Waterbury evening Democrat., 1905-12-05

The Hague convention to send dele gates to such conference and sug- gested that it be again held at The Hague. In it's note of Dec. 16, 1904, the United States government commu- nicated to the representatives of foreign governments it's belief that the confer ence could be best arranged under the provisions of the present Hague treaty.
 From all the powers acceptance was received coupled in some cases with the condition that we should wait un- til the end of the war then waging be- tween Russia and Japan. The emper- or of Russia, immediately after the treaty of peace which so happily ter minated this war, in q hote presented to the president on Sept. 13 through Ambassador Rosen, took the initiative in recommending that the conference be now called. The United States gov ernment in response expressed its cor dial aequiescence and stated that it would as matter of course take part in the new conference and endeavor to
 
 civilized governments will support the movement and that the conference is now an assured fact. This govern ment will do everything in its power to secure the success of the conference to the end that substantial progress may be made in the cause of interna- tional peace, justice and good will
 This renders it proper at this time to say something as to the general atti- tude of this government toward peace More and more war is coming to be looked upon as in itself lamentable and evil thing. A wanton or useless war or war of mere aggression-in short, any war begun or carried on in a constituencies spirit-is to be con- demned as peculiarly atrocious crime against all humanity. We can, how ever, do nothing of permanent value for peace unless we keep ever clearly in mind the ethical element which lies at the root of the problem. Our aim is righteousness. Peace is normally the
 
 peace and righteousness conflict then great and upright people can never for a moment hesitate to follow the path which leads toward righteousness, even though that path also leads to war. There are persons who advocate peace at any price; there are others who, following false analogy, think that because it is no longer necessary in civilized countries for individuals to protect their rights with a strong hand, it is therefore unnecessary for nations to be ready to defend their rights. These persons would do irrep- arable harm to any nation that adopted their principles, and even as it is they seriously hamper the cause which they advocate by tending to rem der it absurd in the eyes of sensible 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 excite his countrymen against foreigners on in- sufficient pretexts, who excites and in- flames perverse and aggressive na- tional vanity and who may on occa- sions wantonly bring on conflict be- tween his nation and some other na- 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 a 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 dreads oppression less than physical suffering. who would prefer a 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 executing the for mer while there is in the case of the latter. The private citizen 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 have to defend his rights with his own hand, because he can call upon the police. upon the sher- iff's posse. upon the militia or in cer- tain extreme cases upon the army. to defend him. But there is no such sane tion of force for international law. At present there could be no greater ca- lamity than for the free peoples. the en- frightened, independent and peace lov- ing peoples. to disarm while yet leaving it open to any barbarism or despotism to remain armed. So long as the world is as unorganized as now. the armies and lavies of those peoples who on the whole stand for justice offer not only the best. but the only possible. security for 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 bIoOdshed. but we would cease to be of weight in se- curing the peace of justice-the real peace for which the most law abiding and high minded men mnsf at fimes he