180 A Century of /Science 



would probably have ended. The reason is that 

 deliberate public opinion in both countries feels 

 sure that nothing is to be gained, and much is to 

 be lost, by fighting. Under such conditions, the 

 growing moral sentiment which condemns most 

 warfare as wicked has a chance to assert itself. 

 Thus the delay which allows deliberate public 

 opinion to be brought to bear upon irritating 

 incidents is a great advantage ; and the mere 

 existence of a permanent arbitration treaty tends 

 toward insuring such delay. 



People who prefer civilized and gentleman-like 

 methods of settling disputes to the savage and 

 ruffian-like business of burning and slaughtering 

 are sometimes stigmatized by silly writers as " sen- 

 timentalists." In the deliberate public opinion 

 which has come to be so strong a force in prevent- 

 ing war between the United States and Great 

 Britain, sentiment has as yet probably no great 

 place ; but it is hoped and believed that it will by 

 and by have much more. In the days of Alexan- 

 der Hamilton, there was very little love for the 

 Federal Union in any part of this country ; it was 

 accepted as a disagreeable necessity. But his policy 

 brought into existence a powerful group of selfish 

 interests binding men more and more closely to 

 the Union, and more so at the North than at the 



