The Dominion. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1918. WORLD DOMINION AND ITS TRAGIC STORY

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 9, 5 October 1918, Page 6

The Dominion. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1918. WORLD DOMINION AND ITS TRAGIC STORY

Mb. A. '■ J. Balfour stated the other day that Germany could have, np.place in the coming League.of Nations until she had abandoned the "fallacy of the.dream of world dominion." One of the most tragic forces in human history is the lust for world dominion that periodically has seized rulers or peoples and led them to turn this earth "in to a pandemonium. Tho earthquake' and the volcano scar and mar'.the face of physical nature, but science tells -us that these convulsions answer some good physical ends. The brutal conquering despots of tho past and of the present have scarred the face of human nature, have torn its heart and have shed its blood in rivers, but the moral good resulting from all this suffering is not so obvious as; the physical good resulting from the earthquake and. the volcano. ' But a power.that makes for righteousness is at the heart. of things, and good at last conies out of such evils. Amiel, the French spiritual philosopher, rays that such military despots become the "scaven--1 fjers of the world's corruptions/' nnd;hn addo that they "roused whole peopleo' into action, stirred ■ the depths of human life, powerfully a,f;.footed ethnography, and renewed theface of things..There is a law- of. tempests in history as in Nature." j. This; distinguished Frenchman may -be. right in his contention, hut this cloes_ not lessen the 'deeprdyed criminality of rulers who, inspired by -a lust for world dominion, have turned the earth into a human shambles. There was nothing of- the morally 'grand about .the character, or mission of the apostles of brute force in the past or m the present. In the fourth century before Christ, Alexander, called the Great, . left , his little kingdom of Macedonia,(to-day the cockpit of the Balkans) on admission of world dominion. Asia Minor, Persia, Northern India, and , Babylon surrendered to the power of his sword, and then the end came. At' the age of 32, after a night's carousal,'' he contracted fever and dicd.v 'Julius Caesar became a victim'to this same passion for power and dominion, and like Alexander aspired after divine honours. Ho extended the Roman power from the Tiber to .the Thames, but in his own city, and in. the Senate, he was slain for his despotism, and there were more of, his friends among his murderers than foes. In the fifth century. Attila, King of tho Huns (arid to-day one; of the Potsdam. Kaiser's heroes), started with his warriors from Hungary. East and west they went, and burned, destroyed, and/massacred; and tjuj kingdom of the Huns was thus ex,tended from the Caspian.Sea to the Rhine. And then -night descended on Attil.Vs life, for he was slain, by his own intemperance. - The early part of the thirteenth century saw the rise of the greatest apostle of brute force the world had ever seen. Jenohiz Khan, who became Mongol Emperor, was originally a petty chief, blithe built up an army that -laid the , world from the China' Sea to the Dnieper at his.feet. LiEe the Gei'mahilv'AiSEß of.'to-day, he believed in a policy! of frightfulness.. InJHerat, according to the Encyclopiiedia 'Brijtanniea, his army exterminated the population, numbering 1,600,000. During intervening , centuries Europe has seen its Chaklejjagne and Charles V shedding blood like water, to create a world empire lor themselves. They both failed, and the latter, baffled by the force -of liberty and conscience, laid aside his crown and spent his last days in the cloister.- A little over one. hundred.. years ago Napoleon came on the scene and made Europe a battlefield,: and. for fifteen years as Consul and' Emperor exercised : dominion over a largep'art of Europe. Then ■ came 'disaster; and :in St. Helena he , is'credited : with saying to ;one of his generals': -"Alexander,; Caesar, ■ .and myself founded- eni:pires,-: but.we founded ■ them ■ on Force.' and .we failed;" In every case the-kingdoms ov. empires'built, up by.the foregoing despofs lasted only for a. short'season. The' kingdom of Jenghiz.Khan passed away ''leaving, -not- a wrack behind," but. the student; of■, history , says • that: the storm of-his conquests led to vast ■fesults-Hhe'■ .fall ,of 'the y Byzantine Empire, .the Renaissance, and tho. voyages of discovery of : Galia- arid Columbus. . He was the, occasion, 'like-other' despots, of some good'to the world. ... ■■■ '~.; .•.. ■ ~..■..'■ ...,■■■':

.The German Kaiser and. his War Lords, have been, the ..latest victims, of this, lust for world dominion, and Germany has become tho outlaw of ■.the civilised world and must be an outlaw until this evil spirit is .east but. For: long years before Germany broke ;.the peace ''of the wprld\;'W;iL-' iha II was ever finding his heroes in- the '.military-, megalomaniacs' 'of the past.' fle ordered his soldiers to remember ' A'fTiLA, he .glorified Chahles 7, and he declared that lie favoured an empire like that of Eome'.of old. • The Kaiser fixed his vision on the temporary success , of these apostles of.-brute force, 'and overlooked their eternal failure. •. Today he must hear the crack of doom ■sounding in his pars with regard to his mad; schemes for world dominion. Ho said thiit his.place was on : ■the ocean, and he can,only appear there' as % submarine pirate. The bubble of an Eastern empire is burst, for the surrender of Bulgaria has shut tho door to Constantinople and the .Russian road is full of tho hissing snakes of opposition, and behind these is tho iron wall of Japan's soldiers. . Sixty years' ago, . when Bismarck made known to the Kaiser's father his method of kingdom expansion by : trickery and. brute force, Frederick wrote: "It will probably lead to our downfall as an empire. It would not be the first time that Prussia had attempted to outwit the world with the result of finding herself in the end between two stools." Later on Frederick's vision was blinded by the success of Bismarck's policy, and surrendered to.it. But his words are a true prophecy 'to-cl.a-y. Georg Heimvegh, the German poet, saw that the Prussian policy would be the curse of Germany, and when France was conquered in 1870 he wrote: "I have nothing in common with this new Germany. Lot her count me among hnr dead." And when he died in 1875 he left instruction that when Prussia's day of doom came his son was to carve on his tomb in Basic the words, "Rejoice, dear father, Prussia is no more." Dr. Mukhlon, an cx-Krupp director, in his Diary; published' by Cashell's , on August 15, says this German-made war' has

made "it a disgrace to be a German subject," and he says to the Germans who say that Franco made the war: "Lie on, yc barbarians! The truth will hurl you into the abyss." Out of this awful welter of blood and sorrow good to the human race has arisen. France is a new France. Britain, by her worldwide sacrifices, is one as she never was before. The United States has merged her life in the larger life of tlw world, and the coming League of Nations may bring in -the day of world-wide peace.