The Irish standard., 1914-12-12
england AND THE CRISIS
London, Paper Claims That Great
Britain Has No Part in War.
Article from London Daily
z News Not in Accord with
Present Policy.
Article Reprinted From London
Daily News and Leader of
Aug. /, 1914.
WHY WE MUST NOT FIGHT.
ENGLAND and the Crisis.
"a. G: Gardiner, Editor)
WHY WE MUST NOT FIGHT.
England and the Crisis.
"a. G: Gardiner, Editor)

England and the crisis.
"a. G: Gardiner, Editor)
The greatest calamlty in history Is
upon us-a calamity so vast that our
senses are numbed with horror. We
hardly dare look into the pit that
yawns at our feet and yet any hour,
any minute may plunge us in beyond
all hone of return. At this moment
our fate is being sealed by hands that
we know not, by motives alien to our
interests, by influences that If we
knew we should certainly repudiate.
Every step at this hour may be irrev-
ocable. The avalanche trembles on
the brink and a touch may send 1t shat
tering into the abyss.
The peace of every land, the happi.
ness of every home in Europe, the
very bread by which we live, hang at
this moment upon the will Of one man,
the car of Russia. 1t is he whose
hand is on the avalanche. It Is he
who with one stroke of the pen, one
word of the mouth, one motion Of the
head can plunge Europe in sea of
blood and bury all the achievements
of our civilization in anarchy. The
whole continent is trembling with the
tread of armed men. From the Neva
to the Rhone, the legions are in mo-
ton. A friend of mine came through
Prussia two days ago. At the sta
tons, as he passed, he saw the plat
forms lined with men i'm private
clothes, awaiting their dispatch to an
unknown doom on an unknown field
men who have no share in this quarrel
of the dynasts, who do not know what
it is about, who will slay or be slain
without hate and without understand
ing. And another tells US that as he
lay at Dijon three nights ago he heard
the tramp of men and the rumbling
of artillery all through the dark hours
and that when he came down in the
morning there was not waiter in the
hotel. They, too, had gone in the dark
to meet their doom.
Waiting on England.
And at st. Petersburg, there sits the
man who has every one of these lives
and millions more at his mercy, and
who at one word can let hell loose up.
on the face of Europe. Is he man we
can trust with this momentous power?
A weak man, superstitious, under the
influence now of inhuman philoso.
pliers, like Pobiedonostseff or Mesh.
kershtsky, now of mystics and char
latans, like PHILIPPE and Rasputin,
who decorates his Black Hundreds on
the morrow of their massacres and
holds half Europe in the grip of a
medieval despotism-is he the man
whom the free peoples of France and
England can trust with their destiny?
Is he the man for whom we are going
to shed our blood and our treasure?
Is Russia the type Of civilization that
we are prepared to bleed ourselves
white to make triumphant over Europe
and Asia?
The question ia for US. For though
the Gear has his hand on the avail
lanche it is we who have our hand on
him. 1t is we who In the last analysis
must say whether Europe is to be del
uged with blood. Do you doubt 1t?
Turn to your paper this (Friday) morn
ing. There you will see message
from st. Petersburg signed by Reuter-.
1t begins:
1.-The situation shows, so far, no
change in the direction of peace. The
sailing of the British fleet from Port.
land has created an immense impress.
sion and, coupled with Japan's assur.
ances, has more than confirmed Rus
sia's determination to stand to her
guns"
In that fash we see the situation. We
see the Gear with his hand on the ava.
lanche looking towards England for
the one assurance that he needs. Let
England say, "No, you touch 1t at your
own risk and your own peril" and his
hand will drop. Let England falter,
temporize, equivocate. and he will
plunge US into ruin with the rest.
The Campaign Of the Warmonaers.
We are told that we must be quiet
that we may encourage Germany by
making her believe that she has not to
reckon with US. But the move is not
with Germany. The move Is with Rus
STA. It is she whom we encourage OF
discourage by every word that is said
and every action that is done. It IL
she who has the issues Of war and
peace in her hands. It is she whom
the sailing of our feet from Portland
has confirmed in her determination
to stand to her guns" Quiet? Blu,
who is keeping The Times and the
Daily Mail and the rest of these paper.
which by years of anti-German propa
ganda have been paving the way tt
this stupendous catastrophe-who Ii
keeping them quiet? Nay, who is in
spring them? Who Is authorizing
them to fell Ruaaia that she NAV sta n