The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-01-13
IS THE AVERAGE PUBLIC SENTIMENT
Of TODAY IN FAVOR Of WAR?

One is tempted to say that, whereas
in former times peoples were COMPEL
ed to fight for the pleasure of Kings
and governments, time is approach
ing when rulers and governments viii
be obliged to make war for the pleas
ure of peoples"
SO writes Guglielmo Ferrero the ia
nous historian, in a recent issue O
The Paris Figaro. He bases his as
sertion particularly on two manifest
atior5 of present-day history-thC
peaceful reign Of William II, of Ger
many, achieved by that monarch, de
clares Ferrero, in spite of ceaseless
warlike rumblings among his subjects
and on the war now being conducted
by Italy against Turkey.
Ferrero qualities as an authority
of weight through his keen studies OF
history, both ancient and modern,
which have aroused worldwide inter.
est and discussion within the past few
years. A short time ago he visited this
country and wrote a number of studies
concerning our institutions and our.
selves which were rich in food for
I thought
/ In support of his latest theory that
public opinion is now the bellicose ele-
ment in international affairs and that
those occupying the seats of the
mighty are DESTROYS of maintaining
peace Ferrero says:
History often takes pleasure in up
setting the prearrangements and calcu-
lations of men by means Of strange
surprises. For a century and a half
Europe has been trying to wrest from
Kings the right to make war and
peace. Entire libraries have been writ
ten-philosophy, law, and history have
been pressed into serviCe-in order to
show that this privilege has been the
main reason for the wars which have
Redeemed the soil of Europe.
The ambitions of Kings and the in
trigues of courtiers at every turn COM
PEELED peoples to fight each other for
causes in which they had merely a
lukewarm interest. Peoples were COM
PEELED to give up their blood and their
money that dynasties might cover
themselves with glory. War, under
such conditions, could but become
eternal.
There was only one remedy for this
state of things, so unjust and so dan
gerous-to take away this right from
sovereigns, warlike by tradition, and
transfer it to the people, pacific by
nature. On the day that war should
depend on the will of the people, it
was argued, peace would reign in the
world.
Little by little these ideas were dis
seminated; they won their way and
. exercised a certain influence on the
political evolution of Europe. The
/ peace propaganda, turning away from
courts and palaces, sought to pene-
trate into novels.
Yet consider the point at which
we have now arrived; sovereigns and
governments have everywhere become
/ peace-loving, while peoples are grow
ing warlike.
The second half of this year so full
of trouble, now drawing to its close,
has shown us, in two striking exam
pies, this curious reversal of roles.
Many persons have certainly not
forgotten the fears amid which the
Emperor of Germany assembled the
throne. In every newspaper of Eu-
rope it was stated repeatedly that the
young sovereign had dreams of con-
quering bloody laurels, that he was
going to let war loose on Europe in
order to assure unto himself worthy
niche beside his ancestors in the his
tory Of his family. One paper even
said that the young Emperor had prom
ised never to drink a glass of cham
payne until Champagne had been an
neXed to the German Empire.
"Twenty-three years have passed,
yet the Emperor of Germany has not
only not waged the war or wars which
would have satisfied such ambitions,
but he is today more or less openly
accused by his people of being too
pacific.
History will admit some day that
Europe has, on several occasions,
owed peace to me- he declared once
to learned foreigner.
But a portion of the public opin-
ion in his native land makes of this
a basis for reproach rather than praise
as has been shown by NJ Moysset, in
his excellent study on Public Opinion
in Germany In other days the op
position parties ceaselessly denounced
in the parliaments of Europe the bel
ligerent intentions evinced by govern.
ments. A few weeks ago We saw the
opposition party in the Imperial Par.
lament severely reproach the govern
ment for its constant care that naace