INTRODUCTION xxxi 



has had, and it may safely be said never will 

 have, any that could require her to array herself 

 against America. 



But the main factor working for peace has 

 been the good sense and self-control inherent 

 in the character of the two peoples. Neither 

 of them suffers itself to be swept away by pas 

 sion, neither forgets, even when demagogues seek 

 to excite it by appeals to national vanity and 

 so-called &quot;points of honor,&quot; that there are, be 

 hind the susceptibilities of the moment, large 

 issues of permanent well-being to be considered. 

 In the days when both nations claimed Oregon, 

 a territory of great extent and value, imper 

 fectly as that value was then known, was in 

 dispute. But in both countries public opinion 

 recognized that the other side also had a case, 

 and that war would be a greater evil than the 

 loss of part of its own rights. The territory 

 was accordingly divided and peace was pre 

 served. So on other occasions also the peoples 

 came near the brink of a rupture, but showed 

 their inborn quality by stopping on the brink. 



The question arises and it is a question of 

 high interest how much of this self-restraint 

 and underlying wisdom is to be attributed to 

 the fact that the United States Government ever 



