Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1919-06-24
1866
MR. WILSON TO BELGIANS
Makes Address to Lawmakers at
Brussels.
HUNS VIOLATED SACRED TREATY
Initial Outrage Was Fundamental One
League of Nations Most Telling
Appeal Ever Made to the Worlds
Cobseience

President WllSOn HidoS q 'iSiS W tAiS
Belgians last Thursday and in an ad-
dress before the national chamber of
deputies he said in part:
The enemy committed many out
RACES in this war, gentlemen, but the
initial outrage was the fundamental
outrage Of all. They, with that inso-
lent indifference, violated the sacred
ness Of treaties. They showed that
they did not care for the honor OF any
pledge. They showed that they did
not care for the independence OF any
nation, whether it had raised its hand
against them or not; that they were
ruthless in the determination to have
their whim at their pleasure. There
fore, it was the violation Of Belgium
that awakened the world to the reali-
zation Of the character Of the strug-
gle.
"A very interesting thing came out
of that struggle, which seems almost
an illogical consequence. One of the
first things that the representatives OF
Belgium said to me after the war be-
gan was that they did not want their
neutrality guaranteed. They did not
want any neutrality. They wanted
equality, not because, as l understood
them, their neutrality was insecure.
but because their neutrality put them
upon a different basis Of action from
other peoples. In their neutral and
proper pride they desired to occupy
a place that was not exceptional, but
in the ranks Of free peoples under all
governments.
Honored Belgian Instinct.
81 honored this instinct in them, and
it was for that reason that the first
time that had occasion to speak Of
what the war might accomplish for
Belgium, spoke Of her winning a
place Of equality among the nations.
So, Belgium has, so to say, once more
come into her own through this deep
valley of suffering through which she
has gone.
Not only that, but her cause has
linked the governments Of the civilized
world together. They have drawn as
IL instinctively into a league of might.
They have put the whole power Of or
ganized manhood behind this concept
ion Of justice, which is common to
mankind.
That is the significance, gentle
men, OF the league Of nations. The
league Of nations was an inevitable
consequence Of this war. 1t was a
league Of rights, and no thoughtful
statesman, who let his thought. run in
to tie future, could wish for moment
to slaken those bonds. His first
thought would be to strengthen them
and to perpetuate this combination of
the great governments Of the world
for the maintenance Of justice.
Child of Great War.
1.-The league Of nations is the child
Of this sreat war; for it is the express
sion Of those permanent resolutions
which grew out Of the temporary nee
essities Of this great struggle, and any
nation which declines to adhere to this
covenant deliberately turns away from
the most telling appeal that has ever
been made to it's conscience and to its
manhood.
1.-The nation that wishes to use the
league Of nations for its convenience
and not for the service of the rest Of
the world, deliberately chooses to turn
back to those bad days Of selfish con-
test, when every nation thought first
and always of itself, and not Of its
neighbors, thought Of it's rights and
forgot its duties, thought of it's power
and overlooked its responsibility.
Those bad days, I hope, are gone,
and the great moral power backed, If
need be, by the great physical power
Of the civilized nations Of the world,
will now stand firm for the mainte-
nance Of the fine partnership which We
have thus inaugurated.
Awakened by Germany.
"It cannot be otherwise. Perhaps
the conscience Of some chancelleries
was asleep and the outrage Of Ger
many awakened it. You cannot see
one great nation violate every princ!-
pie Of right without beginning to know
what the principles or right are and
to love them, to despise those who vio-
late them and to form the firm re-
solve that such a violation shall now
be punished, and in the futurc be pre-
vented.
These are the feelings with which
l have come to Belgium, and it has
been my thought to propose to the
congress Of the United States, as
recognition and as welcome Of Bel
GUM into her new status OF complete
independence. to raise the mission Of
the United States Of America to Bel
gium to the rank Of an embassy, and
send an ambassador. This is the rank
which Belgium enjoys in our esteem:
why should she not enjoy it in form
and fact?
Turn to tho Future.
so, gentlemen, we turn to the fu-
ture Mr.. Hymans has spoken in true
terms Of the necessities that lie ahead
of Belgium and of any other nation that
has come through this great war
with suffering and with loss. We have
shown Belgium, in the forms which
he has been generous enough to re-
cite. our friendship in the past. 1t is
now our duty to organize our friend
ship along new lines.
THE Belgian people and the Bel
gian leaders need only the tools to
restore their life. Their thoughts are
not crushed: their purposes are not
obscured. Their plans are complete
and their knowledge Of what is in
volved in industrial revival is COM
plete.
What their friends must do is to
see to il that Belgium gets the neces-
sary priority with regard to obtaining
raw materials the necessary priority
in obtaining the means to restore the