The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1909-12-05

peace and good fellowship
lincoln was so committed to the pol |
icy of peace that his apparent inaction
in 1851 was misconstrued. Toward the |
close of the Civil War the United /
States government prepared for the use
Of its officers and soldiers a manual de- i
finiHg the rules and customs of warfare
on land 1t was, up to its time, the
most liberal and humane code of war
rules ever drafted. England, Germany,
France and few smaller powers were
quick in following the. example of the
United States, and liberal manuals
greatly lessened the hardships of war.
In 1854, while the North and South
were bowed over q million of new made
graves, nearly every South American
country was represented at Lima in the
interests of better day
James G. Blaine was to America what
Alexander II was TO Europe. Net
neither has received the credit right
fully due him for the greatest works
of the nineteenth century When see
rotary of state, Blaine extended an IN
vitation, November, 1881, 10 all Jude
pendent countries OF North and South
America, TO participate IN a congress
10 be held At Washington. d g., for
the purpose OF considering and discuss
ing methods of preventing war between
the nations Of America. The uDfor
tunate death OF Garfield resulted ia q
reor gaHjza non of the cabinet and
Blaine : forced retirement from office,
In 1ss9-99 Blaine 5 project was par
italy earned cut and there met at
Washington Whist is known Is the
:. tfrst Pan American Conference. In
addition 70 adopting plan OF aro2tra'
ton :" as a principle or American ia
/ terustionsI law the conference
adopted q resolution recommending ar
bitration 70 the nations Of Forope,
! That continent. however. had aires iy
been inspired By the American exam
pie In 1875 tie Itahan chamber of
deputies declared for arbitration, Two
years later the universal pesee congress
+ held It's trs1 annual meeting ia Paris,
/ and she sauae wear the acerparl1aHens-
airy union was established.
It would be tine task Of 8 historian
to state AL che agencies So work tend
+ ing 20 Eft the mask OF war which an
eient times mad fastened upon reluc-
| tant mar The whole world was not
/ only suddenly inspired TO better things,
but hal courage TO aeg- In 1898 the
English house OF commons. and N 1895
+ the French chamber Of deputies. passed
resolutions favoring arbitration. Eng
+ land, the same year, allowed the sub
mission to arbitration Of the Venezue-
/ ian boundary dispute
The work OF the two Hague confer
enees Is well known and appreciated.
The second Pan-American conference
was held at the City of Mexico, in 1901
%, and the third. in 1906. at Rio ia
Metro, Brazil At the latter 10 Ameri-
can states were IN attendance. They
declared for obligatory arbitration
The Central American states created an
obligatory court OF arbitration At I
Joint meeting in Washington, in 1907.
Now arbitration meetings are almost
a weekly occurrence Men ali over the
world. ike the late Edward Everett
Hale, are pulling away the. underbrush
obscuring the vision OF men, and bring
ing TO light the treasurvs of peace which
it is mans opportunity but to reae
and secure.
And why did America oppose war
while Europe bent into useless shape
the soulless steel of destruction? Il
was tradition. Every individual is in
voluntarily Influenced by traditions
which find unconscious expression in the
holidays, festivals and literature of MS
nation. as well as in the school and the
home. There is an invisible something
sum total of a nation S history, WELL
: ing a silent and irresistible power
which shapes the lives of people as well
) as the policy of nations. They are In
deed exceptional men who are blind to
the picture of history; who can, unaf-
5 fected, pass the marsh of prejudice,
wherein repose tae skeletons of blasted
hopes of nations. Inflated ventures, and
perhaps decades of humiliation. Yet
! many of the old world diplomats have
been such exceptional men, War, often
pastime of princes, waged in the name
of religion and inclination, had beeom1
5 so insrenehed on the soil of Europe
that none dared question it. The most
that could be done was to lessen, il
some measure the force of its evils.
But what of America? Our worle
and our history are young. True Il
Washington IS policy and Lincoln :
memory, we have never entagled our
selves IN the nleshes of foreign alliance
America stands forth, country that
: has never fought in the name of re
ligion. never joined with Others in the
presentation of claims against debtor
governments, which has always favored
immunity from capture, during war, Oh
non Offending private property on the
hirh seas which has returned miIiIops