The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1914-08-22

THE RULE OF THE TEUTON OR SLAV
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From the Catholic Universe of Lon

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(From the Catholic Unievrse of Lon
don.)
Austria has declared war against
Selvia, and it may be the precursor
of Armageddon. In every war it is
necessary to look beyond the pretexts
for the real causes. The pretext is
never the cause, but the occasion 1t
is the match applied to a mine that
has been long in secret preparation
The Balkans are the storm center of
Europe, however diplomacy and riv-
alries may move round other points,
and the lasting menace of the west
ern powers and the forces of prog
ress in the east is the oriental de-
spotism that is veneered with the
civilization of the west. Russia is the
enemy. The Muscovite empire has
constituted itself the protector of the
little Slav." 1t is a Slav empire,
and i! has made the Schismatic Greek
church the religion of it's subjects
and the instrument of it's despotism.
Panslavism is a word it centuries with
among "the little Slavs" beyond the
it's borders. 1t appeals to the long
and glorious history of the Great
Servias and the Great Bulgarias of
historic days, when it's emissaries To-
ment the fame of racial animosity
in the Balkans against Moslem,
Greek, Italian, Albania, or Austrian.
And yet the Romanoffs of CARBON
are an upstart dynasty of yesterday,
and the Liberators of Slav peoples
who are not their subjects are the
ruthless and brutal oppressors of the
Slav nationalities they have de-
stroyed, such as the enlightened mill
lions of the Polish Kingdom they
crushed under their iron heel. And
their passion for racial unity does
not prevent them from extinguishing
the Films, encroaching on Scandi-
navia, creeping around the Baltic,
and intriguing against Teutonic peo-
pies. Nor did the regard for homo
gently of race and religion deter
them from incorporating the Mon
golians of the Don Cossacks, the
Buddhist Kalmucks of Tomsk and
Yeneseisk, the Mohammedan Tartars
of Kazan, the pagan Samoyedes of
Northern Siberia, or the Greeks, Rou-
manians, Armenians, Jews and Clip
sizes, and other tribes and religions
wherever they have been able to ex-
tend their borders. Nor was their
devotion tc 1.-THE little Slav" and
their zeal for Orthodox Christianity
greater than their passion for sci
ence, especially for geographical sci
ence, which equipped powerful ex-
petitions to the frontiers of India.
into Persia and Armenia, to pene-
trate China and Tibet, and plant mis-
sionaries in the islands Of japan. But
there Russian enlightenment was not
appreciated, and the expeditionary
soldiers and sailors, geographers and
priests, beat a retreat from Port Ar
thur back to their little brothers
and their old game in the Balkans.
The politicians play with pretexts,
and cynically sway their followers
with cries. But sometimes passions
are aroused to a frenzy and cannot
be allayed by words. Then is horrid
war invoked, and peace folds her
wings to await the dread arbitrament
of blood. But in the welter of blood
and terror the people who bear the
brunt of battle know least of it's
causes, for the general public have
short-lived memories at best, and are
little read in the devious ways OF
history. They are as surface waters
dashed by the muddy detritus OF the
current wearing itself in friction,
while the relentless river of life
sweeps on to it's destined end; for a
divinity shapes the ends of nations
as of individuals, rough hew them as
we will, and wars and conclusions
are the conflict with destiny, and in
the clash of good or evil, in which
in the far long run it may be, but
still inevitably, God defends and
iustifies the right. Servia is pawn
tn h powers that confront each 9TH
er. and in the presence of which S1u-
rome is holding it's breath, are Aus
tria-Hungary and Russia, and sooner
or later all pretence must be thrown
aside and the irreconcilable differ
ences between them determined. Aus
tria represents distinctive poljty by
the very constitution of it's elements
in relation to nationality, religion,
and rule. Russia is Numerically OPP
posed in principle, practice and his
tory TO that which is absolutely es-
sential to the continued unity OF
the dual monarchy. When they come
to grips the struggle will be one OF
life and death. For both we must
appeal to history. In the case OF
Russia we need go no further thah