PROFESSOR VON ZEDLITZ AND OTHERS.

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2558, 4 September 1915, Page 3

PROFESSOR VON ZEDLITZ AND OTHERS.

. Sir,—The present is not a time for acrimonious discussion. It is a time for deop' searching of heart, quiet conies- • Bion of sin (personal and national), pro- < found and genuine repentance, stern \ . fighting!, clear thinking, and' guarded ] speaking.' On. the von Zedlitz case I i say, if the Victoria College Council en- 1 gaged'the professor, and he has not vio- i lated the terms of the agreement between tho ' two parties, our National \ Government 'should at once stamp out ] the little flame of pseudo-patriotism ' ( that a few pretentious persecutors liavo i 'been'trying to raise, and, if a law about t tho case, be found necessary it should i be passed speedily to give short shrift i to fussy people who cannot even in 1 such a time as; the present allow law- ' abiding gentlemen . to fulfil their law- i fur engagements in, peace., Such per- '< Becutors are more dangerous than Ger- 1 mans to our nation; for if the envious i agitators are goiiic; to. persecute every i Derson that ha? German blood in liis ■,

veins, then, many of us wlio arc thoroughly English will riso in wrath and destroy, or try to, all traitors against our honoured King. And hero in conclusion I ask our prominent men to speak restrainedly, if at all, about punishing Germany after tlio war ends. If I know history a hundred years agoi this year, Wellington, the soldier, broke file power of Napolconisin. Then there Was a great cry of people who wanted to "smash France," "dismember France," "reduce France." But Wellington, the statesman,, said "No!" Make tho indemnity reasonable. It was made as low as he'could make it, and lie opened a way for a loan, to bo raised for Franco to pay it with. Wellington saw that' neighbouring nations should bo friends. _ The reasonableness of that indemnity is a proud memory to-day. When, ■some time after the day for mediation by England, in • 1870, France had been crushedj and a peace was concluded on ail ignominious basis, the seeds of, the present war were sown. .Germany, having wrested • Alsace_ and Lorraine from France, and humiliated a, proud nation to an insane degree, j saw that the, peace could not' bo permanent; and soon afterwards began a forty years' preparation for war. France did : the same. England, the Christian nation, that was not preparing for war, tried to build two warships to each one, built by Germany, tiho Pagan nation. : that was preparing for war, and while Germany, the Pagan nation, spent money in military preparation, England spent more in alcoholic liquor. England in this war is -honourably discharging a duty, purging her honour and taking her proper! place among! the nations. 1 ' The present is tho time for fighting; the timo for settlement is somewhat remote. ■ We must fight to an honourable finish, and, at the end of the'fight try to arrange for an 'honourable and permanent peace. As to speaking just now, the old saying holds good: "Ho is the best speaker who speaks the most senso in the fewest words."—l am,' etc., . . ' : : , ENGLISHMAN.