Chapter VII: On International Arbitration

A numerous deputation from the Workmen’s Peace Association, headed by Mr. W. R. Cremer, waited on Mr. LOWELL, at the official residence in Albemarle street, on the evening of June 6, 1885, for the purpose of presenting to him an address preparatory to his leaving England for the United States. Mr. LOWELL, in reply, said:

I have been exceedingly touched latterly by the kindness
which I have received here in England from all classes,
but never have I been more profoundly touched than by the
deputation that has now waited upon me to express the kind
wishes of the English Workingmen. I have twice had the
pleasure of addressing working men since I have been in
England, and I have been gratified to find that, among
all the audiences to whom I have spoken, there were none
more intelligent. They were exceedingly quick to catch all
points and exceedingly agreeable to talk to.

You must not think that I have forgotten the part taken by
the working men of England during our civil war--I won’t
say on behalf of the North, because now we are a united
people--on the side of good order and freedom; and on the
only occasion when I had an opportunity of saying so--that
was when speaking to the provincial press in London--I
alluded to the subject. I agree with you entirely on the
importance of a good understanding and much more between
England and the United States, and between the two chief
branches of the Anglo-Saxon race. I think you exaggerate
a good deal of my own merit in relation to anything of
that sort, but I have always had a feeling about me that
a war between the two countries would be a civil war,
and I believe a cordial understanding between them to
be absolutely essential, not only to the progress of
reasonable liberty, but its preservation and its extension
to other races. (_Hear, hear._)

It is a particular pleasure to me on another account to
meet English workmen. I notice that, however ardent they
may be in their aspirations and however theoretical on
some points, they are always reasonable. The individual
man may set the impossible before him as something to
be obtained, but I think those communities of men have
prospered the best who have aimed at what is possible.
We see daily illustrations of that, and anybody who has
studied the history of France would be convinced that,
though England has a form of Government not so free as that
country, yet you have made a greater advance towards good
will among men and towards peace than France has done. I do
not wish you to suppose that I am out of sympathy with what
I call the French Revolution--although I consider it an
enormous misfortune, which might have been prevented, and
France saved from many evil consequences that followed--but
the manner in which it took place we ought all to regard.

Since I have been in England I have done something, I
trust, to promote a cordial feeling between this country
and the United States. That has been my earnest desire
always, and I hope I have to some extent succeeded. You
will allow me to thank you warmly for this address, which I
shall always feel to be among my most precious possessions,
and I shall carry to the workmen on the other side of
the Atlantic the message expressive of your sympathy and
hope. I hope the occasion will not ever arise even for
arbitration. I think if we can talk together face to face
we shall be able to settle all differences. I am certain
that the relations between the two countries are now of
a most amicable and friendly kind, and I am sure that my
successor is as strongly impressed as I could be with the
necessity of strengthening those friendly relations. I
trust the necessity for arbitration may never arise between
us; I do not think it will.

You will again allow me to give you my most hearty and
profound thanks for the kindness you have done me and to
wish you all manner of prosperity. I trust also that that
reign of peace to which you allude may come soon and last
long. I appreciate extremely what Mr. Cremer said as to
your sympathy with the Northern States in the Civil War,
with whom no one could help sympathizing if they went to
the root of the matter. I believe in peace as strongly
as any man can do, but I believe also that there are
occasions when war is less disastrous than peace; that
there are times when one must resort to what goes before
all law, and what, indeed, forms the foundation of it--the
law of the strongest; and that, as a general rule, the
strongest deserve to get the best of the struggle. They
say satirically that God is on the side of the strong
battalions, but I think they are sometimes in the right,
and my experience goes to prove that.

[The address, engrossed on vellum, was afterwards transmitted to Mr. LOWELL in America.]

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