Page:Rolland - The Idols.pdf/14



''The following letter was written by M. Romain Rolland to Dr. Frederick van Eeden, Editor of “De Amsterdammer Weekblad voor Nederland,” and published in that paper on January 24, 1915. As he deals particularly with the Rights of Small Nations, M. Rolland expresses his gratification that his appeal will secure a hearing in Holland. Moreover, he says:''—

At a time like this it is good to take one’s stand with those free souls who resist the unrestrained fury of national passions. In this hideous struggle, with which the conflicting peoples are rending Europe, let us at least preserve our flag, and rally round that. We must re-create European opinion. That is our first duty. Among these millions who are only conscious of being Germans, Austrians, Frenchmen, Russians, English, etc., let us strive to be men who are men, and who, rising above the selfish aims of short-lived nations, do not lose sight of the interests of civilization as a whole—that civilization which each race mistakenly identifies with its own, as opposed to the other races. I wish your noble country, which has always preserved its political and moral independence among the great surrounding states, could become the heart of this ideal Europe we believe in—the hearth round which shall gather all those who seek to rebuild her.

Everywhere there are men who think thus though they are unknown one to another. Let us get to know them. Let us bring together each and all. Here I would introduce to you two important groups, one from the North and one from the South—the Catalonian thinkers who have formed the society of “Amis de l’Unité Morale de l’Europe” at Barcelona—I send you their fine appeal : and the “Union of Democratic Control” founded