The Barnwell people. (Barnwell, S.C.) 1884-1925, July 17, 1919, Image 7

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WE CHIT WITH LEIff . . ; ■, CUIISE UID BEE01E THE SaiTE w’ ^— President Gives an Account of His Stewardship Before /Crowded Senate; Received With Tumultuous Applause, And Heard Wtih Rapt Attention. ' (REITEB PHUT OF HDRESS OEVOTED TO LEH6IIE OF NHTIONS Succinctness Rather Than Verbosity Marked the Composition of the Address Which Will Go Down Into History as One of the Most Remarkable Documents of Any Age. Washington.—President Wilson laid the peacetreaty with Germany before the senate without-attempt to explain its specific terms.' His address, which required 40 minutes for delivery, was devoted almost wholly to the league of nations. American iaolation, the president •aid, ended 20 years ago at the cloae the war with Spain. Fear of Amer can motives now also had ended, he declared. "There can be no question of our •eaiimg to be a world power,** said Hr Wilson "The only question Is whether we can refuse the moral lend ershtp that Is offered us. whether we •UI1 accept on reject the nooAdeare • ft he world * sad the pence conference an. the preetdent an fed had wnpsi that paeatlaa. "and mietehea arttna ran grew! arai • kd*et astma eoray g eramaas met whu tawegm tea fioMt* as fiw jweiMo «r am uattai ttomAanx d trad Matf to a e ■Mfirij and % fitaffif fiMfiVav (tie upfiss af mi ts ei maei psSMwa * t • • • peealii peaew Ip Hams ta The If was »‘S ' ad daaw agpssaai eon he# I he hnegwe tanhn ea I I the f aa wwe Ifvtac la (hat shadow the had coma hy oar asatetaaoe ta their freedom, ft wne our duty to do •▼er> thing thst It was with In our power to do to make the triumph of freedom. « Old entanglements of every kind stood In the way—promises which governments bad made to ons anoth er In the days when might and right acre confused and the power of the victor was without restraint. Entan glements which contemplated any positions of territory, any extensions of sovereignty that might seem to be «to the interest of those who had the power to insist upon them, had been entered into without thought of what the peoples concerned might wish or profit by; and these could not always he honorably brushed aside. It was not easy to graft the new order of ideas on the old, and some of the fruits of the grafting may, I fear, for a time be bitter. But, with very few exceptions, the men who sat with us at the peace table desired as sincerely as ws did to get away from the bad influences, the illegitimate purposes, the demoralizing ambitions, the inter national counsels and expedients out of which the sinster designs of Ger- mnay had sprung as a natural growth. It had been our privilege to formu late the principles which were accept ed as the basis of the peace, but they had been accepted, not because we had come to hasten and assure the victory and insisted upon them, but because they were readily acceded to as the principles to which hoaorabt*. and enlightened minds evsrywhers heJ been bred. They spoke the conscience of the world, ss well ss the conscience of America, and I am haft?' to pay my tribute of respect snd gratitude to the able, forward looking men with whom it was my privilege te eo-oper ate for their unfailing spirit of co-op- •rat loa. their roes tea l effort to accom modate the 1st •res 14 they repceeeated te the prime I pies ws were all agreed •pan The d'.fflmltlee. which were •may. lay ta the rtrremgtaacaa not often ta the men almost wttbnnt ea •'sgtlaa the mea whe led had reaght the tree and fell eterna af the preh I the enemy had aawveeded aa agsaf 1 mm af name e# an tadiviaehta whi I («r these f ready tamed the tide aff haCtte hmh i levosde the fbemweo eg Fvwece end '~**a tie mac the! wee ta ee*e he eape end (he wwstd Thereafter *be | *ieemane were ha he alwese thread I he- 0 n«ee eeser te three! swreeae I r* ? f hwwerd e#e e And ret there | e e# Oe> e'■••'!»•« hear As • ^ eed w mew Iwed sg egcrete sd 4 iw» g r«et eeS feiaw! ieee p>» ht •« een tee re*« rights af mnal. an mm minorities by interneUonal covenant, an op- opportunity to limit and rr rulats mili tary aatablishmcnU wherr they wyrs moat likely to be mtacVevious; an op portunity to effect a corvilett and sys tematic intrenationalisation of watef-. ways and railways which were neces- Whwh 4B most vw» And so the mo*t practical. tSa most skepti'al amon? fern turned more an.I more to the lea/t s aa the aut *.jr- ity taroiigh t: *. h inf r .i’ mrtil act on was to iw Sw*v. M ;\*U. the aut.'.only with out w ni ;h, as tiev had come to see it. 'jrrt sary to the free economic life of more ! it would be difficult to ^ive assured thgn one nation ami ta clear many I e*rect Either to this treaty or to any autocratic authority of its govsrnors. And In the settlement of the peace we have sought no special reparation for ourselves, but only the restoration of right and the assurance of liberty everywhere that the effects of the settlement were to be felt. We en tered the war as disinterested cham pions of right and we Interested our selves in the terms of the peace in no other capacity. The hopes of the nations allied against the central powers were at a very low ebb when our soldiers began to pour across the sea. There was everywhere amongst them, except In their stoutest spirits, n sombre foreboding of disaster The wsr ended In November, eight months ago but yon hsve only to reran whnt • •• feared ta midsummer last foar •hert months before the armistice to rvoitt* whst It was that oar timely •Id arcomplUked alike tor their moral# aad thetr physical safety The •ret. never to W-f orgof tew art lee at rhnteaa Thierry, had already taken place Oar redeemable aetdlece and martaee had already rtsaed the gap of the normal channels of commerce of unfair obstructions of law or of privilegs; and the very welcome op portunity to secure for labor the con certed protection of definite interna tional pledges of principle and prac tice. , These werp not tasks which the conference looked about it to find and went out of its way to perform. They were inseparable from the set- tfements of peace. They were thrust upon it by circumstances which could not be overlooked. The war had cre ated them. They had to be set right by applying some uniform principle of justice or enlightened expediency And they could not be adjusted by merely prescribing in a treaty what should be done. New states were to be set up which Could not hope to live through their first period of weakness without assured support by the great nations that had consented to their creation and won for them their inde pendence. Ill-governed colonies csuld not be put in the hands of govern ments which were to act as trustees for their people and not as their mas ters if there was to be no common authority among the nations to which they were to be responsible for the execution of their trust. Future in ternational conventions with regard to the control of waterways, with re gard to illicit traffic of many kinds, in arms or in deadly drugs, or with regard to the adjustment of many other international undarsUndlng upon which they were to depend for the maintenance of peace. The fact that the covenant of the league was the first substantive part of the treaty to be worked out and agreed upon, while all else was in solution, helped to make the formulations of the rest easier. The conference was, after all* not to be ephemeral. The concert of nations was to continue, under a defi nite covenant which had been agreed upon and which all were convinced warf workable. They could go. for ward with confidence to make ar rangements intended to be permanent. The most practical of the conferees were at last the most ready to refer to the leaghe of nations the superin- tendenct of all interests which did not admit of immediate determination, of all administrative problems which were to require a continuing over sight. What had seemed a counsel of perfection had come to seem a plain counsel of necessity. The league o{ nations was the practical states man’s hope of success in many of the most difficult things he was attempt ing. And it had validated itself in the thought of every member of the con ference as something ihuch bigger, much greater every way, than a mere instrument for tarrying out the pro visions of a particular treaty. It was universally recognised that all the peoples of the world demand of the *ff Mtafaala. haft af lagMaa aad •a nghi nrrint ; conftme , th . t rt thottW rrMU «,ch a roatiauiag concert of free nations as would amke wars of aggression and spoliation each as this that has just ended forever impossible- A cry had gene cut from every home ta every stnekes land frees which sons aad be ethers and fathers had gone forth la the great sarndre that such a aarnftn should never agsm he ea- acted It was manifest why it hud ■ isrled It hud been started The ufttaeaphefe hi which tike run fevunee washed seemed muted Mi hy the aseiMmM ef strong govern Wees*, but Ir the hegea and eegtm- I tent of small aatmue and af paagisa | Mtftueta endec bondage ta the genes ~" m rr ** 1 * tea! ewtscy bud Mailsctd end da • *+ t —4 • \ # '*•%-»'>»* */ ■ v* ff ms*% ^.fwyed T' ef Jhffc net pegc ta ^hrtt egf ef gen eeuws mustgna—au henta toe toe hone ^ • • arrangements coaid not be assured If the treaty were ta provide no perma nent common international agency. If Its vserutien ta such matters was ta he toft ta the slew and uncertain procosace ef re-opera ilea hy ordinary awthnto ef me If the peace confers fw-s i tee If was ta to the snd af ea epecntivt authority cuunavf among the whtah the world was 1 faces jostles and gtm enduring flNtouuud re beer toata could Ml h losiigweury udmtosatvuilvo regime whnb dad Mi Mvuive a ire os for af MlHUnj weuNdguiy aad whaoh sun* getdjsul ceaMehtane hy papular veto to to tohaa at a tottonl data, to free rety Into Ctanstg cuuM to rmutsd h nee rommoa •ts ta tag to an- af aa ho the put under a hr to ffba IM i gens Tssem o«ca lea at \ sd HHtogHUP l toe PUb l • •<**' i*Vi gton emu •hew •mM toad aS 1%. 4 — Sddi awes wtah srawitoeg sew si < «rasral raspi mm aad ramadp tto * toarta ttov Oese mow" weraga toast aawraa had Asm Tto ea ea The sera MfiM ef ear emgwws ked -*wsd m spaa •*» - e# ttims * w** af Ito somAdee* |r e ' taftrae ed taeaj f af toe rtgtoe fist wtorh afiemwfi Mstf 1 a aeera meraaerai He wot tod toes fregto. deamratMg 9*0 eulwert Ass wee sad soeev teso j [ a toe psogeas •rat wtora (hay had ee • • * to • * • s»|e Sio •stotag (to Btots that to enf ■ UMh O 4m o • * t esoaehaute i had hoppsw (hau a tosn osmsthma no * U net ea ueua vos (ha ea nos is ti end seg af arum got wetg the etahesute mtesna gooruotsee. te eesagl eseeg eh> geimae wsgb eogusd to the use ef Mo past end easagtoonai veto- hens wtah a stole of ototo^M ons Mi to tom a purl, properly isadbguurdod ptoknerttos mebd uet to pruetdad toe where pegntotomu were at seme fa tore data ta moke shatsa whut tanue^ etgMy tkay oeubd Urn endec, OO rue- tote aad ontfam uwthed af arhttsh- itau cmld to toewrud toe the •ottlo' moat af autortpakod ddfWoitme af toeM Serial a* wstn oupuod to asony omiters (he hght fvem Kg» A r « • ■Mi * . • * • t ftm# rator tof 99 MB 9999k a« pm may pn ts * ff ^ — mm PWVw 99m 9999 Mol pan will Mi to 9tt9t9 t# Whfffc# 999 . *BMM them I shall tfclt 0999, 9f%99 Ara very pe yeei ewa tt ed j t 9t tfc# 09t99999i 9m ttoir fig tempi aaly a g* •••ff* ** A # A* f V f 1 a! mm 1 Imp * mt a* ee aad ** Ke aae sraor 99 4<HlM thefto It to mlltioee need ikat 1 shoi a 14 Ft pm t to jroo w 1 ia( meat sa was attempt*d a*4 4oo# tt Ptflt te carry Ton have re dally cogalseat of the assn s free WWh •ws set 1 draft wHB to ttw treaty risctf. tto j Uag rrnlM toad •epsretsMa af tto tosh se vera 1 •I rrfw#wt mo oktot li Oowwt any was ts to Sto* - aadenwto lO tfOMBlttO OvtfcM dM t ed aw- ! seat gas* i iwttra aught tto nraly hceak f tone I daws, tto vemmaafisraura aad tevto if. ee af [ tag af ad mmiatfetise af raageascata a«a was j i and raetr»f a tMM Which tto Meaty pee- arntod to t which N was fecegasssd - • • * u thetr 'emgutsm SO < IhnetMdA- •• streegfh was l And they wei sack raace * k iraace, rtam asodevs ied t>' it men goyd what was going on there—of the proh ’Irma with which the peace conference had to deal and of the difficulty of laying down straight linos of settle ment anywhere on s field on which the old lines of Internstional relation s bog# sad It forecast Finer men never went Inte battle, and thetr officers were worthy of them This is not tho occasion upon which to otter an eulogy of the armies America sent to France, but perhaps, since T am speaking of their mission ship, snd the new alike followed so | may ,puak also of the pride I shared Intricate a pattern and were, for the every American who saw or most part cut so deep by historical with them there. They were the circumstances which dominated ac- gort mMl America would wish to tion where It would have been best c i a t m a .s fellow countrymen and com- to* ignore or reverse them. The cross ! rR( i Pg | n a fre at cause. They were currents of politics and of interest terrible In battle, and gentle and help- must have been evident to you. It f u j out Q f ^ remembering the mothers would be presuming in me to attempt j Rn( j t ^ e sisters, the wives and the lit- to explain the questions which arose 1 t j p children at horn". They were free or the many diverse elements that en- ! men un( j er arms, not forgetting their Cered into them. I shall attempt i(j ea i s 0 f duty in the midst of tasks something less ambitious than that 0 f violence. I am proud to have had and more clearly suggested by my j t ) ie privilege of being associated with tnlefua The SI Wfchy af * which, sto had sa m aw acti final part, wad tto pgftMvota tp hrtweaa A-st/ia wary had leca om rather ef thaa af h Iwahap eg •ymphtoff • a vs w Keui * hr*e*n duty to report to the Congress the part it seemed necessary for my col leagues ajid me to play as the repre sentatives of the government of the United States. That part was dictated by the role America had played in the war and t>y the expectations that has been created In the minds of the peoples with whom we had associated our selves in that great struggle. The United States entered the war upon a different footing from every other nation except our associates on this sida of the sea. We entered K. not because our material Interests ware directly threatened or because any special treaty obligations to which ws were parties had been violated, bat only because we saw the suprem acy, and even the validity of right men and of calling myself their leader. But I speak now of what they meant to the men by whose sides they fought and „to -the people with whom they mingled with such utter simplic ity, as friends who asked only to be of service. They Irere for all the visfMe embodiment of America. What they did made America and all that she stood tor a living reality in the thoughts not only of the people of Prance, but also of tens of millions cf men and women throughout all the toiling nations of a world standing everywhere in peril of its freedom and of the loss of everything it held dear. In deadly fear that Ks bonds were never to be loosed. Its hopes forevsr to be mocked and disappointed And the compulsion of what they put ta jeopardy and tr— stood for was upon as who represent it likely to bo everywhere ed America at the peace table It ts-peruied bp—tha taleiermble aggree was oar duty to see to K that every atoa ff » power which rsapected ! leHstaa we tank part ta coetribute* eers bept to thetr sbedteace by nelh- tag bat fear Their hearts were with thetr kinsman ta the Balkans. These were all arrangements ef power, not arrangements of natural union or as sociation. It was the imperative task of those who would make peace and make it intelligently to establish a new order which would rest upon the free choice of peoples, rather than upon the arbitrary authority of Haps- burgs or Hohenzollems. More than that, great populations bound by sympathy and actual kin to Rumania also were linked against their will to the conglomerate Austro- Hungarian monarchy or to other alien sovereignties, and it was port of the task of peace to make a new Rumania as well as a new Slavic state cluster ing about Servia. And no natural fronties could be found to these new fields of adjust ment and redemption. It was neces sary to look constantly forward to other related tasks. The German col onies were to be disposed of. They had not been governed; they had been exploited merely without thought of the interest or even the ordinary hu man rights of their inhabitants. The Turkish empire, moreover, had fallen apart, as the Austro-Hungarian had. It never had any real unity. It had been held together only by piti less, inhuman force. Its peoples cried aloud for release, for succor from un speakable distress, for all that the new day of r hope seemed at last to , , j r»_ i v.:*v might Ml prweo af tasting advantage at entirely fair if too long safsmed weald to iwpmrtnahta Tto preen- wee guvemamata were making la om aneiher akaal tto way ta tatach tabes was to to dealt with, by law aa« only mere humane ttoaw if thdre was to to m cemmoa tribunal af opinion and judgment te which liberal states men could resort far tto influences which alone might secure their re demption. A league of free nations had become a practical necessity. Ex amine the treaty of peace and you will And that everywhere throughout its manifold provisions its framers have felt obliged to turn to the league of nations as an indispensable instru tto national sitaaattasw which faced and dealt with aa tm I sh?!l presently have lay before >eu a sncctal treaty a ranee, whose o\ 5 #ct Is the rary protc.ijon of France from un provoked 'ftginrt v on by the power with whom this treaty of peace has been negotiated. Its terms link ft with the treaty. I take the liberty, however, of reserving it for special explication on another occasion. The'role which America was to play in the conference seemed deter mined, ss I have said, before my col leagues and I Kot to Paris—deter mined by the universal expectations of the nations whose representatives, drawn from all quarters of the globe, we were to deal with.. It was univer sally recognized that America had en tered the war to promote no private or peculiar interest of her own but only as the champion of rights which she was glad to share with free man and lovers of justice everywhere. Wa had formulated the principles upon which the settlement was to be made —the principles upon which the ar mistice had been agreed to and the parleys of peace undertaken—and no one doubted that our desire was to see the treaty of peace formulated along the actual lines of those prin ciples—and desired nothing else. Wo were welcomed as disinterested friends. We were resorted to as arbi ters in many a difficult matter. It was recognized that our mid would bo indispensable in the days to come, i We were generously accepted %s the unaffected champions of what was right It was a vary responsibta role to play; but I am happy to re port that the fine group of Ameri cans who helped with their expert advice sought in every tranaaetioa to justify tto high confidence im posed ta them. Aad that coo fids act. it seems to am. is tto measure of our opportunity aad ef our duty ta tto days to come, ta which tto aaw hope ef tto peoples of tto waetd ta to to fulfil tad or dis appointed Tto fact that America is tto frmad of tto aatmaa. whether , (toy to rivals er aaaermiss. m m aaw Cacti It b aafy the dtarevery af „ by tto fast af tto «oft4 that ta saw. Aamnca may to said to have jast i ^ I/only as s wertd pew- aad aMtoaeea War had tala at (to ttot (to I heart af every a seadhaaaeea effertiag f.«repe—of every a esitld tto I p paeptaa bad been totd I artotaa wtoffi they testad to Mm! they had haea tod to pratoato they have aeystoag eiaa hat ferae, feres always feme Aad (toy haww that II was totoAsaahfia Beery e«rt4 eed every etagh ■eat drawatod that, at whatever af todeyeedeat artte^ every meal Mat tosh ibeegbl fee Ito peeple etme ee far ovderad t Maelf to a new pegpvoa aad stflrfty dsetrey the eld erder af tetecmeimaal peiitwe file might see ddfiveltiMw hat the tewid see aaM sad nesM he deeel A war la wtorh they teee hlvl w S 1v hve’. tk that lay raaraalad la every ef pewer must aet sad la a amra sta- tory of arms aad a new be I sacs Tto msaator that had rraartod toff •met to pat ta chaam that coaid aet to toebsa. TV nailed pwwee af free eetmas mart pat a sten, aad tto weetd meat ha ft peace. If there was net tto wifi or tto Inlelflfuiww t now. ttorv must be aaoumr sad a final war and tto world must to swept ctann of every power ttot could re new the terror. The league of na tions was not merely an instrument to adjust and remedy old wrongs un der a new treaty of peace; it was tto only hops of mankind. Again aad again had the demon of war been cast out of the house of tto peoples snd the house swept clean by a treaty 7 1 * # Vil J-TZL 777k of P* 1 *®; onI y * • time when mentality for the maintenance of the ; * . r / . ... he would enter in again with spirits new order it has been their purpose bring within its dawn. Peoples hith erto in utter darkness were to be led out into the same light and given at last a helpful hand. Undeveloped peoples ready for recognition but not yet ready to assume the full respon sibilities of statehood were to be giv en adequate guarantees of friendly protection, guidance and assistance. And out of the execution of these great enterprises of liberty sprang afideaca I opportunities ta attempt what states to set up in the world—the world of civilized men. That there should be a league of nations to steady the counsels and ; maintain the peaceful understandings I of the world, to make, not treaties alone, but the accepted principles of international law as well, the inter national rule eff conduct among the governments of the world, had been one of the agreements accepted from the first as the basis of peace with the central powers. The statesmen of all the belligerent countries were agreed that such a league must be created to sustain the settlements that were to be effected. But at first I think there was a feeling among some of them that, while it mu&t be at tempted, the formation of such a league was perhaps a counsel of per fection which practical men, long ex perienced in the world of affairs, must agree to very cautiously and with many misgivings. It was only as the difficult work of arranging in all but universal adjustment of the world's affairs advanced from day to day from one stage of conference to another that it became evident to them that what they were seeking again with spirits worse than himself. The house must now be given a tenant who could hold it against all such. Convenient, in deed ‘indispensable, as statesmen found the newly planned league of nations to be for the execution of present plans of peace and repara tion, they saw in it a new aspect be fore their work was finished. They saw it as the main object of the peace, as the only thing that could complete it or make it worth while. They saw it as the hope of the world, and that hope they did not dare to disappoint. Shall we or any other free people hesitate to accept this great duty? Dare we reject it and break the heart of the world? And so the result of the conference of peace, so far as Germany is con cerned, stands complete. The diffi culties encountered were very many. Sometimes they seemed insuperable. It wks impossible to accommodate the interests of so great a body of na tions—interests which directly or in directly affected almost every nation m the world—without many minor compromises. The treaty, as a result, is not exactly what we would have written. It is probably not what any one of the national delegations would be little mors than something would have written. But results were written upon paper, to to interpreted worked out which, on the whole, bear and applied by such methods as the teat. I think ttot it will to f< chances of politics might make avail- j ttot tto rnmpromines which can to m question of to a world power. Tto only ta whether wa can refuse tto moral leadership that ta offered us, whether we shall accept or reject tto confi dence of the world. The war and the conference of peace now sitting in Paris seem to me to have answered that question. Our participation in the war estab lished our position among the na tions and nothing but our own mis taken action can alter it. It was not an accident or a matter of sudden choice that we are no longer isolated and devoted to a policy which has only our own interest and advantage for its object It was our duty to go in, if wo were indeed the championa of liberty and of right We answered to the call of duty in a way so spirited, so utterly without thought of what we spent of Mood or treas ure, so effective, so worthy of tho admiration of true men everywhere, so wrought out of the stuff of all that was heroic, that the whole world saw at last, in the flesh, in noblo action, a great ideal asserted and vindicated by a nation they had deemed material and now found to be compact of the spiritual forces that must free men of every nation from every unworthy bondage. It is thug that a new role and a new responsi bility have come to this great nation that we honor and which we would all wish to lift to yet higher levels of service, and achievement. The stage ta aet, tto destiny dis closed. It has come about by m plan of our conceiving, but by tto hand of God who tad us into this war. We cannot turn hack. We can only go forward, with lifted ■pirn, to fallow It was of this ttot we fi