Makely led the applause, and they roared in after her.
It is impossible to follow closely the course of the Altrurian's account
of his country, which grew more and more incredible as he went on, and
implied every insulting criticism of ours. Some one asked him about war in
Altruria, and he said: "The very name of our country implies the absence
of war. At the time of the Evolution our country bore to the rest of our
continent the same relative proportion that your country bears to your
continent. The egoistic nations to the north and the south of us entered
into an offensive and defensive alliance to put down, the new altruistic
commonwealth, and declared war against us. Their forces were met at the
frontier by our entire population in arms, and full of the martial spirit
bred of the constant hostilities of the competitive and monopolistic epoch
just ended. Negotiations began in the face of the imposing demonstration
we made, and we were never afterward molested by our neighbors, who
finally yielded to the spectacle of our civilization and united their
political and social fate with ours. At present, our whole continent is
Altrurian.
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