The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-11-24
The Cauldron of Europe

of the doctrine Of Force, so weary are their peoples of the application of the doctrine. that the British troops have had to be brought away
 from ArchangeI, French troops will not fight in the Black Sea, the Ital-
 ian Government has had to promise to send no more munitions in Italian , bottoms into Russia against the Bolshevikin.
 The peoples of the Great Powers have largely abandoned Force from sheer weariness. But their govern ments were wholly unprepared for such a consummation. The diploma cy of the governments still depends on the same old elements. They still act as though Force was behind l them. But it is not, and they have no substitute. If you abandon Force
 as the ultimate means or making your will prevail in the world, what
 is the alternative to be?
 The idealists put forward the exception of a League of Nations which would be inspired by certain ethical notions of the relationship of peoples. But the Allies have not up to the present succeeded in translat- ing the League into action. There is Q scheme, but it only includes a part of the civilized world and some even
 on that part, which has ostensibly l adopted it. openly acts in violation of it's principles.
 This is the secret of the impotence of the Paris Supreme Council. It cannot rely on Force nor can 1t ap- peal to principles of Right freely ac- | cepted and applied by a great Lea que of Peoples. It can apply neither violence nor the moral authority of 3 united public conscience to the problems of Europe. For this reason it is mistrusted or condemned or i openly defied, and opportunity passes to the hands of anyone who is still disposed or has the means to apply
 Force. That is the key to much that is happening in, eastern Europe. There the Nationalist and territorial passions of the less civilized, the more primitive, peoples have been awakened with disastrous results. They are not yet satisfied with the idea of fighting, which comes easy to them as the natural means of ex- pressing their will
 That is why the Roumanians to- day are in so strong a position. For themselves they are willing to ap- ply the old weapon of Force and they know that in all probability they can do so with impunity, for not only are the Powers at Paris divided in counsel butAas the Rou-
 mnaians calculate rightly-they are in no position to send a military ex-
 pedition against Roumania; their peoples and their armies would not suffer it. The same reason has en- abled Won der Goltz and still ena- bles D'Annunzio to hold lis ground against the Allies, and the chances are that by no means has Europe i seen the last of such adventures and 1 adventures. It may well be, for in- l stance, that the German military and l monarchist clique may argue that if ! by Force of arms they overthrow the German Republic the Allies will i be unable to intervene against them ! by force of arms and that it would 1 be worth their while to run the risk of the blockade.
 1 But the main question is, how are i the Allies and Associated Powers, 1 how is the civilized world, to grapp1e i with this state of anarchy which af- l flicts so much of Europe?
 1 The critics of the League of Ma i tions are fond of pointing to the pre- l sent confusion as a sign of the inn
 potence of the League. They do not
 see that what is wrong is precisely 1 that we have not too much but too
 
 i League in spirit or in substance and the consequence is that every high i handed Power or impulsive adven- l turer can take an independent course, l secure in the knowledge that there is no tribunal of the nations yielding a
 moral authority to which it must re- spect, if not give obedience. In Eur l ope France is pursuing a policy of her own-a policy of the encircle- 1 ment of Germany by ring of Pow ] CTS which are to preserve a balance i in the French interest against a re- vived Germany. For that reason
 France was not wholeheartedIy with l the United States and England in ] the measures by which it was pro ; posed to bring pressure on Rouma- nia when her army occupied Buda- ! pest. Again France and England 1 have been barely able to compose i their differences over the distribution i of the Turkish provinces. Germany, up to the present, is debarred from 1 entering the League. Russia cannot ! enter because she is prey to civil i war. Whatever the future may bring, 1 there is so far no genuine League of i Nations There is no immediate rem i edy, it is to be feared, for the dis ! temper from which a large part of ' 1 in the blood which must work itself i out. Grandiose ambitions, allied to i the misery and want of peoples, i make inevitably. for civil and foreign : war. But insofar as a partial reme-
 dy is possible, it lies still in the ideal
 which inspired the world with hope i during the war-the realization of 9 ' sincere League of Nations. Some, i with the bitter experience of the i last twelve months before them, say
 that this is now an idle dream. They
 say that the Inlperialistic Govern
 ments of Europe have been tried and i found wanting and that it is now clear that they will not subscribe to i theN principels of justice and fair | dealing and of respect for the rights of nationality on which MT. Wilson
 sought to found the League
 But 1t is too soon to despair. Above al aUarU effort fo he Ia fO