Daily Kennebec journal., 1905-12-06

l righteousness. Feace IS normally tNe
handmaiden of righteousness; but
when peace and righteousness conflict
i then a great and upright people can
never for a moment hesitate 20 follow
the path which leads toward righteous
ness, even though that path also leads
| to war. There are persons who advo-
cate peace at any price; there are 9TH
ers who, following false analogy,
think that because it is no longer
nece ssary III civilized countries for in
diviGuals TO protect their rights with
a strong hand, it is therefore un-
necessary fer nations to be ready to de-
fend,. their rights. These persons
| would do irreparable harm to any ma
ton that adopted their principles, and
even as it is they seriously hamper the
cause which they advocate by tending
| to render it absurd in the eyes of sensi-
BILE and patriotic men. There can be
no worse foe of mankind in general,
and of his own country in particular,
| than the demagogue of war, the man
| who in mere folly or to serve his own
selfish ends continually rails at and
abuses other nations, who seeks to ex-
cite his countrymen against foreign
ers on insufficient preteXts, who eXcites
| and inflames a porverse and aggressive
national vanity, and who may on oc-
casions wantonly bring on conflict be-
tween his nation and some other ma
tion. But there are demagogues of
peace just as there are demagOgues
of war, and in any such movement as
this for The Hague conference it is
essential not to be misled by one set of
extremists any more than by the other.
Whenever it is possible for nation or
an individual to work for real peace,
assuredly it is failure of duty not so to
strive: but If war is necessary and
righteous then either the man or the
nation shrinking from it forfeits all
title to self-respect. We have scant
sympathy with the sentimentalist who
breads oppression less than physical
suffering, who would prefer shame
full peace to the pain and toll some-
times lamentably necessary in order to
secure a righteous peace. AS yet
there is only a partial and imperfect
analogy between international law and
internal or municipal law, because
there is no sanction of force for execut-
ing that former while there Is in the
case of the latter. The private citi-
zen is protected in his rights by the
law, because the law rests in the last
resort upon force exercised through
the forms of law. A man does not
nave to defend his rights with his own
!. hand, because he can call upon the
police, upon the sheriff's posse. upon
the militia, or in certain extreme cases
upon the army, to defend him. But
there is no such sanction of force for
International law. At present there
l 1ay ifyy hny fnY
the free peoples, the enlightened, in
dependent and peace-loving peoples, to
dsarm while yet leaving it open to any
| barbarism or despotism to remain
armed. So long as the world is as un-
ganiZed as now, the armies and navies
of those peoples who on the whole
stand for justice, offer not only the
best, but the only possible security for
a Just peace. For instance, if the
United States alone, or in company
only with the other nations that on
the whole tend to act justly, disarmed,
we might sometimes avoid bloodshed,
but we would cease to be Of weight in
securing the peace of justice-the real
peace fer which the most law-abiding
and high-minded 'mer must at times be
| willing to fight. AS the world is now,
only that nation is equipped for peace
that knows now to fight and that will
not shrink from fighting If ever the
conditions become such that war is de-
manded in the name of the highest
morality.
So much it is emphatically necessary
to say in order both that the position
| of the United States may not be mis-
understood. and that genuine effort to
bring nearer the day of the peace of
Justice among the nations may not be
hampered by folly which, in striving
/, to achieve the impossible, would render
it hopeless to attempt the achievement
of the practical But while recognizing
most clearly all above set forth, it re-
| mains Our clear duty to strive in every
practicable way to bring nearer the
time when the sword shall not be the
. arbiter among nations. At present the
| practical thing to do is to try to
, minimize the number of cases IN which
: it must be the arbiter, and to offer, at
. least to all civilized powers, some SUBJ
stitute for war which will be available
; in at least considerable number of in
stances Very much can be done
through another Hague conference in
this direction, and 1 most earnestly
urge that this Nation do all in its
, power to try to further the movement
: and to make the result of the decisions
, of The Hague conference effective. l
earnestly hope that the conference may
, be able to devise some way to make
=, arbitration between nations the GUS
= tomary way of settling international
: disputes in all save a few classes of
q cases, which should themselves be as
: sharply defined and rigidly limited as
= the present governmental and social
= development of the world will permit.
If possible. there should be general
| arbitration treaty negotiated among all
? the nations represented at the confer
, ence. Neutral rights and property
should be protected at sea as they are
| protected OH land. There should be an
| international agreement to this pUr-
pose and similar agreement defining
contraband of war
}, During the last century there has