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 Democracy and Peace 
 
 The Position of the United States 
 after the War 
 
 An Address by 
 
 ROBERT B. TUNSTALL, Esq. 
 
 OF NORFOLK, VA. 
 
 and 
 
 The Call of the Republic 
 
 A Poem by 
 
 COL. JENNINGS CROPPER WISE 
 
 Read by their Authors at the Joint Meeting of the 
 
 Virginia Societies 
 
 Sons of the Revolution 
 
 and 
 
 Sons of the American Revolution 
 
 Held at the 
 
 WESTMORELAND CLUB 
 
 Richmond, Virginia 
 February 22, 1917 
 

 By Transfer 
 
 APR 6 1917 
 
Democracy and Peace 
 
 The Position of the United States 
 After the War 
 
 The President's Peace Address 
 
 One month ago to-day, the President of the United States, 
 in an address animated by altruism and informed by idealism, 
 formulated to the Senate, his fellow-counsellors in the conduct of 
 our foreign affairs, his conceptions of such a League for Peace 
 as this nation, having regard to its national policy and traditions, 
 might enter after the war. 
 
 Briefly stated, those conceptions included (a) government by 
 the consent of the governed, which, from the context, seemed to 
 relate rather to the preservation of the principle of nationality 
 than to the matter of forms of government; (b) the possession, 
 by each nation, of an outlet to the sea; (c) the freedom of the 
 seas; and (d) a limitation of armaments. 
 
 Enthusiasm for the President's Ideals 
 
 Remarkable, if not unique, was the spirit in which this ad- 
 dress was conceived and delivered. Coming from one chosen, 
 in the fine phrase of John Quincy Adams, "by the people's 
 unbought grace to rule his native land," it arrested universal 
 attention, and, except for one expression to which I shall presently 
 advert, the sentiments it expressed received admiring tribute from 
 all parts of the world. 
 
 But Hesitation as to His Recommendation 
 
 The concrete recommendation made, however, was not so 
 generally accepted. It was the view of many that not even at 
 the close of the great world-drama now being enacted, should this 
 government depart from its policy of non-concern with European 
 aft'airs — a policy pretty steadily adhered to, as the parts we 
 played at the Congress of Berlin and the Algeciras conference 
 
were minor ones, and the Hague conferences dealt with general 
 rules of law, rather than special questions of specific nations. 
 The diversity of opinion was marked. One ex-President of the 
 United States favors whole-heartedly a league to enforce peace ; 
 another opposes it with equal industry and greater fervor. One 
 of the strongest opponents of the plan is the former Secretary 
 of War, Hon. Lindley AI. Garrison, whose judgment commands 
 the high respect of thoughtful Americans. 
 
 From this conflict of opinion there have emerged, broadly 
 speaking, two widely different views as to the proper course 
 of the United States — one held by those who favor our participa- 
 tion in whatever plan may be adopted, and the other by those who 
 oppose it. As to what the plan shall be, there is infinite variety 
 of suggestion ; and it cannot be denied that much depends upon 
 the plan. But time forbids my discussing details. 
 
 The Subject Proposed: the United States and a League 
 
 FOR Peace 
 
 It is rather of the main question — whether, assuming an 
 adequate plan, we should under any circumstances enter into 
 it — that I propose to speak to-night, and to suggest a solution ; 
 not without, 1 trust, an adequate realization of the seeming pre- 
 sumption involved in my doing so. But free speech has ever been 
 the American way, and if there be one fact that shines forth from 
 our history, it is that not by decrees of rulers, however wise, nor 
 at the dictation of leaders, however patriotic, but as the sum of the 
 thought of the whole country, there come those decisions whereby 
 our national i)olity takes shape and form. It must accordingly 
 be no less a duty than a privilege for any American to express him- 
 self as to those matters on which he has taken thought, in the 
 hope that he may make a contribution, however slight, to his 
 country's weal, and with the comfort of the reflection that, the 
 more humble his position, the less hurtful will be his error, if 
 error he commit. 
 
 Washington's Farewell Address 
 
 I have chosen this subject to-night because it seems to me 
 appropriate to the occasion. We celebrate here the birth of 
 George Washington to-day in the Capitol at Washington, following 
 
 2 
 
a custom inaugurated in wisdom, sanctioned by usage, and com- 
 mended by experience, there has been read his poHtical last will and 
 testament, whereby he bequeathed to the country, in an address that 
 has become a political dogma, the accumulated experience of a life 
 richer in enduringly constructive experience than any inscribed 
 upon the history of his country — I think I might say of the 
 world. And it is especially because of the Farewell Address 
 that I think my subject appropriate; for there can be no doubt 
 that the traditional aloofness of our government frorii foreign 
 alliances and entanglements had its genesis in that great docu- 
 ment. Its pronouncements and its recommendations are clear 
 and explicit. The special pleader, it is true, might find vent for 
 his peculiar capacity, by seeking, in captious and meticulous 
 fashion, to explain away its doctrines and to narrow its scope. 
 He might, for example, point out that Washington condemned 
 our implicating ourselves "in the ordinary vicissitudes of her 
 (Europe's) politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions 
 of her friendships and enmities;" endeavoring thus to establish 
 the proposition that the great speaker did not have in mind such 
 an extraordinary cataclysm as that which confronts the world 
 to-day. 
 
 Such an attempt seems to me to be unworthy. National deci- 
 sions cannot be based on hair-splitting, nor national policies on 
 verbal niceties. The call is for statesmanship, not dialectics. 
 
 The World in Washington's Time 
 
 But it is our duty and our privilege to compare the conditions 
 in Washington's time and now, as stated in the address itself 
 and as revealed in history. We should not overlook the fact, 
 for instance, that in the address it is said : 
 
 "Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, 
 or a very remote relation." 
 
 This could hardly be said with equal truth to-day. But of far 
 greater weight is the changed state of the world since Washing- 
 ton knew it, and upon this I would briefly touch. 
 
 One hundred and eighty-five teeming years have passed since 
 W'ashington was born. The period is a short one in the life 
 of the world, but it may be doubted whether there is to be found 
 
in history one more full of fundamental change. Of the great 
 world-empires of to-day, scarce one had then experienced its 
 effective beginnings. England had not yet wrested from France 
 unquestioned supremacy in India, in Canada, and in the western 
 outposts of those American colonies which she was so shortly 
 to lose by the abandonment of the principles which theretofore 
 had been her strength and afterwards were to constitute her 
 glory. Frederick the Great, perhaps the most commanding figure 
 of eighteenth century Europe, had not yet ascended the throne 
 from which, carrying forward the process begun by his grand- 
 father, he was so to establish the hegemony of Prussia as to 
 furnish the beginnings of modern Germany. Catherine of Russia 
 had not yet come with masterful intellect and dominant per- 
 sonality to extend and cement the vast, loose-knit empire whose 
 assimilation with European culture had begun with Peter the 
 Great. France, not yet recovered from the blighting influence 
 of Louis XIV, was yet to experience the successive stages of lust 
 of blood and lust of glory through which she was to pass in the 
 Terror and under Napoleon. Poland was still a great power. 
 The colonial empire of Spain remained, but attached to a power 
 whose European importance was dwindling. The great empires of 
 the East were closed, and substantially unknown. Africa meant 
 much what it did in the days of the Caesars, save as a reservoir 
 for the slave-supply. Australia was undiscovered. Meantime, 
 within the known parts of the world, princes and potentates 
 continued the processes of intrigue and chicancery, conspiracy 
 and conquest. Nationality, as a principle of national organization, 
 if recognized at all, was flouted. And why not? The consent 
 of the governed was not yet a phrase, much less a fact. The 
 divine right of kings was accepted in practice, if not in theory ; 
 and transfers of jurisdiction occurred in lofty disregard of the 
 human content of the territory affected. 
 
 Growth of the Democratic Spirit 
 
 But, within the lifetime of him we honor to-night, a change 
 began to come. In the speculations of philosophers, in the rhap- 
 sodies of poets, the aspirations of the lovers of liberty were 
 heard ; but the realization of these dreams came first within those 
 colonies which were to form the United States of America. It 
 
does not fall within my present purpose to trace the growth of 
 the spirit of liberty amongst our own people, nor yet to enumerate 
 the series of wrongs which evoked their latent energies; but, 
 remembering in whose presence I speak, I may give voice to the 
 prayer that so long as this republic shall endure there may flourish 
 organizations designed to hold in grateful remembrance the 
 deeds of those who made us free. 
 
 From this summary, inadequate though it be, it is clear that 
 the world into which Washington was born was still a world 
 of monarchy, of princely ambitions uncontrolled; a world that 
 sedulously followed the principle 
 
 "That they should take who have the power. 
 And they should keep who can." 
 
 And, for the most jjart, this was the world in which he died. 
 The only great power then in existence with a republican form of 
 government was France, and that was a France hardly recovered 
 from the Terror. 
 
 Past Policies and Present Problems — Democracy the 
 Basis and Test of Both 
 
 My thesis to-night is that these considerations lead to two 
 conclusions : First, they establish the proposition that the inter- 
 dictions of the Farewell Address do not of necessity forbid 
 our active participation in the settlement of the peace of the 
 world ; and. secondly, they supply a test, additional and supple- 
 mental to those stated by the President, upon which, and only 
 upon which our participation should be conditioned. 
 
 As One of the Oldest Governments in the World. We 
 Should Speak With Authority 
 
 Of the importance of our participation, whether from our 
 standpoint or from that of the rest of the world, there can be 
 no doubt. For when we speak, it will be through our government ; 
 and it at least should be accorded the respect due to age. Have 
 you ever realized, my friends, that while this country of ours is 
 a relative new-comer into the family of nations, our govern- 
 
ment is one of the oldest now in the world? For one hundred 
 and thirty years, without structural change or essential alteration, 
 it has served our people. What other government can boast an 
 equal record? England, perhaps, and yet, with true English 
 empiricism, by parliamentary reform and other changes, they 
 have gone far from the days of George III. France has changed 
 again and again ; Germany, as we know it, has existed scarce half 
 a century ; Italy furnishes another example of a recently fused 
 nationality ; Russia has adopted a popular assembly ; Austria is 
 a recent consolidation under a recently devised government ; most 
 of the smaller nations of Europe are of recent organization so 
 far as concerns their governmental systems. The Orient has been 
 transformed since its contact with the Occident. South America 
 and the British dominions beyond the seas are organized upon 
 lines borrowed from our own. Nowhere, save, perhaps, in Eng- 
 land, is there a great power, in but few instances a small power, 
 which for one and a third centuries has lived, and grown, and 
 expanded under the same form of government. It was one of the 
 half-truths that are dangerous that led Pope to his oft-quoted 
 aphorism : 
 
 "O'er forms of government let fools contest ; 
 Whate'er is best administered is best." 
 
 So, I repeat, when the United States shall speak, it will be with 
 the voice of authority. It may come as a comparative new- 
 comer to the council-table ; but it will be a new-comer who is not a 
 novice ; confident, yet not flushed with a success recently won ; 
 serene in consciousness of strength; proud with the pride whose 
 sanction is justice and whose basis is power ; calm in its judgment ; 
 and, 1 trust, certain in its aims. 
 
 Peace the First Condition of Settlement 
 
 It is clear to all that before the time of settlement can come, 
 certain conditions must be fulfilled. And, first, we must have 
 peace, and a righteous peace. Let us not echo the cry of those 
 timid souls, who, in this good city of ours — may I not, as a 
 Virginian, indulge the possessive? — were silenced by Patrick 
 Henry, when they cried "])eace, peace," when there was no peace. 
 
There must first be peace, but before it can rear its shining fabric 
 high in air, fit not only to receive the Hght of Heaven but to 
 withstand the shock of the elements, it must have its foundations 
 sure. It must be the peace that follows compensation, not com- 
 promise ; restoration, not the retention of stolen goods ; the 
 vindication of rights, not the perpetuation of wrongs. It must 
 be the peace that is based on principle, not expediency. It must 
 be the peace of righteousness and of justice; yea, remembering 
 that it was the Prince of Peace who said that He did not come 
 to bring peace on earth, but a sword, we may say in all reverence 
 that it must be the peace of God, not man. 
 
 But Not a "Peace Without Victory" 
 
 And in order to ensure these ends, it must be the peace that 
 follows victory. With all loyal Americans, in the crisis in which 
 now we stand, I am with the President. I follow whither he 
 leads. My country's acts, speaking through its responsible ad- 
 ministrations, shall determine my course. But my beliefs, my con- 
 victions, my morality are my own ; and alike, with insistent com- 
 pulsion, they lead me to reject the ideal of a dog- fall as the issue 
 of this conflict of ideals. Are there no questions of eternal right 
 and eternal wrong involved in this war? Can we, a democracy 
 of democracies, regard with indifference the event of a struggle 
 which shall determine whether the State was made for man, or 
 man for the State ? Can we, whose fathers lived and died in 
 defence of individual liberty, view with serene unconcern a con- 
 flict in which that liberty stands ranged against the conception 
 that the individual is as nothing, a mere part of a machine, to be 
 used, worn out, and thrown away ? Shall murder go unscourged 
 or broken faith be unavenged? 
 
 Aliouando Bonus Dormitat Homerus 
 
 I have sometimes wondered how that lonely man in the White 
 House, to whom our hearts go out in this time of his responsi- 
 bility and stress, has felt concerning these things during the past 
 month. I have wondered whether, when the answer to his mes- 
 sage of peace came in a form that required the severance of our 
 relations with the German government, he was not tempted to 
 
echo the despairing words of the vision of Isaiah : "I looked for 
 judgment, but behold oppression ; for righteousness, but behold 
 a cry." And I venture the prophecy that not only the historian 
 of the future, but Woodrow Wilson the historian, will regard 
 the phrase of "peace without victory" as having been "sicklied 
 o'er with the pale cast of thought," and will rather recall the day 
 and hour when with unfaltering voice he registered his answer to 
 the outraged dignity of his people, and I trust that other day 
 when he shall proclaim that our military and naval forces shall 
 "be a safeguard for the United States of America, and a security 
 for such as pass on the seas upon their lawful occasions." 
 
 Victory Determines the Course of the World 
 
 It is by victory, and victory alone, that there have come those 
 great decisions that have shaped the course of history. It was 
 as the result of victory that Greece was freed from the Persian 
 peril and enabled to make her eternal impress on the art of the 
 world. It was by victory that Rome, not Carthage, became the 
 great power of ancient history from which have sprung language 
 and law for much of the world to-day, and it was as the result of 
 repeated victories that the Pax Romana came to the world. It 
 was by victory, crushing and decisive, that French soil was cleared 
 of the Moors, and no less by victory, though after struggles 
 extending through the centuries, that a like result was achieved 
 by Spain. It was the victory of Hastings from which began the 
 England of to-day, the victory over the Spanish Armada that 
 established her dominion of the seas, victory at Waterloo that 
 placed her at the head of the European powers, and victory in 
 South Africa that has afforded, in this time of peril, proof of 
 genius in colonial administration that is the wonder and envy of 
 the world. 
 
 Surely least of all can we on this side of the Atlantic point 
 to peace without victory as an end to be achieved. Upon the 
 Heights of Abraham there stands a monument with the most 
 pregnant inscription I^ have ever seen. It is in four simple 
 words: "Here died Wolfe. Victorious." Was the peace that in 
 Canada for a century and a half has united two distinct 
 nationalities, elsewhere frequently at war, a peace without victory ? 
 
 8 
 
Will it be suggested that the century old peace inaugurated by 
 the Treaty of Ghent has been a peace without victory? The sug- 
 gestion is superficial. That peace was won at Saratoga and at 
 Yorktown — victories both, which forever told the British people 
 that their empire should stop short of these shores. And, finally, 
 my friends, speaking as a Virginian to Virginians, as a South- 
 erner to Southerners, and — may I not proudly say in this pres- 
 ence and on this occasion? — as an American to Americans, I 
 may venture to point out that never was victory more complete, 
 nor peace more enduring, than the victory and the peace whereby 
 for fifty years this country of ours has remained close-knit in 
 brotherly afifection, to endure, in the providence of God, through 
 the ages yet to come. 
 
 Victory, Not Triumph, the Foundation of a 
 Righteous Peace 
 
 Is there aught that is repulsive in the idea of victory? Of 
 conquest, yes ; of triumph, perhaps ; but of victory, no. Conquest 
 and triumph pander to the lowest in human nature ; victory reflects 
 the highest. Victory is a thing of the spirit. A recent novel by 
 Joseph Conrad ends with the death of the principal characters, 
 but he rightly named it "Victory," for victory was theirs. The 
 most crashing note of victory that sounds in the inspired Word 
 of God is in the passage that deals with the transition from life 
 to death. The victory we require is the victory of an idea and 
 of an ideal ; and if that victory can lae achieved only through 
 sweat and blood and tears, still it must come. 'There is no dis- 
 charge in this war.' 
 
 Its Structure, Democracy 
 
 I have emphasized this point, for it seems to me to con- 
 stitute the very foundation of a righteous peace that it shall be 
 based on victory. With this foundation, what shall be the struc- 
 ture? I answer. Democracy. 
 
 The Tests of Democracy 
 
 Let me indulge in definition. By democracy I do not of 
 necessity mean a republican form of government, though I be- 
 lieve with all the intensity of my soul that such a government 
 
is the best yet evolved for man. But I would seek the substance, 
 and avoid questions of form. Does the government register the 
 will of the people, or the will of the ruler? Are men equal before 
 the law? Is there a caste of privilege and of unearned power? 
 Are there preserved the rights of petition and assembly, of free 
 speech and a free press, of religious liberty and a franchise uncon- 
 strained? But I need not repeat to Virginians George Mason's 
 Bill of Rights. I look for no Utopia. I cherish no fancy that 
 men are or will ever be equal in wealth, social position, inherited 
 or accidental opportunity. Those who conscientiously advocate 
 Socialism would doubtless admit that to bring these things to 
 pass there would be required a state so powerful that in com- 
 parison the tyrants of this world would be as pygmies. They 
 would regard it as a beneficent tyranny; I regard no tyranny as 
 beneficent. Democracy means the rule of the people, people as 
 they are, of differing aptitudes and capacities, not the rule of the 
 State as a distinct entity ; and I am for Democracy. 
 
 And Its Tendencies 
 
 I have spoken of the tests of Democracy ; what are its ten- 
 dencies towards peace? We may say that, like charity, it "suf- 
 fereth long and is kind." We have seen abuse and ridicule heaped 
 upon the head of our President for his long-suffering under pro- 
 vocation, but he was following sound American precedent. The 
 Stamp Act was passed t^n years before the Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence ; the Boston massacre occurred six years before it ; the 
 "Boston Tea Party" two and a half years before; and when after 
 the battle of Bunker Hill and a full year before the Declaration, 
 George Washington went to- Massachusetts bearing the com- 
 mission of the Continental Congress as commander-in-chief, 
 neither he nor Jefferson realized that separation was to follow 
 resistance. The grievances which led up to the war of 1812 were 
 of a character not only annoying, but insulting to our self- 
 respect ; but they continued for many years before they led to 
 war. The Civil War had certainly among its origins the non- 
 action of the Convention of 1787 on the vexed question of seces- 
 sion — a notable example, incidentally, in political affairs, of a 
 "])eace without victory." Some may feel that the precedents have 
 been followed too faith fullv in the case of our somewhat dif- 
 
 10 
 
ficult neighbor to the South ; but no thoughtful person can deny 
 that the good or evil of that policy, according to the point of view, 
 is the result of the essential nature of our government. For my 
 own part, I think this long-suffering quality is one of the weak- 
 nesses of a Democracy ; but it is a weakness that at least offers 
 no menace to peace. 
 
 Non-Aggressiveness 
 
 Whether or not, however, we sympathize with this quality of 
 democracy, it has a corollary which all can applaud. True 
 democracies do not wage offensive wars. And this is the meat and 
 kernel of what I am trying to say to you to-night. 
 
 Is it not true, is it not convincingly true, that the history of 
 aggression is the history of autocracy? Of course, there are 
 exceptions. But the exceptions are very few, fewer, I venture to 
 assert, than to almost any other of the great principles that 
 have been developed in the world's history. The chief, of course, 
 is that of the Roman Republic ; but the Roman Republic was a 
 different thing from the constitutional governments of to-day. 
 The so-called republic under Bonaparte, before reality was recog- 
 nized under Napoleon I, is merely an apparent exception — that 
 was in eft'ect a dictatorship. I pass by, too, the cases of the city 
 republics of medi?eval times — Venice, for example, which with 
 some forms of democracy, was a combination of oligarchy and 
 one of the most exclusive aristocracies in the world's history — 
 and I likewise lay on one side the earlier history of the South 
 American republics, which were hardly true democracies. But 
 can we point to a real exception, in an event of historic magni- 
 tude, in the range of modern history? The history of democracies 
 has been a history of sturdy resistance to oppression, of resolute 
 maintenance of rights, and of non-aggression. Was there ever 
 a surrender and a sacrifice greater and finer than that whereby 
 we redeemed our word to the Cuban people? Was it not one of 
 those acts whereby, rather than by any words of sanctimonious 
 promise, idealism is infused into the life of the world? 
 
 Democracy Points the Way 
 
 It seems to me that the fact just pointed out furnishes the basis, 
 and the only basis, for world peace, and the basis, and the only 
 
 II 
 
basis, whereby we can remain true to our principles and bear our 
 part in promoting it. To cure a disease we first seek the source. 
 To rid the world of war we must seek the source of war. Peace 
 congresses and conventions, arbitration agreements and treaties, 
 leagues to secure peace and to enforce peace, world-courts and 
 peace palaces — all will alike prove ineffective and idle until the 
 day shall come when government of the people, by the people, for 
 the people shall have become dominant upon the earth. 
 
 Is This A Vain Ideal? 
 
 Is this unpractical and visionary ? I think not. I think, on 
 the contrary, that any other basis is unpractical and visionary. I 
 said that democracy must be "dominant," you remember ; not 
 "universal." It has reached that stage to-day. But few of the 
 great powers of the world remain the playthings of princes ; and 
 we trust that the day of their chastening is at hand. The process 
 must be left to them. The physician is impotent to cure when the 
 patient wishes to die. The would-be suicide usually succeeds in 
 the long run. But pressure, influence, moral suasion may, yes, 
 and must be used. As no individual is strong enough to flout a 
 community, so not for long can any nation, however shining its 
 armor or mailed its fist, however arrayed in the panoply of 
 military power, afifront the aggregated judgment of the world. 
 
 A Formula for a League for Peace 
 
 So it seems to me our course is plain. Let us say to the 
 world : 
 
 "We will enter a league for peace, upon the terms laid down 
 by the President, or such others as may be determined upon ; 
 but we will choose our companions. We will enter a league to 
 which shall be admitted only those nations which the people rule. 
 We shall not determine for others their internal systems of ad- 
 ministration, but we say that until those systems meet with our 
 general approval, we will have no league with them. We stand 
 for a principle, and we will, in establishing relations with others, 
 insist upon its fulfilment. Granted a government of and by and 
 for the people, the form is a matter of indifiference to us. There 
 may be j^ersons called kings and persons called noble and persons 
 
 12 
 
called subjects ; they may be decked out in brave colors and at- 
 tended in pomp ; but the covenant we make is one of our people 
 with the peoples of the earth, and the parties to that covenant 
 must be equal." 
 
 Most of the nations of the world, great and small, could enter 
 that compact to-day. How would it fare with those without its 
 terms? Would not the tendency be to seek admission? Would 
 not the mere fact of exclusion be a mighty influence for the 
 growth of democracy within them? And would not that spectacle 
 of aggregated might, resting by its definition on the only founda- 
 tion that can be called secure, be a sufficient deterrent for any who, 
 in blindness of passion or in madness of perversity, might seek 
 to assail its power. 
 
 We Come Back to Washington 
 
 I cannot believe that the supreme man we honor to-night 
 would have aught of condemnation for such a plan. I cannot 
 believe that the principles of the Farewell Address would suffer 
 any shock from such an alliance. But I cannot doubt that his 
 spirit would shrink from any partnership of this nation with 
 princes and potentates unchecked of their peoples. Let us carry 
 forward the work which he began. Let us remain true to our- 
 selves and to our principles. Let us reject peace nostrums con- 
 ceived in opportunism and formulated in despair ; and, with the 
 courage and insistency displayed by those from whom we are 
 sprung, let us proclaim that not by scraps of paper nor the gear 
 of war, but only through the ultimate rule of those whom God has 
 made in His own image, shall be assured the reign of peace upon 
 the earth. 
 
 13 
 
The Call of the Republic 
 
 By Col. Jennings C. Wise 
 
 Awake, freemen — awake ! 
 
 If not for self, for country's sake 
 
 Let your unclouded eyes 
 
 Penetrate the specious guise 
 
 Of that false schism 
 
 Adroitly styled Pacificism. 
 
 Know ye the truth — 
 
 The iron of the rudest State 
 
 Can still decide the fate 
 
 Of any realm 
 
 That casts aside its mail and helm. 
 
 While ruled the world by Mars 
 
 And his perpetual wars. 
 
 No race may long secure release 
 
 From strife, nor purchase peace. 
 
 Awake, freemen — awake ! 
 
 Let not these shallow pratings shake 
 
 Your faith in steel, or dull 
 
 Your sight with hope, or lull 
 
 You into fatuous dreams. 
 
 Still on earth is might 
 
 The final arbiter of right. 
 
 When all about are sown the dragon's teeth, 
 
 Why twine ye now the olive wreath? 
 
 14 
 
Av/ake, freemen — awake ! 
 
 Your own security ye must make ; 
 
 Nor hope to ransom health 
 
 With that unequaled wealth 
 
 Ye have amassed, 
 
 Unless your gold is cast 
 
 In finely tempered arms, 
 
 And your youthful brawn 
 
 Is universally drawn 
 
 Upon to wield them in the strife 
 
 Of international life. 
 
 Awake, freemen — awake ! 
 
 Fear not upon yourselves to take 
 
 The burden of the State's defense 
 
 In freedom find the recompense 
 
 For manhood's sacrifice. 
 
 Let every citizen a warrior be, 
 
 And every soldier, free 
 
 When trained, remain a citizen : 
 
 Give no man choice to shirk 
 
 The nation's sternest work. 
 
 The unvarying price 
 
 Of peace is blood and toil : 
 
 In these for flag and home and soil 
 
 Prepare the race to pay — 
 
 As in the past — again to-day ! 
 
Awake, freemen — awake ! 
 
 With peace at stake 
 
 And liberty, will ye slumber 
 
 On forever, unconscious under 
 
 This spell of lies and sloth? 
 
 Go forth 
 
 Like men. Abandon sordid ease ! 
 
 Gird on the sword, and seize 
 
 Each in his hand a spear. 
 
 Be every citizen a volunteer 
 
 At heart. 
 
 Do each his part. 
 
 Awake, freemen — awake ! 
 
 The world's foundations quake ! 
 
 When all is lost 
 
 Too late to count the cost, 
 
 Or then appease 
 
 The insatiate maw 
 
 Of war. 
 
 'Tis now the Republic calls 
 
 In time of peace for strong-armed men. 
 
 The need is great — no false alarms 
 
 Are these. 
 
 Ye are but servile thralls 
 
 Of ease 
 
 Who fail to answer when 
 
 The nation's trumpet sounds to arms ! 
 
 i6 
 
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