trade conditions and every consideration but religious differ-
ence and tradition require that the whole island be under one
Government?

It becomes apparent at once that the general principle of
popular rule is not a panacea and that many issues will have
to be settled by the Congress of Nations, according to ex-
pedient and practical justice, over the objection of some part
of the people affected. The result will illustrate the in-
herent error in the frequent assumption that a Government
by the people is a Government in which that which is done
is the will of each one. A practical Government by the
people is a Government by a majority of the voters. The
rest of the people must yield their will to the will of this
majority. However, in the purest democracy, the voters
are not a half of the population, and the prevailing majority
is usually not more than 20 per cent. of all. The guide of
the popular will is still less helpful when the issue is the fix-
ing of the proper self-governing unit. In the intoxicating
fumes of a new freedom, municipal Councils in Russia de-
clared themselves independent governments. Should Lithu-
ania, Esthonia, the Ukraine and Great Russia be separate
entities? This cannot be certainly and properly determined
by a plebiscite of the population of the particular district, if
its relation to the neighboring communities or to Russia
as a whole make it best for all concerned that they be united.
More than this, an ignorant people without the slightest
experience in the restraints necessary in successful self-
government and subject to the wildest imaginings under the
insidious demagoguery of venal leaders may well not know
what is best for them.

Thus, flowing phrases as to liberty and the rule of the
people do not offer a complete solution for all the problems

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