"His Holiness, Pope Pius, taking action, exhorts the Irish Bishops to be thoroughly loyal."--_Bray and South Dublin Herald._ The recent disturbances in Dublin seem to have made the late Pope turn in his grave. * * * * * MORE PEACE-TALK IN BERLIN. TO THE WAR-LORD. "How beautiful upon the mountain-tops Their feet would sound, the messengers of Peace!" So into neutral cars your unction drops, Hinting a pious hope that War may cease-- War, with its dreadful waste, Which never suited your pacific taste. Strange you should turn so suddenly humane, So sick of ravage and the reek of gore! Dare we assume that Verdun's long-drawn strain Makes you perspire at each Imperial pore? Or that your nerve's mislaid Through cardiac trouble caused by our Blockade? You thought to finish on the high wave's crest; To say, "These lands that 'neath our sceptre lie-- Such as we want we'll keep, and chuck the rest, And to the vanquished, having drained 'em dry, We will consent to give, Out of our clemency, the right to live." Then you came down a long, long way, and said, "For pure desire of Peace, and that alone, We'll deem the dead past buried with its dead, Taking, in triumph's hour, a generous tone; Uplift the fallen foe And affably restore the _status quo_." Fool's talk and idle. In this Dance of Death The man who called the piper's tune must pay, Nor can he stop at will for want of breath. Though War you chose, and chose its opening day, It lies not in your power To stay its course or fix its final hour. O.S. * * * * * IN THE AIR IN 1940. ["Wars of the future will be waged in the air...cities will be laid waste in a night."--_Press._] _April 20, 1940._--Liberia, in a moment of Ministerial exuberance, sends a Note to China alleging the death of a Krooboy subject who had been forced to study the Chinese language. An indemnity of £100,000,000 is asked. _April 22._--China, mildly surprised, promises investigation. Owing to an oversight, however, the reply is sent in Chinese characters, which gives the Liberians a just _casus belli_. _April 23._--Liberia despatches her one airship to China _viâ_ Tibet. Many bombs are dropped on the Chinese Empire and several rice-fields are quite spoilt. The Chinese Ambassador, whom the airship conveyed from Liberia, is also dropped--and spoilt. _April 24._--China sends four airships to bomb Liberia. These, however, are unable to locate the Black Republic and return, after dispensing with the company of the Liberian Ambassador while over Lake Chad. _April 26._--China addresses a curt Note to Liberia, requesting her to be good enough to state her exact whereabouts. _May 1._--The Grand Lama directs a plaintive Note to Liberia, alleging that on April 23 a Liberian airship violated the neutrality of Tibet.