| OCR Text |
Show THE CITIZEN THE CASE OF DR. ELLIS TN its larger aspect the case of Dr. William T. Ellis is the case . against the peace treaty and the League of Nations, or, in other words, against the rearrangement of world affairs by the Versailles conference. Through the vivid light of his experience and revelations we may see, if we will, the entangling and, from the American viewpoint, the debasing nature of the alliances into which we are being drawn. If we consent to associate with bad company we shall have only ourselves to blame. Sooner jp or later we shall discover that the European world is not our world; that American ideals are on a loftier plane than the dubious diplomacy and predatory policies of most of the European nations and of their Asiatic - ally Japan. . Africa, matters not; if we become ac- cessories before or after the fact we are debasing our Americanism. ITT HEN Great Britain made war on the Boers twenty years ago and seized their nation she was acting in consonance with her historic stand- ards of international ELLIS went to the Near EAs.. as the accredited correspondent of the New York Herald and its associated newspapers to report the changes that had been wrought in that part of the world by the struggle of the nations. Those who have read his articles will detect in them the flavor of impartiality and a high sense of responsibility. in Egypt Dr. Elliss experiences gave him a glimpse behind the scenes of imperialism. He saw that the world was not being made "safe for democracy, but that an altogether different process was going on behind a veil of secrecy and censorship. TT is not necessary, in pointing the moral of this article, to become unduly excited about Great Britains imperial policies. It is necessary only perial policies. It is necessary only to recognize that they are different from our policies and cannot be harmonized with them. When we join the League of Nations we accept partstand-'fard-s nership in a firm whose ethical are lower than our own. Blame this on whatever causes we will we cannot escape the facts. An attempt to intertwine Americanism with Eu-ropeanis- m will result either in the elevation of Europeanism or the degradation of Americanism. That the process will operate to our degradation is almost beyond question, for as soon as we enter into the association we league ourselves with nations already are guilty of what we cannot but regard as crimes against ,which the cause of and justice. Whether the crime be committed In Egypt or Shantung, Ireland or South liberty the British. According to Dr. Kills the American government is represented at Cairo by a sycophantic catspaw of the British .government and presumably it was this Anglophile who flooded our state department with misinformation concerning an obscure correspondent. suppressing rebels and collecting, debts due to Europeans. Nearly forty years have passed since then and the British, instead of keeping their pledge to the world that occupation would be but temporary, are now installed as the virtual sovereigns in Egypt, making claims which they will not permit the League of Nations to dispute. . " and, needless to say, those standards did not look to the protection of small nations. At that time Joseph Chamber-lain- , the very embodiment of Englands predatory spirit, was in power and opposed to him was We might expect in our day that, as ; would try to premier, Lloyd-Georg- e guide the ship of state according to the lights of his earlier, democratic years, but, while free from the brutal cynicism of Chamberlain, he is not free from- the influence of Britains historic policies. We think it mom strous that President Wilson should have acceded cooly to the shame of Shantung,, but we do not think it so monstrous that Great Britain, in the hour of her trial, should have signed a secret treaty binding herself to that shame, nor that she should abide by that compact today. We recognize a difference of spirit. British and American ideals have traveled diverging roads for more than a century and now we are seeking to bridge the gap by a mere contract to see and think alike. morality Lloyd-Georg- e. - rvR. By F. P. Gallagher What the result will be may be discerned in the treatment of Dr. Ellis. We are astonished to find our state department playing the British game with the cowed submissiveness of 'a serf. We even find it making false statements to a senate committee to discredit Dr. Ellis and thereby gain credit for the British regime in Egypt. m TT7HILE Dr. Ellis was engaged in reporting conditions in Egypt he and his son were detained in Cairo for nearly a month by the British authorities. When he protested the British disavowed responsibility in writing. They stated that Dr. Ellis was being held on instructions from the American government and that they did not know the reasons. Obviously there was no reason why the government at Washington should have taken any action at all in the affair unless requested so to do by the British government. In the nature of things the state department would not have interested itself in the case of a traveling correspondent unless It had received information from the British or from some one acting for 'T'HREE charges were brought against Ellis: that he was conspicuously active in the Egyptian nationalist movement; that he made a nationalist address at Ell Azhar, and that he evaded the censorship. He admits evading the censorship. He wished to acquaint his newspapers with the true state of affairs in Egypt. Had he confined himself to what the British authorities desired to have reported he would have been worthless as a correspondent He was in the midst of a marvellous national movement which culminated in rebellion, the slaughter of the natives by the British and charges of atrocities by the British soldiers which the government at Westminster is even now investigating. Dr. Ellis denounces the other charges as untrue and his statement, we believe, will be generally accepted. It is obvious that they were made for the purpose of interfering with Dr. Elliss liberty of action and of detaining him in Cairo. The evasion of the censorship was sufficient inducement for the British or our AngloCairo to phile representative at trump up the other charges. rUR state departments interfer- ence with Dr. Ellis was quite in keeping with the abandonment by President Wilson of the cause of democracy in Paris. Representatives of the Egyptian nationalists started for Paris to lay their cause before the conference. They were interned at Malta for some time and upon their arrival at the French capital discovered that the United States had secretly recognized British dominion in Egypt. Released on the recommendation of General Allenby the delegates reached Paris only to find, as they saiy, that a recognition of the British protectorate over Egypt had been written into the treaty. The British, when they occupied Egypt with their troops in 1882, made promises as fair as those which are being made today by the Japanese with reference to Shantung. The occupation was described as of a temporary character for the purpose of TF a League of Nations is to succeed the nations must enter it with clean hands. There can be no hope of the Leagues permanency if some of the nations are guilty of offenses against international morality which, by the way, is the official charge against the kaiser. It does not require half an eye to see that some of the nations made haste to consummate their crimpy before the League could be ratified by the United States. Having acquired and bagged the plunder they were ready to enter a pure and spotless League and sing hymns with the rest of the members. If our association with European and Asiatic powers in such circumstances does not constitute a peril to our own freedom and to our high ideals of justice and humanity it is difficult to conceive what a peril is. Quite naturally our state depart-men- t falls into the European habit of secrecy and duplicity when trying to defend European statecraft and policy. Dr. Ellis is virtually placed under arrest in Cairo on orders from Washington because he has had the hardihood to tell the facts about British administration of Egyptian affairs. He is denied the right to communicate with his government and is left wholly in the dark as to the reasons for his detention. He is the victim of a conspiracy of secrecy entered into by the British administration at Cairo and the American administration at Washington. And when we have the League of Nations will government by censorship vanish or will it be intensified? When we have agreed to respect and preserve the territory of Great Britain, Japan and other imperialistic and autocratic nations will all the cards be laid on the table and a policy of utter frankness be adopted, or shall we see the most secret govern- ment of the world since government began? It is better to arrive at an answer to that question now rather than when it is too late. |
