THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE WAS HELD IN COMMITTEE ROOM, B, THE CENTRAL HALL, WESTMINSTER, ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH, 1915, AT 4 O'CLOCK. DAVID HOWARD, Esq., D.L., F.C.S., Vice-President, took the Chair. The Minutes of the Last Annual General Meeting, held on February 2nd, 1914, were read and confirmed. The SECRETARY read the Notice calling the Meeting, and the Report and Statement of Accounts, presented by the Council, having been circulated among the Members present, were taken as read. Mr. GRAHAM moved, and Prof. HULL seconded, "That the Report and Statement of Accounts for the year 1914 presented by the Council be received and adopted, and that the thanks of the Meeting be given to the Council, Officers and Auditors, for their efficient conduct of the business of the Institute during the past year." The Resolution was carried unanimously. Mr. HORNER moved, and Col. ALVES seconded "That the Council and Officers named in the Report be elected." The Resolution was carried unanimously. Col. MACKINLAY proposed and the TREASURER seconded- “That the cordial thanks of this Meeting be passed to the Vice-President, Mr. Howard, for presiding on this occasion." Prof. HULL spoke in warm support of the Resolution, and recalled that many years ago their Vice-President had proposed him, Prof. HULL, as Secretary of the Institute. The Resolution was carried unanimously. The CHAIRMAN, in returning thanks to this Resolution, said that the need for the work of the Victoria Institute was as great now as it ever had been. In the fifty years, now nearly completed, of the life of the Institute, they had seen many changes: changes in science, in politics, in philosophy; but Truth had not changed, though men's opinions changed continually. It was for them to remember that "Truth is great and will prevail." That being so they should not be in a hurry, but should be willing to wait patiently for it to declare itself. They ought not to be too sure that they had cleared up every difficulty. There was great teaching in that word of St. Paul, that "now we see, as in a glass," that is to say a mirror,-"darkly." Plato had said that the thoughts and the feelings of men were like the shadows thrown into a cave from the objects outside. He well remembered when the one scientific theory which seemed immutable, not to be changed or shaken, was the atomic theory; but now they had got far beyond that. The atoms were now considered to be highly complex structures: they were built up of electrons. Now the War had come and given them other things to think about than scientific theories or abstract philosophies, but here also, he would press upon them the same goal: "Let us patiently seek after Truth." 560TH ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING. HELD IN THE CONFERENCE HALL, 1, CENTRAL BUILDINGS, THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF HALSBURY, F.R.S., PRESIDENT OF THE INSTITUTE, OCCUPIED THE CHAIR. The Minutes of the preceding Meeting were read and signed and the SECRETARY announced that Mrs. WYNNE, Lt.-Col. HENRY SMITH, M.D., M.Ch., Mrs. HESTER SMITH, M.D., B.Ch., Col. A. F. LAUGHTON, C.B., THOS. FITZGERALD, Esq., Miss ETHEL JAMES, B.A., W. H. Asa, Esq., J.P., Rev. W. E. GLANVILLE, Ph.D., LL.B., JOHN C. DICK, Esq., M.A., and HAROLD W. BROWNE, Esq., had been elected Associates of the Institute. THE PRESIDENT welcomed the Victoria Institute to its new premises. He congratulated the members in that they no longer had to climb up two flights of stairs to their Meeting-room. He knew from his own experience that the Council and Officers had taken a great deal of trouble in their selection of their new quarters, and he thought that all present would feel that their efforts had been most successful; the more so that they had secured this more comfortable home for a somewhat smaller sum than they had been paying previously. The PRESIDENT then called upon the Secretary, Mr. E. Walter Maunder, to read his paper on "The Principles of World Empire." THE PRINCIPLES OF TH WORLD-EMPIRE. By E. HREE years ago, the Victoria Institute enjoyed the high privilege of listening to the Annual Address, delivered by Sir Charles Bruce, on "The True Temper of Empire." Empire he defined as "An aggregate of administrative units, of diverse constituent elements, professing allegiance to a central sovereign authority"; and adopting from him this definition, I wish to enquire into a special case of Empire; that of Empire co-extensive with human population; empire over the entire world; universal Empire. The phrase "the true temper of Empire" is due to Bacon, who considered that it "is exhibited in the state of things which exists when the two contraries, sovereignty and liberty, are mingled in fit proportions." In his Address, Sir Charles was necessarily most concerned with the "mingling"; with the practical question how best to preserve their "fit proportions." My purpose is rather to examine into the basic principles themselves; to deal with "sovereignty and liberty" in their application to the problem of Empire, not confined to some particular aggregate of administrative units," but extending over the entire world. The struggle in which to-day we have found ourselves involved is one for World-Empire. Since we are in the struggle, it follows inevitably that the details of the struggle occupy our thoughts to the exclusion of almost every other consideration. Yet the struggle is one of principles, more than of armies, and will eventually be decided by principles, not by artillery. It may, therefore, well repay us if for a few minutes we try to remove ourselves far from the actual material conflict, and examine the principles. THE GREAT RIVER VALLEY STATES. World-Empire, sovereignty extending over the whole known habitable world, is an ancient ideal. The earliest great states of the ancient world arose in approximately the same period and in analogous geographical conditions. They were the states of the great river valleys. Egypt was "the gift of the Nile"; Mesopotamia of the twin rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates; China of the Hoang-Ho. In these regions, blessed with plenteous sunshine and a warm climate, abundance of water, but little rain, life was easy of support and the cereals could be cultivated with great success. Egypt is, of course, the typical instance of a river-valley state, but all three countries resembled each other in this, that their suitability for the maintenance of a great population depended upon the river being brought under subjection. It was necessary to embank it and to arrange for reservoirs of its surplus waters, which had to be distributed over the land by irrigation canals. Until the river had been thus controlled, it was a hindrance rather than an aid to human settlement; its annual inundations rendered the land impassable for months together, and swept away any frail habitations that the hand of man might have reared. The conquest of the river was thus, in each case, a prime necessity, and this could only be accomplished by concerted human effort on a very large scale. Here then, therefore, the first great states arose. With the embankment of the river and October, 1915. Victoria Institute, No. 1, CENTRAL BUILDINGS, WESTMINSTER, S.W. THE PRESIDENT AND COUNCIL (with a view to carrying out the objects SUBJECTS. Suggested AUTHORS. Please return this form to “The Victoria Institute," as above, as early as convenient. NAME |