over the Rhine, standing at bay and in peril of death, shows plainly
enough the importance which it attaches to the opinion of the only
nations which the execration of all that lives and breathes have not
yet armed against it. It is afraid. It feels that all is crumbling
under foot, that it is being shunned and abandoned. It seeks in every
direction a glance that does not curse it. It must not, it shall not
find that glance. It is not necessary to tell Italy what our
imperilled cities are worth; for Italy is preeminently the land of
noble cities.

Our cause is her cause; she owes us her support. When a work of beauty
is destroyed, her own genius and her own eternal gods are outraged. As
for America, she more than any other country stands for the future.
She should think of the days that will follow after this war. When the
great peace descends upon the earth, let not the earth be found desert
and robbed of all its jewels. The places at which the earth is
beautiful because of centuries of effort, because of the successful
zeal and patience and genius of a race, are not so many. This corner
of Flanders, over which death now hovers, is one of those consecrated
spots. Were it to perish, men as yet unborn, men who at last, perhaps,
will achieve happiness, would lack memories and examples which nothing
could replace.

* * * * *




PRO PATRIA: I