Here is an exquisite vindication of one of the least popular of the condemnations in the Syllabus—that of non-intervention.

It is called “On the Refusal of Aid between Nations”:

“Not that the earth is changing, O my God!

Nor that the seasons totter in their walk,—

Not that the virulent ill of act and talk

Seethes ever as a wine-press ever trod,—

Not therefore are we certain that the rod

Weighs in thine hand to smite the world; though now

Beneath thine hand so many nations bow,

So many kings:—not therefore, O my God:—