NOT CURED YET

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 84, 6 October 1941, Page 9

NOT CURED YET

GERMAN LUST FOR WAR

fIBE TASK FOR YOUTH

SIR CYPJL NE WALL'S ADVICE

"We were all convinced that no nation would ever again attempt to wage a war, of, aggression. We thought that? four'years of the bloodiest fighting then known to history would cure the world of that. It did not cure the Germans," said tbhe Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall, speaking to pupils of St. Patrick's College, Silverstream, this afternoon, after presenting to the college a Union Jack on behalf of the Navy League. Sir Cyril said that the boys and their contemporaries would-have an opportunity of leaving their mark on history, and of influencing the happiness of mankind, greater than that of any. generation before them, and they, would be responsible for saving the world from the horrors of another war such .as the present one. -Twenty-three years ago his generation was faced with the same-.task. and. failed. Hej wanted to tell the -pupils some of the reasons for their failure—not; to-make excuses, but to see that they did not; fall into similar traps. "The defeat which is coming to the Germans this time, after even bloodier fighting than the last war, will not cure them of their lust for war, either," said Sir Cyril. "They can only be cured by learning that war does not pay, and the only way to teach them that is to prove to them that peace does. They must be given a real chance to learn the advantages of a peaceful life, but while they are learning we must never relax our vigilance for one instant. That lesson will take a very long time indeed. "MIGHT IS RIGHT." "Remember that every child in Germany today is being taught to look upon might as right, is being taught to mock all that we hold most sacred, and to worship, all that we detest. Those children. when they grow up will be thirsting for revenge; few of them will ever be able to cast aside the poison Hitler has instilled in them, and they will pass it on to their own children. The education of those children will be one of tbhe most urgent practical problems of your generation, and until that problem is solved (and it. can hardly be solved jn your lifetime) watch Germany." It.was not only in their judgment of other" nations that they failed. They failed algo in themselves, largely because, of their belief that when they had won the last, war their main troubles were over. As soon as peace came they sat back. Little did they realise their troubles had . hardly begun. "You will-be tempted to sit back, too," he said. "You must resist that temptation. From, its very nature democracy depends on the personal principles of the men and women who make up the nation, on the individual and not on the system. It depends on the sense of responsibility of man to his fellow-men. "A dictator wants his subjects to be v flock of human sheep; he must be cheir brains and their conscience and their soubbl. A democracy, oh the other hand, demands that all its citizens .hall have brains;~and consciences and souls of their own.. .'*... "Freedqm:is.not^necessarily,;a blessing; .it cm .be very dangerous unless it is disciplined, arid self-discipline (the only discipline which is of. any use) seemed rather to go by the board after the last war. We. forgot, but when your turn comes you. must remember that .we should never expect anything for. nothing. A PRIVILEGE. "We had the privilege, as you have, of being citizens of the British Empire. That entails vast responsibilities; it carries with it a debt which you must strive unceasingly to repay, You will have a wonderful opportunity to do'so, for the fate of the whole world will be iii your hands. Civilisation could hot stand a third World War. Yours will be the task of making certain that that third war can never come to pass. "Above all," said Sir Cyril,, "you must never measure success in materialterms only. This -war is a war against paganism, and paganism cannot be stamped out by war alone. You are receiving here at St. Patrick's an education based on religion. You must see to it that the defeat of paganism is the victory of Christianity." It was no use his pretending that their task would be easy;' it would not, It would probably be the hardest with which any generation had ever been faced, but that must not discourage them. "You'll never stand the buffeting and the disappointments which you are bound to meet with unless you keep your sense of humour," said Sir Cyril, "Never forget how to laugh, and always be ready to laugh at yourselves."