THE PEACE PROPOSALS

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 29, 4 February 1899, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE PEACE PROPOSALS

GREAT MEETING AT ST. JAMES'

HALL

(ETom Our Special Correspeoftent.)

LONDON, December 23, 1898

Mr Stead had a field day at St. James' Hull on Sunday afternoon when ke reported to a crowded meeting- the results of bis 'Peace Tour' round the capitals oi: Europe.. The demonstration was carried out after the invariable methods oi; Stead campaigns. It doesn't matter whether the sensation of the moment happens to be the 'maiden tribute' or 'blue

electricity for the'cure of cancer' or 'telepathic spiritualism' or 'universal peace.' The mode of working all is the same. A comparative nonentity occupies the chair, 'the good man.' himself fills the stage, and Mr Hugh Price Hughes and Dr. Clifford are his prime supporters. Otherwise men of light and leading prove conspicuous only by absence. They know Mr Stead's advocacy generally means, death to any cause however good. Still they don't want to offend him, so they send guarded letters containing suitable generalities. A number ■' of such epistles were read out with '; great unction on Sunday. Of course, we all want 'peace, perfect peace,' and there's no harm in saying so, or in' vaguely assisting' to further that desirable end. Between wanting and getting, however, a great gulf yawns. The Czar doubtless wants peace, but that he can't have much expectation, of getting- it is evident, or he wouldn't ■whilst penning his rescript be ordering new line of battleships.

The solace Mr Stead appeared to derive from reading- these letters must have amazed listeners unacquainted with the "good man's peculiarities. Lord Rosebery, for example, wrote that he 'would welcome any efficient and practical plan which tended in' favour of peace.' Why not, indeed? But how Mr Stead could describe it later as 'a definite step towards the goal' I can't imagine. Bishop Barry wrote diplomatically, 'The Czar's proposal might be, as yet, an ideal, but he believed in the influence of ideals, and was confident that if an ideal were true and noble its presentation to the world could not be in vain.' Leonard Courtney said, 'The end is glorious, and it may be reached by many roads. It is perhaps rather a defect on my part that I have a personal preference for quieter by-paths.' Members of the Government, Mr Bal!fom\ Sir H. Campbell Bannerman, Mr Fowler, and Lord George Hamilton, expressed guarded approval of the Czar's aspirations and general willingness to help. The most important letter read was Lord George Hamilton's. He said: 'Some seem to see in the proposal a subtle' attempt to undermine our naval supremacy by averting the future development and expansion of our fleet. The naval supremacy of this country is now a generally accepted doctrine held by all political parties, but what does naval supremacy mean? It means an effective force at the disposal of Great. Britain sufficient to keep in cheek and subordination any likely naval combination against us, and the force sufficient for this purpose may. be regulated by the expenditure of other nations. . If their expenditure decreases or remains stationary we can adjust our outlay accordingly. On the other hand, if the naval armaments of other nations expand we must expand also. A lesser, expenditure all round does not mean a lesser margin of security to this country. It means attainment of the same end with lessercost to ourselves. Therefore, when the great autocrat, who, without ParI liament or any intermediate agency, j can of his ingerent authority increase to any extent he chooses the military and naval expenditure of his country, deliberately proposes to divest himself of his special power, it is clearly for the benefit of civilisation and humanity that he should be encouraged to proceed in the path of self-abnegation and philanthropy.''

Mr Stead then got up and with the tremendous earnestness which makes him such a formidable platform orator urged us to help him to back the Czar. He spoke eloquently, but there was little new in the address, barring a significant passage regarding- his interviews with English statesmen. 'In1 his own country,' said Mr Stead, 'he had taken counsel with the leaditug men on both sides, .and without exception they all said that the word the. Czar had spoken was a true word, but what could be done? One, perhaps the "noblest Roman of them all," honoured by all and honourable, versed in the affairs of court and Avise with all the experience of long statecraft, listened with profound interest when he described the Czars ideas, and said with deep conviction, but with great sadness, "The Emperor has diagnosed an incurable disease. You might as well tell me I am going to die. It is as inevitable as death." When he heard these words it was for the moment as if something had made him desjiair of the world— humanity hastening to the abyss at an ever-accelerating ratio, everybody saying that it was true, and then the greatest authority of all saying that the evil was incurable and that nothing could be done. To that dark negation arising from pessimistic despair let them, in the name of God and man, utter a protest that would ring through the world. (Cheers.) Incurable! Then, 'was "God in His Heaven," and was "all right with the world?" Never so long as the faith of God sprang up in the heart of man or woman could they say that any evil no matter how terrible was incurable. (Cheers.) Never, unless they were prepared to burn their Bibles and sacrifice even that sublimated Christian faith which resided in the hearts of all the best Agnostics. God help them to return a worthy answer to the Czar's appeal!' (Loud cheers.) The fervour of this appeal would have moved some of us more had we not unluckily remembered that when urging the Mattie remedies for the cure of cancer Mr Stead, after drawing a harrowing picture of that dread disease, wound up very similarly. One couldn't help fearing, too, that his new nostrum will prove as incapable of ridding the world of war as blue electricity was of alleviating cancer.