Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1917-04-04
people Net Consulted

the Old, UNHAPPY DAYS wnen peoples
were nowhere consulted by their
rulers. and wars were provoked and
waged in the interest or dynasties or
OF little groups of ambitious men who
we're accustomed to use their fellow
men as pawns and tools.
Self governed nations do not III
their nsIshbor states with spies or
set the course OF intrigue to bring
about some critical posture of affairs
which win give them an opportunity
1 to strike and make conquest. Such
DESIGNS can be successfully worked
only under cover and where no one
has the right 70 ask questions.
# Cunningly contrived plans OF de-
Il ception or aggression. carried, il may
be, from generation to generation.
can be worked out and kept from the
light only within the privacy OF courts
or behind the carefully guarded con
+ fdences of a narrow and privileged
class. They are. happily. impos-
sihle where public opinion commands
and insists upon full information con
cverning all the nations affairs.
/ A steadfast concert for peace can
never be maintained except by part
nership Of democratic nations No
/ autocratic government can be trusted
/ 70 keep faith within it or observe its
covenants. Tt must be q league OF
honor, partnership of opinion. In
trigue would eat its vitals away: the
I plottings of inner circles who could
/ plan what they would and render ac-
count TO no one would be a corrup-
/ ton seated in its very heart. Only
free peoples can hold their purpose
and their honor steady TO a common
end and prefer the interests of man
kind to any narrow interest of their
own
End of Russian Autocracy
I Does not every American feel that
assurance has been added to our
hope for the future peace OF the
world by the wonderful and hearten-
/ ing things that have been happening
within the last few weeks in Russia.
Russia was known by those who
knew it best TO have been always in
fact democratic at heart, in all the
vital habits of her thought, in all the
/ intimate relationships of her people
| that spoke their natural instinct,
their habitual attitude toward life.
The aristocracy that crowned the
summit of her political structure,
/ long as ii had stood and terrible as
was the reality of its power, was not
In fact Russian in origin, in charac-
/ ter or purpose, and now it has been
shaken. and the great, generous
/ Russian people have been added in
/ all their native majesty and might 10
the forces that are fighting for free
dom in the world, for justice and for
peace. Here is q fit partner for
league of honor.
Prussian Intrigue Exposed
/ One Of the things that has served
t 20 convince US that the Prussian au-
tocracy was not and could never be
our friend is that from the very out
set OF the present war it has filed
I our unsuspecting communities, and
even our offices OF government, with
+ spies and set criminal intrigues every
where afoot against our national unity
/ OF council, our peace within and
without, our industries and our COM
merce.
Indeed, it is now evident that its
spies were here even before the war
/ began; and it is unhappily not a
matter of conjecture but a fact proved
/ in our courts OF justice that the in
i trigues, which have more than once
come periIously near TO disturbing the
peace and dislocating the industries
OF the country, have been carried on
at the instfgation. with the support,
and even under the personal direc-
ton, of official agents Of the imperial
government accredited 70 the govern
ment of the United States.
Even in checking these things and
trying 10 extirpate them we have
sought TO put the most generous in
+ depreciation possible upon them be-
cause we knew that their source lay
not IN any hostile feeling or purpose
OF the German people towards us
/ (who were, no doubt, as ignorant or
them as we ourselves Eere) but only
/ in the selfish designs of a government
that did what it pleased and told its
people nothing.
But they have played their part in
serving 10 convince us at last that
that government entertains no real
friendship for rs and means TO act
against our peace and security at its
convenience That il means TO stir
up enemies against Us at our very
doors the intercepted note TO the
German minister at Mexico City Is
eloquent evidence.
Challenge To- Accepted
We are cepting this challenge or
hostile purpose because we know that
IN such a government, following such
methods, we can never have friend: