des rois et de leurs ministres, ne voient trop souvent qu'un calcul ou un motif intéressé dans l'aide que la France nous a apportée et dans l'amitié qu'elle nous a témoignée pendant notre Guerre d'Indépendance. Mais ceux qui cherchent consciencieusement à pénétrer jusqu'à l'âme du peuple français pendant les années de 1776 à 1781, comme l'avait fait l'historien Américain, James Breck Perkins, feu le président du Comité des Affaires Etrangères de notre Congrès National, attestent que cette aide, qui fut si efficace et qui seule a rendu notre succès possible, était désinteressée et n'était inspirée que par sympathie pour un peuple faible et par amour pour la liberté et la justice politique. La Fayette, l'ami intime et dévoué de Washington et de Franklin, était véritablement l'incarnation du sentiment d'enthousiasme exalté et de sympathie ardente que les Français ressentaient alors dans toutes les classes pour un peuple qui voulait être libre. Sans doute Louis XVI. et Vergennes y voyaient des avantages incidentels et des raisons d'état, mais c'était bien le peuple impatient et l'enthousiasme et le sentiment public de la nation entière qui ont finalement forcé le gouvernement du Roi à nous envoyer une armée disciplinée sous Rochambeau et une flotte de guerre sous d'Estaing et de Grasse. L'importance incalculable du service rendu par les Français peut être estimée en nous rappelant que les deux tiers et les mieux équipées des troupes alliées à Yorktown étaient français, et que ce fut à Rochambeau que le commandant anglais avait cru devoir rendre son épée.

En prenant part à notre Guerre d'Indépendance, le peuple français savait parfaitement que son aide lui coûterait un prix énorme et que les impôts déjà trop lourds devraient être encore augmentés. L'historien Perkins déclare que le montant des dépenses de la France pour libérer l'Amérique s'est élevé à sept cent soixante douze millions de dollars, c'est à dire, à plus de trois milliards huit cent millions de francs.[71] De cette énorme dépense, qui a ruiné le trésor royal, comme l'avait bien prêdit Turgot, pas un sou n'a été remboursé à la France. Elle ne l'a jamais réclamé, et elle en refuserait fièrement aujourd'hui le remboursement en nous rappelant qu'elle avait stipulé dans le traité d'alliance avec les Etats-Unis d'Amérique du 6 Février, 1778, qu'elle ne recevrait aucune indemnité pour sa coopération et ses sacrifices, et que même si le Canada était conquis, cette contrée serait annexée aux Etats-Unis et non pas retournée à la France. Ce traité, sans précédent en générosité dans l'histoire du monde, était le premier de tous les traités que les Etats-Unis ont faits et le seul traité d'alliance dans notre histoire.

Ne serait-il pas souverainement juste, si le peuple américain, cent trente quatre ans après la bataille de Yorktown, reconnaissait ce service--je me refuse à l'appeler dette--en offrant au peuple français un crédit commercial du principal, c'est à dire, sept cent soixante douze millions, remboursable quand la France le pourrait? Même en francs, ce ne serait que l'équivalent d'une contribution insignifiante par chaque citoyen des Etats-Unis, et bien moins en valeur que l'impôt qui a été payé volontairement et de bon cœur par le peuple français du dix-huitième siècle pour nous aider. Quelle noblesse, quelle gloire, quelle splendeur de cœur, d'âme et d'esprit si les grands banquiers américains avaient pu proclamer au monde qu'ils avaient eux-mêmes offert le crédit en reconnaissance du passé! Nous serions vraiment fiers de notre génération si elle pouvait écrire une page aussi sublime, aussi impérissable dans l'histoire du monde. Alors, Messieurs, nul doute ne subsisterait quant au succès éclatant de votre mission, surtout si une parole éloquente pouvait toucher le cœur des Américains et leur rappeler combien ils doivent à la France, à cette république sœur et souffrante, et combien la question aujourd'hui n'est pas seulement une affaire commerciale pour notre propre profit avec nos meilleurs clients, mais aussi une question de gratitude pour un ami loyal et dévoué et de sympathie effective pour un grand et noble peuple qui souffre.

Au nom de cette reconnaissance et de cette sympathie américaines que j'ai essayé d'exprimer en interprétant, j'en suis convaincu, la pensée de tous les Américains réunis ici, je lève mon verre en l'honneur de la République Française, de la France blessée mais si vivante, si courageuse, si valiante, et de ses représentants distingués qui nous honorent de leur présence, M. Octave Homberg et M. Ernest Mallet. Messieurs, j'ai l'honneur de vous présenter M. Homberg.[72]

My Lord Chief Justice of England and Gentlemen of the British Commission: After the eloquent tributes of last night at the Pilgrims, I find it extremely difficult to express and convey to you the full import and sincerity of our welcome.

Every tie that can bind one people to another binds the American people to the English. Most of us are of the Anglo-Saxon race and have the same blood coursing through our veins. To the great majority of Americans, England has ever been the mother country. We speak the same language, read the same literature, strive for the same ideals, are governed by the same principles of politics and jurisprudence, and entertain the same fundamental conceptions of right and wrong and justice as among men and among nations. The greater part of England's history is our history; her Magna Carta is our Magna Carta, and the immortal deeds of valor of the English, Scotch, Irish and Welsh are our heritage and the source of our inspiration. Our hearts, therefore, cannot but beat faster day after day as we read of the splendid heroism and noble self-sacrifice of your great race.

To our minds the noblest and the most truly glorious page in the history of England was written by Sir Edward Grey when, on behalf of your government, my Lord, he refused to break the plighted faith of England to avoid involving his country in the greatest and most disastrous war in the history of the world, a war for which England was not prepared, for which Sir Edward and his colleagues knew she was not prepared, and which threatened and might involve the ruin of the British Empire. There is a nobility and sublimity, inexpressible by mere words, in the act of sending that small but now immortal British army to Belgium in August of last year, to face tenfold its number, to die for strangers--for a mere "scrap of paper," as a treaty was cynically and immorally called--solely that the honor of England might be kept inviolate. England has never been grander or nobler than on that day. The glory she then gained cannot fade. Gentlemen, the Anglo-Saxon race never rose to higher renown than when the British statesmen of to-day showed on such a grand scale that the spirit of the Light Brigade at Balaclava still lives:

"Their's not to reason why, Their's but to do and die."

And we Americans were then prouder than ever before to belong to the Anglo-Saxon race.

England may prevail in this war, or she may fail. But whatever may happen, whatever may be decreed by Providence, your magnificent and unselfish heroism in springing to the defense of Belgium has added to England's renown and to our race a glory which is priceless and infinitely beyond the whole cost of the war, a glory worth dying for, a glory that will thrill and uplift generations of men for all time, a glory that will ever inspire acts of patriotic service and valorous self-sacrifice, of chivalry and honor.

Although, Gentlemen of the British Commission, the deep sympathy of the great majority of Americans is naturally with the Allies in the present war, we want you to return to England appreciating why we must loyally support the neutrality which the President of the United States has proclaimed. The policy of this country in regard to European wars was fixed in 1793. One of the most important and enduring of the many services that President Washington rendered to the United States was when he stood firm as a rock against the abuse and clamor of that day in upholding and enforcing neutrality in favor of England as against the demands of her then enemies. We have consistently adhered to that principle for more than one hundred and twenty years. It has been our fixed and constant policy, not a football of politics, or of newspaper propaganda, or of temporary emotion or expediency, but the sober judgment and conscience of the nation. The essence of this policy is that it is the duty of our government, not only to the present but to future generations, to avoid being drawn into European wars unless our honor or our vital interests become involved. During more than a century we have invited the inhabitants of every nation of Europe to come here and become a part of our country, and we have impliedly assured them of our adherence to this traditional policy of neutrality. If, now, we also should draw the sword, out of heartfelt sympathy and friendship for the Allies, or in indignation at the outrage of the violation of Belgium, we might become hereafter constantly involved in European conflicts in which we should have no other than a humanitarian interest, and as a result find the devoted friends and relatives of to-day the inflamed and bitter enemies of to-morrow.

My Lord and Gentlemen of the British Commission, we want you to return to England realizing how difficult and complex is the task of our President. Under our system of government, he alone can speak for the nation and commit us in our foreign relations, upon him alone is imposed the awful burden of responsibility and duty, and patriotism commands us as Americans loyally to support him, whatever may be our individual opinions or sentiments as to particular measures or grave omissions. We want you to return profoundly convinced that in standing by our policy of neutrality, we are not indifferent, or callous, or pusillanimous, or mercenary; and that our President is striving on our behalf to do what is right as God gives him to see the right, not only by the Americans now living but by those future generations for whom we are the trustees. Above all, we want you to return to England firmly believing that we unqualifiedly approve and extol the noble and heroic action of England in drawing her sword in defense of Belgium, and that our heartfelt sympathy and good wishes are with you and your heroic sailors and soldiers at the front.

Gentlemen, I ask you to rise and lift your glasses high and drain them in honor of the distinguished representatives of England. I have the pleasure of presenting to you the Right Honourable Lord Reading, the Lord Chief Justice of England.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 70: Remarks as presiding officer at a luncheon given in honor of the members of the Anglo-French Credit and Finance Commission, at the Hotel Knickerbocker, New York, October 1, 1915.]

[Footnote 71: France in the American Revolution, p. 498; see also the introduction by Ambassador Jusserand, p. xv. The accuracy of these figures has not been independently verified. An examination of the late Mr. Perkins' papers does not disclose the source of his statement. The French archives show a direct expenditure of 1,507,500,000 livres, but these figures do not include payments made in and after the year 1783. Professor Marion of the Collège de France is of opinion that the total expenditure probably reached 2,000,000,000 livres. Marion, _Histoire Financière de la France, 1715-1789_, vol. I, p. 303, Paris, 1914; see also Gomel, _Les Causes Financières de la Révolution Française_, vol. II, p. 36, Paris, 1893. Fiske, in his Critical Period, p. 35, states the expenditure to have been 1,400,000,000 francs.]

[Footnote 72: M. Homberg replied in French, and Mr. Guthrie then continued as above.]

INDEX

American ideals, 37, 161, 267.

Ancestor-worship, 27-29.

Anglo-French Commission, 261.

Anson, Sir William R., 104, 106.

Aristotle, 14.

Athens, 42.

Australia, 81.

Ayers, In re, 118.

Bakers case, 57, 153.

Bancroft, George, 30.

Bankers, Case of the, 106.

Bar, should defend the courts against criticism, 70, 127, 147, 158; duty to defend constitutional guaranties, 85, 86; efforts to secure proper judicial nominations, 139-141; professional responsibility, 142-143.

Barons, Articles of the, 5.

Bate's case, 17.

Belgium, 261, 262, 267, 270.

Bill of Rights, New York statute of 1787, 19, 23; permanent nature, 20, 21, 203; the federal bill of rights, 74, 83; must be enforced by the courts, 77-78; ineffective where legislative power is supreme, 77-78. _See_ Constitutions and Constitutional limitations.

Blackstone, Sir William, 99, 168.

Bonham's case, 10.

Bosses, Political, their power increased by direct primaries, 142, 236, 238; efforts to overthrow them, 230-231, 245; Woodrow Wilson on, 242.

Bracton, Henry de, 102.

Bradford, William, 30n, 38-39.

Bryan, William J., 180-182, 213-215.

Bryce, Viscount, 69, 251.

Carlisle _vs._ United States, 101.

Charter, _see_ Constitutions and Magna Carta.

Chisholm _vs._ Georgia, 89, 95.

Church and State, Separation of, germ of idea in Magna Carta, 11, 12; an American political principle, 12; opposed by Puritans, 32, 33; accomplished by the Pilgrims, 32, 34.

Clark _vs._ Barnard, 96.

Class legislation, may lead England to restrain temporary majorities, 11; masking as social reform, 43; dangers of, 74, 79, 85, 124; New York tenement law of 1884, 85; involved in graduated taxation, 165, 166.

Cleveland, Grover, 149, 151, 216.

Cohens _vs._ Virginia, 93.

Coke, Sir Edward, 23, 105.

Common law, silent as to the equal protection of the laws, 36; may be changed by the legislature, 68-69, 134-138, 155; the birthright of Americans, 98; soundness of common-law rules, 132-134.

Commune consilium, antecedent of parliament, 16; power to impose taxes, 16.

Communism, a conceit of Plato's, 38; failure of the experiment in Plymouth colony, 37-39; in the colony of Virginia, 38.

Congress, decay through increase of executive power, 44; power to regulate interstate commerce, 61; cannot regulate internal affairs of the several states, 61; acts of, 61, 62, 68, 100, 121, 126; limitations upon, 74, 78, 81, 169-171; proposes amendments to the Constitution, 74, 89; attempts to curtail the federal courts, 88, 125; duty to enforce constitutional amendments, 110; duty to uphold the Constitution, 171-172; protection of American industries and wages, 193-197; dissatisfaction with, 205-206.

Consolidated Gas Co. case, 122.

Cooley, Thomas M., 90, 161-162.

Constitutions, principles rooted in Magna Carta, 1; intended to endure forever, 20, 21, 203; unwise to create political body to enforce, 25; may be deprived of practical force by failure to observe constitutional restraints, 46, 75; explanation would dispel prejudice against the courts, 48; nature and purpose to declare general principles, 52; a rule of interpretation, 154-155; antiquated in the view of modern iconoclasts, 202; small vote on amendments, 208-209; should deal only with fundamentals, 224, 225. _See_ Magna Carta and Mayflower Compact.

Constitution, Federal, sources of, 1, 31, 98; enforced by the courts, 25, 42 sqq., 70 sqq., 87 sqq., 109 sqq.; supremacy of, 71 sqq., 87, 111, 113; considered and ratified, 74, 88, 89; easily amended, 82-85, 89, 91-92, 175, 176, 208; necessity for deliberation in amending, 84-85, 176-177; rule for construing, 97-98; oath to support, 171-172; attempts to circumvent, 175; embodies eternal truths, 203. _See_ Constitutional limitations.

Constitutional government, depends upon constitutional morality, 26; its debt to the Pilgrims, 29, 32, 35; characterized by equality before the law, 35.

Constitutional limitations, idea in Magna Carta, 6-7; recognized in statute of 42 Edward III., 7, 8; common to every American constitution, 8, 73; not imposed upon parliament, 9-11, 76-77, 107; their enforcement left to the courts, 25, 45, 47, 70 sqq., 87, 109, 113, 127; growing impatience with, 42, 43, 48, 124, 202; could be nullified if judges followed the prevailing morality, 45, 46; enforcement by the courts necessary, 70 sqq.; binding upon Congress, 74-75, 171-172; Elihu Root on, 75; make possible constitutional morality, 86; to be observed by the President, 171-172. _See_ Constitutions, Due process of law, Constitutional morality, Judiciary, and Fundamental laws.

Constitutional morality, a condition of permanent free government, 26, 42; discussed generally, 42-86; growing tendency to disregard, 42; its disregard caused the overthrow of Grecian democracy, 42; its essence is self-imposed restraint, 42; its necessity should be taught, 48, 85-86.

Conventions, Constitutional, their duty to secure the privileges of Magna Carta, 2; the first American, 29-30, 37; Ohio convention of 1912, 61, 64; the federal convention of 1787, 89, 256; in New York, 154, 186, 235, 257.

Conventions, Nominating, discussed generally, 219-246; right to, should be guaranteed by the Constitution, 220, 225; their origin, 229; abuses of, 229, 237; movement to abolish, 230, 239-240; their merits and advantages, 236-237, 242-246.

Cotting _vs._ Kansas City Stock Yards Co., 123.

Courts, _see_ Judiciary.

Coxey's Army, 181, 199.

Criminal Procedure, delays in, 126, 143-146.

Cromwell, Oliver, 34-35.

Crown, power limited by Magna Carta, 11, 12, 24-25; former exercise of legislative power, 17; maxim that "the king can do no wrong," 98, 102, 105, 108, 114; sued under the Petition of Right, 99-102; not suable in tort, 102.

Cullen, Chief Judge, 80, 139, 210.

Davis _vs._ Gray, 115.

Day in court, 13, 121, 150.

Debs case, 148-151, 212, 215-216.

Declaration of Independence, proclaimed the inalienable rights of the individual, 4, 81; relation to the Mayflower Compact, 30; its spirit perpetuated, 76; marked human progress towards liberty, 203; its truths eternal, 203.

Demagogue, his plea that the people are infallible, 43; his well-known arts, 192.

Democracy, the fallacies of absolute, 39-40, 43, 165; in Plymouth colony, 39; historical failures, 42, 75, 205.

Democratic party, principles and recent campaigns, 178 sqq.; tariff legislation, 195-198; on use of injunctions, 213-214.

Despotism, equal laws a feature of, 36; will result from increasing power of the executive, 44.

Dicey, A.V., 15, 103.

Dies parentales, 27.

Due course of law, in New York bill of rights of 1787, 23.

Due process of law, universal application in the United States, 18; equivalent of "law of the land" (q.v.), 18; substance of expression in Magna Carta, 18; history of expression in America, 18-19, 23-24; meaning, 19, 22-24; earliest use, 22-23; term meaningless to man in the street, 48; principle applied in the Tenement House case, 54; in the Ives case and Employers' Liability cases, 65, 68.

Education, Catholic parochial schools, 247-260; primary and elementary, 253; the Catholic university, 255; public grants to private schools, 256, 257.

Edward I., 100.

Edward III., 7, 8, 11, 22, 23.

Edward the Confessor, 7.

Egyptians, 27, 168.

Election Law (New York), 209, 219.

Elections, primary elections a menace, 39, 142, 227-228, 231-236, 238, 245-246; presidential, 178 sqq.; nomination of candidates, 207, 219-246; vote on constitutional amendments, 208-209; effect of the short ballot, 222-224; secret ballot objectionable, 228; some New York statistics, 231-233; origin of primaries, 239-240; to judicial office, 243-245. _See_ Conventions.

Electorate, responsible for political evils, 205-206, 245; voting a duty, 206, 238, 245; indifference and negligence of, 207, 208, 209, 230-232, 237, 240; remedy for corruption, 237-238.

Eleventh amendment, main treatment, 87-129; text, 91; possibly qualified, 97, 110.

Employers' Liability cases, 61-64, 67-68, 121.

English church, its part in Magna Carta, 3, 4, 11, 12; freed from the crown by Magna Carta, 11, 12.