WAR

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 121, 20 February 1928, Page 10

WAR

Sir, —Tt is inconceivable that anyone "thinks” war, .apart from_ speaking it, end seeing great headlines in the paper's. That a British Admiral could say that if Britain and America stood together, they could protect the world’s peace, and yet throw out a challenge in the same breath, is unwarrantable. . and now an American admiral does likewise. It should be made impossible for these men. holding such high positions, and yet servants of both countries, to try and make dispeace. Instead of trying to be peacemakers, thev are here peace breakers. If they were to be disrated, which they deserve, they would be more careful. . . . . It only goes to stir up the minds ot the people, who do not know the true facts of the case. , Lady Astor, a member of the British House of Commons, in an address after her return from America, giving her impressions of America’s attitude to the League of Nations, said that, unfortunately. the League of Nations had been made an issue of Party politics, and as long as it remained in that category, America could not speak with a .united voice. When she went over to America, she found she was to make only three speeches —one to the Baltimore League of Women Voters, one to the. English Speaking Union in New York, and one among her own people. She had been solemnly warned not to mention the League of Nations, but she felt how impossible it was to avoid talking of the basic thing in the world to-day, so at New York she took the plunge, and spoke of three things she cared for most—Women s Opportunitv in Politics, Friendship with England, and the League of Nations. She said the audience accepted what she told them most generously, and in the spirit in which she meant it, but that the Press gave, and continued to give, her triple plea front page reports, while invitations from the Chambers of Commerce all over America came, also from universities and colleges, such as Yale and Princeton Business Men’s Clubs, and women’s organisations. She also said that the overpowering welcome had little to do with her personally, but was a response to what she was trving to express. She made forty speeches, and her great appeal was the best method for peace. Remembering the Great War, how dare people speak so glibly of war, without a protest from the women of tlie world? After a strong tribute to the wonderful stand of Dr. Walter H. Page. American Ambassador to Britain, for a better understanding between the (wo Governments, the correspondent proceeds:— “So strongly did Dr. Page feel the crisis about the conduct of his own Government (in the matter of Britain stopping

and searching American ships) that he told them that be ‘simply would not be the instrument of a perfectly gratuitous and ineffective insult to the patient and fair and friendly Government and people, who iu my tinio have done us many kindnesses and never an injury, and who sincerely try now to meet our wishes.’ He said it would be too asinine au act ever to merit forgiveness or ever to ba forgotten. He would blame himself all the rest of bis life.” This was his state of mind when ho received word that Bernstorff was given his passport, and he knew that at last America had decided to come on the side of the Allies. _ His name is revered throughout Britain, and Lord Balfour speaking of him says: “I loved the man and wept when he left Britain, and we need not fear when we know there are men like Dr. Page in America amid all the 50 million of foreigners, who would give much to have a smack at Britain." I have a letter I received from Lord Balfour, who is president of the English Speaking Union in Britain, in which he says that a union such as this, which stands to bring about a good understanding and a better knowledge of each other, is the very lifeblood of our Empire. In that we could take a lesson from that wonderful “Listening-in” when we can hear voices from thousands of miles away. If we would but listen from our hearts to that still small voice that is ever breathing to us, “Love thy neighbour as thyself, and do unto others,” etc., we should all be peacemakers and not peace-breakers.—l am, etc., EDITH DE CASTRO.