The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1918-10-05
The League OF Nations
ITS CATHOLIC oRlIelNF--@vARious
ATTEMPTS THAT HAVE BEEN
MADE TO EFFECT THIS OBJECT
-NAPouEoN III AND Plus TX.

1t is, we take it, by this time uni
versally, admitted that the forthcom-
ing eradication of Prussian Militar-
ism should be regarded, not as an end
in itself, gut rather as the prelude to
the long-desired era of the Supremacy
of Public Right in International
affairs; and this Supremacy, when
once. established, may best be main
tanned, in actu, by the efHcaciOus
operation of a carefully constituted
League of Nations. A slight account
of the later historical development Of
a floating idea which now, perhaps
for the first time, bids fair to be trans,
lated into concrete terms, may there
fore be not entirely lacking in meas
ure of interest and of profit, writes
| Samuel Fox in the London Universe.
| 1t will be observed, at the outset,
that, like the very sanctions of In
| ternational Law themselves and their
| corollary Cat present unrealized), the
| establishment Of an operative Tribunal
| of enforced International Arbitration
and Conciliation-indeed, like every
| thing else which makes for the better
ment of mankind-this noble idea
originated in the DiVinely-inspired
Consciousness of the Catholic Church
as voiced by it's 1nfallible Head, the
Sovereign Vicar of the Prince of
Peace.
| In the Ages of Faith, the Catholic
doctrine of the Brotherhood of Man,
| together with it's inevitable social con-
sequences-a Family of Nations gov
erend by Canon Law (the earliest au-
thoritative form of the Jus Gentium)
and subject to the judicial decisions of
the Sovereign Pontiff as Universal
Arbitrator-was generally accepted,
| without question, as a fundamental
political principle. But the Protestant
Reformation, and the Pagan Renais-
sance, reintroduced, in a concentrated
form, the Tribalistic conceptions of
religion and politics which were cur
rent in pre-Christian times. Machia-
velli's II Principe, which quickly be-
came the Statesman's Vade-Mecum,
anticipated, in it's veriest details, the
pernicious philosophy of the modern
school of Prussian Militarism; and the
medieval organizations, being rejected
by the Nations, ceased to exist as eff
Gent safeguards against Interna-
tional LaWlessness. 4 false philoso-
ply of patriotism opposed
to the Christian conception of that
form of "piety'-came to be well-nigh
universally accepted, together with an
extreme theory of the supremacy of
the Sovereign State over the body and
soul of the individual subject. The
Ten Commandments ceased to be the
criterion of International morality, the
end Was held to Justify the means, and
| Might took precedence of Right.
First Attempt.
The first Parsonage" Gin the sense
of International Law who attempted
to grapple with this very serious
situation would appear to be the great
Pope Sixtus the Fifth, who occupied
the Chair of st. Peter during part
of the 10th century. At this period
England, Spain, France, and Germany
were disputing among themselves the
hegemony of the world, and the sew
eral states of Europe were torn asun
der by cruel wars. Hatred, cruelty
ambition, and lust were then, as now
the order of the day. The Pope felt il
to be his duty, as the common Father
of mankind, to do all in his power tc
efo r,f .ofe oir I1%f ri
deplorable He fully realized what
we have just begun to realize: that
physical force cannot be met by mora
force alone, and that machinery, how
ever elaborate, for compelling a JUS
and lasting peace is useless, for al
the manifold decisions Of the two
Hague Peace Conventions and the Ar
bitrating Tribunals then and there
erected) it is left purely academic
and optional and lacks a 'physical sane
ton to enforce it. The plan ultimate1.
selected by this enlightened Pope wa!
certainly the best that could be de
: vised under the difficult circumstance!
of the times, when, be it remembered
I no sort or kind of International Con
science Ca notion of very recon
growth) could be said to be il
existence. 1t was, in substance, al
follows: The Papal States should be
come the military acropolis of Cath
, Ollie Europe, the armed camp of a nev
knighthood; a stronghold of Justice
, where, night and day, a militia shoult
( be ever on the watch to punish thu
wanton disturber of the Peace, and tt
, defend the oppressed. against the OPP
, pressor.
In a memorandum delivered to hi
nephew, the young Montalte, Sixtu
the Fifth sets forth what he maintain
to be the duty of the Sovereign Pontif
in face of International anarchy:
"To protect the Christian peoples
4 against the infidels and barbarians
: to deliver the oppressed; to judge TIN
; princes and to arbitrate initheir quar-
! rels; to transfer, if need be, the bal
ance of power from one nation t
! another; to maintain peace; t.
r restore concord; to insist upon dis
!. armament; to change the forms o
i government; to cause Justice every
! where to be observed; and to punisl