LEG TURK FOURTH. 



December 22, 18G7. 



THE HIGHER INTERCOURSE BETWEEN 

 NATIONS. 



Gextlemex : I am about to toucn upon one of the 

 grandest ideas of tlic liiglier politics. And I have a 

 perfect right to do it, if it were only by way of retalia- 

 tion ; for the idea itself touches upon the gravest ques- 

 tions of morality and religion. 



I have been speaking thus far of the nation ; but 

 there are the nations. I am about to inquire whether 

 there are not bonds existing between them which unite 

 them into one universal society. 



What was it that made men feel the need of some 

 l)ond superior to domestic society ? It was the multi- 

 tude of families. If human nature had been able to 

 limit itself to that grand primeval unity which consti- 

 tuted it one single family under the sceptre of Adam, 

 there would have been no occasion for civil society. 

 Now, the nations are many, as the families were ; con- 

 sequently, it would seem that they have need, for the 

 same reason, to have set up over them an arbitration 

 accepted by all, and so recover harmony without losing 

 liberty, in the bonds of a broader fellowship. 



Is there, then, any higher fellowship among nations ; 



