St. Louis Post-Dispatch
January 28, 1917

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j at A i amd jt Dy ae = me —_ - | 7 _ ay ad ies, we Tt ie 4 - te Ps . E. BROWN in blue eatin 4 . silver lace overdress and care” e | roses and Dr. R. A. Frank- & Mall, , e Warring: Singers i: ‘I see that Pome jes insure ee 3 hy preachers? They don't al x they? a tg ery his personal temperament. : my Et Peg =. j ee what the fe trom person- 4 jnounce the per- | - gonal feeling as = |The Welsh disatsablishment ead i. i ~ public uses as against the crime of of { Welsh nonconformity. vy a House of Commons that ques- tion-you will find answers that differ w N There are men there, and of + ben views-in general, who speak Saag with Dditternes as great as t of the Tory in the days when he wa 8 carrying through a revolutionary vet This bitternes was aggravat- ey to the extreme point during the day B which covered the final strug- fle between him and Mr. Asquith for le premiership. In the discussions 8 3 at painful period the two men | > remained least affected by per- feelings, were, curiously Asquith and Liloyd- spects. I remember him manner. a ef dead to find a place in joined the late Mr. Ellis something Mr. Hout sare as Seen by an Intimate Friend | The ae Merciless in Ris Parliamentary Struggles, He | Is Best Known to Them as a Modest, Retiring Soul, Who Bubbles Over With Amiability and Finds His Greatest Delight in the Simplicity of His Home Life With His Beloved Family and Cronies. good or bad fortune of being equally It is partly because he has been in the forefront of some of the fiercest controversies of our public life; it is And even in this respect there is in his case one of the many paradoxes of political life. No man has more pub- In his room in the Housé of Commons, even during the hottest times, you were as likely to find a | Tory carrying on a friendly conversation over a cup of tea as a Radical » When he is in a public fight no ; itself to my judgment: ‘ f prenlic man shrinks less from the lan- (judgment not blinded by’ partisan- time too serious have personal or par- tisan feeling. I beginnings, ‘as indications of his} inner life, And first I take little dent which is re- biographies; ‘\namely, “his pro- posal to his little sister | and he put gravel under the gate leading to the forlorn and broken home life and that of his. wife and chil- There was something weird in this time symbolic and prophetic. incident, indeed, I see the forecast’! of much of the future of the man; in| a special sense that child of two, years was the father of the man we: know as Prime Minister of the British ' empire at 53. What were the quali- : ties thus vaguely shadowed forth? He Was Born a Rebel. First, the spirit of the rebel against | injustice; secondly, the blindness to) anger; and, thirdly, the tenacity that what are co against the fight, and never doubts ing their bands dripping with'the fat that the fight should go on—never doubts that the fight must end in vic- Examine his career in the light of this earliest revelation of the char- acter, and it will strike you that you dinary consistent career in many re- he came into the House of Commons’ —a thin youth with, if I remember right, short mutton-chop whiskers, a thin face, a slight figure——altogether undistinguished in appearance and! like a national party to replace with young and ct dent Welshmen the. dull-witted and) tame gentlemen of wealth in estate or business who then commanded the representation of Wales. But ,he might well have passed for the “great man of the provinces” who figures in . Indeed, that iecicas (In Reply to Dr. Eliot) Gibbons — ce “Jesus of Nazareth Was Not a Pacifist ; the Deeds of.a. Grant Compared With Those of a Titus Show That, Far Fron Being a Failure, It Is. a Strong, Triumphant Force in Our Modern World.”’ indeed, in j. and to my I feel the either with his inci- in all .its that * she should the atic. and who, of his own the the odds an extraor- - BALTIMORE, Jan. 27. 66 | Harvard aske this question and answers and to bring to bear against her antagonists her } bons, as I sat with him in the library of his resi- the world had learned the uncompromising atti- conference be held: His eminence had granted me ning as follows: no effect to prevent or yen .reduce the evils of to justi¢e, ‘humility and mércy Have not found History of institutiobal Christianity: itself.” nénce thoughtfully, a kindly smile playing. across ness of his grayish eyes and the activity of his most strenuous kind of ecclesiastical life. “Dr. Soren | spect and admiration. Nevertheless,” and here | sternness, “I am amazed at his sweeping denuncia- for observation should not realize that Christian- In the dimly-lighted room, its walls lined with adversaries, the Cardinal, in his black garments, carnation of the spiritual and Intellectual forces courts and hovels, in the centers of civilization when first harshly: the old and the poverty stricken, our institutions By Edward §. Van Zile. A Special Correspondent of the Post-Dispatch. S Christianity afailure?’ When a man of the prominenee of ex-President Eliot of it in the affirmative, it is incumbent upon the Church to accept the gauntlet thus thrown down | strongest controversiq! weapons.” 3 Thus spoke his eminence James, Cardinal Gib- dence adjoining the Cathedral in Baltimore, Md., on the afternoén of that historic day upon which tude that the entente Powers had taken against the suggestion of the central Powers that a peace an audience that he might, make public comment upon'a recent utterance of ex-President Bliot, run- “For nineteen hundred years the ethics of Jesus vot Nazareth have been in the world, but have had War, the greatest of the @vils which afflict man- kind. The ethical doctrine of. Chris Janity,in re- expression in the relations between Christian na- tions, whether in peace or war,.or, dn the | “IT have great respect for Dr. Eliot as an intel- lectual force in the world,” went on his emi- his delicately molded face, the countenance of a scholar, thinker, ascetic, who shows in the bright- slender frame evidence of the strong vitality that remains to him after more than 80 years of the | Eliot has had a great career. His achievements in various lines of high endeavor are worthy of re- i the smile faded from the Cardinal’s‘face and was replaced by an expression of uncompromising ‘tion of Christianity. It seems incredible that a man of his learning, experience and opportunities ity has been for centuries a softening, elevating, civilizing influence upon the human race.” “Ig Dr. Eliot Blind?” ot books that recorded the history of a church that has from its inception warred against countless relieved by the scarlet that indicated his princely rank, seemed to be at the moment the very in-. that havé made his church for ages a dominating | influence in the affairs of men and nations, in and in the outlands and the wilderness. Suddenly his voice, hitherto carefully modulated, rang out “Is Dr. Eliot blind? When he can remove from my sight our schools, our asylums, our homes for for helping the afflicted of all kinds, for provid- ing for the orphans and the friendless; when | He had already his local renown,' can no longer see colleges and hospitals and. tem- for he had led a mob to break down | | ples for prayer and meditation scattered through- the wall of a church yard to vindi-! out the world, then only will I admit that Chris- cate the right of the nonconformist | tianity is a failure. When I can no longer see the burial! dispersed over the groaning earth that magnifi- ground of the parish. He had also! cent army of saintly men and women who are in starting | warring, in the name of Christ, against sin, and Welsh | disease, and all forms of/ human weakness and error, then—and then only—will I acknowledge that Dr. Eliot is right and that I and my church are wrong.” , The Cardinal sat silent for a moment, as if the vision he had evoked had rendered him voiceless through its very eplendor. Then he said gently: an ne et Cr en oo He Recoanized the Moral Value of Strife” | i «Christianity Has Changed War}. From a Permanent Human Insti- }° tution Into a Sporadic Affair, and - CARDINAL GIBBONS. fact alone, base its claim that it had been some- thing more praiseworthy than’a dire failure.” Jesus of ‘Nazareth Not a Pacifist. The Cardinal sat back -in his ¢éhair, and it seemed to me that his eyes suggested an inclina- ‘ tion upon if; answer, bie he had been presenting in behalf of his religion and his church. But I was not there to take up the cudgels in defense of Dr. Eliot’s position, so I permitted “silence to’ reign for a timein the shadow-haunted room. Presently,: after. earnest consideration, I put to the Cardinal a query that precipitated the most dramatic moment of the afternoon. y “And what akaité war, your eminence?” The Cardinal bent toward me with almost start- ling suddenness, his gray eyes grown black with the fervor my question had aroused. “How dare Dr. Eliot imply that the Christ ever said anything against war?’ he returned sharply. “Surely they have heard at Harvard the prophecy, *There shall be wars and rumors of wars.’ Dr, Eliot must know that the Christ said that He came to earth to bring not peace, bét a sword.” His eminence paused for a moment, his pale, thin face slightly flushed by the earnestness of his mood. “Do not mistake my meaning,” he ea, pres- ently. “Do not imagine, for a moment, that I am advocating warfare as a desirable, or even. neces- sary, activity. But I deny that there is anything in the authenticated teachings of Jesus of Naza- reth that would place Him among those whom we know today as pacifists.. On the contrary, He repeatedly recognized the moral value of strife and conflict among men, and implied in all His teachings that warfare, the eternal struggle be- tween good and evil, is inherent in the nature of thé universe. ‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.’ . In these words the Christ makes a dis- tinction that-come logically from the lips of Him who came to bring not an olive branch but a sword to earth.” Christianity Has Made War Sporadic. ‘The Cardinal paused and, leaning back again in his chair, gazed musingly at the ceiling. “When we discuss the subject of war,” he went on presently, “we need historical bases for any conclusion we may reach. War, though it gp- parently has received divine sanction, is inherent- ly a pernicious and abnormal! manifestation of hu- man nature. We get the right light upon it only by employing 4 long perspective and comparing recent centuries with those more remote. In for- mer ages war was universal and continuous; the main occupation of men in those dark times con- sisted in the slaughter of their fellows. “Take, for instance, the 700 years in the history of Rome from the time of its founder, Romulus, to the age of Augustus. During that whole period the Romans were in practically a permanent state of war. During these seven centuries they en- joyed only seven years of what could be reason- ably called peace. Contrast this appalling record with that of the United States for the past cen- tury. We have had in that time only 10 years of war—that fs, one year of war for 10 years of ants ‘in ‘contrast with Rome’s 10 years of ‘war one of: peace. This decrease in. the activi- was ‘adiinad toa, the aenathente “ner CE €é O not im- agine,_ for a momnt, that ¢ am advocating warfare as a desir- able, of even nec- essary, human ac- tivity. But I deny that there is any- thing in the au- thenticated teach- ings of Jesus of Nazareth thal’ t would place Him among those whom tce know today as pacifists. On tie contrary, He re- peatedly yecog- hized the moral value of strife and ings that warfare, the cternal strug- gle between good - and evil, is inher- ent in the nature the universe. ‘Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God’s,’ ”— CAR- DINAL GIBBONS, 7 _ I am of the belief thatthe great Cleric did not hear my query, for he went on immediately: “There was that most efficient and unprincipled conqueror, Titus, who, in the year 70 A. D., cap- tured and partially. destroyed Jerusalem. The [Peace itt rl A, 7 4 F the. pace yan ot Previn Wiens ies versal ntee of “peace and justice t judged in the light of may: men give encouragement, Aigphee (Yeates | The “golden age” has bean sought hy ma of Bi he b with little or ho diminution in the intend#ity. t his. st forces. The President's plan ts not new, Yet, however imaginary and fanci- com ful the plan may be, it has the un-{t alted object worthy of the active interest; and, as M. Neli- doff, the Russian | second _ Mague tet Conference, said] of Czar Wicholas) 7) rescript - of — calling the, first | Confer- ence, “the essen- tial condition of all progress is the pursuit) of “anjtom of @ > =e x re 3 » > templating the use of fo admit the use of force isto’ late ‘the idea of independent eignty; and that pe ive: and allowable eration of the world on model, where the constituent bers are not wholly are te daprsige oy? by m Fale. one. vos 4 there did arise a religions ideal of ful world organization, espoused by Con- ae teed Pencen or. stantine, in which all mankind was Of all the ot ne ot conceived as united in fraternal} sal peace and j . ca : Sn wilebe io tus Cer ol aah hath aie cea omnes Ree with Rome as the City of God. ‘What }nearty « weg ay ‘the minds of men may: be seen from pay ssa 7 tg Sy ey s % % se aes a ha : ‘ ; i i , EE BA ge 2), 9A oR ty + a, OR, . a Agni ; £ . - a ms