s
aggrieved upholders. For the first time in human history tentative efforts
have been exerted by the nations of the world to assume collective
responsibility, and to supplement their verbal pledges by actual
preparation for collective action. And again, for the first time in
history, a movement of public opinion has manifested itself in support of
the verdict which the leaders and representatives of nations have
pronounced, and for securing collective action in pursuance of such a
decision.

How clear, how prophetic, must sound the words uttered by Baha'u'llah in
the light of recent international developments:--"Be united, O concourse of
the sovereigns of the world, for thereby will the tempest of discord be
stilled amongst you, and your peoples find rest. Should any one among you
take up arms against another, rise ye all against him, for this is naught
but manifest justice." "The time must come," He, foreshadowing the
tentative efforts that are now being made, has written, "when the
imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an all-embracing
assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers and kings of
the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations,
must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the
world's Great Peace among men... Should any king take up arms against
another, all should unitedly arise and prevent him."

"The sovereigns of the world," writes 'Abdu'l-Baha in elaboration of this
theme, "must conclude a binding treaty, and establish a covenant, the
provisions of which shall be sound, inviolable and definite. They must
proclaim it to all the world, and obtain for it the sanction of all the
human race... All the forces of humanity must be mobilized to insure the
stability and permanence of this Most Great Covenant... The fundamental
principle underlying this solemn Pact should be so fixed that if any
government later violate any one of its provisions, all the governments on
earth should arise to reduce it to utter submission, nay the human race as
a whole should resolve, with every power at its disposal, to destroy that
government."

There can be no doubt whatever that what has already been accomplished,
significant and unexampled though it is in the history of mankind, still
immeasurably falls short of the essential requirements of the system which
these words foreshadow. The League of Nations, its opponents will observe,
still lacks the univers