The Thames Star MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 1919 FIVE YEARS AGO

Thames Star, Volume LII, Issue 13952, 4 August 1919, Page 2

The Thames Star

MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 1919 FIVE YEARS AGO

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Fiviei years agio to-day, Great Brdttiain, a,fter strenuous efforts to presei;ve peace, waa forced by Germany's' m vasiom of Belgium, to dieoliaTe war on Germany or, as Geainamy had dkxne, tli'eaiti «« ijreaity as a sc-rajv of ,paiper. ,There waa only onie poaaible decision and ihe British Governmentt 1 did not. hesitate. _ Looikling back after itiiese five, terrtt'ble yetarsi, eveiy ipeirsOih, even, those who haive losib loved ones, must be glad thaitl Bpitaiin's leaders chose as tihey did. We know now What it would have meanit to live under Gerinanl i*ule, and we know also thaiti if war had been aivertted iiieni, Germany would iprobably Ivavtei oajptua^ed cdviliisaitdon eithea" by peaoefui penetinajtlion or by foixse of arms. Rusaiia could not long have held off' revolution; tihe people weaie heaiitscck with tlhe tyi^aoaiy of TWdsan. If <tihiis event h»d taken, place ibefore Germaiay aittacketl the Allies and .had! tihuia 'been, aible to fling, her whole sibrengtth along tihe Weatierni froiut, no bjuaaaaia, power could jhave sarvned EKeonoieii'aicy. Had Germany aitltiacked 1 Framce ten years | earlier when, Leopold wais King; of the 1 Belgians, for a monetary consdde.ajtion tihatt arujlea- 1 would haive allowed tiie Geromaaifc too ipass, Biiitaiin would not have emfcered the war, Fraiace would have beeni caTißJhedi firsrt. Amd theni Brit^im.. Ten yeai-s laitier or ten yeairis earlier GeMnany would probably have emerged taiuonpiha.nit.. As it was Albert of Belgium refused tt> sell his coumrtiry'isi lionour, amd Russia held on long enough for Alliance of Deimoca'iaoy to imiproviso ani.afttmy. There hjasi been much, sorrow and suffering and tJhere is still a tii^nic tack ahead of the world, but even now we oara all' admit thaib mucih has beeoK gaiinied. Never -again, will oivilisaitlikwi penniit: tihe conditdonf? of 191-1. t!o reoutt- oxil the oartih—an iii^eugpar.sibl© auitoxaPaifc ciaimi,ng semi-super-natairai ponveris aoid. aibsolute donni^nrjtri over the Eves of his subject in, Germany ; a siweatiilnig' system in, every country ton Europe+—Great Bi-itlaiin as: dsewhere—-aipipaliiaig; siluim condilbions in every cdlty. Hhe livting comditlions of the masses iitt eveiy laaid were such as toi make exiistenctei aJinost unbe&rablo; yot the men of tlhesei hom«3s fought thmugh to the finssih whetm in i«iali!ty they had nlotihing wortih '.figibt.ling for—<exciqpt the fuikim We Believe that these who "fought- amd *>uffered will demand and obtiaiin betiter Imniaj oomidiiitioinis, better homes, bettier food xund; better educatEon, that ■ou* of the desvtih paim- of Ihe war will grow, iiilramsiingly, h.umain h'ajpi/piinees amid well-bedng!. Ndt. tfertougii

BoileiheivaHimi, buiti by aomimom sensa amd mutual! sacrifice and ,bex?aiuis» of tihie great saonifiaea each and all ihaive made in, itifoe war, tihie mxrikfiirs of every ciauinitlry will tfsiaip a' rticih hkrvest from.'.tlhe seed whdeih was sawn when the Imperial Cabinet; decoded on Axigiiist 4, 1914, that Britain, must, dedbaire ■wiar.