Translated from the Spanish by R. R.
Journal de Genève, January 9, 1915.
X. FOR EUROPE: AN APPEAL FROM HOLLAND TO THE INTELLECTUALS OF ALL NATIONS
In the preceding chapter, in which I put before my readers the fine manifesto of the Catalonian intellectuals "For the Moral Unity of Europe," I stated that after this appeal from the Mediterranean South I would make known those of the North. Amongst the latter here is the voice of Holland:—
The Nederlandsche Anti-Oorlog Road (Dutch Anti-War Council) is perhaps the most important attempt that these last months has seen to unify pacifist thought. Whilst recognizing the value of what has been done for some years past in favor of peace, the N. A. O. R. is convinced that "all this work could have been much more effective, and could even have prevented the present catastrophe, if it had been better taken in hand." There has been[{128}] lack of co-operation, wastage of energy, lack of penetration to the mass of the people. The problem is to discover if this internal defect cannot be remedied. "Will the world-wide tragedy of rivalry continue even inside the pacifist movement, or will this war teach those who are fighting against it the necessity of an energetic organization and preparation?"
To this task the N.A.O.R. is devoting itself. Founded on October 8, 1914, it had succeeded by January 15th in securing the adhesion of 350 Dutch societies (official, political, of all parties, religious, intellectual, labor), and its manifestoes brought together the signatures of more than a hundred of the most illustrious names of the Netherlands—statesmen, prelates, officers, writers, professors, artists, business men, etc. It therefore represents a considerable moral force.
Let it be said at once that the N.A.O.R. does not look for an immediate end of the war by a peace at any price. On the one hand it declares itself "it has formed no presumptuous idea of its strength; it has no naïve confidence in vague peace formulæ, nor even in well-defined mutual obligations. The universal war of today has, alas! taught it much in this respect also." And, moreover, it is[{129}] quite aware that a peace at any price, under present conditions, would only be a consecration of injustice. The great public meetings which it has organized on December 15th in the chief towns of the Netherlands have unanimously declared that such a peace seemed neither possible nor even desirable. I will add that certain of the articles of the N.A.O.R. suggest, with all the reserve necessitated by its attitude of neutrality and its profound desire for impartiality, the direction of its suppressed sympathies. Especially the following:—
"To repair the harm done by this war to the prestige of law in international relations. To bow before the law, whether customary or codified in treaties is a duty, even where sanction is wanting. Reform will be in vain: if there is not respect for law, and nations refuse to keep their word, a durable peace is out of the question."
The object of the N.A.O.R. is especially to study the conditions in which we can realize a just, humane, and durable peace, which will secure for Europe a long future of fruitful tranquility and of common work, and to interest the public opinion of all nations in securing such a peace. I cannot analyze here, owing to lack of space, the various public manifestoes, the Appeal to the People of[{130}] Holland (October, 1914), or the Appeal for Co-operation and the Preparation of Peace, a kind of attempt to mobilize the pacifist armies (November). The latter of these contains ideas which agree in many cases with those of the Union of Democratic Control (the abolition of secret diplomacy, and a larger control of foreign affairs by Parliaments; the prohibition of special armament industries; the establishment of the elementary principle of international law, that no country shall be annexed without the consent, freely expressed, of the population). I will content myself here with publishing the manifesto addressed to the thinkers, writers, artists, and scientists of all nations. In this manifesto we shall find support for the tasks which we ourselves have undertaken in working to keep the thought of Europe sheltered from the ravages of the war, and in continually recalling it to the recognition of its highest duty, which is, even in the worst storms of passion, to safeguard the spiritual unity bf civilized humanity.