Thus, in few significant words, does this authority teach that a Republic is a government derived from “the great body of the people,” and not from “a favored class of it.” Better words could not be found for the American definition.
In this quote, Sumner defines a Republic as a government that derives its authority from the people rather than a privileged class.
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Far above any flickering light or battle-lantern of party is the everlasting sun of Truth, in whose beams are the duties of men.
As the Brotherhood of Man is practically recognized, it becomes impossible to restrict the feeling within any exclusive circle of country, and to set up an unchristian distinction of honor between civil war and international war.
Nay, more,--if it would be criminal in these several clusters of States to reëstablish the Institution of War as Arbiter of Justice, then is it criminal in the Commonwealth of Nations to continue it.
They belong to a system so essentially irrational, that all the admitted virtues of many of its agents cannot save it from judgment.
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