Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-22
PEACE ON EARTH.

Peace on earth and good will to man is the spirit that should control men and nations. The teachings of Christ are worthy of all consideration. especially during these holidays when we bow in adoration to the will of God In the presence of impending national troubles it is our duty as one of the great family of civilized nations to obey the precepts of the great Master that spoke as no man before or since has ever spoken. Ques- tions of dispute between nations should not be decided by force. The commerce of the world is such that when battle is made the umpire there is vast suffering among the people. Fortunes are swept away, men are slain, homes are lost. food is snatched from the lips of the poor. and all the or dnary course of labor and life is inter rupted and destroyed. It is necessary that the rights of nations and of men should be observed, and that usurpation and oppression should be rebuked and stayed. but surely in this era of civiliza- ton and enlightenment there must be a way of deciding international disputes other than by a resort to arms. War is barbarous. It settles no moral question, and it's verdict has no weight with his- tory.
 In this matter with Great Britain we are brought face to face with the anom- alous fact that it was that power which, for her own purposes, dictated the Mon roe doctrine. MT. Canning, the premier of Great Britain, was actually the author of that doctrine as a defense against the so-called holy alliance. In 1S23 when Great Britain wished to prevent the en- croaehment of European power on the American continent, it not only sup ported the Monroe doctrine, but invented the doctrine in order to be able to sup port it.
 In 1885 when Great Britain wishes to do the encroaching, it repudiates the doctrine which it invented, and declares that the dangers it sought to avert "have no relation to the state of things in which we live at the present day"
 This is no uncommon phenomenon. It should surprise no one to find England equally ready in repudiating a principle when it is unprofitable and in creating one when the occasion seems to call for it. It should, however, be a matter of surprise if Americans should allow them selves to be made the convenient cats paw for this juggling with a question of international right and wrong.
 While the people of the United States are undoubtedly right in denying the claim of a European power to define for itself the boundary between it's own ter ritory and that of a weaker power on this continent, and in asserting the rigth of arbitration, it is due to ourselves to maintain the pretension which we have advanced without passion or arrogance. We want peace and will do all in our power to preserve peace, but we are not unmindful of the fact recalled by those days that commemorate the life of our Saviour that the Apostle Peter drew his sword and cut off the ear of the servant of the high priest. Put up thy sword" said the Lord, "those who draw the sword shall perish by the sword" It is not on record that Peter was rebuked for his violence. Our Saviour simply warned him and the religious world, whose keys the apostles were to hold, that in the maintenance of right those who draw the sword are liable to suffer by the sword.