OBJECTS OF THE VISIT

Broadly, the object of my visit to South America as the representative of the Carnegie Endowment was in the interest of international law. The specific purposes included the organization of national societies of international law to be affiliated with the American Institute of International Law, of which Mr. Root is the Honorary President, and which was founded in 1912 by Dr. James Brown Scott, of Washington, and Señor Alejandro Alvarez, of Chile, Counselor of the Department of State of that Republic; to form national societies of International Conciliation to be affiliated with the organizations in Paris

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and New York; to arrange for permanent exchanges of professors and students of South American and North American universities; and to prepare the way for interchanges of visits between representative men of the principal countries of Latin America and of this country.

In endeavoring to accomplish these objects, which contemplate a better understanding between our countries, built upon the practical, scientific principles of international law and the fuller knowledge by the several nations of each other, the leading citizens of every country which I visited gave me their cordial co-operation. In Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Peru the governments and prominent individuals in private life demonstrated in every possible way their earnest desire to help in bringing about closer intellectual relations between their countries and our own. Their sentiments of good will so repeatedly expressed offer the brightest promise for our future friendship.

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N the 31st of July last, the day when Germany sent her ultimatum to Russia, I ventured to predict that the Czar would be enthusiastically supported by his people, and that the war which then seemed to be impending would be "more truly popular than any war in which Russia has been engaged since 1877-8" (The Outlook, August 15, 1914). The prediction has been more than fulfilled.

The Germans, apparently, did not anticipate united action on the part of the Russian people. They knew that the country, was torn by internal dissension; that the Jews, the Poles, and the Finns had been embittered by persecution; that the Duma had been crippled by repression, as well as by the reactionary attitude of the upper house; and that an overwhelming majority of the peasants were dissatisfied, irritated, and implacably hostile to bureaucratic rule. From these known facts the Germans seem to have drawn the conclusion that upon the outbreak

of war the Russian malcontents would see an opportunity to harass, if not to overthrow, their hated Government, and that they would immediately renew the attack which they made upon it when it was engaged in the war with Japan in 1904-5. As a supposition or anticipation this seemed, perhaps, to be reasonable and plausible; but it was based upon a misconception of the Russian character, just as the expectation that rebellion in Ulster, South Africa, and India would weaken Great Britain was based upon a misconception of British, Dutch, and Indian character.

It is a psychological fact, observed and verified many times and in many different parts of the world, that the first effect of any great catastrophe or calamity is to break down barriers of prejudice or hostility and draw people more closely together. Such was notably the case after the earthquake in San Francisco, when the whole heterogeneous population of the city was not only brought together and unified but raised on the crest

of a great moral and spiritual wave. In the stress of excitement and peril all men and women became brothers and sisters, and worked for and with one another as they had never worked before. A San Francisco correspondent who had been swept off his feet and carried away by the uplift of this great spiritual wave wrote me : "The last ten days have been the best of my life. I never expected to see the kingdom of heaven on earth, but I have lived to see it."

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Any one who was intimately and sympathetically acquainted with Russia might have anticipated a spiritual uplift and unification there of precisely this kind. The Russians generally are much more emotional and mutually sympathetic than West Europeans or Americans; and upon the outbreak of a war in which they believed themselves to be right, and in which there was a menace to their national security, it was practically certain that they would forget their prejudices, drop their animosities, and all stand together. But the result surpassed expectation. sian newspapers and letters which have just come to hand show that the spiritual uplift was so great and the unification so complete as to blend all races, nationalities, and political parties into one compact, homogeneous body of ardent Russian patriots. Not only did all the Russians stand together, but the Jews, the Poles, and the Finns stood beside them. At the war session of the Duma, when Socialists, revolutionists, Jewish Deputies, and Polish Deputies pledged themselves to support the Government, Milyukov, the advanced Constitutional Democrat, and Purishkevitch, the fanatical reactionist, established friendly relations and actually shook hands, although hardly a year before, when Milyukov was speaking from the tribune in the Duma, Purishkevitch shouted: "If I don't spit in your face, it is only because the distance from my seat to the tribune is too great."

This reconciliation was, to say the least, surprising; but it was no more extraordinary than the attitude taken by the Socialists, the social revolutionists, the politicals in prison, and even the exiles in Siberia. Prince Kropotkin, the veteran fighter for Russian freedom, became a supporter of the Czar, and Bourtsef, the leader of the Russian revolutionists in Paris, after issuing an appeal to all of his associates to stand by their Government, started for Russia to offer his services to the monarch against whom he had fought for twenty years. Assurances of loyal sup

port came from the most unexpected quarters. Paul Shchegolef, the Russian historian, who was imprisoned only two years ago for editing the revolutionary journal "Builloe," wrote to a friend in Petrograd:

"All Russia regards the war as the people's war, and a war of liberation; and the army is fighting with intense enthusiasm because it is the most perfect representative assembly that Russia has yet known. Victory in this war is a guarantee of the advance of civilization and a complete liberation of its development from all fetters."

The well-known Russian novelist Leonid Andreyef, author of "The Seven Who Were Hanged," writes:

"Though I am opposed to war on principle and regard bloodshed with horror, I welcome this war with Germany as necessary. This is a war for the soul-for spiritual liberty. Germans are not murderers of the body, they are to use a Russian expression-soulkillers. The reactionary tendencies of Russia have always been at once fostered and despised by Germany. If the Germans be defeated, Russia will, I am convinced, enter upon a path of broad political and social progress, on which the nation's heart has long been set."

Paul Vinogradoff, Professor of Jurisprudence in the University of Oxford, says:

"We are sure that the Czar will remember in the hour of victory the unstinted devotion and sacrifices of all the nationalities of his vast Empire. It is our firm conviction that the sad tale of reaction and oppression in Russia is at an end, and that our country will issue from this momentous crisis with the insight and strength required for the progressive and constructive statesmanship of which it stands in need. I am struck by the insistence with which the Germans represent their cause in this world-wide struggle as the cause of civilization as opposed to Muscovite barbarism. But there are other standards of culture besides proficiency in research and aptitude for systematic work. The massacre of Louvain and the hideous brutality of the Germans as regards non-combatants-to mention only one or two of the appalling occurrences of these last weeks-have thrown a lurid light on the real character of twentieth-century German culture. By their fruits ye shall know them,' said our Lord, and the saying which he aimed at the scribes and Pharisees of his time is applicable to the proud votaries

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of German civilization to-day. As for Russia, a nation represented by Pushkin, Turgenieff, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky in literature; by Kramskoy, Vereshchagin, Repine, Glinka, Mussorgsky, and Tchaikovsky in art; by Mendeleieff, Metchnikoff, and Pavloff in science; and by Kluchevsky and Solivieff in history, need not be ashamed to enter the lists in an international competition for the prizes of culture."

The feeling of the Russian Jews is thus expressed in a private letter from the Jewish author Dinesohn, in Warsaw :

"I remember the Turkish and Japanese wars, but I never saw anything like the general enthusiasm now prevailing. In synagogues I have seen our people weeping as they chanted prayers for victory and the speedy restoration of peace abroad and at home. If only our enemies could see this! Children in Jewish schools give for the wounded the coppers their mothers have given them to buy lunch with. This wave of enthusiasm is so astonishing that it fills me with great hopes of brighter days for our people, and that the Jewish blood shed in battle will not be shed in vain."

The Jewish lawyer Sliasberg, in Petrograd, adds: "In Homel, the scene of two pogroms, thirty-eight Jewish youths have volunteered for the army. Jewish students, despite their sufferings, are passionately eager to serve. All classes of Jews are full of burning enthusiasm for victory and the hope of progress." Finally, a distinguished liberal of Petrograd writes to me personally :

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"I do not think there can be any doubt of the final result-the crushing of Germany and the triumph of democracy all over the world, Russia included. I trust the Russian bureaucracy just as little as you do, but it is not from them that salvation will come. must come from the people, who are far more ready for a social regeneration, and are better prepared for it, than are the Germans-the most undemocratic nation in the world. There is much talk on the German side about Russian barbarism; but when you consider the achievements of Russian culture, such talk is pure nonsense. And how dare the Germans speak about barbarism after what they have done in Belgium? The horrors there cannot be surpassed or even equaled. Englishmen have said to me personally, 'I hope the Cossacks will avenge the Belgians;' but to their astonishment I have always had to reply that it was impossible, for

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the simple reason that the Russian-peasant or soldier, Cossack or infantryman-cannot do such things, as it is not in his character. The occupation of towns in eastern Prussia by the Russians has been peaceful, and no acts of brutality are reported even by the Germans. Has any one ever heard of Russians cutting off the hands of young boys or killing women, as the Germans did in Belgium? And Louvain, Termonde, Dinant, and other towns sacked and pillaged! Yet, after committing these atrocities, the Germans have the impudence to accuse the Russians of barbarism! They forget that Prussia continued to exist in the nineteenth century thanks only to the magnanimity of Alexander I, who saved her from Napoleon. Many people now are sorry that he did so. As for Russia's regeneration, one can hardly doubt it. The reports that come from the country are simply wonderful! Think of the country's going dry,' and no vodka to be had-and this not by Government initiative, but by the free will of the people! The feeling and enthusiasm of the different nationalities are surprising even to Russians. The unity of the Russian Empire, as well as of the British, is alone worth fighting this great war for."

The word most frequently heard from Russians now when they try to describe the spiritual uplift and unification of the people is the word that my correspondent uses in the above quotation-" wonderful." And not the least wonderful of recent Russian phenomena is the sudden and complete abolition of drunkenness. For the first time in the history of mankind one-seventh part of the habitable globe has "gone dry," and 170,000,000 people have stopped drinking intoxicating liquor. In the excitement of the moment and the press of war news, this extraordinary fact has attracted little attention or has been overlooked altogether; but to me it seems far more "wonderful than the rapid and victorious advance of the Russian armies into Austria. For many weeks the sale of vodka in Russia has been completely suspended, and the whole population has looked at the European situation through absolutely sober eyes. The closing of hundreds of thousands of liquor shops was at first merely a temporary war measure. The Government, through its monopoly of the drink traffic, controlled the whole vast machinery of production and distribution, and was able to put a stop to it in twenty-four

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hours. Why it decided to do this I do not know; but the object probably was to prevent disorder during the period of mobilization and concentration. That object was quickly attained; but the people, uplifted by the great wave of spiritual exaltation, almost took the reform into their own hands. order to close the liquor shops throughout the Empire was welcomed by the press and the people with such enthusiastic approbation that the Government would hardly have dared to resume the sale of vodka even if it had wished to do so. The Czar wanted popular support, and the people wanted sobriety.

It would be too much, perhaps, to say that the Russians have become a temperate nation overnight, or in a few weeks; but certain it is that they are not drinking vodka now, and their attitude toward drunkenness since the outbreak of war has become so clear and unmistakable that the abolition of the vodka monopoly has practically been decided upon. And not only that. If the Russian newspapers are to be believed, the Czar and his advisers are seriously considering the question whether, at this favorable opportunity, it may not be possible to end the sale of vodka in Russia forever. Under the heading "The End of the Vodka Monopoly," the "Reitch" of Petrograd publishes a letter from the wellknown journalist L. Lvoff, in which the latter gives the substance of an interview that he has had with an official whom he characterizes as "the highest possible authority." This official he quotes as follows:

"At the present moment the realization of the temperance plan has become obligatory. The short period of total prohibition has not only been brilliantly successful, has not only

shown us a striking picture of improved social conditions, but has virtually bound us to carry on the reform and make the temporary measure a permanent system. The widespread and practically unanimous approval of prohibition by the press and the people makes possible now the realization of what has hitherto been only a dream. An overwhelming majority of the peasantsmost of them vodka drinkers-not only regard the closing of the liquor shops with profound satisfaction, but look forward with fear and dread to the possible reopening of them. But they will not be reopened. In undertaking such a great work as the change from a 'budget of drunkenness' to a budget of sobriety, the Minister of Finance and his associates count on the sympathy and support of the whole population without exception." (" Reitch," September 6, 1914.)

Russia is often called the "land of unlimited possibilities," with the implication that the possibilities are only those of evil. The great spiritual awakening, however, which we now see there; the patriotic coming together of discordant elements; the new feeling of brotherhood which links Jews to Slavs and liberals to reactionists; and last, but not least, the spontaneous and universal welcoming of prohibition as a great national blessing for which everybody is ready, show that the "unlimited possibilities" are of good as well as evil. If the war should do nothing more than free Russia from the curse of vodka, it would be worth all that it can possibly cost in treasure and life; but may we not hope, with the liberals and the revolutionists, that in some way and at some near time it will also free the country from cruelty, oppression, and despotic rule?

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EPUTATION of Napoleon. One of the remarkable things about the European war is that it cannot be traced to the action of any single statesman or military personality. General Rennenkampf, the Russian, had some experience in the Japanese war in 1905, and in 1914 invaded Germany at the head of a million men. General Joffre, the Frenchman, has never before shared in a European war. General von Moltke, the German, up to date remains the nephew of his uncle. The only veteran experienced general officer is General Potnik, who has now commanded three victorious Servian armies. The only sovereign who takes the field himself is Emperor William, who, like his august grandfather William I, appears to recognize that he is the adviser of great soldiers and decides between their opinions, but does not invent tactics or determine upon campaigns. This is a genuinely international war, fought by peoples and not by individuals.

Most great wars have been conducted by commanders whose reputation earned for them the confidence and support of their armies ; and by common consent of mankind the most desirable station which mortal man can expect to reach is that of a great general, victor in many campaigns. Rare is the man who comes out of a war like Abraham Lincoln, acknowledged head of a great people, without ever drawing a sword or himself firing a gun. Of all the great soldiers of history, the most renowned is Napoleon, who owed nothing to birth and little to accident. Alexander was a king's son; Cæsar made a reputation as a national statesman before he became a general; Napoleon Bonaparte came out of obscurity and expanded to a star of the first magnitude chiefly because of his unrivaled military instinct and his power to make other human beings carry out his single will.

Apparently even stars of the first magnitude pale during the lapse of years. There must still be a few living persons whose eyes actually beheld Napoleon. His campaigns are the text-book of great soldiers. He smashed Europe into fragments which have not yet taken complete shape again.

He gave France a code and also a form of government which has in many points lasted to our own day. But in this crisis neither Germans nor Belgians stop to think of that mighty shade looking out from the battlefield of Waterloo and mournfully watching the Prussians as once more they march toward his beloved Paris.

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After the fall of the French Empire in 1870, when the Germans who had attacked the armies of Napoleon III kept on fighting the armies of the Republic, Thiers, the French statesman, asked of Bismarck, "Against whom are you fighting now?" Against Louis the XIVth," answered the German, meaning that they meant to regain Alsace and Lorraine, which had been taken by Louis XIV two centuries earlier. It would not be unfair to say that the invading armies now in France are fighting against Napoleon I, undoing his work, and sustaining a German Empire the formation of which he did his utmost to prevent.

The Young Napoleon. Everybody finds the life of Napoleon I a fascinating study. Writers and statesmen of great repute have mused upon him, described him, and yet failed to penetrate his character. One mistake has been to look upon him as a Frenchman, whereas he came of an Italian family, had an Italian name, and was born in the island of Corsica, which became French only a few months before his birth. Yet his training was French; he entered the army, as a gentleman's profession, but was an unknown and almost friendless young man till in 1792 as Colonel Bonaparte he was active in the recapture of Toulon from the English. From that time he was General Bonaparte, and in 1795 supported the only government that France then had against the mob of Paris. Next year he was sent to Italy as the easiest place to get rid of him; and in an independent command showed those qualities which raised him to be a conqueror and an emperor.

What made Napoleon was, first of all, the manner in which he identified himself with his soldiers. Happy the general whose