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afresh as society develops, and to be moulded best if we cooperate steadily, that gives us an influence perhaps greater than is strictly ours; an influence which may in affairs of the state be potently exercised for good or for evil.

This, then, is why, as a lawyer speaking to lawyers, I have a strong sense of responsibility in being present here to-day, and why I believe that many of you share my feeling. A movement is in progress which we, by the character of our calling as judges and as advocates, have special opportunities to further. The sphere of our action has its limits, but at least it is given to us as a body to be the counsellors of our fellowcitizens in public and in private life alike. I have before my mind the words which I have already quoted of the present President of the United States, when he spoke of "lawyers who can think in the terms of society itself." And I believe that if, in the language of yet another President, in the famous words of Lincoln, we as a body in our minds and hearts "highly resolve" to work for the general recognition by society of the binding character of international duties and rights as they arise within the Anglo-Saxon group, we shall not resolve in vain. A mere common desire may seem an intangible instrument, and yet, intangible as it is, it may be enough to form the beginning of what in the end can make the whole difference. Ideas have hands and feet, and the ideas of a congress, such as this, may affect public opinion deeply. It is easy to fail to realize how much an occasion like the assemblage in Montreal of the American Bar Association, on the eve of a great international centenary, can be made to mean, and it is easy to let such an occasion pass with a too timid modesty. Should we let it pass now, I think a real opportunity for doing good will just thereby have been missed by you and me. We need say nothing; we need pass no cut and dried resolution. It is the spirit and not the letter that is the one thing needful.

I do not apologize for having trespassed on the time and attention of this remarkable meeting for so long, or for urging what may seem to belong more to ethics than to law. We are bound to search after fresh principles if we desire to find firm foundations for a progressive practical life. It is the absence of a clear conception of principle that occasions, some at least, of the obscurities and perplexities that beset us in the giving of counsel and in following it. On the other hand, it is futile to delay action until reflection has cleared up all

our difficulties. If we would learn to swim we must first enter the water. We must not refuse to begin our journey until the whole of the road we may have to travel lies mapped out before us. A great thinker declared that it is not philosophy which first gives us the truth that lies to hand around us, and that mankind has not to wait for philosophy in order to be conscious of this truth. Plain John Locke put the same thing in more homely words when he said that "God has not been so sparing to men to make then two-legged creatures, and left it to Aristotle to make them national." Yet the reflective spirit does help, not by furnishing us with dogmas or final conclusions, or even with lines of action that are always definite, but by the insight which it gives; an insight that develops in us what Plato called the "synoptic mind;" the mind that enables us to see things steadily as well as to see them whole.

And now I have expressed what I had in my mind. Your welcome to me has been indeed a generous one, and I shall carry the memory of it back over the Atlantic. But the occasion has seemed to me significant of something beyond even its splendid hospitality. I have interpreted it, and I think not wrongly, as the symbol of a desire that extends beyond the limits of this assemblage. I mean the desire that we should steadily direct our thoughts to how we can draw into closest harmony the nations of a race in which all of us have a common pride. If that be now a far-spread inclination, then indeed may the people of three great countries say to Jerusalem "Thou shalt be built," and to the temple "Thy foundation shall be laid."

EDITORIAL.

LORD HALDANE'S ADDRESS.

A rather stout, well-built gentleman about five feet ten, slightly stooped, clean-shaven and with a pleasant, smiling countenance, is Viscount Haldane, Lord High Chancellor, and one of the biggest men in Britain at the present day. Such is the description of Lord Haldane given by one of the Montreal daily papers at the time of his arrival in that city preparatory to delivering the annual address, published in this issue, before the American Bar Association. It was not with Lord Haldane's personal appearance, however, that those who were assembled to hear the annual address were greatly concerned, but with Lord Haldane, the scholar, philosopher, diplomat, and statesman, the man who is a real figure among the great ones in the world's political arena.

It is seldom indeed that such a large number of big, brainy men are found gathered together as was the case at the meeting of the American Bar Association; not only men of national, but of world-wide reputation, great and brilliant as they undoubtedly were, the Lord Chancellor of England stood head and shoulders above them all. This opinion must of necessity been forced upon the most skeptical of the visitors when listening to the brilliant address on "Higher Nationality," delivered by Lord Haldane.

The ordinary politician is, as a rule, like a weather-vane, carried away by every breath of popular opinion. The average statesman attempts to put into practice the accepted tenets of his day and generation, but Lord Haldane is not a politician, is greater than the average statesman, for he has been able to seize upon the spirit of the age, that "Zeitgeist" of the Germans, by which is meant all that is greatest and noblest in one's preconceived but often inarticulate ideals.

The address itself was delivered without stay or hesitation, in the voice of the cultivated English gentleman-in print it is literature, and epoch-making in its importance to the nations most vitally concerned, and worthy of the theme, worthy of the occasion, and worthy of the Lord Chancellor of England.

After Lord Haldane's address a resolution, presented by Mr. Hampton Carter, was unanimously passed expressing deep appreciation of the address and thanking the Lord Chancellor for coming over from England. Mr. Carter, in

the course of his remarks, said: "We applaud the spirit of the address. I take it that it means that every nation shall act like a gentleman, and the counsels of the world shall be controlled by the gentleman-like nations." (Laughter).

Lord Haldane was also informed that he had been elected an honorary member of the American Bar Association, and he acknowledged the honour in terms of warm appreciation and gratitude.

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LORD HALDANE ON THE NAVY.

"It would be a great source of relief to Great Britain if Canada could assist in the defence of our common interests. "The burden of defending the Empire is becoming very heavy for our little islands.

"We will defend the Empire as long as you want us to, but any additional strength you can give us will be one of the greatest guarantees of peace we can have.

"Our policy is to keep out foreign entanglements, and the more you can come into our councils and take your parts in shaping our foreign policy, the more happy we shall feel." -THE RT. HON. VISCOUNT HALDANE,

Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain.

Ex-President Taft on the best way to become acquainted :—
Mr. Taft was at his best.

"Ladies who have been embraced so often," he said, smiling his famous smile; and after further references to the same ladies, turned to enumerate his reasons for feeling so at home in Canada.

"During my absence, but within hearing distance," he said, "I had the honour to figure prominently when some people were obessed. You cannot make acquaintance with people until you are abused in their hearing and commended to their approval or disapproval by graceful cartoons." (Laughter).

"For that reason I feel at home in both countries." (Prolonged laughter and cheers). "Through accident, fortuitous circumstance, or by a calamity when I lost the Presidency in

AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION.

[graphic]

EDWARD DOUGLAS WHITE,
Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

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