The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1916. THE PACIFIST PERIL.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 238, 5 October 1916, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1916. THE PACIFIST PERIL.

For the cause iKat focfct aseistanoe, For the wrong that need* resiatattoe. For the future in the distance, Ami the good that tee oan do.

i It might have been expected that the awful experiences of the past two years would have aroused every intelligent man and woman in the world to the danger of assuming that the good intentions of any one nation or group of nations can secure the world's peace. But apparently a substantial section of. the British nation finds the lesson hard , to learn; and even now, long before the close of this terrible struggla, we find more or lese influential and representative people throughout the Empire talking vaguely about the desirability of conciliating the Germans and proving to them by our own generosity and mag•nanimity that we do not wish them to regard us permanently as enemies. One might hare hoped that these well-mean-ing idealists had by this time, in spite ot their pacifist traditions, come at last to ■realise that the origin of this war and the source of the international conditions that produced it, is to be traced only to that monstrous and profoundly immoral "Wfll-to-Power" Which has been the characteristic of German nationalism for the pact half century. "In the midst of the European comity of nations," says Professor Ramsay Mnir, "there has existed a State which scoffed at the love 01 peace," a State which held iteelf bound by no moral sanctions, but which, in the words of Treitschke, believed that its highest moral obligation was the. extension of its own power, and that all laws an-i treaties which hampered thie obligation were, therefore, invalid. That has been| the source of all our ills." And untU 1 Germany has been compelled to recognise that the Test of the world will not tolerate..these iniquitous" and outrageous theories, and will not permit any State ever again to attempt their enforcement, we can look forward to nothing but a renewal of this awful conflict under even more disastrous and ominous circumetancce. For "no ingenious device* of diplomacy will avail to give peace to the world until this doctrine of Hell is destroyed."

i But what bearing' lias this rather obvious fact on the pacifist prejudices of Lord Bryce and others of hie school? Simply this, that the first step toward the destruction of "this doctrine of Hell," must be the absolute subjugation of Germany in a military sense, her public humiliation in such a form as will appeal not only to the rest of the world, but to her own children, and the final removal of any opportunity for her to renew her sinister policy of aggression and to repeat her ineane and desperate bid for World-Power. Now it is a matter of historical evidence that Germany's megalomania, her loss of reason and self-control, and her frank surrender of all the principles of moral conduct that the rest of the civilised world has so long accepted, are all alike based upon her supreme trust in her 6wn material strength and her military prowess. Most J people by this time,, comprehend :' that ; unless and until the German armies are) crushingly defeated in open fight, the' world will never be safe from a renewal of this horrible wjtr. But if, when peaco comes, Germany is to be free; as before, to -enrich herself at the expense of Britain and the British Empire, if she is to be allowed, by the aid of our commercial and industrial activities, to lay once more the foundations of that naval and military strength by which 6he has striven to overthrow Bight and Justice and Liberty throughout the world, if she ia to be permitted to recommence her Insidious policy of "peaceful penetration" and to utilise the opportunities that the freedom of the wdrld'3 markets has afforded her, for the purpose Of furthering her own nefarious ends, and plotting once more to secure her vengeance and' our destruction—if all this is to follow the coming of peace, the world will speedily be compelled to realise that the awful ordeal through which it is still passing has been endured in vain.

Let us have done with vague generalities for the time, and look the facts in the face. Apparently those who urge us to cultivate friendship with the Germans for the future entirely ignore the ill-important truth that Britain has striven persistently, steadily, and patiently for many years to maintain precisely these amicable relations with the Germans; and what has been the result? Britain's love of peace hae been interpreted as cowardice, her magnanimity has been construed as servility or hypocrisy, and the opportunities thus afforded Germany have been utilised by ■her to strengthen her hands . for our destruction. Then, again, we are told that if we now deny to Germany the advantages Of selling freely in British ! markets which she has so long enjoyed, we will sow once more the seeds of strife between the two nations. It seems, then, that ;'the pacifists have forgotten ; that Britain has always extended to the Germans the unrestricted right' to sell their goods in'her markets; and what has been the consequence? Britain, which has been commercially Gerinany'e beet friend and ally, is now the foe whom she hates and denounces mast bitterly. Britain's offer of Free Trade, co far as Germany is concerned, has brought in the past "not peace, but a sword." Why, then, should Britain pensevere with it

under the pretext of confeiliating a yin, dietive, malignant, and unscrupulous enemy? It has long been clear that desperate efforts are being made in certain quarters at Home t6 bolster up Free Trade by an appeal to pacifism; and, futile as this eeems to us, we must admit that it is a saner and lese immoral course than to bolster up Free Trade by an appeal to the iupidity and selfishness of those -who look to profit by Germany's necessities after the war. We do not for a moment admit that a system of the most rigid Protection against Germany would injure Britain commercially or industrially. But our present point is that at this great crisis arguments based on our possible material loss and gain are wholly irrelevant. It eeems to us that the one hope of peace; for a long time to come must be the .reduction of Germany to impotence. Unless her confidence' in her own material strength is utterly dissipated by overwhelming defeat she will attempt to renew the .war; and so long as her commercial relations with Britain and the Empire remain as they were she will have a chance of regaining what she has lost. Once helpless, the Germans may recover their reason. Till then, the world's only hope of safety lies in denying them the pc/wer for evil that they have so shamefully abused, and this end must be attained even jf to I achieve it .the nations combine to treat the Germans as what they have proved themselves to be—the pariahs of civilisation—for many a year to come.