398 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



A LEAGUE OF PEACE 1 



By ANDREW CARNEGIE, ESQ., LL.D. 



Principal and Students of St. Andrews: My first words must be 

 words of thanks, very grateful thanks, to those who have so kindly 

 re-elected me their rector without a contest. The honor is deeply 

 appreciated, I assure you. There is one feature, at least, connected 

 with your choice, upon which I may venture to congratulate you, and 

 also the university — the continuance of the services of my able and 

 zealous assessor, Dr. Ross of Dunfermline, which I learn are highly 

 valued. 



My young constituents, you are busily preparing to play your parts 

 in the drama of life, resolved, I trust, to oppose and attack what is 

 evil, to defend and strengthen what is good, and, if possible, to leave 

 your part of the world a little better than you found it. You are 

 already pondering over the career you will pursue, what problems you 

 will study, upon what, and how, your powers can be most profitably 

 exerted; and apart from the choice of a career I trust you ask your- 

 selves what are the evils of this life, in which all our duties lie, which 

 you should most strenuously endeavor to eradicate or at least to lessen, 

 — what causes you will espouse, giving preference to these beyond 

 all other public questions, for the student of St. Andrews is expected to 

 devote both time and labor to his duties as a citizen, whatever his 

 professional career. You will find the world much better than your 

 forefathers did. There is profound satisfaction in this, that all grows 

 better; but there is still one evil in our day, so far exceeding any 

 other in extent and effect, that I venture to bring it to your notice. 



Polygamy and slavery have been abolished by civilized nations. 

 Duelling no longer exists where English is spoken. The right of 

 private war and of privateering have passed away. Many other bene- 

 ficent abolitions have been made in various fields; but there still 

 remains the foulest blot that has ever disgraced the earth, the killing 

 of civilized men by men like wild beasts as a permissible mode of 

 settling international disputes, although in Rousseau's words, ' War 

 is the foulest fiend ever vomited forth from the mouth of Hell.' As 

 such, it has received from the earliest times, in each successive age 

 till now, the fiercest denunciations of the holiest, wisest and best of 

 men. 



1 A rectorial address delivered to the students in the University of St. 

 Andrews. October 17, 1005. 



