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For Peace with Justice by Arbitration. 



— - — ♦ ■ 



AN APPEAL TO ALL FRIENDS OF PEACE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. 



FRIIDNDS AXl-) COMRAI-'KS, --(,)ne of those dccibivc nioiiKiits has arrived in the history of maiikinil 

 when the destiny of the future hangs upon the promptiiude with which we seize an opportunity 

 which once neglected goes hy for ever. 

 For >ears past we have seen the st^ahhy encroachment of lawless Might upon the Rights of Nations. It 

 was difficult to say at what precise point this tendency could be challenged. There was always some .'•emblancc 

 of jubtifiration pleaded by the aggressor. Always some complication which rendered it difficult, if not 

 impossible, for the masses of mankind to form a clear idea as to the issue at stake. But at last an occasion 

 has arisen in which it is impossible for anyone to be in any doubt as to the issue that has been raised. The 

 Italian attack upon Tripoli is one of those rare crimes which are devoid of any semblance of justification 

 or excuse, which are e<iually a violation of the moral law and the law of nations. Against this we must 

 one and all take our stand or for ever hold our peace. 



Anything more wicked than the Italian seizure of Tripoli it is impossible to conceive. It is as if the 

 Author of all evil had deliberately said to his friends in council, " Go to, let us see whether or not the conscience 

 of the world is dead. We pricked it with Morocco ; it did not stir. We seared it with Bosnia and the 

 Herzegovina, and it remained impassive. Perhaps it is really dead. But let us make certain. Therefore 

 let us create a crime so flagrant, compounded out of outrages so inexcusable, that if there be even a lone 

 glimmering si)ark of vitality left in the moral sense of the world, it must be fanned into a flame. If the con- 

 science of mankind will stand the Italian seizure of Tripoli it will stand anything. Therefore let us try it on." 



The Devil has tried it on, and we are face to face with one of these supreme moral questions which 

 Jecide the destiny of nations. "Some great cause— God's new Messiah !" has once more risen in our midst 

 !o divide the goats u\mn the left hand and the sheep upon the right. The governments have, by a process 

 of natural selection, gravitated to the side of the goats. But hast thou chosen, oh, my people, on whose party 

 you shall stand, " Ere the doom from the worn sandals shakes the dust against our land ? " It is a question 

 for you, for me, for all of us. Above all it is a question for all who profess, however perfunctorily, to belong 

 to the Church of Christ. 



The Italians, their own allies — nay, their own ultimatum — being witness, are absolutely and demonstrably 

 in the wrong. They have trodden under foot their (jwn solemn treaties, they have defied their own allies, 

 they have done none of the things which they ought to have done, they have done all the things they 

 ought not to have done. There is no e.xcuse conceivable for them beyond the excuse of the highwayman 

 and the burglar : " I coveted my neighbour's goods, I have taken them, and I mean to keep them." But 

 against this monstrous claim, which destroys at one fell blow the treaties on which European pe.ace depends, 

 and the regard for the great usage of the comity of nations, whereby alone it is possible for weak nations to 

 exist in safety by the side of their stronger neighbours, Humanity is rousing itself to protest. That protest 

 will grow stronger every day until at last it will force Cabinets to do its bidding, and Italy will be compelled 

 to disgorge its ill-gotten plunder in .Africa. 



i appeal to my countrymen to do what in them lies to defend the threatened law of nations and the 

 endangered safety of smaller Powers from this monstrous and inexcusable attack upon civilisation and 

 humanity. I bear no ill-will to the Italians. The more articulate among them have temporarily gone mad. 

 'I'he Italian Government needs a strait \;aistcoat. It is for you and for me to see that that strait waistcoat is 

 applied. 



It is a testimony borne for British Christianity. Last month the Churches, established and disestablished, 

 were worked up to an extraordinary pitch of excitement in order to i)rcvent one black man beating one white 

 man in a boxing match. 



But when a nominally Christian nation carries fire and sword into the territories of its neighbour in 

 order to seize a province the Christian Churches preserve an ominous and sinister silence. 



The Socialists throughout the whole of Europe have protested and are protesting against this monstrous 

 crime. 'I'he Christian Churches are mule. Is Christianity dead amongst us ? And if Christ came to 

 Europe would he find the only followers of the Prince of Peace among the Socialists and those who 

 /eputliate His authority ? 



It is for you and lor me to decitle. If at this supreme moment we remain silent we become accomplices 

 in the crime, and we shall share in the retribution wliich sooner or later will overtake the transgressor. 

 For myself I have <lone what I coukl. 1 was sent to Constantinople as the emissary of an Inter- 

 national .'\ibitralion Emcrgen< y Committee, and 1 have secured from the Sultan and from his Ministers 

 and from the representatives of the Ottoman jieople, a declaration unanimous and enthusiastic in 

 favour of submitting the wliole dispute to arbitration. Italy reluses to allow any international authority li> 

 decide upon the justice of l.cr claim. I'.veiy friend of peace, every believer in international arbitration is 



