Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-11-29
The League to Enforce Peace--
1t Had a Predecessor,
From tho Special or, London. Enc.

Weilihgton and Canning, together with en-
hghtened whig opinion in Britain, to nre.
vent IL IRON bringing about the destruc-
tlon OF liberalism throughout the world
How this happened is one of the most
curious examples of the terrible nature of
logic When working unrestrained in human
AFFAIRS. If you have leagues of powers
bound by a great common object which
demands large sacrifices. the first thing.
that the constituent powers must and will
demand Is a mutual guarantee of each
others national rights and interests. BE.
fore they can he sure of acting unanimous
~ as a league they must be sure of not
quafreilng among themselves. But they
cannot be sure of doing this UNI
less they are sure that there will be no
interference-no attempt to curtail their
own possessions and alter their w sys-
tenn of government. Hence any kind of
international league is always bound to
guarantee the status quo. But the status
quo may III some particular country be
the ~"negat'on of God erected into a sys-
tenn This first stumbling block, the holy
alliance tried to some extent to remove by
means of periodic international CONFER
ences which We're to meet every three
Years and keep the various states of the
world in good order. For example, the
SIXTH article of the holy alliance bound
the nigh contracting powers to hold at
llAcd intervals meetings conSecrated to
great common objects and the examina-
ton of such measures as at each one of
these epochs shall be judged most salu-
tary for the peace and prosperity Of the
nations and for the maintenance of the
peace of Europe" The first of these meet
lngs. the conference held at Aix-la-Cha-
pelle, can hardly be described as a success.
except that 1t produced a perfectly adj
mirable memorandum from Castlereagh in
which he. like a true Briton. tried to find
a sensible via media between the two ex-
tremes, and. while not attempting the inn
possible. to do something practical for the
cause of peace. The words in which he
discusses the Emperor A~lexander's idea of
a UNIVERSAL union of the powers are SO
good that we cannot resist the tempta-
ton to quote them:
The problem of a universal alliance for
the peace and happiness of the world"
one of speculation and hope. but it has
never yet been reduced to practice, and
n an opinion may be hazarded from it's
practice approach towards it, and per-
haps the design has never been so far
realized as in the last four years. During
nance ey fnrmad period the quadrYple al
limited, has had. from the presence of the
sovereigns and the unparalleled unity of
deslgn with which the cabinets have
Of the sphere of their immediate and prir--
itive Obligations, without at the same time
o aranf sii;es IN any Of the laws Of nations
to the rights of other states. as to form
more extended %lliances = to in
terpose their good offices for the settle
ment of differences between other states,
10 take the initiative in watching over the
peace of Europe, and finally in securing
tn the o execution Of It's treaties. The idea
state shall be found to support the state
OF succession, government and possession
within all other states from violence and
ATTACK, upon condition of receiving for
itself a similar guarantee, must be UNDER
stood as morally implying the previous es-
1abilsament OF such a system of general
government as may secure and enforce
upon all kings and nations an internal
system of peace and Justice. Till the
MODE OF constructing such a system shall
be devised, the consequence is inadmis-
slble, as nothing would be more immoral
or more prejudicial to the character of
government generally, than the idea that
tuted to the support. of established power,
without any consideration of the extent
to which it was abused. Till a system of
nance of all Its states can be reduced to
some practical form, all notions of a gem
era and unqualified guarantee must be
abandoned, and the states must be left
TO rely for their security upon the justice
and wisdom of their respective system,
and the aid of other states according to
the law Of nations.
Before we leave the subject of the con-
ference at -Chapeile we must not
forget to mention the curious, but no
doubt inevitable, result of the attempt to
mitigate the hard logic of the guaranteed
status quo. The conference was, in effect,
asked to act, and attempted to act, as a
kind of European supreme court which
heard appeals and received petitions of all
KINDS from sovereigns and subjects alike
For example, the elector OF Hesse asked
to be allowed to exchange his meaning
less title for that of King" a request
which, Mr.. Alison Phillips tells us, was
refused because it was not considered ex-
pedient to make the royal style too COM
mon! The people of Monaco, again, pre-
sented a list of grievances against their
prince, while Bavaria and the Hochberp
line OF princes referred to the conference
their quarrel about the succession in Ba-
den. Finally. the situation of the Jews
In Austria and Prussia was brought un-
der discussion. But though these minor
issues were either settled or got rid Of.
It Will be found that jealousy of British>
sea power at once awoke. and threw OBJ
stacles IN the way Of even SO great a
neneIit TO as the suppression Of
the slave trade. Though the powers had
agreed in principle to our carrying out
THIS lmmense reform, they were not will
ing TO accept that mutual right OF search
by which we sought to suppress it. Again..
when 1t came to an attempt to mediate
between spain and her revolving colonies,
the powers could not agree. It il true
nat they succeeded in calling the king Of
sweden to order: but, While obeyinR. he
protested against the Dictatorship ar
rogated to themselves by the great now
ers. a course In which he was backed up
oy the indignant king Of Wurttemberg. No
wonder that. when the conference broke
up with a considerably damaged reputa-
ton. Canning made the cynical hut com.
mon sense comment that "thingsAre get.