12 JANUARY 1907, Page 3

On Thursday Mr. Haldane, the Lord Rector of the Univer-

sity of Edinburgh, delivered the customary address in the M'Ewan Hall, the title of which was "The Dedicated Life." The end which the State and its members had to strive after was the development of the State, but no such develop- ment could be genuine unless it stood for progress in the realisation of some great purpose. The foundation of purpose in the State must, if the national life was to prosper and not fail, be ethical. It was not brute force but moral force that commanded predominance in the world. The whole system of armaments tended to work out to its own abolition. What could most help that tendency was the genuine acceptance by the nations of a common purpose of deliverance from the burden, a purpose which the necessities of their citizens would bring surely, however slowly, into operation. We wish we had space to deal in detail with Mr. Haldane's 'address, and to describe the very interesting passage in which he dealt with the training in chivalry, self-effacement, and the obligation of truthfulness and patriotism given to the young Japanese officers. In his closing words Mr. Haldane reminded his hearers that Leasing had declared that were God to offer him the truth in one band and the search for truth in the other, he would choose the search. It was in the devotion to this search after the Most High that the dedicated life consisted.