The Crime Against Europe: A Possible Outcome of the War of 1914Casement, Roger
History
The Crime Against Europe: A Possible Outcome of the War of 1914
Casement, Roger
Irish question; World War, 1914-1918 -- Causes
"The idea of being ruled by Englishmen is to me the chief agony
of existence. They are a nation without faith, truth or conscience
enveloped in a panoplied pharisaism and an incurable hypocrisy. Their
moral appetite is fed on falsehood. They profess Christianity and
believe only in Mammon. They talk of liberty while ruling India and
Ireland against the principles of a constitution, professed as
a political faith, but prostituted to the interests of class and
landlord rule."
Have Englishmen in less than two generations substituted love for
the hate that Napier, Wellington, and the Queen's Ministers felt and
expressed in 1846 for the people of the United States? Is it love
to-day for America or fear of someone else that impels to the
"Arbitration Treaties" and the celebration of the "Hundred years of
Peace?"
The Anglo-American "Peace Movement" was to be but the first stage in
an "Anglo-Saxon Alliance," intended to limit and restrict all further
world changes, outside of certain prescribed continental limits, to
these two peoples alone on the basis of a new "Holy Alliance," whose
motto should be _Beati possidentes_.
Since England and America, either in fact or by reservation enjoy
almost all the desirable regions of the earth, why not bring about
a universal agreement to keep everyone in his right place, to stay
"just as we are," and to kindly refer all possible differences to an
"International Tribunal?"
Once again the British Bible was thrown into the scale, and the
unrighteousness of Germany, who did not see her way to join in the
psalm singing, was exposed in a spirit of bitter resignation and
castigated with an appropriate selection of texts. The Hague Tribunal
would be so much nicer than a war of armaments! With no reckless
rivalries and military expenditure there could be no question of the
future of mankind.
An idyllic peace would settle down upon the nations, contentedly
possessing each in its own share of the good things of life, and no
questionable ambitions would be allowed to disturb the buying and
selling of the smaller and weaker peoples. The sincerity of the wish
for universal arbitration can be best shown by England, when she,
or any of the Powers to whom she appeals, will consent to submit the
claim of one of the minor peoples she or they hold in subjection to
the Hague Tribunal. Let France submit Madagascar and Siam, or her
latest victim, Morocco, to the franchise of the Court. Let Russia
agree to Poland or Finland seeking the verdict of this bench of
appeal. Let England plead her case before the same high moral tribunal
and allow Ireland, Egypt, or India to have the law of her. Then, and
not until then, the world of little States and beaten peoples may
begin to believe that the Peace Crusade has some foundations in honour
and honesty--but not till then.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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