Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-01-03
WILSON. IN THE FORUM, TIES
THE STRANDS OF HISTORY
Fundamentals Of Law and Liberty. Which
Republican Rome Espoused Are Still
the Hope Of Mankind

w Of history might be questioned
We're it not for Mr.. Wilson's presence
there the sequence Of tremendous new
chapters would be severed Apart from
! his personal qualifications for the role
he now plays, there is supremely impress
sive fitness in the visit Of the represent
ative Of the greatest modern experiment
in republicansm to the scenes where
the mightiest ancient venture rose and
fell.
There is shudder in the thought akin
to that which troubled the mind Of Ed
ward Gibbon as, sitting on the steps of
the Church Of Ara Coeli, he beheld the
material ruins of that superb effort and
wondered why. There is no answer in
the thousands Of resoundng sentences
of the master work which followed that
meditative query. for Gibbon was an
eighteenth century materialist. with ocu-
lar rather than spiritual vision. Forti-
fled with the latter he would have
amended the title Of his erudite annals.
There was triumph in Rome still at
the very moment when the first pages
of the monumental history were penned.
The year was 1916. The very modes Of
thought in which the founders of the
United States of America gave express
sion to their purposes were grounded in
Roman repubicanism as it endured for
seven centuries.
One year after the last volume Of the
misnamed Decline appeared the Bas-
tile was won. a cynical historian
stepped to the full in Roman outward
facts was dazed. But Europe was sud-
denly ilumined; though startled, made
radiant. Roman ideals Of liberty, though
in certain temporary manifestations say
agely corrupted, were reconquering the
mind Of man. The spirit is inextinguish-
able.
Faith therein is what stirs the best
elements in humanity in this Kaleidoscope
age. Dsquieting qualms in the Forum
and by the truncated columns of the
Basilica Julia are not easily resisted, for
the environment is overwhelmingly
theatrical. But the spiritual pillars are un-
shattered. The new republic which today
greets the successor Of the old builds its
highest hopes upon their fundamental
inviolabilty.
As kingdom modern Italy has az
times caused architects Of freedom to
question certain of her courses. The old
Triple Alliance was cold -blooded affair.
The Abyssinian ambitions recalled the
Rome OF Trajan rather than that of
Cato. The 'provocation" for the Tripoli-
tan expansion is hardly susceptible Of re
assuring analysis. Greel; islands seized
in that campaign are still beneath the
sway of the red, white and green stand
ard. Claims of the present Government
for territory behind the Adriatic littoral
offer one Of the most formidable Of all
the problems ripening for the Peace Con-
ference. Has Rome, historically the SEN
tinel Of civilization, taught every one but
herself? Is she registering her sub
5cription 70 the materalism OF the
Coliseum, raised in the era Of Favian
autocracy. rather than to the eternal
principles embodying the sane balance Of
liberty and law in terms Of which refash,
ioners OF MANNED planet are now think
ing?
SoI,-stimulatiug reDuttal may De
found in Italy herself, For there are
two ltalys-the young and thoughtless
heir to ar ancient empire, the oppog-
tunist nation lured by the false gods Of
expansion and territorial aggrandzement.
and that glorious land Of idealsts which
made the nineteenth century the true
touchstone Of the twentieth. Not only
for what they produced as pro
gressive national entity from a con-
geries Of musty prncipalities, but for the
unimpeachable splendor of their aims do
the names Of Mazzini, Garibaldi and
Cavour ring with e.oquence in the voice
of freedom.
The "Risorgimento, which lemAGe
Italy. furnishes a companion p.ctuC 10
that Of heroic, unconquerab!e country
which redeemed the horror Of Caporetto,
sustained enormous sacrifcial burdens
and was again and again Of invaluable
aid to her allies. The Marne might not
have been won had not Italys repudia-
ton Of the iniquitous Triple Alliance re-
lieyed the French from the necessity Of
defending the Savoyard frontier. Il is
unjust to ascribe the attitude of Rome in
this crisis to sheer self-interest. Indica-
tions of German victory were very
potent. 1t was largely the instinct for
right respect for the very law born OF
the Seven Hills which stayed her inter-
ference at that eventful period.