ayer. We did not ask or desire that America should take up arms by
our side. We did not wish to enlarge the area of the conflict that was
deluging Europe in blood. Confident in the justice of our cause, we
thought we knew that by the help of the Lord of Hosts, and by the
strength of His stretched-out arm, the forces of the Allies would be
sufficient for themselves. Neither did we wish to make a parade of our
wounds to excite America's pity. With all our souls we believed that for
every drop of innocent blood that was being shed outside the recognized
area of battle the Avenger of blood would yet exact an awful penalty.
But when humanity was being openly outraged, and conventions to which
America had set her seal were being flagrantly violated, we thought,
with Mr. Roosevelt, that it was the duty of the United States, as a
Christian country, to step in with the expression of her deep and just
indignation.

America was long in doing that. But, thank God, she did it at last,
and for the courage and strength of the Notes which President Wilson
(speaking with a voice that is no unworthy echo of the great one that
spoke at Gettysburg) has lately sent to Germany on the sinking of the
_Lusitania_, and the outrage thereby committed on the laws of justice
and humanity, which are immutable, the whole civilized world (outside
the countries of our enemies) now salutes the United States in respect
and reverence.

THE THUNDERCLAP THAT FELL ON ENGLAND

Among the flashes as of lightning that revealed to us the drama of
the past 365 days, some of the most vivid were those that lit up the
condition at home towards the end of Spring. The war had been going on
ten months when it fell on our ears like a thunderclap that all was not
well with us in England. In the ominous unrest that followed there
was danger of serious division, with the risk of a breakdown in that
national unity without which there could be no true strength. The result
was a Coalition Government, uniting all the parties save one, followed
by an appeal to the patriotism of the people through their purse.

Never before had Great Britain witnessed such a response to her call.
The first Cabinet in England that aimed at coalition had broken down in
personal corruption, but the Cabinet now called into being was beyond
the suspicion of even party interest. The first appeal to the purse
of the British people had yielded one hundred and thirty millions in a
year, but the a