ROOSEVELT AT OXFORD

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 872, 19 July 1910, Page 6

ROOSEVELT AT OXFORD

ROMANES LECTURE,

NATIONAL GROWTH AND DECAY. CHARACTER, THE ALL-IMPORTANT FACTOR, Mr. Roosevelt went to Oxford on Tuesday, June 7, and reoeired the degree of D.C.L. The ceremony took place in the Sheldonian Theatre, and on its. conclusion Mr. Roosevelt delivered the Romanes Lecture, taking for his subject "Biological Analogies in- History." The following .summary of this pronouncement is taken from "Tho Times"

Four Spacious Centuries. "The phenomena of national growth and decay, both of those which could and those which could not bo explained, had been peculiarly in evidence duriug the four centuries that had gone 'by since the discovery of America and' the rounding of the Cape of Good Hope. These had been the four, oenturies of. by far the most intense and constantly-accelerating rapidity of movement and development that the world had yet seen. The movement had covered all the fields of human ( activity. It had witnessed an altogether unexampled spread of civilised mankind over the world, as well as an altogether unexampled advance in man's dominion, over nature,, and this together - with a literary and artistic activity to bo matched in but one previous epoch. This period of extension and development had ' been that of one race; the so-called white race, or, to "speak more accurately, the group of people living in. Europe, who undoubtedly had a certain kinship of blood, who' professed the Christian religion, and traced-tack their culture to tireece and Rome.

Growth of English-speaking Peoples. 'Tor the last three centuries the great phenomenon' of mankind has' been ' the growth of the English-speaking peoples. The Empire of Britain- was vaster in space, in population, in wealth, in wide variety possession, in history'of multiplied , and- manifold achievement of every kind than even the. glorious Empire of Rome. ■ Yet, unlike Rome, Britain had won dominion in every clime, h-ad carried.'hor flag by conquest and settlement to the uttermost ends of the earth, at the v<4ry time that 1 haughty and powerful rivals, in their abounding youth or strong maturity, were eager to. set bounds to her' greatness and to tear from her what she. had won afar. England had peopled continents with her children, had swayed the destinies of teeming myriads of alien Taoes had ruled ancient monarchies, and wrested from all comers the' right to the "world's waste spaces, while at home she had held her own. before nations each of military power comparable to Rome's at her zenith. ._

The Basis of National Greatness, "Rome fell ■by attack from without only because the ills within her own borders had grown, incurable. What was true of England was true of his own country. While we should be vigilant against from without, yet we need never ..really fear them so- long as we safeguarded ourselves against the enemies within our own households; and these enemies were our own passions and follies. Americans and .people of the British Isles alike needed , ever to keep in mind that, among the many qualities indispensable to the success of a great democracy, and'second only to a high and stern senso of duty, of \moral obligation, were self-knowledge and self-mastery. In the last analysis the allrimportant factor in national greatness was national char-, acter. A

What of the Future? . ."There were questions which we of the' great civilised nations, were ever tempted to' a'slc of the future. Was our. time of growth drawing to an end? Were *we as nations soon.'.to-come.,under the rule of that great law of ileath 'which was itself but part of the great law of life? None could toll. Forces that we could see, and other forces that were hidden. or that could but dimly be apprehended, were at work all around us, both for good and for ovil. The growth in luxury, the love of ease, in taste for vapid and frivolous excitement, was both evident and unhealthy. The most ominous'sign was the diminution in the birth-rate. There was much that should give us concern for the future. But there was much also which should give us hone. He believed with all 1 his lieart®iat a great future remained for us. But, come what would, we belonged to peoples who had not yielded to the craven fear of being great: ( .

Advance in Ethical Standards. "While freely admitting all of our follies and weaknesses of to-day, it was yet .mere perversity to refuse to recognise the incredible advance that had been made in ethical standards. He did not believe that there was the slightest necessary connection " between, any weakening of virile force' and this advance in the moral standard, this growth of the-.sense of obligation to. one's neighbour' and of reluctance to do that neighbour wrong. We have scant patience with that silly cynicism . which .insisted that kindliness of character only accompanied weakness of character. On the .contrary, just as in-private life many ,of the men of. strongest character were the very men of loftiest and most exalted morality, so he believed that in national life as tho ages go by we should find that-the permanent national types would more and more tend to become those in which, though intelledt stood high,. character stood higher; in which Tugged strength and courage, .ragged capacity to resist wrongful'aggression by others, would go hand iu' hand with a,lofty soorn of doing wrong to others. , /

Social Problems. : "Every modern civilised nation 'had many and terrible problems to solve within its own borders. Each nation must deal with these matters in. its own fashion, and yet the spirit in which the problem was approached, must ever be fundamentally the same. It must 'ho a spirit of broad , humanity; .of . brotherly kindness; of acceptance of responsibility", one for each and each for all; and at tho same time a spirit as -remote as the Poles from every form of weakness and sentimentality. As in war to pardon the coward was to do cruel wrong to- the brave man,whoso life his cowardice jeopardised, so in civil affairs-it was revolting to every principle of justice to'give to the lazy, tho vicious, or even the feeble or dull-witted a reward which was really the robbery of what braver, wiser, abler men had earned. The only, effective way, to help any man was to help him to help hiniself; and . the worst lesson to teach him was that ho could be permanently helped at the. expense of someone else. It was an evil and a dreadful thing to be callous to sorrow and 'suffering, and blind to our duty to do all things possiblo for the betterment of social conditions. But it was an unspeakably foolish thing to strive for. 1 this betterment by means so destructive that they would leave no social conditions to better. -. , '

Government of Alien Peoples. "But in addition to these problems, the most intimate and important of all, one which to a larger or a. less degree affected all the modern nations somewhat alike, wo of the great nations that had expanded, that were now in complicated relations with one another and with alien races, had special problems and special* duties-of our own. The problems that arose were of well-nigh inconceivable difficulty. They could not be solved by the foolish sentimentality of stay-at-home people with . little paten, recipes, and those cut-aud-dried theories of the political nursery which had such limited applicability amid the crash of elemental forces. Neither could they be solved by the raw brutality of. the man who, whether at home or on the rou'gh frontier of civilisation, adopted might as the only standard .of right in dealing with other men.

"No hard-and-fast rule could be drawn as applying to alien races. But, there were one or two rules which must not bo forgotten. In tlio long run, .thcro could bo no justification for ono race managing or controlling another unless tlio management and control . were exercised in. .the interests and i'or the benefit of

that other racc. In tho next place, tritt/ respect to every race, a.t home or abroad we could not afford to deviate fromthi* preat rulo of righteousness which bad«V us treat each man on Ms worth' as Ur man

International Duty, - "The other typo of 'duty was ttio tn* ternational duty, the duty owed by one nation to another. He held that the laws of morality which should govern individuals in their dealings one with, the other were just as binding concerning nations in their dealings one with: the other. The application of the moral law must be different ,in the two cases, bccauso in one case it had, and in tha. other case it had not, the sanction of a. civil Jaw with force bchind.it. The individual could depend for' his rights upon the Courts, which themselves dorived their force from the police power of tho State. Tho nation could depend, upon nothing of tho kind; and, therefore* as things were now, it was thp highest 'duty of the most advanced and freest peoples to keep themselves in such a state of : readiness as to forbid to any, barbarism or despotism the hope of aiv resting the progress of the world by striking down the nations that. lead in that progress. The foreign, policy of agreat and self-respecting country 6hould be conducted on exactly the same piano of honour, of' insistence upon die's own rights, and of respect for the rights of others, that marked the conduct of a brave and honourable man when -dealing" with his fellows."