Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1916-05-26

To this people the invasion of Bel.
GUM brought a shock OF amazement
and horror. If the public opinion of the
world was TO remain silent upon that,
neutral upon that. then all talk about
peace and justice and international law
n the rights of man. the progress OF
humanity and the spread of liberty is
idle patter, mere weak sentimentality;
then opinion is powerless and brute
force rules and will rule the world. II
no difference Is recognized between
right and wrong then there are no
moral standards. There come times In
the lives of nations as of men when to
treat wrong as If it were right is trea.
son to the right.
The Wrong Done to Belgium.
The American people were entitled
not merely to feel. but TO speak con.
corning the wrong done to Belgium
1t was not like Interference In the In.
ternal affairs of Mexico or any other
nation. for this was an international
wrong. The law protecting Belgium
which was violated was our law and
the law of every other civilized coun
try. That law was the protection OF
u peace and security. 1t was ouI
safeguard against the necessity OF
maintaining great armament and
wasting our substance in continual
readiness for war. Moreover, that law
was written into a solemn and formal
convention, signed and ratified by Ger
many and Belgium and France and the
United States In which those other
countries agreed with us that the law
should be observed.
There was no question here of inter
fering In the Quarrels of Europe. We
had Il right to be neutral. and we were
neutral as to the quarrel between Ger
many and France. but when as an In
cident to the prosecution of that
quarrel Germany broke the law which
we We're entitled to have preserved
and which she had agreed with us tc
preserve we were entitled to be heard
in the assertion of our w national
right.
Neutral Between Right and Wrong!
Yet the American government ac
guessed in the treatment of Belgium
and the destruction of the law of ma.
lions. Without one word of objection
or dissent TO the reputation of law
or the breach of our treaty or the VIC
lation of justice and humanity in the
treatment of Belgium our government
enjoined upon the people of the United
States an undiscriminating and all EN-.
bracing neutrality, and the president
admonished the people hat they must
be neutral in all respects in act and
word and thought and sentiment. We
were to be not merely neutral as to the
quarrels of Europe. but neutral as tc
the treatment of Belgium, neutral be
tween right and wrong, neutral I've
tween justice and injustice. neutral he.
tween humanity and cruelty. neutraI
between liberty and oppression. Oul
government did more than acquieSce
for in the first Lusitania note. with the
~unSpeakable horrors of the conquest
of Belgium still fresh in our minds. OF
the very day after the report of tho
Bryce commission on Belgian atroci
ties, it wrote these words to the gov.
eminent of Germany:
Recalling the humane and enlightened
attitude hitherto assumed by the imperia
German government in matters of inter
national right and particularly with re
gard to the freedom of the seas, having
learned to recognize the German view:
and the German influence in the field o.
international obligation as always engaged
upon the side of justice and humanity. etc
And SO the government of the United
States appeared as approving the treat.
ment of Belgium. 1t misrepresented
the people of the United States in that
acquiescence and apparent approval
1t was not necessary that the United
States should go to war in defense
of the violated law. \ single officia
expression by the government of the
United States, n single sentence deny
ing assent and recording disapproval
of what Germany did in Belgium
would have given to the people OF
America that leadership to which they
were entitled In their earnest cropping
for the light. 1t would have ranged
behind American leadership the con
bClcllCe anu IlOIuillN VI INT Hculldl
world.
1t was not to be. The American
government failed to rise to the de.
mands of the great occasion. Gone
were the old love of justice, the old
passion for liberty, the old sympathy
with the oppressed, the old ideals of
an America helping the world toward
a better future, and there remained in
the eyes of mankind only solicitude for
trade and profit and prosperity.
Shrank From the Truth.
The American government could not
really have approved the treatment OF
Belgium. but under Il mistaken policy
1t shrank from speaking the truth.
Such policies as l have described are
doubly dangerous in their effect upon
foreign nations and in their effect at
home. 1t is a matter of universal eX
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