NICHOLAS MURRAY /

BUTLER. /

And the Peace Movement./

iBv Dr. Percival R. Cole, recently visiting Carne«

' Professor of International Relation« at ni

Universities of Hawaii and Washington),

On April 30, 1930, Dr. Nicholas Mumy

Butler, the eloquent and scholarly Pressent of Columbia University, and also of the ¿(vis-

ion of Intercourse and Education of the Car

negle Endowment for International Peace de- livered an addrass on "Imponderables" bifore the Reichstag at Berlin, which was followed on May 7, by his Richard Cobden lecture on "Nation-Building and Beyond," dellverei at the Royal Society of Arts, Adelphi, London. These notable addresses and a number of others bearing upon the greatest of all inter- national problems, that of preserving peace and goodwill among the nations, have now been issued in an inspiring volume under the title of "The Path to Peace." Some years ago, Dr. Butler's name was very seriously considered by a leading political party for nomination for the Presidency of the United Stats»; and per- haps nothing but the fact that Dr. Butler regarded the rights of other nations as sert ously as those of his own, and that he was quite as determined not to abandon a prin- ciple as the late President Wilson himself, prevented the nomination from being be- stowed. President Butler Is one of the chief leaders of that body of American opinion which for moral reasons advocated the full adhesion of the United States to the League of

Nations.

"The Path to Peace" is dedicated to M. Arls tide Briand, who, as a firm believer In Inter- national morality, once pointed out that "one need not believe In peace blindly, but one must believe in it piofoundly." This phrase admirably sums up the attitude of the Car- negie Endowment for International Peace. It has nothing in common with those sceptics who so profoundly mistrust human nature that they believe that the writing of notes can never replace the fighting of battles. It lias almost as little in common with bodies which imect simply in oider t¡> pass resolutions for the suppression of war It aims rather at obtaining "the intelligent sympathy and help of those who stand at th< head of public opin Ion in Great Britain, Frmce, Germany, Italy, America, Asia, Africa, nn\ Australia. For this reason the wide dissemlaation of the ideals propounded by President Butler among Intel» I llgent readers In this comtry is more than a I matter of intellectual inUrest; it Is a poten-

tial force, making for pubic morality and for steadfast international goodwill.

ONLY TWO VAYS.

There are only two ways of settling differ- I enees among nations, Justin or force. Pre» I ferrlng justice, the Australia people is free

to regard this concept from anegative or from / a positive point of view. Ncgttively, a certain

kind of Justice may be secura by mere non- I interference with other natiojs, linked with the demand for similar non-iiterference with

our own. Such a doctrine, hiwevcr, is pre- | carious and easily overthrow, having ex-i pediency rather than goodwill _ its founda- tion. Morality does not consist In passing by

on the other side. Yet It Is not too much to

say that In this, as in other counties, too many; citizens are content with the neatlve nspecti of justice. Fortunately, the neatlve aspect does not satisfy Australia as a \*iole. It is the positive aspect of justice thft Australia has officially selected by virtue of hr member- ship in the League of Nations, Asa member of the League, she is bound to a pollv of active co-operation, for the good of humalty, with the other nations Into which mnklnd Is divided. She is not satisfied to lot othr nations alone; she desires to co-operate wih them. In the moral sense, no nation Is aliena hct,

Australia seeks not merely peace, but the ideal by which peace may ultimntolj be en- sured. "The ideal Itself," writes Dr. Butler, "Is human liberty, Justice, and the hoiourable conduct of an orderly and humane loclety. Given this, a durable peace follows nturally as a matter of course. Without this, tiere i no peace, but only a rule of force until ibcrty and Justice revolt ngalnst It in search of pace." The distinguished publicist goes on to point out that merely to outlaw war Is inndemate. What step could have been more dlstnctly outlawed than the Invasion of Belglun on August 4, 1914? Yet it took place. "Farm do not control facts. Laws must reflect, but cannot compel, public opinion." From this point of view, the Pact of Paris, by ^hich recently war has been outlawed as an Instru- ment of national policy, represents no advance upon the achievements of the League of Nations, except that It Includes additional countries, and especially the United States. The League goes further than the Pact in it attempt to devise practical sanctions for pence,

and impediments to war. But more important , oven than practical measures to ensure peace

is the development of an International mind, j which, according to President Butler, "ls nothing else than that habit of thinking of foreign rclntions and business, and that habit of dealing with them, which regard the seven nations of the civilised world as friendly and co-operating equals in aiding the progress of civilisation, in developing commerce and M dustry, and in spreading enlightenment and culture throughout the world." Thus we mun begin again, as suggested by Aristophanes, al the height of the Peloponneslnn war:

new beginning, and minnie again the kindred d lie nation* In the alchemy of love; and with soin finer essence oi forbearance temper our mind. >

INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE.

Few if any Institutions are fraught wHn greater possibilities of good to the future ol humanity than the Permanent Court of Inter^

national Justice. In this institution is em-i bodied a definite international parallel to those1 familiar courts which are employed by every country for the settlement of internal dis- putes. Such a court is a necessity; but It dot not obviate the need of cultivating inter- national goodwill. Litigation is not co-opera- tion. Where can a better illustration of this aphorlsm be found than In Australia, the familiar defect of our system of industrial arbitration being that it involves employers and employees in almost constant litigation against one another? But who would expect to promote co-operation either between in- dividuals, or between groups, or between nations, by frequently involving each in law* suits against the other. Hence the Permanent Court of International Justice must bo second- ary to the spirit of peace, which will prevail only when States come to act as moral bodies, seeking the good of other States as truly and sincerely as their own. As President Butler In- dicates, the fear expressed so widely in the United States, and to no inconsiderable extent elsewhere, of interference by other nations with a State's own forms of government and domestic Institutions, wiU then become ob- viously groundless.

In his address last year before the Reich- stag at Berlin, Dr. Butler told how he recalls "as vividly as if it were yesterday the first arrival in Berlin more than forty-five years ago of a young and eager American student, hun- gry to share the scholarship and the inspira- tion which the University of Berlin in those halcyon days had to offor to the stranger." The address dealt with "Imponderables." As Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote In "The Auto- crat of the Breakfast Table," "It is the Im- ponderables that move the world-heat, elec- tricity, love." After doing Justice to Fichte'i

renowned "Addresses to tne Gorman Nation," and to Kant's immortal essay, "On Perpetual Peace," Dr. Butler proceeded to indicate that a preliminary to lasting peace will be "the in- tangible Institution of Intellectual international penetration." It is this that the Carnegie Endowment has done so much to promote. "The peace of the world cannot rest with per- manence upon any theory of domination by force, whether that domination be military or economic or racial or religious, foi such domin- ation Is always a temptation to Its disturbance and overthrow. Peace can only rest secure upon a liberal, enlightened, and convinced public opinion." President Butler's sentiments will

And a warm echo In Australia, for, although these noble messages were addressed to the

German Reichstag, their appeal stirs not Oer. ¡ many alone, but a waiting world.

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