The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-01-13
DENOUNCES WAR.
Rev. Father Tighe's Flo
quent Address on the
Venezuelan Matter.
ADVISES ARBITRTION
He Points Out the Folly of War
and Touches on the Mon
roe Doctrine.

Rather Tighe discourse on the venez,,e-
ian trouble. His text was ssArbitration."
ana In the course Of a most admirab1e
address he said-
nineteen centuries have rolled by since
a new religion-a religion of gentleness.
peace and mercy-was introduced upon
the earth. On the day thai its divine
Founder, the Primo of Peace. was usher
ed into the world about four hundred
Thousand men were required to maintain
the peace of Europe, and now, after so
many centuries of the refining influences
OF Christian civilization, nearly seven mil
lions of armed soldiers are found neces-
sary to keep peace in the same territory
a territory in which exist not so much
national armies as armed nations. Verify.
the Gospel precepts are far from being
realized. Europe is today one huge
camp, bristling with forests of bayonets.
Estimate. If you can. the s%tupendous
cost of supporting these vast military
establishments, and consider that these
idle and Improbable soldier might nave
been productive farmers or artizans, so
that to the cost of their maintenance
must be added the loss of their labor.
rs there any justification for imposing
so intolerable a burden upon the people,
Is war now necessary for the purpose of
extending or conquering territory, for
~propagating systems, or disseminating
opinions, for the purposing of amassing
wealth or securing spoil? No, certainly
not. But say the stateman, we must
maintain our national autonomy, uphold
our sway and supremacy, preserve our
political and commercial independence,
and guard the weak and d~efenceless from
the aggressions of the strong and power
full. For this reason. though actual war
MAJ not be a necessity, we must nave at
hand such factors as represent the poten-
| tial force of the nation, which can be
converted at call into the power they
represent. In a word, armafnents n
Notifications, fleets and armies are
necessary to warn off intruders and pre-
serve the peace
This argument is more specious thar
logical. There is but one real ground for
war, n that is self-defense. To this
| reason all other valid ones are reducible.
Even when war is waged to avenge in
suit, it is then self-defense, for as no
man, so no nation, has a right to insult
another. But if all nations agreed to
lay down their arms, no Individual nation
would need the protection afforded by
arms.
How many of the leaders of men stop
to consider whether they are justified in
the eyes of God and men i'll plunging
whole nations into the awful calamities of
war-calamities ard miseries of which they
| generally feel the least part themselves:
Humanity revolts against those rulers
who through ~sel1shness. wantonness,
ambition or reckless mssjudgment take
upon themselves the dread and fatal re-
sponsibility of lavishing the blood of
their people. when a little prudence and
| foresight would have kept them in the
enjoyment of a secure and honorable
| peace. War should never be undertaken
without the most cogent and imperative
reasons
VIVA have been the evils. the expense.
the slaughter of the late evil War; i
fail to. solve the problem. 1t laid away
thousands Of our nse cou natr.y WHO'S who left It
orphans to bewail their departure. II
deToaSs debts IS that ever " a affi let 'a a pe5 poR-
and though it emancipated the negro, it
made slaves of thousands of white men.
grean under the curse of war, and more
than twenty billions of dollars encumber
the nations Of the earth as the cost of
tears and blood that have been shed by
war since the creation of man be con-
centrated IN a mass they would float the
bosom.
7 do not say that war It at al times
ana qnder az eircumsdances ilegitlmate
orable. After that Of religion, the senti-
ment of patriotism is the strongest in
ones me nu Country 95sa and bee ming e too a'e sa aSa
honor and safety are clearly involved II
Monroe Doctrine is sound doctrine. and
It makes for peace. + SIMPLY IS MING
your own business and Wen mind ours
The British nation has never learned tc
do this; perhaps she never will. The
Anglo,maniacs on this side the watsr
oate y yfain char eTied e + gi iy n hsr n z cspttfr.
vention. bit intervention thai is her
principle. Non-intervention is the Mon.
and the RESTORATION Of the despotic sway
in Europe, it was ~apprehended BIS thf
American. Government that the despofis
and snbdue those Spanish colonies which
had become independent States: IN thai
while some would be restored to SPAR
fhis result: President Monroe declares
a that on ne p 5o + onno 81 fS'e o Am f9I an e eontinp
ent was hereafter to be deemed. open I
Europsean colonization: and that tn
tempt as imposing upon the obligation
of e~ndeavoring to prevent. This doc.
trtne has always been cited by American
statesmen as one to be inf1exibly held
Britain herself. The doctrine aid no no
contemplate any Interference on the par
Of the United States with the existing
right of European powers, but it was {
protest against the extension of thei]
power and policy in the future.
This country has the right to determine
II. IN the Venezuelan matter Great Britair
has violated, this doctrine. The Presi
dent proceeds wisely. ~courageousIy and
Justly In appointing his commission IA,
the purpose. If Great Britain perversels
ard ~obstinately reject the principle Of ar
bitration, and refuse to subrnit the de.
cision OF the Venezuelan dispute tn tht
Judgment of disinterested parties, hers
and hers alone will be the awful respon.
ssbilty. of the most. calamitous war tht
world has seen: and when the blood 81
hands. quilts shivering conviction vii
carry terror and disrnay to the Hector 81
the nations.
sBut let fathers inc mothers instfll
with all poss, bic pathos. the principles O
peace and good will into the youth 81
C-hristendom. and marital combat vii
the world will stand up as one man f0
arbitration. Then shall the war err
cease: rivers of blood no LONGER dow. anf
peace prevail on the footstool Of Goodwill
Fl spread her balmy wings over q smfl.nf
and happy earth.
A0ne thing seems to have entered int
The public reason. the public mind. tn!