The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1917-09-07

hington.-President Wilson has
rejected the Pope's peace proposals.
In note dispatched Monday night,
and made public here Tuesday, the
President says that while every heart
not blinded and hardened by the ter
rible war must be touched by the NOV
ing appeal of His Holiness, it would
be folly to take the path of peace he
points out if it does not in fact lead
to the goal he proposes.
Permanent peace must be based
upon the faith of all the peoples and
upon justice and fairness and the COM
mon rights of mankind, he adds, and
1--WE cannot take the word of the pres
ent rulers of Germany as a guarantee
of anything that is to endure unless
explicitly supported by such con-
elusive evidence of the will and pur-
pose of the German people themselves
as the other peoples of the world would
be justified in accepting"
The Presidents Note.
The text Of the note follows:
August 27, 1917"
"To His Holiness, Benedict XIV, Pope:
I'm acknowledgment of the COM
munication Of Your Holiness to the
belligerent peoples, dated August J.,
1917, the President of the United
States requests me to transmit the fol-
lowing reply:
Every heart that has not been
blinded and hardened by this terrible
war must be touched by this moving
appeal of His Holiness the Pope, must
feel the dignity, and force of the hui
name and generous motives which
prompted it, and must fervently wish
that we might take the path of peace
he so persuasively points out. But it
in fact lead to the goal he proposes.
Our response must be based upon the
stern facts and upon nothing else. 1t
is not mere cessation of arms he de-
sires; it is stable and enduring
peace. This agony must not be gone
through with again, and it must be a
matter of very sober judgment what
Will insure us against II.
Would Foil Wars Purpose.
His Holiness in substance proposes
that we return to the status quo ante
bellum, and that then there be a gen.
eral combination, disarmament and
concert of nations, based upon an ac-
ceptance of the principle of arbitra-
ton; that by similar concert free
dom of the seas be established, and
that the territorial claims of France
and Italy, the perplexing problems of
the Balkan states, and the restitution
81 Poland be left to such conciliatory
adjustments as may be possible in the
new temper Of such peace, due re-
gard being paid to the aspirations of
the peoples whose. political fortunes
and Affiliations will be involved.
ut is manifest that no part Of this
program can be successfully carried
out unless the restitution of the status
quo ante furnishes a firm and satisfac-
tory basis for 1t. The object of this
war is to deliver the free peoples of
the world from the menace and the
actual power of vast military estab-
lishment, controlled by an irrespons
ible government which, having secret
ly planned to dominate the world, pro-
ceeded to carry out the plan without
regard either to the sacred obligations
of treaty or the ng-established prac-
tees and long-cherished principles of
international action and honor; which
chose its own time for the war; de-
livered its blow fiercely and suddenly;
stopped at no barrier either of law or
mercy: swept whole continent with
in the tide of blood-not the blood of
soldiers only, but the blood of inno-
cent women and children also, and of
the helpless poor, and now stands
baked, but not defeated, the enemy of
four-fifths of the world. This power is
not the German people. 1t is the ruth
less master of the German people. 1t
is no business of ours how that great
people came under it's control or sub
mitted with temporary zest to the
domination of its purpose; but it is
our business to see to it that the his
tory of The rest of the world is no
longer left to its handling.
Cannot Trust German Rulers.
"To deal with such power by way
OF peace upon the plan proposed, by
His Holiness the Pope would, so far
as we can see, involve recuperation
of it's strength and renewal of its
policy; would make it necessary to
create a permanent hostile combina
tion of nations against the German
people, who are its instruments; and
would result in abandoning the new
born Russia to the intrigue, the mani
fold subtle interference, and the Ger
tain counter revolution which woule
be attempted by all the malign infiu
ences to which the German govern
ment has of late accustomed tbs
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