The Irish standard., 1917-04-07

great moral awakening. In the DelllSs
erent countries the temples of religion
are crowded by millions who had
grown careless and Indifferent, or had
lost faith in God and His providence.
Ministers of religion, who had been
condemned by iniquities to take part
in the horrible butchery of their fell
low men, are carrying on their apos-
tolate on the battlefield, in the
trenches, in the hospitals, and winning
countless souls to God. Consecrated
nuns and Christian women of the
world are nursing the wounded and
holding to the lips of the dying the
image of the Crucifed who shed His
has stirred the, hearts of men as it
never did before, and the wealth of
the world, like the good Samaritan, is
pouring oil and wine into the wounds
of body and mind made by the awful
conflict. The spontaneousness with
which the people of the whole world
have turned to God in prayer is a
confession of the weakness of human
means to save man from his own
folly, and of the dependence of man
on God, and of his responsibility to
Gods law.
l. "The governments, too, are begin
ming to realize that unless this war is
ito be carried on until all it's partici-
pants are exterminated, they must put
away from them, in the consideration
of the terms of peace, the purely ma
terialistic ideas which have hitherto
regulated their relations with one an
other They appreciate now more
than ever the proof of the predictions
made in 1899 by Waldeck Rousseau,
prime minister of France, regarding
the peace conferences of The Hague
tYOur international conventions are
going to have exactly the same value
as my arbitration in labor difficult
ties. The labor syndicates accept the
| clauses which favor their claim and
IIrefuse to bind themselves by the 9TH
ers, nor can anyone compel them.
Having no property to lose, they can
not be hurt, and my decisions are a
dead letter Exactly the same result
will occur to your international con-
ventions. They will be respected by
such states as find them no. burden;
the others will simply wait for the
opportunity to violate them as soon
AS they see that it is to their interest
to do so, and they are strong enough
to do so with impunity. In your case,
as in mine. there is one thing wanting
"a sanction Whence is to come the
sanction that will compel all the ma
tions-the strong as we'll as the weak
to respect the treaties they have
signed? Signor Medo, the Italian
minister of finance, tells us in an
article recently contributed to the
>Corriere d'Italia, entitled Search for
Guarantee for Peaceful Living
Together of the States: The powers
of Europe will and must realize the
necessity of creating among them
selves by common agreement the
spirit of new legislation. This must
be subordinated to a moral authority,
recognized by all, and the only pos.
sible one is that of the Church, which
presided over the formation of the
modern Christian states of Europe,
and which with it's teaching as old as
its first teachers, but always young,
will offer once again to the peoples
the fundamental principles and the
rules for international agreements
the principles Of Catholic morals
Who would have thought at the begin
ming of this war that cabinet minis
ter of the nation that despoiled the
Sovereign Pontiff Of his possessions
and his independence in 1870, and per-
suaded the other nations to exclude
him from the peace conference at The
Hague In 1890, would so warmly ad-
v0cafo thu noooani&.. <,& aaal,.,a inoiosa 70