Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1914-11-25
CHAPTER VII.
Leblanc and King Egbert.

ward to Rellinzona and southwark to
Luino. there is shelf Of grass mead
ows which is very beautiful in spring
time with great multitude Of wild
flowers. More particularly Is this so
in early June. when the slender aSpho-
del. St. Bruno's lily. with its spike Of
white blossom. is in flower To the
westward Of this delightful shelf
there is deep and denSely wooded
trench, a 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 soltudes
Of stone aud sunlight that curve round
and join that wall Of cliffs in one com
mon skyline. This desolate and aus
tere background contrasts very wildly
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 holly golden rice flats Of the Val
Maggia to the north.
And because it was a remote and in
significant place. far away out Of the
cTowding tragedies Of that year Of dis
aSter. away from burning cities and
starving ulultitudes, bracing and tran
QUILTING :rl 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
FASHIONED humanitarian, Leblanc. the
French ambassador at Washington, the
chief powers Of the world were to
meet in a last desperate conference to
save humanity"
Leblanc was one Of those ingenious
men whose lot would have been insig
nihcance in any period Of security, but
who have been caught up to an i'm
mortal role in history by the sudden
simplification 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
forgetfulness, 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-
STRANGE" He was little. bald, spec
tacled 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-
sideratiOns. At the very outbreak OF
the war, so soon as the two capitals OF
the bellgerents had been wrecked, be
went to the president in the White
House with this PROPOSAL He made
1t as if it WAS 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-iI
seemed the most fantastic of enter
prises-to bring together all the rulers
Of the world and unity them. He
wrote innumerable letters, he SEN
messages, he went desperate journeys
he enlisted whatever support he coult
find. No one was too humble for al
ally or too obstinate for his advances
Through the terrible autumn Of the
last wars this persistent little visionary
in spectacles must have seemed rather
like hoDef'Y canary twittering during
of disasters daunted his conviction tina
they could be ended
For the whole world WAS flaring the1
into monstrous phase of destruction
Power after power about the armed
globe sought to anticipate attack b,
aggression. They went to war in a de
lirium of panic. in order to use thei
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, a pit Of fire spouting death ant
fame; the redoubtable king of the Bal
kans was modifying. 1t must have
seemed plain at last to every one ir
those days that the world was slippin.
headlong to anarchy. BY the spring O.
1869 from nearly 200 centers, and ey
cry week added to their number, roar
ed the unquenchable crimson confagra
tons Of the atomic bombs, the films,
ished, industry was completely disor
ganized, and every city. every thickl,
populated area was starving or trem
bled on the verge Of starvation Mos
Of the capital cities Of the world wer
burning: millions Of people had alread
perished, and over great areas govern
ment was at an end. Humanity ha
been compared by one contemporary
writer to sleeper who handles match
es in his sleep and wakes to find him
self in flames.
For many months it was an ope
question whether there was to b
found throughout all the race the wi
and intelligence to face these new cor
ditions and make even an attempt t
arrest the downfall Of the social order
For time the war spirit defeated ey
cry effort to rally the forces Of prese1
vati0n and construction. Leblanc seen
ed to be protesting against earthquake
ond H1<olv fn find cYirit nf