Page:The future of Africa.djvu/73

Rh peace," said Camillus, the Roman Dictator, struck with horror and disgust at the treachery of one of the Falisci, against whom he was warring. Indeed, warlike and domineerine; as the Eonians were, they frequently exhibited honor, magnanimity, and justice. Their common practice of siding with the oppressed and of defending the weak may haye been policy, but it was also the teaching and the instinct of generosity and high-mindedness. And the equity and the faithfulness with which they generally carried out their promises to the yanquished, show the presence, even in their darkened state, of those large and noble principles of humanity which now are part of the law of nations; and they also teach that which I am endeayoring to elucidate—that is, that it is the moral duty of nations to adyance human well-being and the civilization of the race.

Under the influence of Christianity, the idea of brotherhood has been gaining influence and authority; so, likewise, the principle of national good-will has kept pace with the moral progress of the age. Ruthless brute force, unreasoning domination, no longer decide the fate of inferior nations. Moral considerations have now a decided influence in regulating national intercourse. So strong is this influence, that "international law; ' has become a distinctive branch, commanding the life-long attention of distinguished minds. So pure, humane, and genial is its spirit, that one great authority declares its purpose to be, "to insure the obseryance of justice and good faith in that intercourse which must frequently occur between