Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-04-18
TIME NOT ARRIVED
FOR MAKING PEACE
Amy Settlement Now Would Be
Premature and Blow to Spir-
itual Welfare of Mankind.
HALL GAME WRITES TO POPE
No Compromise Possible Which
Leaves Undetermined Ques-
ton Of Right or Wrong.

Especial Cable to The Times Dispatch.]
LONDON. April Ills 1t Peacey
letter to Pope Benedict by Hall Caine,
printed In the London Sunday Herald.
is ms follows:
Your Holiness: AS the humblest
Catholic may approach Your Holiness
with any petition that is sincere, 1
trust IT may be permitted to an Eng
lish writer whose name may be quite
unknown to you to express the grave
fear of many non-Catholics In allied
countries that Your IIolincss's recent
appeal to America in relation to the
present war may have spiritual effects
tho reverse OF what you desire.
Although It would appear that a
somewhat unworthy advantage was
taken OF Your HolinesB's confidence to
give your words pro-German color, II
Is. indeed. true that both now and on
many former occasions Your Holiness
has fet II to be your duty to plead
FOR peace. 1t touches the worlds
heart and imagination that no who is
accepted by the great part OF tho
human family as tho vicar OF Christ
on Garth. should In the midst Of tho
tempest which now convulses Europe
have invoked again that spirit OF
peace which Christ came to proclaim.
PROPER PEACE WOULD DE
BLESSING BEYOND WORDS
There can be no non-Catholic who
does not rejoice in this latest proof
that tho papacy in Your Holiness's
person Is thus maintaining Its highest
traditions. Just rs there can be no
human creatures who does not feel. with
the awful spectacle OF this war before
him. that peace under any proper CON
ha A.
price. But perhaps Your Holiness Will
give ear to our reasons for thinking
that peace now. before any OF the aims
for which we drew the sword have
been attained. would be n premature
peace. and. therefore, n grievous blow
10 the spiritual welfare TO mankind.
I'm the FIRST place. we ask Your Holt
ness. would not peace. obtained at
moment of such uncertainty as tho
present. be merely the peace of drawn
battle. and does not the history of
man show that such peace. solving
nothing. not even the question OF
strength. and leaving all moral ques-
t!ons untouched. intensifes tho evils
OF war by driving the jealousy that
envy and hatred brought underground
TO be nour!shed there for other fercer
outbreaks?
l"soSfsb NJ"
BLOW TO MORAI. NATURE
III 80. !s drawn battle propitious
ground for the growth OF Christian
principles? We think not Next we
think that peace imposed upon war
ring nations at this moment would be
deep injury to their moral nature
Let us look at Belgium, frst, be-
cause her case is the clearest She
trvht hn,,
war. which has devastated her terri
tory. II she had accepted Germany's
conditions. or. like Plus TX, when the
Italians entered Rome, she might have
put UP momentary resistance at her
Porta Pia. and allowed the enemy to
have her Will OF her rather than suffer
loss OF blood and treasure.
She did neither. She resisted to the
last in defense of her own integrity,
and also in the conviction that II she
allowed Germany 20 pass over Belgium
in order to attack France she would be
guilty OF treachery toward France,
who had guaranteed her safety Bel
glum saw the line or honor and fol-
lowed 1t at the cost OF waste Of her
country and ruin OF her people most
of whom are now dead or scattered
homeless or roads. And can she
ton. added to her physical downfall
accept the peace of drawn battle, which
leaves unsettled the question whether
she did right or wrong?
we think not We think that we
can see the brave King OF tho Bel
gians. who has lost all except his
honor. falling on the battle field and
being buried in the only six feet of his
country's soil that Is left to him. and
yet leaving memory that will lift
up the soul OF man for centuries.
WOULD NOT he TOUCHED
DY SOP OF SOFT WORDS
But we cannot think OF him creep
ing back satisfied to the country he
has allowed to be laid waste, and to
the people whose blood he has spilled
in vain, no matter what sop Of soft
words might be waited to him from
across the Atlantic. or what bribe
from the advantageous sale Of the
Kongo might be In his pocket, TO re-
store tho ruins Of his desolated land,
because we know that he should know
that his subjects would be saying TO
him. If this Is all It means to fight
for our country, we'll. let tho Germans
walk over us in the future
Next. take the case of Great
Britain. We, too. might have escaped
suffering II we had accepted the in
famous offer Of Germany to trade with
her over our neutrality. We did not.
When we drew sword we were not
thinking Of our own safety. although
that, too. was involved. Reports OF
German danger had left us cold, and
even the peril OF France was not yet
fully known to us, but when we real
lied that the weaker nation whom we
had pledged ourselves to protect was
to be overrun by Its powerful neigh
bor-who was also pledged to protect
her-we found the line OF duty clear.
TT was not until we had knocked
at the door Of every government in
Europe to preserve peace. when Ger
nd IN In