NECESSARY BELIEFS. 57 



ization ? Perhaps they would first agree not to enter 

 into war with each other without trying arbitration 

 as a remedy. Already a precedent has been set at 

 Geneva in a famous arbitration trial, such that it 

 would be very difficult now for English-speaking 

 nations to accept war with each other without trying 

 arbitration first as a method of settlement. At 

 Geneva was spun by Clotho a thread which Lachesis 

 twists, and Atropos seems unlikely soon to sever. 



" Spin, spin, Clotho, spin ! 



Lachesis, twist! and Atropos, sever 1 

 Strong is Death, and strong is Sin, 

 But only God endures forever." 



Lowell. 



Would free trade be the rule as to commercial 

 intercourse? That is a difficult question, and one 

 not to be brought up earliest in the formation of any 

 Anglo-American alliance. But perhaps, after decid- 

 ing that arbitration is to be tried before we make 

 war with each other, we should agree that arbitra- 

 tion is to be offered to every nation that purposes 

 to make war on us. Our example in favor of this 

 measure might strike peace through many a minor 

 kingdom. The make-weight of the political in- 

 fluence of an Anglo-Saxon alliance, thrown into the 

 scale of bloody war, would often be enough to bring 

 contending peoples of no great size to peace. Per- 

 haps uniform standards of weight and measure and 

 money would be adopted throughout such a league. 

 Possibly patent-laws would cover the whole territory 

 of the alliance ; perhaps copyright would. Of course 



