2Q2 A League of Learning
them with those of our own which must remain alien to
them. In one word, we would in our dealings with them
show that we respect their national personality. Respect for
personality is the essence of both private and international
morality. As a good teacher respects the personality of the
boy and seeks to make the most of it, so would we respect
and make the most of our Indian and African provinces.
Indeed, I know no simpler practical maxim, for every man
in every station of life and at every occupation, than that of
treating others “always as ends and never as means.” Good
government alone is wise government, and wise government
follows the example of the mother whose aim always is the
good of her child, or of the gardener who labours for the
growth of the plants according to their own kind, and finds
therein his own reward.
That respect for personality, for the right of the inde-
pendent growth of far-away peoples in our broad-extended
empire, has been the binding force of the empire. Liberty
is the best imperial and democratic cement that was ever
invented. It has bound the British Empire in such a way
that not one of its remotest parts has broken off in the days
of distress. Even Ireland was loyal in parts, and both its
sections were more friendly to England than to one another.
I had not intended to go into these matters. But they are
the more significant in that you have shown the same spirit
in the Philippines; and hence we think that if Britain and
America stand shoulder to shoulder in times of peace, as
they have done in this war, and seek the same preeminence
in their respect for the rights of other nations, great or
small, we have the best security that the inexpressible
horrors of war will never more be known. There is no
other kind of security known to us that has so much promise
as that of the united purpose of these two great nations.