by violent or non-violent means, until one or the other
has been annihilated or forced to yield outwardly to its oppressors for
the time being, will inevitably destroy the loyalty to a common purpose
through which alone democracy can exist.

The contrast between the British and American attitudes toward the
abolition of slavery presents us with a case in point. In Great Britain,
the Emancipation Act contained provisions for the compensation of the
slave owners, so that it became acceptable to them. In the United States
the advocates of abolition insisted that since slavery was sin there
could be no recognition of the rights of the owners. Elihu Burritt and
his League of Universal Brotherhood were as much opposed to slavery as
the most ardent abolitionists, yet of the League Burritt declared: "It
will not only aim at the mutual pacification of enemies, but at their
conversion into brethren."[135] Burritt became the chief advocate of
compensated emancipation in the United States. Finally the idea was
suggested in the Senate and hearings had been arranged on the measure.

"But," Burritt said, "just as it had reached that stage at which
Congressional action was about to recognize it as a legitimate
proposition, 'John Brown's raid' suddenly closed the door against
all overtures or efforts for the peaceful extinction of slavery.
Its extinction by compensated emancipation would have recognized
the moral complicity of the whole nation in planting and
perpetuating it on this continent. It would have been an act of
repentance, and the meetest work for repentance the nation could
perform."[136]

The country was already too divided to strive for this "third
alternative," and, whether or not slavery was one of the prime causes of
the Civil War, it made its contribution to creating the feeling which
brought on the conflict. In the light of the present intensity of racial
feeling in the United States, it can hardly be said that the enforced
settlement of the war gave the Negro an equal place in American society
or eliminated conflict between the races.

One of the virtues of the method of reconciliation of views in seeking
the "third alternative" is that it can be practiced by the individual or
a very small group as well as on the national or international scale.
James Myers has described its use within the local community in the
"informal conference." In such a conference, the perso