Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-12-06
WILSON'S WARMING
ON "PEACE" OF 1914
Congress of Vienna Planted the
Seeds of a Century
of War

lish permanent peace. Its deliberations re-
suited In a situation calculated to engulf the
world in permanent war.
II assembled with an avowcd purpose as
apparently chaste as will be that Of another
peace congress which is to come together
one Of these days. This Congress of Vienna
had upon its hands as gigantic task as
will confront the Congress Of The Hague
Oet us call it,: it was called TO patch up
map of Europe which in twenty years of
Napoeonic warfare had been mutiiated far
worse than in the present greater conflict.
And it did infinitely more harm than
Napoleon ever was capable of doing. Presi-
dent Wilson said in his address to Congress
Statesmen must by this time have learned
that the opinion of the world is everywhere
wide awake and fully comprehcnds the issues
. involved. No representative Of any self
governed nation will dare disregard It by at
tempting any such covenants of scldshness
and compromise as were entered into at the
Congress Of Vienna"
Sclhshness and compromise. mad
scramble for territory by the kings aud
privileged classes Of the Ancient Regime
who thought they had conquered the French
Revolution for all time, An the Powers did
exactly what Germany and Austria would do
in peace negotiations today 10 understand
that periods tragic wars and more tragic
peace, and the lesson Of it all for MS today,
il is necessary to acc exactly where the
French Revolution Glorously succeeded and
where it dismally failed.
Failure of the Revolution
France, in the decade following the fan
OF the Bastlc in 1889, was in somewhat the
same position that America has been in for
the last eight months. We have tried to
send to all the peoples of Europe. especially
the peoples of central Europe, Il message of
popular rights, a message of plain people to
plain people, II was this same tremendous
message which the early French rcvolu,on-
lists tried TO send out to the world. But
every powerful Government in Europe saw
in the incipicnt revolt against Louis XVI and
tho divine right of kings nothing but wild
Bolshevkism. In the two years before Louis
was arrested neighboring courts thought
of the disturbances in Paris as nero
transient riots. When they learned of the
popular ideals that were setting France on
fire they did two things: they did everything
to keep the revolt from spreading to their
Wv" peopeS ana 'ncN INVADED france IN
order to restore her legitimate tyrant to his
throne.
IT Danton and Robospierre and their col
leagues had had airpanes they would have
sent leaflets flying about the fields of Eng
land and the Continent just as President
Wilson'S utterances are dropped by avators
in Germany today
AS one evidence OF the Transforming in
huence OF the Revolution. France produced
IN a twnkling the first national army in the
history of the Christian era. Every man
rushed to arms. at once n revolutionist and n
soldier of freedom They went out to fight
not against peoples but against kings-as we
ot To-Day Ahd' OF course they conquered
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This wac yboro tbo Eroron po,.o,,,,i,,,
succeeded. NOT I'm its vano,oori, ,ri,,,,r,s
but in its lesson or national army. ratior,I
citizensbin and rotIoraI n,triotisr, I, i'm
sisted on nationality and nopuIar rorticina.
tion in great events Its lowIv soldiers be-
came field marshals It's seeds produced
the peaceful English revolution of 1872 when
the King and the House of Lords We're made
TO take second plaoo The triunrb of tho
Revolution as a social force was cn1pIcto
Complete was it's failure as A poli,ic,I force
The divine right of kings WAS abolished
everywhere exceut in Germany. Austria and
Russia. Its survival there was fatal The
revolution failed: we have had to do If All
over arain