The Winslow mail., 1914-10-10
THE WORLD SET FREE
CHAPTER vi.
Leblanc and King Eebert.

"a ~ handing two long stretches OF
Lake Maggiore, looking east
ward to BellinZona and southwark to
Luino there is a shelf Of grass mead
ows which is very beautiful in spring
time with a great multitude Of wild
flowers More particularly is this so
in early June, when the slender aspho-
del. St Rrun0's lily, with it's spike of
white blossom. is in flower. To the
westward Of this delightful shelf
there is a deep and densely wooded
trench. great gulf of blue some mile
or so in width. out Of which arise
great precipices very high and wild.
Above the asphodel fields the noun
tains climb in rocky slopes to solitudes
Of stone and sunlight that curve round
and join that wall Of cliffs in one COM
mon skyline This desolate and aus
tere background contrasts very vividly
with the glowing serenity of the great
lake below, with the spacious view Of
fertile hills and roads and villages
and islands to south and east and with
the hotly golden rice flats Of the Val
Maggia to the north.
And because it was remote and In.
significant place, far away out of the
cfoWding tragedies of that year of dis
aster. away from burning cities and
starving multitudes, bracing and tran
quilizing and hidden, it was here that
there gathered the conference OF rul-
ers that was to arrest if possible be-
fore it was too late the debacle OF
civilization Here brought together by
the interchangeable energy Of that i'm
paSSioned humanitarian, Leblanc, the
French ambassador at Washington, the
chief powers Of the world were to
meet in last desperate conference to
save humanity
Leblanc was one of those ingenious
men whose lot would have been insig-
niticance in any period Of security, but
who have been caught up to an i'm
mortal role in history by the sudden
simplifcation Of human affairs through
some tragical crisis to the measure OF
their simplicity. Such a man was
Abraham Lincoln. and such was Carl
bAldi And Leblanc, with his transpar
ent childish innocence, his entire self
forgetfuness, came into this confusion
of diStrust and intricate disaster with
an invincible appeal for the manifest
sanities of the situation. His voice
when he spoke was full of remon-
strlne He was a little, bald, spec
taclcd man. inspired by that intellec-
tual idealism which had been one Of
the peculiar gifts of France to hu
manity He was possessed OF one
clear persuasion, that war must end
and that the only way to end war was
to have but one government for man
kind He brushed aside all other con
siderat tions. AT the very outbreak OF
the war. so soon as the two capitals OF
the belligerentS had been wrecked. be
went to the president in the White
Honse with this proposal. He made
it aS if it was a matter of course. He
was fortunate to be in Washington and
in touch with that gigantic childish
ness which was the characteristic Of
the American Imagination, for the
Americans also were among the sim
pie peoples by whom the world was
saved. He won over the American
president and the American govern
ment to his general ideas. At any
rate, they supported him sufficiently
to give him standing with the more
skeptical European governments, and
with this backing he set to work-it
seemed the most fantastic of enter
prises-to bring together all the rulers
of the world and unity them He
wrote innumerable letters, he sent
messages, he went desperate journeys.
he enlisted whatever support he could
find No one was too humble for an
Through the terrible autumn OF the
last wars this persistent little visionary
In spectaces must have seemed rather
like hopeful canary twittering during
thunderstorm. And no accumulation
of disasters daunted his conviction that
they could be ended.
For the whole world was f1aring then
into monstrous phase Of destruction.
Power after power about the armed
globe sought to anticipate attack by
aggression. They went to war in de.
lirium of panic, in order to use their
bombs first. China and Japan had as
sailed Russia and destroyed Moscow,
the United States had attacked Japan:
India was in anarchistic revolt with
Delhi, pit Of fire spouting death and
flame; the redoubtable king of the Bal
kans was mobilizing. 1t must have
seemed plain at last to every one In
those days that the world was slipping
headlong to anarchy. BY the spring of
1859 from nearly 200 centers, and ev.
cry week added to their number. roar
ed the unquenchable crimson conf1agra.
tions Of the atomic bombs, the fiimsy
fabric Of the worlds credit had van.
1shed, industry was completely disor-
ganized. and every city, every thickly
populated area was starving or trem-
bled on the verge Of starvation Most
OF the capital cities of the world were
burning; millions Of people had already