For a long time we kept up a system of coast defences, but it
is also a long time since we abandoned these; for it is a maxim with us
that where every citizen's life is a pledge of the public safety, that
country can never be in danger of foreign enemies.
"In this, as in all other things, we believe ourselves the true followers
of Christ, whose doctrine we seek to make our life as He made it His. We
have several forms of ritual, but no form of creed, and our religious
differences may be said to be aesthetic and temperamental rather than
theological and essential. We have no denominations, for we fear in this,
as in other matters, to give names to things lest we should cling to the
names instead of the things. We love the realities, and for this reason we
look at the life of a man rather than his profession for proof that he is
a religious man.
"I have been several times asked, during my sojourn among you, what are
the sources of compassion, of sympathy, of humanity, of charity with us,
if we have not only no want, or fear of want, but not even any economic
inequality. I suppose this is because you are so constantly struck by the
misery arising from economic inequality and want, or the fear of want,
among yourselves, that you instinctively look in that direction.
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