Palisadian. [volume] (Cliffside Park, N.J.) 1906-current, 1915-05-15

the Government Sn0uld nave protest
ed against Germany for invading Bel
GUM, for dropping bombs, for de-
stroying historic monuments, for
bombarding seacoast towns, for using
dum-dum bullets, and for placing
contact mines are discussed at length
with the conclusion that the Admin
istration has not erred in any respect
The article closes with this summing
up:
There remains the broader and less
tangible ground of duty to human
ity" so naturally and readily seized
upon as basis Of criticism by one
who invariably places social justice
high above the written law.
"There is something essentially
ignoble," Mr.. Roosevelt writes, Sin
having failed to stand up in generous
and manly fashion for the rights OF
others who were grievously wronged
in having failed to do our duty, which
we were pledged to perform, on behalf
of humanity" And he adds:
"The failure of Messrs. Wilson and
Bryan to do their duty to humanity
and to carry out the obligations of
this nation in the case of Belgium has
put us at dreadful disadvantage as
regards every protest made on be-
half of our own interests"
This is Our Colonel at his best;
none other would have the audacity
to marry altruism and self-interest at
the altar of misstatement. We have
already shown beyond the possibility
of question that by President Roose-
velt's own direction the United States
not only did not assume, but explicit
ly disavowed, any obligation what
ever Gin the case of BELGIUM" We
now might fttingly inquire whether
the safeguarding of "our own inter
ests" under the pretense of serving
humanity" might not be justly pro-
nounced something far more essen
TALLY ignoble" than anything "Messrs.
Wilson and Bryan" have done. 1t
might also be we'll to remind Mr..
Roosevelt that even he once swore
solemnly, even though somewhat
tentatively if we may judge from his
subsequent acts, to preserve, pro-
tect, and defend"-what? "The rights
of others grievously wronged"? Or
the paradox of humane" warfare :?
No. "The Constitution of the United
States" and theoretically in hardly
less degree the Great Tradition de-
fined by George Washington in a
letter to Patrick Henry in these
words:
"My ardent desire and my aim has
been to comply strictly with all our
engagements, foreign and domestic,
and to keep the United States free
from political connection with every
other country, to see them independ-
ent of all and under the influence of
none. In a word, | want an Ameri-
can character that the Powers of
Europe may be convinced that we act
for ourselves and not for others. This,
in my judgment, is the only way to
be respected abroad and happy at
home, and not, by becoming partisans
of Great Britain or France, create dis
sension, disturb the public tranquility
and destroy, perhaps for ever, the
cement which binds the Union"
1t is not too much to say in truth
and not less than should be said in
fairness and grateful appreciation
that the guidance of our Ship of State
by Woodrow Wilson and Robert Lans-
ing through the whirling pools of this
European conflict has never, in es-
sential sagacity, resolution, and pa
tience, been surpassed in the history
of the Republic.