There
being then no lack of martial spirit in these two peoples, it is an
instructive phenomenon that power to conquer is not their ideal of
national greatness. Much the same thing may be said of some other
self-governing constituents of the British Empire, such as Australia,
New Zealand, and South Africa. They, too, have a better ideal of
national greatness than that of military supremacy.
What are the real ambitions and hopes of the people of the United States
and the people of Canada in regard to their own future? Their
expectations of greatness certainly are not based on any conception of
invincible military force, or desire for the physical means of enforcing
their own will on their neighbors. They both believe in the free
commonwealth, administered justly, and with the purpose of securing for
each individual all the freedom he can exercise without injury to his
neighbors and the collective well-being. They desire for themselves,
each for itself, a strong Government, equipped to perform its functions
with dignity, certainty, and efficiency; but they wish to have that
Government under the control of the deliberate public opinion of free
citizens, and not under the control of any Praetorian Guard, Oligarchic
Council, or General Staff, and they insist that the civil authority
should always control such military and police forces as it may be
necessary to maintain for protective purposes.
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