The Irish standard., 1915-12-18
THE PLEA OF POPE BENEDICT.
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squandered, and at the same time is
in sympathy, should hope, with the
higher views and principles which in.
spire the Pope.
One of the most anxious aspects Of
this war, for neutrals, is its gradual
extension. 1t is like great conflagra'
ton, which is a danger in all direc.
tions, until it is overpowered. One
after another, nations are being drawn
into it; not for any legitimate interest
which they have in the original quar-
rel, but for the hopes that are offered
on either side. Was there ever any
thing more disgraceful in the world
fnan the open corruption Of States and
individuals that is going on in the
Balkans? And each nation that ID
drawn into the vortex becomes a rea'
son for the interference of some other
nation, and so it goes on, steadily wild
ening the area of its devastation. Sure
ly there is here sufficient ground for
a great people like those of the United
States, who stand outside all these
European rivalries and hatreds, to
call a truce, and ask the belligerents.
at least, to state what they are fight
ing for, and on what terms they are
prepared to make peace.
1t is all very well to talk platitudes
about indicating small nationalities;
but that, to use a rather strong phrase,
Is too thin" for sensible people. Nor
is it much better to tell us that Ger
man militarism must be crushed. Each
country must be the Judge of its own
requirements. The United States
would have no right to say to England
that she should reduce her navy. And
England has as little right to say to
Germany that she must reduce her
army. Live and let live" holds for
nations as for individuals, and no ma
ton has right to aim at the crush
ing and humiliation of another That
is one essential point in the Pope's
great letter. You cannot kill ma
ton. You may overthrow it for the
time being, but it's spirit will live and
assert itself, and the greater the
wrongs that it is made to suffer, the
more violent will be it's upheaval at
some future time.
We see it in this very war. If Ger
many in 1870 had been content with
exacting heavy money indemnity
from France, we should not have the
present trouble. But the loss of AL
SAGE and Lorraine has ranked in the
body polite in France, and la revanche
has become a fixed idea, and lies at
the very root of the combination that
is now arrayed against Germany. 1t is
that discomfort of France that has
driven her, a revolutionary democratic
country, into an alliance with the most
absolute despotism in the world, and
schooled her to submit to the loss of
Egypt, and to use the anti-German
feeling in England for her revenge.
But for the seizure of Alsace and Lor-
raine the present European war would
be an impossibility. And If, as the re-
suit of this war, Germany Is beaten,
and carved into fragments, as promi-
nent public men in England suggest,
does anyone imagine that great ma
ton of 100000 of people will lie
down patiently under the oppression
and forfeit her place in the world for
ever? You might as we'll hope to sup
press a volcano by heaping rubbish
upon it. Europe, in such state Of
things, would be in permanent unrest;
and just as the French nursed their
sense of wrong for forty years, and
their astute diplomacy used the in
terests and the feelings of other coun-
tries, until they got their chance, so
too would Germany, who, as surely as
she was crushed, would never rest un-
til she regained her place amongst
the nations.
That is the profound truth which the
Pope proclaims, and generations yet
unborn will bless him for it,
Nor let it be said the immense
conflict cannot be settled without
the violence of war. Lay aside your
mutual purpose Of destruction; re-
member that nations do not die;
humbled and oppressed, they chafe
under the yoke imposed upon them,
preparing renewal of the combat,
and passing down from generation
to generation mournful heritage
of hatred and revenge.
There is more wisdom in these
words than in the suggestions of pride
and arrogance which blind men to the
dangers that are right in their path
And those who now disregard them
and drive their people like sheep, to
the slaughter, may live to regret the
loss of the opportunity which the Pope
has given them.
At either side they hope, or pretend