The. Lessons of History Make for Optimism The following cheery little letter irom currespondert in" Englund ws worth reading in these trying days.
Such a title might well be plied to Britain. Since the barile of Sedgemcor in the reign of James 11, nearly 250 years ago, there has been no fighting on English soil, and yet during that time tremendous changes have taken place in the social and political life of the country, changes greater than those which in many lands have only been brought about by bloodshed and civil strife. While the attempted secession of the Southern States from the American Confederacy Jed to a@ great war, the Act of Union peacefully brought about the fusion of the Northern and Southern portions of the Island of Great Britain. France was drenched with the blood of her own sons before the masses of the people gained even a portion of the rights that their compatriots in Britain obtained by peaceful measures.
Tue Buessincs or CoMpRoMIss.
The demands of the Charists la the early years of the nineteenth century looked as if the country was to be brought into the throes of a revolutionary war before even a Part of them could be granted and yet today the people of Britain have obtained greater rights and a fuller share in the government of the country than even those who at that time were jocked upon as hare-brained agitators would have dreamed of asking for; and all these have been gained by straightforward constitutional methods.
It might be well to inquire into the reasons for these peaceful revolutions, and anyone studying the matter cannot but be impressed by the part the spirit of compromise has played in bringing about ssu-h ay state of affairs. This spirit has often been decried as being a defect in our national character, but since it has succeeded in smoothing over difficulties that otherwise might have led to serious situations, it is not such an unsatisfactory trait as many of us might imagine it to be.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.