AN APPEAL TO THE MEMBERS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE

   [ The following appeal was sent by post to the King emperor, members of the Peace Conference and other leading statesman and politicians and the substance of it was cabled to the President, Peace Conference, President Wilson, British Premier, and French Premier on December the 17^th,1918 :-- ]

AN APPEAL TO THE MEMBERS OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE

From a Sannyasin, a Friend of

 the World.

BAMAI P.S. (DT. SYLHET)

T.O.: FANDAUK

INDIA
Dated the 17th December, 1918. 

         

             With the end of the Great War, a new era of peace and progress has dawned upon the world. Statesman and philosophers of all countries are striving to find out how best to bring about peace and harmony, and some of them have come forward with definite suggestions of their own, but none, to my mind, are calculated to bring about the desired end. I also have worked out a scheme and I venture to place it before the Conference, but before doing so I wish to make a few observations.

               One side has achieved victory in the war and is jubilant, the other is defeated and thinks itself helpless-one side is supremely happy, the other is sullen and rejected. The central powers have accepted the terms of armistice because they could not do otherwise. If at the conclusion of peace severe terms, even if they be just and equitable, are imposed upon the central nations, they will have to accept them only as a way out of the difficult position in which they find themselves, while at the same time they will be smarting under a sense of grievous wrong, and will always be on the look-out for an opportunity to break away from the compact. Thus there will be peace in appearance but not a real and lasting peace, which the world is longing for. A serious attempt should therefore be made to establish peace on the basis of universal brotherhood of man, and to knit mankind in one bond of love and union.

           With all respect and humility, I, therefore, make an earnest appeal to every member of the Peace Conference to make such an attempt. Let all who take part in the deliberations of this momentous conference be filled with a deep sense of responsibility, the like of which never rested on any man before. A most sacred task has been entrusted to them and in order to fulfill it, they must rise above the petty prejudices of one country against another and be even prepared to sacrifice, if need be, the interests of one nation before the greater interests of all humanity.

         The proper question before the members of the peace conference should be, not to gain the best advantage over the enemy, but to adopt measures which will make all future wars not merely impossible but unnecessary. Now let me present my scheme which, I hope and trust, will bring about the desired end.

          Let the people of each country elect for a definite number of years one amongst themselves as president, who, with the help of a council, will guide their destinies. And let the president of the different countries, in turn, elect one among themselves as the Chief president who, with a council of ministers sent by the different countries (each forming a component part of the commonwealth of the world) will form a Government separate from the Government of each country and at the same time be watching over and looking into the workings of each, as well as coordinating the actions and activities of the different countries in matters of international affairs so that all will grow and develop alike and none will take advantage over the other.

           All the Presidents and the chief President are to think themselves to be the vicegerents and servants of God, the common Father of all, and at the countries as their brothers, and they must hold themselves responsible before God and man for the peace, happiness and progress, both spiritual and material of the world.

          If this scheme of mine is accepted and given shape to, it will remove the feeling of rivalry and ill-will; do away with all differences between labor and capital and all other internal differences of each particular country as also the differences between one country and another. The people of one particular country will have nothing to lose, but everything to gain them will enjoy the fruits of the labour and culture of every other nation without ceasing to enjoy the peculiar blessing of their own. Under the scheme, there will be no room for superiority and inferiority –no sense of shame which attaches to a subject nation and consequently no ground for jealousy and least off all, will there be the need for Militarism. I have felt it within myself that this is the only way to bring about a solution off all the troubles of the world and that there is no other.

       True, the difficulties in the path of this ideal are great and numerous; nevertheless, this idea will have to be worked out before there can be peace and harmony on earth. I have put my scheme in  a crude from but I am prepared to work it out in detail and to meet all argument against it. The nations of the world may come to an arrangement amongst some of themselves and may call it peace, but true peace cannot come unless and until this ideal is accepted and given effect to. In fact, the federation off all nations will be logical sequence of the great world-war.

              Let the members of the Peace Conference cast aside all sense of national pride and prejudice, and they will at once see that this is the highest consummation that they can look for. The world-has arrived at a stage when this cannot by delay any more-the time is most propitious and serious attempts should be made in this direction. I only hope that the members of the Peace Conference will not fail to do so. May the God of all nations give them courage and strength to bring down the kingdom of Heaven on earth.

THAKUR DAYANANDA,

Arunachal Mission,

Amrit Mandir.