New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1903-07-04
ECHO FROM THE HAGUE.
Il Poem by Prince Mira Ria Khan,
of Persia.

Persia, Persian Ambassador at Constantinople,
was the representative of his country at the
Universal Peace Congress at The Hague, and
celebrated in verse the deliberations and action
Of that DO, ". His poem has been translated
into many languages, the English version. here
with reproduced, being the work Of Mr.. Edgar
Whitaker, Editor Of The Levant Herald" Of
Constautinople. The privilege of publishing the
poem in America was granted by his highness
to Mr.. Charles NJ Dickinson, the American
Consul General at Constantinople, who has
kindly placed it at the disposition Of The Trib-
une. Prince Mira, we may scarcely add, is
esteemed as the foremost Persian poet of the
present age.
When to The Hague the powers. on peace in
Their delegates to meet in conference sent
Each in his advocacy of the end desired
was by the God Of Eloquence inspired.
Said one: Let every State content abide
Each with its own possessions satisfied
Let Conscience hold Ambition in it's sway
Then war will never have it's direful day.
With the sweet fruit of peace their soil will TEEN
When authors, orators and scientists redeem
Their duty to SOW seed of kindly thought
On every field whereon their task is wrought"
Another urged that Rulers should unite
In league to serve and save the cause of right
BY arbitration which they would impose
And bring all discords to a peaceful close
IhenceforWard outrage will longer vex
The neighb, ring States. nor warning force per-
Mems sririt, which thus won to temper
VIII bring all peoples to De reconciled.
But" said third how can this problem find
us true solution while perverse mankind
Their minds and moneys lavishly apply
wars tools to perfect and to multiply?
THOSE trimming arsenals are prompt to breed
Mans lust OF conquest and in1ame his greed.
More the display Of rifles and huge guns
More wildly DER the world the blood-rage Rms
Increase of armies is but wanton waste
OF labor power, so hard to be replaced.
Lei PnVIyarc nTE
TO join In common effort to restrain
This baneful waste OF mans inventive skill
on instruments wherewith his kind to kill
II their declared desire for peace be true
To prove its truth they cannot but eschew
Aiming new warriors for future fight
And storing powder to augment their might
Rather wars frightful horrors let US each
10 all around US strenuously teach.
Showing how rapidly in this our day
A countless host is ranged in war array;
Hundreds Of thousands armed in costly train
Only to slay, or lie among the slain.
Their corpses piled in heaps, and soaked In
blood
Poured out from comrades wounds in CHASTITY
flood.
This carnage ushers in the days of woe.
When amid walls of anguish. tears must flow
Tears shed by widows, orphans desolate
And parents left to mourn their dead sons fate
Then ruin follows in the train of Woe
The treasures are drained of gold; and 10!
Both combatants are brought to writhe and fret
Gripped in the letters Of tyrannic debt
Commerce and industry both wane away.
And labor droops bereft of it's mainstay:
Failure and beggary stand before his door;
The tree Of hope all withered at the root
Can offer only poverty fruit;
The crops are ruined meath the soldiers tran1D
And pastures perish under every camp;
Flocks herds and beasts of burden starva or
fall -
Before the bullet and the cannon ball
mus putrid matter overspreads the land
mI6h te1 stench which nothing can withstand
OF ills which mans perversities entail.
II II, reason ruled the nations and their chiefs
Were guided by humanity, these griefs
Would never more af1ict mankind nor shed
Upon the world their hideous, direful dread"
Then spoke al Officer: Remember. prav
How constant and how potent is the sway
OF greed and envy in the human brain
Which only fear of conscience can restrain
But conscience is so apt to yield to greed
dhat every soldier feels how stern the need
or such perfect readiness for war
That fear may rule where conscience reigns no
more. ~
81 Wis pacem para beIlum' said the sage
striving mans peaceful purpose to engage"
Then said an Oriental: "Oh. nv friends
Let us discover where this question tends
search out the source of these pernicious wars
Replete with horrors which the world abhors
FIRST or the evil we must find the root
Then seek a remedy to constitute
It's blended greed and ignorance that cause
Mankind to disregard its noble laws
ana while these evils hold their direful sway
The world can never know the peaceful dav
In every human habitation must preach
The doctrine Of fraternity, and teach
That all the races of mankind are one
All sharers of a universe where none
Has preference in the great Creators sight
VINO made one home for all born of His might
While making man of nothing God supplied
His creatures, all. with Reason for their guide,
And blending with it Conscience laid the pIan
OF all religion that is good for man
Forget not that mans parentage is one
That all are therefore brethren so that none
Chinese or European, can stand apart
Or from the worlds fraternity depart
Reason has taught all human groups that they
Must each chief or sovereign obey:
Let all these chiefs in brotherhood unite
And bring the universe to peaceful plight
Each toward the others subjects should observe
kindly spirit; and toward all preserve
Paternal feelings due to each. as son
OF the great Father who made all men one
The world will gain from such fraternity
Durable peace and rich prosperity.
Each nation which in progress takes the lead
Should offer taste of it to those in need
Care for the East must occupy the West
And North. to help tn. South must strive its
best.
When this fraternity has once laid hold
OF all the nations in the human fold
Desire for conquest will have lost its sway
War. massacre and cruelty will fade away
Imagination, you must quicken and expand
Its sphere, then you will clearly understand
That the impossible is easy TO be wrought
When earnest spirit to the task Is brought
Such at the great Peace Conference in session
Were the ideas and thoughts which found ex-
preston
True is their note. inspiring hope that they
May speed the advent Of the peaceful day
And Danische, l, who heard the whole debates
Wrote report which copiously dates
On all that this Great Conference produced,
In hopes great men thereby might be induced
It's ends to further and its power increase
AS duteous servants OF the God OF Peace-