SAILORS AND PACIFISTS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVIII, Issue 142, 15 June 1917, Page 4

SAILORS AND PACIFISTS.

The comedy of Messrs Ramsay MacDonald and .Jowett, held up in England, although they have passports, because the Seamen'e Inion will not allo"- them to proceed to Russia, lm- it nous fide. The sympathies of rvr loyal person wiU go to the scajuen. liiese men arc daily risking their lives so that .England and England's armies may be fed and supplied, aiid ajc in constant peril from v foe that has the manners mid morals of the jungle. Hundreds of their non-combatant comrades have been killed, mutilated, or erposed to terrible privations in defiance of international and moral law. Our debt to these seamen can never be paid; but for their heroism and determination we could not carry on the war. Yet the Leeds Conference on peace, which Messrs Mar Donald and Jowett would represent in Kussia, would not demand reparation from Germany for submarine outrages, and apparently treated the seamen's delegates with contempt. Our cable news unfortunately told us next to nothing about this treatment, but judging from some of the views expressed by English pacifist* at and before the conference, it is not difficult to imagine what it was like. The pacifist lives in a world of his own, a comfortable world behind the firing line; the, seaman is face to face with horrible realities. The wrath of the seamen is not in the least surprising, and there will he general satisfaction if they succeed in getting from these envoys the complete public apology they demand. One must, however, consider the larger aspect of this business. It is very galling to loyal British people to know that Mr. Mac Donald is being permitted to go to Russia as a delegate of a section of British opinion—Mr. Mac Donald, who described Britain's negotiations preceding the war as "a pretty little game in hypocrisy," and said that "when Sir Edward Grey failed to secure peace between Germany and Russia, he worked deliberately to involve us in this war, using Belgium as his chief excuse." But the British Government, acting on the advice of its agents on the spot, says it is desirable in the interests of the Allies that Messrs MaeDonald and .lowett should go to Petrograd, and the Government is the best judge. Private and national indignation must therefore, give way to national interests. It is the duty of the seamen to obey the Government, and in refusing to do so and threatening a general strike if the Government uses a warship to convey the delegates, they are guilty of a grave act of insubordination. Advices to-day show that the situation in Kussia is still very unsatisfactory, and that all the efforts of the Allies will be needed to improve it. If the Government gives way to the seamen in this matter its authority will be dangerously weakened.