So that as a second chance, after the possibility of a broad handling of the settlement by the Czar, and as a very much bigger probability, is the insistence by America upon her right to a voice in the ultimate settlement and an initiative from the Western Hemisphere that will lead to a world congress.  There are the two most hopeful sources of that great proposal.  It is the tradition of British national conduct to be commonplace to the pitch of dullness, and all the stifled intelligence of Great Britain will beat in vain against the national passion for the ordinary.  Britain, in the guise of Sir Edward Grey, will come to the congress like a family solicitor among the Gods.  What is the good of shamming about this least heroic of Fatherlands?  But Britain would follow a lead; the family solicitor is honest and well-meaning.  France and Belgium and Italy are too deeply in the affair, or without sufficient moral prestige, for a revolutionary initiative in international relationship.

There is, however, a possible third source from which the proposal for a world congress might come, with the support of both neutrals and belligerents, and that is The Hague.  Were there a man of force and genius at The Hague now, a man speaking with authority and not as the scribes, he might thrust enormous benefits upon the world.

It is from these three sources that I most hope for leading now.  Of the new Pope and his influence I know nothing.  But in the present situation of the world’s affairs it behooves us ill to wait idle until leaders clear the way for us.  Every man who realizes the broad conditions of the situation, every one who can talk or write or echo, can do his utmost to spread his realization of the possibilities of a world congress and the establishment of world law and world peace that lie behind the monstrous agonies and cruelties and confusions of this catastrophic year.  Given an immense body of opinion initiatives may break out effectively anywhere; failing it, they will be fruitless everywhere.

SMALL BUT GREAT-SOULED.

By EMMELINE PANKHURST.

[From King Albert’s Book.]

The women of Great Britain will never forget what Belgium has done for all that women hold most dear.

In the days to come mothers will tell their children how a small but great-souled nation fought to the death against overwhelming odds and sacrificed all things to save the world from an intolerable tyranny.

The story of the Belgian people’s defense of freedom will inspire countless generations yet unborn.

Zeppelin Raids on London

By the Naval Correspondent of The London Times

[From The London Times, Jan. 22, 1915.]