The Savannah morning news., 1904-12-17

! war, and only until peace ana honor
cannot otherwise be secured, should
I the soldier unsheathe his sword. The
! home ever of the brave. may America
be no less the home ever of justice
and OF peace-a blessing to her peo-
| pie, a blessing to all other people
| the realization upon earth, of the reign
Of Him at whose coming angels sang
-"Glory to God On High, and On
Earth, Peace to Men of Good VIII.
Letters from Grover Cleveland. Carl
| Schurz and John Mitchell were read.
Letter from Carl Schurz.
The following, in part, was the letter
from Hon. Carl SchufZ I am very sorry
/ cannot comply with your kind invita-
ton summoning me to speak at the
meeting to be held in behalf of inter-
national arbitration. The appeals OF
that cause to the intelligence and NOR
! al sense of mankind have of late been
| so effectual as to put to shame the
dreary pessimism which had so long
stood in its way. For what else is 1t
than downright pessimism, dull, dismal
and mischievous pessimism, which,
having no faith in the elevating inf1u-
ences of progressive civilization, in
sists that there always will and must
be wars, and plenty of them. to salts
fly the combative and british impulses
of human nature, or to keep up the
virility of the human race; pessimism,
which with a cynical affectation of SUI
perior wisdom, Sneers at the advocates
of peace as sentimental and weak
minded dreamers; which not many
years ago 'belittled International arbi-
tration as a feeble contrivance appiica-
BILE only to petty chickering's about
trifes, but not to really dangerous dis.
putes among nations; which scoffer at
the idea of a permanent international
peace tribunal as a barren ideality,"
because it would have no power be-
hind it to enforce it's decisions or
awards, and which necessarily con-
jures UP imaginary dangers to our
safety, to prove the necessity of con-
slant preparation for war, and of keep
ing up, to this end, vast and costly
ornaments, even in time of peace.
The Decrease in Wars.
How does this pessimism stand in
the light of day? It is true, war has
not yet been abolished. But who will
deny that the number of wars has
grown less from century to century,
and that many and many troubles
which at earlier periods would surely
have led to war, have been peaceably
composed? Who will deny that the alb
hOrrence of war as the cruel ecourge
of mankind and as an odious relic of
barbariSm is growing more universal
in civilized society every day, and that
the terrible conflict now going on in
the Far East, has immensely intensi-
fed that adherence and bids fair to
serve as a tremendous warning exam
pie for all time?
And now behold international arbi-
tration. not many decades ago rarely
resorted to as a doubtful experiment,
become practically the fashion of
the time. as an English statesman re-
! Gently expressed it.
The Hague Court.
Behold The Hague Court of Peace
suddenly risen into practical activity
| as by, eenchantment, and turning the
ridicule upon those supervise pessi-
mists who buy yesterday, as it were
pronounced such a permanent interna-
| tional tribunal an impossiblity dreamed
of only by fantastic visionaries! s,
Behold the prompt reference to that
tribunal of such case as the bloody
attack by Russian warships upon Brit
| ish fishermen, which at time not long
past would have been very likely to
| set the guns of the interested powers
] booming against each other without
much ceremOny--a case which even at
this day some sincere friends of peace
would have hesitated to class among
those clearly fit for arbitrationl
| Truly, the pessimists who believe in
warships and heavy battalions and not
| in the moral force, as the most poten-
tial factors in human affairs, have
been strihngly belied by palpable
events. The cause of peace has in its
progress outstripped the forecast even
! OF some of its leaders. We may we'll
have faith in the enlightened infelli-
| gence and the moral sense of man.
kind. and in the ennobling tendencies
of advancing civilization.
"A Plea for Arbitration.
Indeed, there should be no doubt
| and / trust there is none-of fine
| speedy confirmation by the Unitel
| states Senate of the arbitration trea-
| ties between this republic and various
powers Which are now pending before
that body. There should be 40 .loubt
! of L. even II those treaties were less
timidly limited in scope than they are +.
Let us, have faith then-as we well
may-that the day will come, and that
our children, if not we ourselves. will
/ see it. when the reference of any in
| ternational dispute to The Hague
! Tribunal will seem as natural, as
much a matter of course, as in pri-
waite life the reference of a dispute
about property to a court justice is
now.
The Spectacle of EARNED Peace
When any nation going to war with
out the EXTREMIST necessity generally
recognized, will stand dishonored in
| the estimation of civilized mankind.
and when the spectacle of so-called
! armed peace spectacle which
would seem ludicrous, were II not so
sorrowful-each government watching
with nervous anxiety every other gov
eminent that may add another bat
ueship or battalion to its armed force.
then following suit with hysterical
haste, thus continuing and stimulat-
ing the ruinous competition and heap
hng burden after burden upon the
necks of suffering peoples will be a
thing of the past to be looked back
upon by wiser generation with Gu
rious wonder at the sort of statesman
ship which carried on and encouraged
so wasteful and oppressive a policy
and at the patience of the peoples that
so long tolerated it.
Let us hope that this republic which,
as its history proves, is so singularly
| blessed with entire exemption from
mr. Kidnnu TrnuhIo