Rev. Lyman Abbott, D.D., Brooklyn, N. Y.
George T. Angell, 19 Milk Street, Boston, Mass.

Rev. L. H. Angier, 168 W. Newton St., Boston, Mass.
Edward Atkinson, Brookline, Mass.

Joshua L. Baily, 1624 Arch St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Ida Whipple Benham, Mystic, Conn.

Rev. Geo. D. Boardman, D.D., Philadelphia, Pa.
Prof. Geo. N. Boardman, Pittsford, Vt.

Hon. Charles C. Bonney, Chicago, Ill.
Rev. Sidi H. Browne, Columbia, S. C.
Hon. Felix R. Brunot, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Hon. Thomas B. Bryan, Chicago, Ill.
Hon. Wm. A. Butler, New York, N. Y.

Hon. Samuel B. Capen, 38 Greenough Ave., Boston, Mass.
Hon. Jonathan Chace, Providence, R. I.

H. B. Chamberlain, Denver, Col.

Rev. Frank G. Clark, Plymouth, N. H.

Edward H. Clement, Brookline, Mass.

Rev. Joseph S. Cogswell, Ashburnham, Mass.

Rev. D. S. Coles, Wakefield, Mass.

Joseph Cook, 28 Beacon St., Boston, Mass.

Geo. Cromwell, Brooklyn, N. Y.

Rev. G. L. Demarest, D.D., Manchester, N. H

Mrs. Elizabeth Dow, Brookline, Mass.

Rev. Howard C. Dunham, Winthrop, Mass.

Hon. Dorman B. Eaton, New York, N. Y.
Rev. S. Hopkins Emery, D.D., Taunton, Mass.

Everett O. Fisk, 4 Ashburton Place, Boston, Mass.

B. O. Flower, Brookline, Mass.

Hon. John B. Foster, Bangor, Me.

Thomas Gaffield, 54 Allen St., Boston, Mass.

Philip C. Garrett, Philadelphia, Pa.

Pres. Merrill E. Gates, LL.D., Amherst, Mass.

Rev. Edw. Everett Hale, D.D., 39 Highland St., Roxbury, Mass.

Hon. Thomas N. Hart, Boston, Mass.

Hon. Rowland Hazard, Peacedale, R. I.

John Hemmenway, St. Anthony Park, Minn.

Hon. John W. Hoyt, Washington, D. C.

Rev. W. G. Hubbard, Cleveland, Ohio.
Hon. Sumner I. Kimball, Washington, D. C.

Rev. Henry Lambert, West Newton, Mass.
Bishop William Lawrence, Cambridge, Mass.

Mary A. Livermore, Melrose, Mass.

Rev. Philip S. Moxom, D.D., Springfield, Mass.

Hon. Nathan Matthews, Jr., 456 Beacon St., Boston, Mass.

Hon. Amos Perry, Providence, R. I.

L. H. Pillsbury, Derry, N. H.

Hon. Wm. L. Putnam, Portland, Me.

Thos. D. Robertson, Rockford, Ill.

Charles T. Russell, Jr., Cambridge, Mass.

Senator John Sherman, Washington, D.C.

David S. Taber, New York, N. Y.

Pres. C. F. Thwing, D.D., Cleveland, Ohio.
Bishop Henry W. Warren, Denver, Col.
Frances E. Willard, Evanston, Ill.

Richard Wood, 1620 Locust St., Philadelphia, Pa.
Rev. John Worcester, Newtonville, Mass.

DIRECTORS:

} Ex-oficio.

Hon. Robert Treat Paine,
Benjamin F. Trueblood, LL. D.,
Rev. J. H. Allen D.D., Cambridge, Mass.
Nathaniel T. Allen, West Newton, Mass.
Rev. C. G. Ames, D.D., Boston, Mass.
Kannah J. Bailey, Winthrop Centre, Me.
Rev. S. C. Bushnell, Arlington, Mass.

Hezekiah Butterworth, 28 Worcester St., Boston, Mass.

Rev. David H. Ela, D.D., Hudson, Mass.

Rev. Scott F. Hershey, Ph.D., Munroe St., Boston, Mass. Julia Ward Howe, 241 Beacon St., Boston, Mass.

Augustine Jones, Providence, R. I.

Rev. B. F. Leavitt, Melrose Highlands, Mass.

Wm. A. Mowry, Ph.D., Hyde Park, Mass.

B. Schlesinger, Brookline, Mass.

Hon. Wm. E. Sheldon, A.M., West Newton, Mass.

Rev. Charles B. Smith, West Medford, Mass.

Rev. G. W. Stearns, Middleboro, Mass.

Rev. Reuen Thomas, D.D., Brookline, Mass.

Kate Gannett Wells, 45 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, Mass. Rev. A. E. Winship, 3 Somerset St., Boston, Mass.

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

Hon. Robert Treat Paine, ex-officio.

Benjamin F. Trueblood, LL.D., ex-officio.

B. Schlesinger, Brookline, Mass.

Hon. Wm. E. Sheldon, A.M., West Newton, Mass.

Rev. Charles B. Smith, West Medford, Mass.

Wm. A. Mowry, Ph.D., Hyde Park, Mass.

Rev. S F. Hershey, Ph.D., Munroe St., Boston, Mass.

HONORARY COUNSEL:

Cephas Brainerd, New York, N. Y.

Hon. William A. Butler, New York, N. Y.

Hon. Dorman B. Eaton, New York, N. Y.

Hon. George S. Hale, 10 Tremont St., Boston, Mass.
Judge William L. Putnam, Portland, Me.
Hon. Josiah Quincy, Boston, Mass.

In our own Hands-In Times of Excitement-International Criticism-French Sentiment on Alsace-LorraineFrances E. Willard. EDITORIAL NOTES

The Peace Movement-The Maine Disaster-Peril of Modern War-Ships-Feelings during War-The DeLome Incident-Twenty-second of February-Peace after War of 1812-Letter of Max O'Rell-Christening of WarShips-Mr. Stead's Program for Great Britain. BREVITIES.

The Annexation of Hawaii, By Professor H. E. Von Holst. Women of France to their English Sisters

In our Own Hands.

PAGE

53-58

58-62

62

71

The peace of our country is entirely in our own hands. No one has shown this in a more masterly way than Dr. Von Holst, head professor of history in the University of Chicago, whose recent address on the annexation of Hawaii before the Commercial Club of Chicago we give nearly in full in this issue.

The great importance of the subject is sufficient reason for our giving up so large a portion of this number to this able address. The point of view from which the annexation of Hawaii has been treated in this journal has been that of its future bearing on the peace of our country in its relations to other nations. It has seemed to us, as it seems to Professor Von Holst, that the annexation of these islands at the present time would be the first fatal step in entering upon a policy which would sooner or later inevitably bring us into perilous entanglement in the vexatious, ruinous and irrational policies of the military powers. From this point of view no more momentous question has ever been before the people and

No. 3.

the Congress of the United States. The principles of our national life and the splendid traditions which have grown up in connection with them and given us a position of unique advantage and influence in determining the future course of the world's history are in the balance in connection with this question as they have not been before.

We commend Dr. Von Holst's lucid and impartial treatment of the subject to the careful attention of our readers. He has brought to its consideration a great wealth of historic learning and of personal observation among the nations of Europe. His European origin coupled with long residence in this his adopted country gives him a clearness of insight which few native Americans can have into the incomparable superiority of what has hitherto been our American international spirit and policy over the European internationalism inherited from the past.

If the peace of our country is entirely in our own hands, as he so convincingly shows, what an appalling national sin it will be if we deliberately or even inconsiderately turn it over into the hands of others; or imperil it through selfish and ambitious schemes of national enlargement!

In Times of Excitement.

The friends of international peace may do much. effective service by maintaining a calm and self-possessed attitude in times of sudden excitement, brought on by unexpected events whose cause is in doubt. At such times all sorts of rumors get afloat. Some of these are started by sensational newspapers. Some of them arise incidentally out of mere surmises. They are caught up eagerly and spread from mouth to mouth. People generally incline to believe them however wild and absurd. The excitement is contagious. People are swept away into making groundless charges and insinuations, and silly, unworthy threatenings.

Even when these storms of excitement pass by without driving a nation into war, as they have often done in the course of history, they often do immense mischief which cannot be wholly remedied for a long time, if ever. They deepen the instincts of animosity towards the people against whom they arise, and leave these instincts ever after more sensitive and excitable. They pervert the national imagination. They blind and distort the reasoning faculties. These evil effects store themselves away in the national character, and make the inner heart of a people, however great, intelligent and practically sensible that people may naturally be, more difficult to keep in the paths of right and reasonableness.

During these times of excitement, therefore, the friends of peace may do an immense service in a quiet way. Refusing to give ear to floating rumors, they should keep themselves in a calm, self-possessed attitude, which will have a direct restraining effect on others. Furthermore, it is their duty to talk these rumors down with whomsoever they meet, to descredit without hesitation every one of them that gives evidence of being a "fake," to insist that none even of those which might be true shall be believed so long as it is unsubstantiated. This course does not imply that one should be without feeling. It is compatible with the deepest, most serious and watchful interest in the events which are transpiring; it is in fact the only course which a really serious and intelligent individual can consistently follow.

The recent excitement caused by the destruction of the battleship Maine in Havana harbor gave opportunity to observe the working, on a large scale, of the scare-head spirit, and also of the sensible, conservative spirit of which we are speaking. From the beginning the indications were strong that the catastrophe was caused by an explosion within the ship, and the government authorities so announced. But a certain number of our people from Key West to Cape Flattery were determined to believe that the destruction of the stout battleship had been caused by treacherous Spaniards. The newspapers and the press agencies knew the appetite and undertook to feed it. Within two days the following were put forward as proof: A bomb had been treacherously conveyed into the ship with the coal taken on board at Havana. The evidence of this was positive. Captain Sigsbee had been warned by letter when going to a bull-fight, that his ship would be blown up. A

boy of the crew had, two weeks before the accident, written to his mother in Michigan that the vessel was threatened. A man just arrived at Key West from Havana had throw up his hands and expressed regret that he had not cabled to Washington some awful menaces which he had heard in the Cuban Capital. The divers had found an eight-inch percussion hole in the bottom of the Maine-proof positive that she had been torpedoed. A mysterious little black vessel had circled about the Maine, just before the explosion, had been hailed but had refused to answer. Various suspicious objects had been seen floating about the harbor near the cruiser. Later, the divers had discovered that the magazine of the ship had not blown up. One New Bedford Nebuchadnezzar was reported to have seen in a dream at precisely 9.30 P. M. that evening a sly black fellow sneaking about in the man-of-war. These and we know not how many other serious and serio-comic assumptions were boldly displayed on the bulletin boards, yelled by stentorian newsboys, stuffed into the columus of the newspapers, eagerly read and circulated by by a a Spanish-hating, excitement-loving public, and by many ordinarily sensible people believed or more than half believed.

All this scare-mongering was distressingly humiliating to one who cares for the honor and character of his country. Fortunately, it was counteracted by another spirit. Many people in all parts of the country frowned down and talked down these ridiculous. rumors, and reproached the newspapers for belittling their pages with them. A number of the newspapers themselves, while publishing them, steadily refused to give a moment's credence to them. At Washington, on which all thoughts centered, President McKinley and Secretary of the Navy Long, with a quietness, self-restraint and deliberateness passing all praise, discredited every sensational report, gave no credence to anything but official despatches from Captain Sigsbee and Consul-General Lee both of whom acted in the most discreet and sensible way, declined to give to the newspaper men any hint of a suspicion of treachery on the part of the Spaniards, openly and persistently, from the start, with such indications as they had before them, asserted their belief that the catastrophe was due to accident and that Spaniards had nothing to do with it.

It was a perilous moment. One authentic word from Washington asserting belief that Spain was to