The Dominion SATURDAY, APRIL 19 1919. THE CAPITAL OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 175, 19 April 1919, Page 6

The Dominion SATURDAY, APRIL 19 1919. THE CAPITAL OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS

•' Geneva has been chosen by a Commission of the Peace Congress as the future capital of the League of Nations, and as this election was made by a vote of eleven to six, the Congress-will no doubt endorse the decision of the Commission. This selection when viewed in the light of Geneva's past history seems to be ip accor'darica -with , the, fitness of things.'' There are several cities.that have.shown themselves in the past as formative influences that have changed for the better the course of the world. Jerusalem long ago sent forth a conception of righteousness, purity, and justice that to-day-is one of the moral treasures of tho world. In ancient Athens scholarship and art rose to a high height of excellence, and the modern world with all its progress copies the masterpieces of the art of Greece, and fnds still instruction' and .inspiraion in her poetry and philosophy. Ancient Rome'held for a period the reins of government of a large part of the world in her hand, and though that hand is long ago dead 4 yet Roman law is with us, and it influences and guides the courts of justice of our age. It is a- far cry from Jerusalem to Geneva. Geneva has. not been' an originator or creafor like Jerusalem,-Athens, and Rome, but she has revealed herself as making a beneficent use of . the creations, .of these cities. Geneva more than once in the past has stood in a very special way for scholarship) righteousness, law, and - justice. Three centuries ago at a crisis in Europe she combined in herself the- mission of a Jerusalem, an Athens, and a Rome. Mark Pattison went the length of saying that from Geneva came forth at - that time the teaching and the missionaries that "saved Europe." The glory of Geneva died away in a subsequent age.But Geneva has been coming to her own again in our time, and her name is stamped on conventions and institutions of the very highest order, and these are as wide as the world in their reach'and in their humanity. It is not then so surprising that Geneva- should have given to ner the new glory of being the'capital of the League of Nations. '

Genqva to-day is the smallest-, save Zug, of the Swiss Cantons, its total population being less than 140,000. and of this population over 100,000 are in the city. For the last two thousand years it' was always a small' speck on the map of Europe, and for the most of that period it was a mere geographical expression. Julius Caesar is the first historian to'mention the,name of Geneva. It is lost ~ in the gloom of the dark ages, and in the,lnformation times it emerges as an apanage of bishops who for many years sought to do the best for the town as well as for the diocese; The Duke of Savoy cast covetous'eyes upon it and would' have, made it his own. The Genevans took arms against the tyranni-.-cal Duke and routed him, and'delivered from prison Bonivarde, the herb of independence, whose story Byiion sings in his Prisoner, of Ghillnn. The clerical' lords who had ruled the city degenerated, and tlio spirit of religious revolution that .swept over Europe eai'.y in the sixteenth century took possession of the Genevans, and' they deposed the bishop and declared'for the Reformed Faith. John Calvin was passing through.the city after this revolution, when _ he wits asked to stay there and minister, and when he hesitated lie was'told that ho would imperil his soul if he refused. He was -then, twenty-eight .years old, and two years before he had written a masterpiece of an apology for the Reformed Faith, which lie dedicated to the ; King of France'. This famous book, The Jiistitut.en nf l.hr. Chri.sti(iii_ Jtd-iijmi, was published .first in Latin in IS3G in order to reach the scholars, of-Europe, and theu.it was published' in French in 1540 ,to reach the people, and' in doing so The Vamhridtjc Modern History, points out Calvin "more than any other man'made the French tongue a. literary vehicle,- a medium for high philosophical and religious discussion." _ It :vas a book of astonishing'ability for a, young man of twenty-six years, and oiie of -the great authorities of our time says that probably no-book was'"ever written v by a voting mail "which has exercised such a prodigious influence upon the opinions, and practices both of contemporaries and posterity.". With. the. ..advent of Calvin in Geneva in 1536" the socalled theueracy was set up, and it continued till. Calvin's death in 7564, and' lasted for. many years after. It was during those memorable years that Geneva rose to eminence in Europe, and measures were devised'there, and men of a heroic mould went from there, that helped-to change the world, and t.lw changes thus wrought remain to this day. Calvin was a stern moralist, but life to him was a state of war against sin and error,. and' he looked, upon the citizens of Geneva as spiritual warriors, and he laid upon himself and upon them'a- hard military' discipline.; He found Geneva foul yit.h moral 'corruption, and after a'while the people resented his stern morality and drove him from tlio city, but in his absence the people found libertinism more palling than his discipline, and' they entreated him to return. He . responded to their • pleading, and Geneva rose to fn-me, and' for a period was the greatest citadcl in Europe of religion, 'morals, and. strange to say, of- liberty. Calvin's character, message, and mission arc seen to-day in their true perspective, and the fair-minded historian recognises that they mark an epoch in history. J. A. Fiioude in' his Short Studies attaches the highest moral importance to.the Mission of G"neva under Cai.vin. He writes: "Thev attracted to their ranks almost every man in Western Europe who hated a lie. Whatever exists at this moment in England or Scotland of conscientious fear of doing evil is the remnant of the convictions which were branded by (lie Calvinists into the people's hearts." Loud Morley and other writers have laid stress on the mighty political influence of Geneva of Calvin's age. Morley'writes: "To omit Calvin from the forces of Western evolution is to read history with one eye shut." Ranke says: "Calvin was tiie virtual founder of America." and 'Bancroft, the American historian, says: "He that will not honour the memory and respect the influence of Calvin knows little of the History of American-liberty."- These i statements may be exaggerated, but

.they are .the opinion: of historical experts ou the great part Geneva played in the sixteenth century on the stage of history, and have their value. There are prominent men to-day whose work show that Geneva's old influence still abides. President Wilson said the other month in London that he often found the "spirit of the Covenanter insurgent Within him," and the Covenanters were of the school of Geneva, and. Mn. Pjjotheho lias pointed out that the principles for which the Scottish Covenanters died form the basis of tho British Constitution of our time. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Geneva ceased to be the citadel of Puritanism, but-it did not cease to be a formative influence. Great thinkers and great writers found a home in Geneva or on the shores of her lake, and from there sent forth their books to influence the world for weal or for woe. Geneva was the birthplace of lloi.'.sspAU, and the men of the French lie volution regarded him "with something like idolatry" for his political views —and as a sentimentalist, describing the passions of the human heart, he is without a "forerunner or a model." On the shores of the Lake of Geneva Gibbon toiled for five years writing his great book on The Roman Empire,.. large and informing volume might be written jjn the literary and other heroes who found their home in this historic city; In'our'day Geneva was the' birthplace, of the lied Cross movement, and the Geneva flag, the red cross on a white field (an adaptation of the Swiss flag, which is a white cross on a red field), flies over the ambulances and' the war hospitals and the hospital ships of the nations of the earth. If Divinity were the watchword of the Geneva of,a'past age, Humanity is her watchword of to-day. It is in this place so rich in historic associations thAt the League of Nations will .have its home. What that League may accomplish is yet to be seen. Human nature is a very complex thing, and is not easily reformed. It is to be hoped that the League may realise the* vision of the-poet who said that the "Wavdrum throbb'd no longer and tho battle flags were furled, in the Parliament of man, the federation of the world."