Who Makes War?

WHO MAKES WAR
An Editorial from the London Times
    The delegates of Turkey and the Balkan League were to meet yesterday in a neutral zone before the Tchataldja lines to discuss conditions for an armistice. We trust they will not separate without reaching conclusions which will enable both sides to sheathe their swords, and transfer to the council chamber issues which have been fought over long enough upon the battlefield. Though attention has been unfortunately shifted to preparations elsewhere, the preservation of the general peace of Europe still depends in large measure upon the little knot of consultants, assembled between the waiting armies. If they come to a preliminary agreement, the tension which depresses Europe will not be entirely removed, but it will be immeasurably relieved. There is reason to believe that the allies, though unable to modify their immediate demands, are disposed to treat Turkey with reasonable consideration. The brief delay in assembling the delegates has, we may hope, brought Turkey meanwhile to a sense of the realities of her position. She has the chance of saving herself from all danger of a final humiliation, and she may well feel that by keeping her flag inviolate in her capital and its vicinity she has done all that honour required in view of the admitted defects of her military organization. She cannot build false hopes upon the precautions taken by powerful nations. Whoever may derive ultimate benefit from any extension of the area of conflict, Turkey will assuredly never do so. The old Turkish policy of profiting by the jealousies of her neighbours will not now serve her turn. In the clash of a greater conflict Turkey would unquestionably disappear from Europe altogether. Any advice which the Turkish Government may have received about the possible advantages of further resistance should be examined in the light of visible facts. Counsel offered from a distance will not replace the dominions which have been wrested from the Turks for ever. They have put their fortunes to the test, and will be wise if they abide by the result. Recent experience ought to suffice to teach Kiamil Pasha and his colleagues the futility of relying upon hints which, whatever their object, include no thought of ultimate benefits to Turkey. If they have not now learned that simple lesson, they have indeed fought in vain.
    We are still disposed to fear that we shall not be helped towards an appreciation of the true position by accepting wholly at their face value the more reassuring statements which reach us from various Continental quarters. The public interest is best served by an acknowledgment that in many respects the international situation contains elements of undiminished gravity. We welcome the renewed assurances from Berlin that Germany is working in the cause of peace, but while amply recognizing that her own abstention from activity is the best available evidence of her sincerity, we wish that her efforts had more visible results elsewhere. "Precautions" are understandable, but the remark of our Berlin Correspondent that they may produce an untenable position from which retreat must be humiliating is applicable in more than one direction. Our Vienna Correspondent truly says that "there is no valid reason to believe war between Austria-Hungary and Russia to be inevitable, or even immediately probable." We entirely agree, but wish we could add that the absence of any valid reason was placing strict limitations upon the scope of "precautions." The same Correspondent says he is constantly being asked:— "Is there no means of avoiding war?" The same question is now being asked, with some bewilderment, by millions of men in this country, who want to know what difficulties there are in the present situation which should threaten Europe with a general war, or even a collision larger than that already witnessed. We are often told that it is the Press which makes war. The statement has frequently been refuted, but never was there a more vivid refutation than we are seeing today. With hardly an exception, the Press of every great European country is earnestly and sincerely labouring for the maintenance of peace. Save in one or two unfortunate directions, there have been no bellicose incitements, no wild fulminations meant to stir up public wrath. We believe it may be said with just as much truth that most of the Monarchs of Europe are now, as always, equally undesirous that the peace should be further broken.
    In its attitude towards the present crisis the Press of Europe has undoubtedly given a faithful reflection of the general trend of public opinion. There are no irresistible waves of popular feeling, no gusts of angry passion such as sweep whole peoples into war before they are well aware of what they are doing. There is no great nation in Europe which today has the least desire that millions of men should be torn from their homes and flung headlong to destruction at the bidding of vain ambitions. The Balkan peoples fought for a cause which was peculiarly their own. They were inspired by the memories of centuries of wrong which they were burning to avenge. The larger nations have no such quarrel, unless it is wilfully manufactured for them. The common sense of the peoples of Europe is well aware that no issue has been presented which could not be settled by amicable discussion. In England men will learn with amazement and incredulity that war is possible over the question of a Servian port, or even over the larger issues which are said to lie behind it. Yet that is whither the nations are blindly drifting. Who, then, makes war? The answer is to be found in the Chancelleries of Europe, among the men who have too long played with human lives as pawns in a game of chess, who have become so enmeshed in formulas and the jargon of diplomacy that they have ceased to be conscious of the poignant realities with which they trifle. And thus will war continue to be made, until the great masses who are the sport of professional schemers and dreamers say the word which shall bring, not eternal peace, for that is impossible, but a determination that wars shall be fought only in a just and righteous and vital cause. If that word is ever to be spoken, there never was a more appropriate occasion than the present; and we trust it will be spoken while there is yet time.