OPINION AND THE WAR.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15773, 14 December 1916, Page 8

OPINION AND THE WAR.

THOUGHTS OF LEADERS.

BRITAIN'S WEALTH IN HEROES

(rp.oit ora ow:: cosßEsroivDENT.)

LONIX3N, October 20

31 r Lloyd George, at a presentation of a portrait of his daughter, Mis Olwen Lloyd George:—

'These aro trying, anxious, terrible times, and public men who arc in the least on trusted with affairs need all the sympathy, support, and encouragement that friends can give them. It is an hourly, daily, constant wear of responsibility of the most terrible and ghastly kind, there are moments when we feel Sis if we would like to fieo to' the remotest and most unexplored island in the Southern Seas, and stay there until tho timed of healing come.

'•'The picture is a gift for the benefit of s very gallant division (the Welsh Division) in. tho field. Thero are to many heroes in this conflict that it is almost impossible in despatches to enumerate them. Thero arc so many deeds of valour. It is incrediblo, the devotion, the valour, and tho endurance of theso gallant men at the front. They havo given courage a new meaning, they have given it a new standard, a new rating. It means something moro ; than it ever meant before. We never understood the word until the story of j this war burst upon us. We never knew, not that amongst us wo had a man hero and a man there who had a heart of gold and was capable of daring and enterprise, who had valour firing his soul, but that wo had thousands, myriads of them spread all over the land, in the highest and in tho humblest homes. "That is tho revelation of this war. A treasure, .-vn inexhaustible treasure, hidden in the heart of the humblest man—of patriotism, consecration, courage, devotion, exalted attachment to ideals, and readiness of sacrifice for a great purpose. Wo never knew this. It gives a new prido in tho lcaid that lias produced so many myriads of heroes. Wo had thought theso qualities were qualities of the great, of the select: but they are all great, they arc all select. It is a nation of- heroes; we never knew we were capable of such great things; and if we can do such things in war, wo can also do them in peace." RELIGION AND WAR. Tho Bishop of London at Birmingham: — "A strong prima facie case could be made out against the existence of r; really strong ond good and righteous Supremo Being in the light of the appalling suffering and the, at present, unpunished wickedness on a gigantic scale which was being witnessed. 'Why did (God ever allow the war? And if ithere is a God why does He not stop it?' are questions asked by anxious mothers, and even by men who have not time to think very deeply over the mystery of God's duty to mankind. "The fallacy of tho argument with regard to tho breakdown of Christianity from the war lay in tho words 'Christian nations.' There may he plenty of individual Christians in the nation, as no doubt there are in Germany, but no one who has studied Treitschke or Bernhardt or the utter-, ances of the governing class of Germany can imagine that Germany is really in this sense a Christian nation. It is a monstrous misuse of language to talk of the breakdown of Christianity when what had produced the war is the exact contrary to Christianity. There is no such precise contradiction to the doctrine of the Cross as tho doctrine of the super-man, thero is no such absolute contrast to the principles of the New Testament as the German War Book. Further than this, the progress of the war has opened the eyes of watching neutral nations to the value of Christian principles in the conduct of the war.

<; What is aimed at by the Mission of Repentance and Hope, in which I am now engaged, is n. new England, « new British Empire after the war, with all its old characteristics, with its old humour and its love of life, its vigour and its brghtness, but sober, pure. Godfearing. While religion does not pretend to do away with pain and sorrow, it is the one thing which makes it tolerable. which lights up the darkness of death." FRENCH CATHOLIC LOYALTY. Tho Bishop of Orleans, during a visit of a number of French Catholic ecclesiastics to Dublin: — "An insinuation, has been mado in certain circles of society, the source of which we havo been unable to ascertain, that there was some difference of thought between the clergy and the other elements of the French nation as regards either the necessity or the conduct _ of the, war. We have thought that it was well to protest in tho presence of our Irish colleagues "against such an erroneous allegation. There is not ono of us who does not feel and resent all the cruelties of the war, nor is there one who does not believe that tho war France is waging has all the. elements of a just war, such as are laid down in Catholic theology; for instance, in the works of St. Thomas Aquinas and of his great commentator, Suarcz. It is not we, it is not tho successive French Ministers to whatever party they belonged, who havo wished the war. We defend ourselves. Our country has been violated. It? has been violated by a raid through a neutral country —a country recognised Jis neutral by international contracts and by European international right. We ; have opposed our armies to the invader. { I How would it be possible that bishops, j that priests could hesitate to applaud I 1 and bless such a resistance? On this | j point our unanimity is absolute. AY ill I you allow me to add, to the imperishable honour of our religion, that even those who had been harshly expelled from their countrv came rushing back at the first call of the trumpet tolling them that Franco was in danger? They have rushed back from all parts of the world to take their places in the ranks beside our dear soldiers." WICKED ENGLAND! The German Imperial Chancellor (Herr von Betlimann-Hollweg) in the Reichstag: — As to England, what she will get out of the expectcd booty to be taken from the colonies ha.s at present not been stated. The British make no secret of what they want to do with Germany. We are to be left militarily defenceless, crushed economically, and boycotted by the whole, world, condemned to a perpetual sickness. Such is the Germany that England would like to have at her l'cet. Then, when there is 110 longer any'Grrman competition to be feared, when France has been bled out, when all the war Allies have been made economically and financially to perform England's slavo work, when the neutrals of Europe are compelled to submit to every English, order, every black list, then a powerless Germany will no longer disturb the dream of an English world supremacy. With this object in view England is lighting with a degree of forco unexampled in her history, and by means of methods which are breaking international laws one after another. England. therefore, is our bitterest, most selfish. most obstinate foe. A statesman who should hesitate to use against such an enemy every suitable means necessary to bring the war to a close j would deserve to be hanged. From my words you may realise the | degree of * indignation, or contempt, . .with which. I regard the continually-

circulated statement that from somo inexplicable forbearance, from some antiquated propensity to give way, or even from motives so dark that they cannot face the light of day, all possible means available are not being employed against the enemy. Ido not pursue this subject in view of tho watchfulness shown abroad respecting our every attitude. The times are too sorious.

When in August, 1914, we were forced to draw the sword, we all knew we had to guard our hearths and homes against a mighty, nay, an overwhelming coalition. An ardent patriotism, hitherto unreoognised and often concealed, sprung up in our hearts, warlike and sure of victory.. To-day, sifter two years of fighting and striving, of suffering and death, we know moro surely than ever we knew before that for us there is one watchword only: "Endure and conquer." And conquer wo will. (Bravo.) IRELAND'S MAN-POWER-. Lord Wimborne, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, at Dublin : — What contribution is Ireland making to man-power ? Up to the last returns, on September 15th, there had joined tho Colours from Ireland 157,000 men. That is the numerical contribution; but in view of the splendid achievements of these men I may claim, without unduo Irish pride, that numbers do not quite give the full value. lam sure of this, that that 150,000 was better than an equal number of our opponents to-day. I would lilco to tell you this, becauso it has been the subject of a great deal of discussion, that of these 32,000 were known to be Catholics, and 62.000 were known to be Protestants. Since the mobilisation, Ulster has contributed 54,000, of whom -10,000 were Protectants, Leinster has contributed 12,000. Connaught 4000, Munster 16,000. and Dublin 19,000. That was a splendid contribution, and nothing could detract from it. It was voluntary; it was fairly representative; and in its achievements it was heroic.

The Irish Divisions need 40,000 men before Christmas, and I suggest that that is an immediate duty and obligation that rests u on IrelanH with regard to her contribution, which is io keep, up the fighting strength of the divisions which won such laurels and such fame.

There is one general proposition which may be laid down with confidence, and that is that national service in any community is not practicable without a measure of general consent. Ido not think there is any ground for asserting that there is any such measure of general consent at the present time, hut. I see no reason why anybody should despair of bringing home to the Irish democracy the overwhelming logic cF tho facts which confront us at tho present time. LORD HALDANE AS MISSIONARY. Viscount Haldane at Birmingham:— Our foremost duty is to win the war, but the fact that wo have got to win it must not prevent us from realising that after the war we must not lose our industrial or our intellectual position. Wo must not dally behind other nations in mental equipment-. It is becoming evident that the education question, the question of tho training of the coming generation is going to be the key for other social questions.

The war has wakened us up. We now see that we should have taken in hand the trainino- of tho future generation before we touched insurance," arid possibly before we touched old age pensions. The reasons why it had not appealed to people and did not now, was that the return from this kind of expenditure was a slow return. If it were not that tho working classes are more and more feelinp- a strong desire to give their children better opportunities than they themselves had. I should feel rather hopeless about stirring sluggish people; but Ido see that the working classes are desiring better chances for their children than they had themselves, and I do see an awakening national sense that we must havo such a measure of education as will put our nation on a level with other nations that havo got rather ahead of us.

Wo mnst take care to train tlic children of tho working classes in at least as good a way as the Germans had already begun to do. Every employer of a young person up to 17 ought to be compelled to let him devote to his education so many hours a week. For myself, my wish is to devote my remaining days to being a missionary on this great question. I believe there is no more real service that any man c*n render to his country, and I believe there is no more solemn duty that any man can undertake. I hope the nation is now stirred as it has never been stirred before abouT the training of the future generation.