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shielded as their interests would be by the power and the fleets of Great Britain united with their own." In short, we were to join Great Britain in waging war against France for the protection of Spain, and in waging war against Turkey for the liberation of Greece! Yet people prate about our "traditional policy of isolation!"

NATIONAL ACTS AND PRACTICE

If from these most weighty and authoritative declarations, which however are nothing but declarations, we turn to concrete acts, not only performed by the President but also approved by Congress or by the Senate, what do we find? Note the case of Morocco. In 1880 we united with the European powers in a formal treaty for the protection of foreigners in that empire, and in 1906 we entered at Algeciras that monstrous embroilment of the powers which was one of the most direct preludes to the present European war, and we took almost a predominant part in defining and regulating the rival interests of European powers in that African country. Or what shall we say of the two treaties, or sets of treaties, at The Hague? The United States took a leading part in those conferences and in the making of those treaties, side by side with the European powers; and they were and are treaties relating not merely to our own concerns but to the general international interests of the whole world. Surely, it was not an empty form for this country to sign and ratify those treaties. And surely in our doing so there could not have been the slightest trace of "isolation."

THE TRUE RULE OF CONDUCT

It is not to be contended that we should embroil ourselves in purely European affairs, or that we should hastily

enter into alliances with any other powers in the world. But it cannot be too strongly insisted upon that the Declaration of Independence is not mere "buncombe" when it says that this country has "full power to contract alliances," and that it was not a purposeless form for the Constitution to invest the President with the power "to make treaties" in the unlimited sense of the term. It may not be expedient for us to enter into alliances. A great authority of old reminded us that things which are lawful are sometimes not expedient. But nothing can be more certain than that there is and has been no "policy of isolation" which may now be abandoned, and that there is nothing in tradition or precedent or declaration or theory or practice to restrain us for one moment from making any alliances or doing any other lawful act which may be expedient and for the interest of our own security and welfare. The United States is not a dwarf nor a cripple, nor yet a hermit, among the nations of the world.

CHAPTER XXIX

THE FLAG AND ITS ANTHEM

The Stars and Stripes on the European Battle Line Flying Above the Offices of the British Government - The King of England Singing "The Star Spangled Banner" The Dramatic Story of the National Anthem - Conceived and Born in Battle - The Only Important National Anthem in the World Solely Inspired by the National Flag - The Story of the Stars and Stripes - The Grand Union Flag Derived from the British - The Stars and Stripes a Second Derivation from the British Flag - Early Use of the Stars and Stripes- Carried to European Waters by Paul Jones - The Flag of Fifteen Stripes - Some Artistic Anachronisms The Present Flag, "and Long May It Wave!"

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THE STARS AND STRIPES are on the firing line of the European war, and will be "in at the death" when Hohenzollern despotism and Prussian militarism and all the bestial anarchism of "Kultur" are finally rounded up and crushed by the triumphant democracy of both hemispheres. The entry of our banner into the world war was signally welcomed by our allies, particularly in its being raised to the highest place of honor above the Parliament Houses and all the government offices in London. During the great public demonstrations of "American Day" in the British capital, April 20, 1917, the King of England was heard to join heartily in the singing of "The Star Spangled Banner," an anthem which had been written as the American war song in a war waged against England more than a century before

These stirring and epochal incidents make it fitting to recall the story of the flag and of the anthem; the one conceived and born during our first war and the other during our second war; and the two associated with peculiar

intimacy because of the fact that the anthem, alone among the important national anthems of the world, was inspired by and is indeed essentially a tribute to the flag.

KEY'S MISSION TO THE BRITISH FLEET

The story of the song is briefly told. Francis Scott Key, a brilliant member of a noted family, the son of a gallant officer in the Revolution, was at that time thirtyfive years old and had already risen into eminence as a lawyer at the national capital. He was looked upon as one of the most important and influential men in his part of Maryland. Now at Upper Marlboro there was a somewhat choleric old physician, of excellent skill and abundant patriotism, Dr. William Beanes. To his house came some of the British forces which raided the shores of the Chesapeake and burned the capitol at Washington, and the officers insisted upon dining at his table and making his office their headquarters. This he was unable to prevent, and so he acquiesced, at heart grudgingly and indignantly, but outwardly with true Maryland hospitality. But after the officers had gone, there came some scurvy stragglers and camp followers, much the worse for firewater, free with insults and inclined toward loot. These Dr. Beanes properly clapped into jail for safe keeping. But when the British learned this they sent back a strong force, released the captives, and took Dr. Beanes aboard the flagship of their fleet, with the cheerful assurance that in a day or two he would infallibly be hanged at the yardarm. At this Key was besought to go to Admiral Cochrane and secure the doctor's release. It was a perilous and unpromising errand, but Key undertook it. He reached the British fleet under a flag of truce on the morning of September 6, 1814, and was well received. It did not

take him long to secure the release of Dr. Beanes. But just at that time the British were preparing for an attack upon Baltimore which they meant to make a surprise, and in order that they might not disclose what they had seen of these preparations, both Key and Beanes were required to remain aboard the flagship until after the attack had been made, and they were told that they would thus have an unsurpassed opportunity to witness the reduction of Fort McHenry and the capture of the city.

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That attack was made as per schedule on September 13th, in the evening, but it did not result as the British had expected. On the contrary, the fort, under the command of the gallant Armistead, repulsed the fleet and kept its flag flying in triumph all through the night of battle. It was while he anxiously watched this fight from the deck of the British flagship that Key conceived the song, and jotted down rough notes of it on the back of an old letter, to be completed the next day. It may be observed that the song was made quite realistic. The "rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air" were very real and numerous that night, and they gave ample proof that "our flag was still there;" and the return of daylight confirmed that proof.

The next day the British realized that their attack had failed; and if, made as a surprise, it had been unsuccessful, there would be no hope of success in openly renewing it. So they sent Key and Dr. Beanes ashore, and sailed away. Key went to Baltimore and showed Judge Nicholson the draft of the song, and at Nicholson's urging it was at once given to a printer and handbill copies of it were struck off and distributed about the city and in

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