“Well, suppose you go down to Nicaragua, or Venezuela, or Colombia, or Hayti for four or five years; then when you come back—that is if you come back alive—count up the annual and semi-annual revolutions you have seen, and then tell us what you think about it. Don’t you see that you are getting the sentiment of patriotism and the science of government somewhat mixed. You may love your country all you will and independently of its government, but the only justification for the latter should be its efficiency—efficiency in securing life, liberty and justice to all.” “I should like to ask a question”, said another man. “Very well.” “I should like to know how you would prove that the Anglo-Saxon is the one race which by common consent has best solved the problem of self-government.” “Let me refer you for your answer to ‘Anglo-Saxon Superiority’ by Edward Demolin, a gifted French writer; also for the influence of the British and the American constitutions let me refer you to the history of almost any legislative body in the world. I think this last reference in itself is sufficient.” “It seems to me, Professor, that your frequent references to England, especially at this time, are rather unfortunate, if you will allow me the liberty to say so; for a country with so shady a reputation as hers, cannot be held up for admiration. Will not your advocacy of expansion suffer from such an unsavory comparison?” “Perhaps”, said the Professor, “I may be pardoned for departing so far from the subject of the evening as to reply to your criticism, since it leads up to the answer to your question. “Has England a ‘shady reputation’? Certainly, among those who are jealous of her, and everybody outside of Anglo-Saxon sovereignty has good reason to be jealous of her. But is there no better foundation for this reputation than mere jealousy? Certainly; in her dealings with Ireland, in the early days in India, and in her treatment of the American colonists her policy was sometimes uninformed, sometimes unwise and even cruel and oppressive, and her historians offer no defense for it. Has she displayed unusual cruelty in her conquests? By no means; she has displayed such unusual activity in colonization—in doing police duty for the world, in substituting intelligent force for misdirected force, that as a natural result she is disliked by a great many people. It is not to be supposed that her purposes in colonization have always been unselfish—perhaps they never have been so; but her purposes and methods in administration are unselfish, and thus she has taught the world the secret that Rome failed to find—how to knit together a great colonial empire.