The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1917-01-24
Mr.. WILSON'S HOLY ALLIANCE

hours does not improve. the appear
ance of the Presidents address 10
the Senate. Indeed his pax Ameri-
cana becomes more puzzling and
more undesirable the more it is con-
sidered in detail. His notion of the
concert of power" which is to bring
the Golden Age to the world reminds
US irresistibly of the Holy Alliance.
Referring to popular encyclopedia,
we find the latter effort at pacifsm
described in these words:
Holy Alliance. A league formed
after the fall of Napoleon at the
instance of Alexander ] of Russia
by the sovereigns of Russia, Aus
tria, and Prussia, nominally to
regulate the relations of the
states of Christendom by the prin-
ciples of Christian charity. AS
IL formed itself in the mind of
Alexander 1t was the scheme of a
pietistic idealist.
Truly there is no new thing under
the sun. Unfortunately, as our en-
cyclopadia proceeds to say, Meter
mich utilized the idealistic concept of
Alexander cas- an instrument of his
reactionary policy" Are all the Met
ternichs dead we wonder. The Holy
Alliance was used in the course of a
few years to crush the people of
Naples, Piedmont, and Spain. An at
tempt was made to extend its opera
tons to the New World. George
Canning and James Monroe, who
were not idealis,;c pacifists nor yet
archministers of humanity, had
something to say regarding this en-
terprise. To such persons as are.
carried away by the seraphic beauty
of President Wilson's concert of
power"-wholly free from entangle-
ments-we recommend calmly but
firmly a study of the history of the
Holy Alliance, including the text of
the instrument by which it was
erected.
Strange it is that in the brain Of
another "pietistic idealist" the doc
trine which was loftily conceived and
courageously promulgated in order
to bar Europe from interference in
American affairs should now be so
stretched as to create a policy of
American meddling in the concerns
of Europe. Mr.. Wilson says:
1t is inconceivable that the 'peo-
pie of the United States should
play no part in that great enter
prise.
Meaning the establishment of
peace in Europe. But is not the ex-
act reverse the truth? Is it not in
conceivable that we should play any
part in the settlement of war, when
our policy as a Government, as a
power, through the months and years
of its duration has been to avoid
playing any part as respects its orr
gins, its conduct, or its vicissitudes?
The slogan Of Mr.. Wilson's own
party through his recent campaign
for reelection was, "He kept US out
of (the) war!" Is there reason or
common sense, justice or decency in
the pretension that having kept or
been kept out of the struggle
through the spoliation of Belgium
and France, the blockade and starva-
ton Of Germany. and Austria, the
ravaging of Poland and Serbia, the
massacres in Armenia, we should
come in at the end as the machine
made god to determine all results
and guarantee them through the
reaches of the future, all out of a
sort of egoistic conviction of super
ior character and mission in the uni
verse? Can any one conceive of
England bowling to our will as to the
freedom of the seas or Germany
yielding to a Wilsonian ideal of the
equality of nations founded on an
equality of rights? Can fatuous de-
fusion go further than the imagina-
ton of such an outcome to a strug-
gle in which Europe and Europe
alone is shedding its hearts blood?
To our way of thinking the mon
strosity of the Presidents dream of
imposing American guarantees of
preposterous conditions upon the
nations can operate only to deprive
US of all influence when the time of
settlement approaches. Our useful
ness as a possible mediator is mega
tived by our seeming ambitions as a
regulator; our status as an interest
ed party is destroyed by our DELHI
crate reputation of all the other in
terests for which the peoples are
fighting; our conceivable influence as
an impartial adviser is nullified by
the inevitable suspicion,and hostility
begotten of our premature and
cocksure proclamation of terms of
our own regardless of those which
the belligerents will have to propose.
And, in the longrun, it is all SO ir-
rational. 81 propose says Mr.. Will
son, shat all nations henceforth
avoid entangling alliances that would
draw them into competitions of pow