The Dominion SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1909. WAR AND PEACE.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 556, 10 July 1909, Page 4

The Dominion SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1909. WAR AND PEACE.

i One of the paragraphs in Bishop Wal- . Lis's address to the Synod contained an , excellent, statement of the/attitude which , the Christian Churches should .adopt to- . wards war and the chances of. war. After reminding tho Synod of. the duty; of Christian peoples to strive for,tho removal of commercial and racial • bittcrnosses and for.the cultivation of a love of peace, the Bishop laid down a cardinal maxim for the guidance' of• ChurchiSen. "As clergymen," he said, "it is clearly our, duty to teach, that'.a, desire for -peace -which is based upon an unwillingness; to. <make - sacrifices is contrary to-the first-principles of the Gospel of Christ." This is not only sound doctrine, but sound politics. We have no.intention of saying one word, more than cannot bo avoided, upon the consistency' of Christian doctrine, and of tiro .teachings of the Founder of Christianity, with preparcdnc^fpx,'''^ar.. : '-.lt' is the political aspect of the question that, interests us, and that should interest the public as a whole; and there is a quite sufficient amount of deleterious sentiment abroad upon tho duty of this country,; and of .the Empiro as a whole, in respect of armaments, to warrant the direction of attention to some supremely important,' but often neglected, aspects of; the gravest of modern The people who op-. pose military p reparations, who cry, out against compulsory training and denounce tho cadet movement as a system of "manufacturing "itiurdorors,". would,; ;if they had any sincority, press for the: dis-; mantling of tho British Navy. But they, are too wary thus to expose the absurdity' of their doctrines. They aro the chief offenders against tho principle, so'well-laid down by Bishop Wallis, that ,a willing-, ncss to mako sacrifices is necessary for the' redemption .from shame and ignominy of a desiro for peace. In Now Zealand there i 3 a. special need for sermons upon the ■importance of national sacrifice- In their absorption in their rights,.the people are 1 forgetting to think of duty. Wo havo recently had- a very striking illustration' t>f this light-hearted and complacent forgctfulncss of tho need for sacrifice. It was only aftor a good deal of uring that Sir Joseph W r ARD realisod that the offer of a Dreadnought .would, ho really. base unless it•en-tailed-a real sacrifice on tho part of New ; Zealand. In' all tho acclamations with i which tho offer was'gregted wo looked ini vain, for' any recognition of; this-fact. Even now/tho Prime Minister has.promised'no more than that the bill'will be discharged "by tho present generation." And oven now, also,..the loudest; and'mo3t bellicose a'dvocates of defensive activity in thii country rofrain from telling tho public that it must make it 3 activity lionoutabhvby abstention and fasting. It is nob necessary. to< spond. any '.time in •proving the self-evident, truth ' that - Peaco cannot, be better served than by a policy that, discouragfes the violation" of Peace; But very many- of thoso who - appreciate that truth; arc still -convinced that a day will como . When : tho iwar-drnm: throbs'mo longer,''and . ; ,the battle-Hag is furled - .-. In the Parliament of Man, tho Federation of ■ the World. . . The dream-is an idle one. When ono man has a dispute with another which they cannot i-. settle '. ; amicably : they must 1 have recourse to tho Court of •law.'.-••When-, the ' judgment' is' given, tho, defeated party makes his ' submission; to his opponent not bocauso he has been convinced that his claim is un-, just—he generally leaves the.Court more than eVer convinced that right is on his own '• side—but because tho whole, weight of the nation will crush him if he does not bow to the Court's docree. And nations, are like men. However th'o dreamers may dream, tho nations will' disagree as -mon disagree. Thoir material interests will always dash, lightly or gravely. Thoro will always bo disagreements on'points too vital for adjustment.: What are they'to dof What final Court is there to which they can submit their quarrel? They may, to be sure; submit it to an Internationa' Court of Arbitration. But unless that Court has the power of enforcing its decrees, -it cannot secure; obedience to thera. Its decrees will be as little binding as tho decrees of a Civil Court which has no means of securing'that its decisions shall be backed,up by an irresistible force. Is it possible, then,: to establish &■ force of men, ships, and guns, for the use of'the International Court of Final Appeal ? At, , this point the question becomes a purely practical one. Such a final forcc could only be x secured in ono of two ways-wither by . tho establishment of a Power so strong as to govern • tho, behaviour of tho tfhole world, or by a sort of Syndicated Army and Navy. ■ The..second of these alternatives may bo .dismissed without discussion. Nor can the other be given any much 'longer shrift. The nations would not agree to ropose predominance in any 1 one Power. Even if any Power—as, for ; example, .an Imperial Britain—Were , to • grow by its own efforts so great as to hold ■ the plaoo onco held'by Imperial Rome, disruption .would only bo, a matter of., time, and the old clash of nations would ; begin anoiy. However mUch]we may wish ' for paaoe, howcver .much we may dread , an.d hate war, there is.-nothing.-,:to be ; gained by ddnding ourselves that we are within measurable distance of a day when - war will become a thipg impossible. So , long as men are .what they - are, and human nature remains what it is, there : will be friction aM collision,.amongst the nations. While all those, therefore,-, who can do-so should give; all their energies to enlarging the spirit of national accommodation and reasonableness, there can : be no slackening of vigilance. The world i can. never, in the nature of things, bo other than the "armed camp" which all < men, view as regretfully as Sir Edwaßd Grey. To neglect preparation -for war is sinful and foolish. But to shout loudly ' of one's determination to be roady, and to leave .one's determination unsanetified by sacrifice is not only supremely unwise, but also supremely baso.