VOICES FROM EUROPE

New Zealand Tablet, 29 April 1920, Page 33

VOICES FROM EUROPE

I / (By Rev. John Talbot Smiths in the Irish World.) : :i ; | After a while Americans who have; been full fed iupon.; | the journalism which expresses 'the /breaking| heart of . i Europe may get at -the- truth about; the European heart. I If the aspirations and affirmations of Sir George Paish I may be any evidence, with his' pleasant suggestion-that we I hand over 15 billions to the work of reconstruction, then |., the heart- of Europe 'must- i indeed be broken into bits by I the. failure of the. Senate to adopt the League of Nations. | Since'" it is * now fairly clear to the most obtuse that the I league was merely-a scheme to ibleed -our treasury and our V nation, since some people in Europe were led Ito believe I that we "would pay/any;sum to them for tho privilege of I running the world through the league, the # loss of more I billions y was. bitter enough to crack the "earth from pole $ to pole, then why hot* the heart of Europe? ) I; "" Now that the heart is broken the voice of . Europe is 4 beginning -to reach our shores through various thinkers 8 who studied pur Aladdin .working his recent enchantments over there. ~ Andre- Cheradame, an authority on international "affairs; "writes in this ' fashion for our ' consideration j/./■ %' - ; ,//' ;' ; - '■■■ r :':' '\ •"- . | _- 1 A Great" Service to Europe. "The United /States Senate has done a great service to Europe in .rejecting the - League of Nations. The American people wanted to make war on Germany but they never desired _to . enter the unlimited engagements resulting from .; Article X of the covenant adopted •at P'ar-is under the 'influence, of President Wilson. . v .v. The American Senators"; have done Era nee ; an inval/S uable service by-clarifying the" situation and saving her •-" from the j consequences of .the treaty, parts 'of which ap> |:i pear like the work;of. madmen. Wilson's recipe to avert p war would force all States';-accepting^ : it to participate in xi conflicts in any corner of:; the earth." This opinion is '" not shared by either Eugene Brienx or a certain , Berlin .?? paper, .The latter, wrote editorially : -''The United- States, M after accomplishing Germany's ■dt feat, produced?--the; / : greatest confusion of nationalities and boundaries in %r Europe/through: the enactment of the. Versailles peace. gv -- "It now realises that, while ; it was quite/" able to / create havoc in strange ./countries, it is wholly incompeo tent to undo the mischief, and* is quitting the v game and fc turning from Europe politically as though, it were a pest- '/ house." Eugene Brienx, the dramatist, writes wrathfully ■ an open letter, to us Americans,' saying: '/Your President came to France fortified by -a. prestige which s ; he owed'to the courage'*or your soldiers and to the generosity of your "/ nation. You know with what enthusiasm he was received, ;/ not , because he 3 was Mr. Wilson, but because he repre- :/ sented America. ' I cannot-, insist too much that to us he -V was America itself.-.' . ../.,' We acquitted ourselves of our H obligatibriff. But to-day- do you know what you,/ are;/do- :> ing? You are refusing to acquit yourselves of your 7 ob-/ /.; ligations. "'" . ;,;;;./ : c- ; L;v ~ ■-. " : '. -'.. // ; ."' ' -" *"; fin tf You are chicanering -and quibbling over the execu- ; tion of a treaty which 'we have executed in large measure already. ..-->'. .To-day you say it was not America who ■- spoke thus, but Mr. Wilson, and his word, in order to ;. have Value,must be ! ratified by the Senate. You' French- ■ ; men took his word ! seriously. ' It was your fault. Are you Americans, now .that, we have been dupes of these proki mises, ; ; are you going, by the refusal of the Senate, to perpetuate the state of trouble" in the world and punish ;./ us because of our confidence in you?" The point may be P left to the two Frenchmen to settle. H ~:.,: A. Painful Rebuke ; from London. . :i ; ' Sj I The 5 Saturday Review of London has lost its illusions M about our President, saying . with considerable bitterness M "The extent ; of^the.;-mischief wrought by President 'i WilsOn y at the Paris Conference is only gradually being realised |/ by the nations, of which the last to grasp it is the British S public. Mr. "Wilson is a political gambler; he knew perM fectly that -he was . acting ultra vires and denying the H American Constitution in r his conduct of :; the peace nego- ?/ tiations. ; "-- *z?s.o:£ -. ? <•■./.'■ - *«Orit ■..■•:-, .•. __"■;. ;■■ p, "He knew, that he was? bound by the Constitution to ||- secure not* only the consent but the advice of the Senate, before he signed agtreaty,£and'sh€o had neither. He also knew that;pot, only was the r .;rnajprity qf-the Senate.hostile," but that the November elections of Congressmen had gone against him," He -. therefore determined -to tie- -up the ;-peace treaty ,and the League of Nations in the same „., parcel, i just! as. a /clever company promoter merges a bad in, a good, company. ....._■"'-■■ : J^t's' .. failed*"r. This is a painful 'rebuke"..for Wilson to", receive .in the house of his friends. Moreover if" Is not a correct view.. The

4 whole-world, knew of the N unlucky election which deprfyed - the President of "his" Working majority, "Khew''wßy"'"Ee'3li3j the treaty and "the league together, knew that he had! no i respect for Congress or Senate, - knew that he had /ifeeh Si ;; assured by the s forces behind big schemes that -he c|uld l v ~ force his schemes through { with , their ' aid, ; knew - tha|§ hell * had unlimited" money from somewhere at t; hisVcomm&d, I i knew that he had no .regard or respect for'the Oonsltu- J tion while : the people and their leaders remained indiSer- 1 eut to his misuse of it, and knew he was not a gam|ler i but a shrewd politician quite confident of his own |ex- 1 ? traordinary powers.- and impudence.. He . would have &ot J away with I everything; in * spite of the Republican Pafty, | but for,- his ; illness and/ the Irish agitation Let * ho ||ne J ,'' forget that his" party has just ratified his policy andfhis j / behaviour and would like to have him as a candidate Spit I 1 fall; that the Protestant clergy, the big ~ -educational•!'•' leaders and their following, the social influence and fthe I . financial ~ powers, j the hireling , press, : still' believe in ffche I /League, of Nations; and that all these people rely on She'll emotions % aroused f-by the war to carry him into a third I term by handsome majorities. .//// '/ .//t/, c . -M I ' President AYilson has been no mere promoter a \ half fraudulent scheme, but the; daring leader? of : the j most diabolical enterprise ever aimed at the integrity of I this republic. ' "'" : ''"' " •-; ! v J The London Times 1 on the President. " \ ; i ~ -r The London Times i says \) sadly : V "The President was i accepted in Paris as the spokesman of America. . That is f. what gave him his .exceptional position in the councils: of j the Allies and associates.; The Republicans are explain- f ing now that it was a mistake so to'£ accept^ him; that J when, he entered into these obligations /and induced others .1 "to enter into them he,, was not the spokesman of America j i but of an American party which is in a/minority. | I v~&/ -"The 'explanation may /be/? sound/ but -its acceptance I ■must manifestly 'embarrass all other powers/in any similar I negotiations with America." It is surprising to Ameri- j /cans that European _ statesmen knew so little about,„QUfc.-! Constitution as - to//take'" the- President r for our dictator;' 5 It is not a new view of * Wilson's character that " them in their happy ignorance. How lie must have enjoyed bis own importance in that gorgeous drama of the foolish Peace Conference. .-. / ; .4 The English Review. V-j'// /•> f Undoubtedly the clearest and frankest /of these voices . from" Europe is Austin Harrison, editor of / the English /Mfivjcw. Recently he § discussed the Americanization [of the., treaty, and said things that must have given the shudders to Wilson, Taft, Butler, and Eliot. ; % ;/"-' It would do a world of "good to the poor American creatures who still cherish the treaty and the leagueJin , their original drafts, T if they could read t"he/ut|eranceMlot this , frank Englishman. /.considers :the Senate's handling of,; the treaty as the most momentous /©vent since armistice, and /which'--will/make! all Eurbpe thinker .'■'' the first time since the war ended. Then he goes , this fashion: "Months' ago'-' this eventuality. was j ahtfeiV, pated in the English : Review; ''.month after month it been pointed out that Republican America ; would : blindly pledge herself /to uphold 'and ; fight for a;treaty; which/every American at Paris condemned; which of|endfed _ American ;- national spirit ; which would ';/ make ' America ;,,.: the catspaw, banker, and arsenal of /;• agonized Europe; which finally would syndicate a treaty violated and contradicted by a covenant which again, if it meant any- .: thing;! violated and contradicted -the treaty. : . . The reservations of the American Senate 'will prove supremely beneficial to Europe and to/ the world, for in substance they denote a return/to sanity.? and- -from /the quarter k/ which economically controls ;l- which must, therefore, no matter what; attempts are made publicly or surreptitiously - to obscure and prejudice !the position, - ; eventually 'compel politicians and public to reconsider -the European situation from -: the angle not; of destruction but of construe-. tion." . . -.' .•'*.-•■ -\ - <-'" I - *'* / The Description of America. . e What a description of : America as the catspaw, banker and arsenal of the tricksters of Europe called 'rgtaTOSgien? What an- accusation against the grand moguls who-sat in L , - -the ridiculous "Peace ; Conference and^planhedSthdlfa^ruc- .. tion,.hot the construction, of _; the vanquished!-How do ' t |; these phrasessound in the ears of foolish. Taft>an^"more , foolish Butler, and most foolish Wickersham ? And? /■■..-> ~ " must President Wilson on his bed? of sickness and despair k; r X- think of \ Harrison ; description of the motives of jth/Kplot- . : _.". ;_ .-; '. 4 - • '-- *'* * Here i it is: " "Once more : we ■ return ' to '- practical poli- '/ i tics.- It .very -important that we, should; s graaj)^ : - the full, meaning - of this qualification, because . .ther&..Jitre£L , ! . only two world . Powers left at s this hour—Britain" ~and

America—arid obviously if one goes out we, as the control, incur the responsibility for the - whole that is, are . liable, as the. ; largest and "only, true; solvent shareholders iin the concern^. to provide the necessary money and the indispensable militarism which alone can maintain a treaty based, on-.starvation, throttling two Powers, one .of seventy million people and the other of one hundred and fifty million. " At Paris the politicians, taking the ; measure. of President Wilson, reckoned that they could regroup Europe to their hearts' content like f. a nursery garden on the support of * America, and they set to work accordingly. "The ; idea was economic control or the control of raw materials, which, with the control of the seas, would give the covenant grouping supreme authority over Europe, which would consequently, be dependent for production upon economic world-control, guaranteed by the- League of Nations." %is *~?:-_-.-,--j_ ■-.- The r, Plight v of Austria. Now we know why Lord Grey went to Washington as ambassador and why Sir George Paish. came after with his light-hearted demand for 35,000,00(5 to bolster up the scheme of the Allies >to f loot and control all Europe. We have Mr. Hoover's word that Austria is the most notable victim of the schemers. He told the Congressional Committee the other day how Austria has been placed by the wisdom of the Allied . statesmen, as helpless in ; her economic isolation" as if 'she were in the middle of the Sahara Desert..... :i • , L Y n< j ble t 0 P roduce more f ood on her own soil than will feed.her three months of the year, she must be supported by her neighbors or perish of ; starvation. J Mr. Harrison thus concludes this/sensible arraignment of condition:-• "Americans secession leaves us with a caldron of troubles, -which will not be lessened by her isolation; thus Ireland, India, Syria, Mesopotamia, the Near East, and the Far. East, and the whole morphology of empire, largely complicated by the hew device of man-dates,-will test our civilisation to the core. We cannot play with this legacy. We cannot expect Europe to regard us as the arbiter of justice so long as we can govern Ireland.only Vi with ; tanks,: nor shall we find an equation with America until we ourselves testify in Ireland to our own ' sincerity. V ;i There -.we have, a root issue. * "It will prove determinative. We move with America toward the - new - order through „ Ireland, :„ or we move into Europe 1 and disorder."" .' ; . To this pass have three men, trying in secrecy to reconstitute the world, brought us. Mr. Lloyd George must go back to first principles,? to parliament and to economics; he can no longer rule through an unrepresentative -parliament. ; But he must be quick. The chaos in Europe will begin when he 'tries to hang the Kaiser and demands the war culprits, from which policy America -has dissociated "herself. If we insist upon that policy we shall forfeit the sympathy of the world". The lesson and tragedy of President Wilson is a world lesson." ..The Wilsonian Tragedy. . America still learns '- from' Europe. No voice in this republic has spoken with . the compelling truth of Austin Harrison. It would seem that no one dared, or knew enough *of the situation to speak with authority. How utterly cheap and forlorn in the light of his utterance is such a s clod ,as Wickersham with his mean suggestion of forgiving the debts of Europe, such a clown as Paish with his billions, such a scarecrow as Butler with his AngloSaxon impulses towards our treasury, such a sentimentalist ias Taft, who finds himself now in very bad company. The .end. of the whole matter is -that England must be the banker of the agonised nations, that she must settle the Irish question at once in order to secure the aid of America in restoring a half-destroyed world, and that the Allied spoliation of Europe in the crazy peace treaty must be undone. : This is the tragedy of President Wilson. -■'- '"'--'. . : - ;

AN IRISHMAN'S "NINE POINTS." *-»_-' The following letter recently appeared in : the London Times :.—£ . _ . - .: :. :L^__.i;^ .^-.S. coldness with which the Premier's Home Rule proposals have been received in Ireland seems to astmish most Englishmen. It occurs. to : me, .therefore, that it? i would not be out of . place if one who is not a politician,* but who is familiar with the views of the majority of hisf: countrymen, fried to 1 set % before your readers some phase* of Irish thought on these proposals. I venture to suggest! that . the following propositions may be regarded as not! merely matters* of opinion" but rather as fundamental 9 beliefs held by the great majority of non-TJnionist Irish-: men:- .'. ,-. : ■ ; , ; '■-■;■ .■:„-'§ ,':■:.-.■ (1) That, in all matters of policy the 5 great English? commercial interests are. the:■ ultimate repositories of power i in the Imperial Parliament. - | (2) That these great commercial interests, while js anxious to encourage Irish agricultural prosperity and!" thus supply cheap food to English workmen, 'are resolutely opposed to. any development of Irish : manufactur-f ing | industries. "%\ v . ■" ~s jz ~~ \. ' : j y :-";-'^?|- t:(3) That these same Interests, .=; by impeding direct trade between Ireland and abroad, are reviving the spirit! of the old Navigation Laws, which in former days put: such a cifuel burden on Irish shipping and manufac-1 tures. £~ --r'- '■"•"' ':: •' '■: : - ■•' ~ ; -- ii '-r::. ; "rV> i..;-^" (4) That under present circumstances, unprotected'l Irish industries have no hope of successful competition with their well-equipped English rivals. ;. -i (5) That only by a system of either tariffs or bounties £ can Irish industries be developed in face of this compe-1 tition. ... | (6) That any system of Home Rule which does not g permit such. encouragement to be given to Irish industries * is not worth acceptance. :; - .'; Ws/- > f '■' (7) That the latest scheme by reserving complete con- I trol of Irish, finance and navigation to the Imperial Par- I liament, is merely giving Ireland a stone when she asks I for bread. : " % (8) That the perpetuation of the present unsatisfac- \ tory system of appointing men to the judiciary, notHby: % reason of their legal qualifications, but as a ..reward.—ofe partisan- political service, poisons the fountain of " justice at its source. (9) That a scheme which would make an Irish Parliament responsible for order in the country without any control of the force required for such duty is hopelessly" unworkable. ; * ■