The following paragraphs, the first from Benjamin Franklin, the second from Senator Lodge, illustrate well the wide difference between the spirit of the Revolutionary Fathers and the spirit that now animates not only the rulers of this country but of the world. Franklin said: “To me it seems that neither the obtaining nor retaining any trade, how valuable soever, is an object for which men may justly spill each other’s blood; that the true and sure means of extending and securing commerce are the goodness and cheapness of commodities, and that the profits of no trade can ever be equal to the expense of compelling it and holding it by fleets and armies.” Speaking in the Philadelphia convention, Senator Lodge said: “We do not mean that the Philippines shall come within our tariff system or become part of our body politic. We make no hypocritical pretense of being interested in the Philippines solely on account of others. We see our duty to ourselves as well as to others. We believe in trade expansion. By every legitimate means within the province of government and legislation we mean to stimulate the expansion of our trade and to open new markets. Greatest of all markets is China. * Manila, the prize of war, gives us inestimable advantages in developing that trade.” It is the same spirit that is waging war in South Africa. Not long since Mr. Cecil Rhodes spoke of the English flag as “the most valuable commercial asset” of which he had any knowledge. It is this spirit which now, as never before, dominates the world. It is simply one of the signs of the rapidly approaching end of the age. A recent London dispatch says: “Russia’s primary ambitions are territorial and inordinate; she covets Northern China, Corea, Turkey, Persia, and India; her diplomacy is the ablest and the most unscrupulous in Europe; her military force is numerically the largest.”