If the Belgian people desire, on their
own account, to join France or any other country, I for one
will be no party to taking up arms to prevent it. But that the
Belgians, whether they would or not, should go "plump" down
the maw of another country to satisfy dynastic greed is
another matter. The accomplishment of such a crime as this
implies would come near to an extinction of public right in
Europe, and I do not think we could look on while the
sacrifice of freedom and independence was in course of
consummation.

Fight to the Bitter End

AN INTERVIEW WITH ANDREW CARNEGIE.

Retired ironmaster and philanthropist; builder of the Peace
Temple at The Hague; founder of the Carnegie Institution at
Washington; founder and patron of a chain of libraries in the
United States and Great Britain, and benefactor of many
societies and institutions.

By Edward Marshall.

Here is the report of a truly remarkable statement by Mr. Carnegie. He
is the world's most notable peace advocate, and in this interview he
voices the reflections suggested to him by the great European war.

They are unusual, and make this interview especially worthy of a place
upon the pages of the Christmas issue of THE TIMES, although it
principally deals with war, and Christmas is the festival of peace.

"Has war ever settled anything which might not have been settled better
by arbitration?" I asked Mr. Carnegie.

"No; never," he replied. "No truer inference was ever made than may be
found in Milton's query, penned three centuries ago and never answered:
'What can war but wars breed?'

"War can breed only war. Of course, peace inevitably must follow war,
but, truly, no peace ever was born of war. We all revere the memory of
him who voiced the warning: 'In time of peace prepare for war'; but, as
a matter of fact, we all know that when one nation prepares for war
others inevitably must follow its dangerous lead.

"Hence, and hence only, the huge armaments which have oppressed the
world, making its most peaceful years a spectacle of sadness--a
spectacle of men preparing and prepared to fight with one another.
Sooner or later men prepared to fight will fight; huge armaments and
armies mean huge battles; huge battles mean huge tragedies.

"This never has been otherwise, and never can be. Peace can come only
when mankind abandons warful preparation. And so I seem to have replied