Fighting For Peace   By: Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933)

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS

FIGHTING FOR PEACE

BY HENRY VAN DYKE D.C.L. (OXFORD) RECENTLY UNITED STATES MINISTER TO HOLLAND

NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1917

Copyright, 1917, by Charles Scribner's Sons Published November, 1917

[Illustration: Scribner's Logo]

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

FOREWORD

I. FAIR WEATHER AND STORM SIGNS

II. APOLOGUE

III. THE WERWOLF AT LARGE

IV. GERMAN MENDAX

V. A DIALOGUE ON PEACE BETWEEN A HOUSEHOLDER AND A BURGLAR

VI. STAND FAST, YE FREE!

VII. PAX HUMANA

FOREWORD

This brief series of chapters is not a tale

"Of moving accidents by flood and field, Of hair breadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach."

Some dangers I have passed through during the last three years, but nothing to speak of.

Nor is it a romance in the style of those thrilling novels of secret diplomacy which I peruse with wonder and delight in hours of relaxation, chiefly because they move about in worlds regarding which I have no experience and little faith.

There is nothing secret or mysterious about the American diplomatic service, so far as I have known it. Of course there are times when, like every other honestly and properly conducted affair, it does not seek publicity in the newspapers. That, I should suppose, must always be a fundamental condition of frank and free conversation between governments as between gentlemen. There is a certain kind of reserve which is essential to candor.

But American diplomacy has no picturesque meetings at midnight in the gloom of lonely forests; no confabulations in black cellars with bands of hireling desperadoes waiting to carry out its decrees; no disguises, no masks, no dark lanterns nothing half so exciting and melodramatic. On the contrary, it is amazingly plain and straightforward, with plenty of hard work, but always open and aboveboard. That is the rule for the diplomatic service of the United States.

Its chief and constant aims are known to all men. First, to maintain American principles and interests, and to get a fair showing for them in the world. Second, to preserve and advance friendly relations and intercourse with the particular nation to which the diplomat is sent. Third, to promote a just and firm and free peace throughout the world, so that democracy everywhere may live without fear.

It was the last of these three aims that acted as the main motive in my acceptance of President Wilson's invitation to go out as American Minister to the Netherlands and Luxembourg in the summer of 1913. It was pleasant, of course, to return for a while to the land from which my ancestors came so long ago. It seemed also that some useful and interesting work might be done to forward the common interests and ideals of the United States and the Netherlands that brave, liberty loving nation from which our country learned and received so much in its beginnings and in particular that there might be opportunity for co operation in the Far East, where the Dutch East Indies and the Philippines are next door neighbors. But the chief thing that drew me to Holland was the desire to promote the great work of peace which had been begun by the International Peace Conferences at The Hague. This indeed was what the President especially charged me to do.