CURRENT EVENTS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 21 July 1916, Page 6

CURRENT EVENTS.

OPINIONS ON THE WAR,

THOUGHTS OF LEADERS.

THE BROTHERHOOD OF PEOPLES

LONDON, May 18. Mr. Asquith; at the Government banquet to the Russian delegates : “The great fraternity of Parliaments now almost encircles the world, and we have the privilege—perhaps the melancholy privilege —of age to salute you in the birthplace of Parliaments. One f the-most gratifying results of our alliance is the complete agreement which has been, established between the British and Russian Governments in regard to Eastern affairs. I remember, as do' many here, the days when in that quarter, whether in Europe or in Asia, the interests of the two Empires were supposed in both countries to be irreconcilably antagonistic. Our normal attitude to one another was one of sleepless vigilance, and I may almost say sensitive suspicion, and more tham once there was a possibility, and even more than a possibility, of an actual rupture of our relations. Those days of misunderstanding are

happily over. We have arrived at a common policy,, which we are both determined loyally and in concert to pursue. But it is not merely—l will venture to say it is not mainly —a question of partnership between, Governments. -It is a question of an ever-growing sense of brotherhood and fellow-feeling' between - peoples. (Cheers.) We forget, we blot out, all' the misunderstandings of the .past, and we realise that each can give something and, that each • can take something from the other, and that in the growing—which grows not only month by month and year by year, which grows, if I may say so, day by day—the growing sens© between the great Russian people and the people of the British Empire, there is an intimacy and unity for the common sacrifices of this war, deepened, and I am not going too far when I say consecrated here, you see one of the best hopes for the, future ‘of mankind. Germany knows—for this purpose nobody knows better—that if we are united and continue to be united, we must conquer, but w© know it, too. (Cheers.) And w© shall stand to-gether-—however long and however severe the test of our common endurance may b©—we shall stand together until we can have beateii to the ground the forces which now withstand us 1 , and we shall begin in. peace to rebuild, in concert with one another, the shaken fabric of European civilisation." (Cheers.) EUROPE IN A COFFIN.

■ ' Lord Rosebery, at the' presentation 1 of degrees at London University: “I cannot, and I doubt if anybody in this hall can., exactly anticipate vhat the conditions that will exist aftfer the war may be. Only one thing „ is absolutely certain—that the war, *financially speaking, will leave all the combatants, whether victorious or otherwise, pretty much in the position of the Kilkenny cats, that is to say, financially exhausted. It will mean general impoverishment all over Europe, both of the individual and of the State, and that impoverishment must immediately produce new social conditions. In the next place, I do not know whether the condition of affairs after the war will be either a real and permanent peace or a constant and armed anticipation for war.. It depends largely, of course, on the result of the conflict in which we are engaged, and it also depends even more on. the policy of the .States of Europe themselves, whether they will come to realise what a hideous curse in inherent in war, both to the victor and to the loser. But there is a.' third condition, ,to whiah I look forward with confidence. Our millions of" men we have contributed to this war will return,; if‘l am not greatly mistaken, to th&ir homes and to this 1 country perhaps with a new spirit and a new view of the world and human affairs. If we may use a somewhat vulgarised expression, they will have - become from men supermen, and that is' a grand look-out for us, for they must inevitably control the future of this coun-

try. After all, they -will bring back character, tried through a'fiery furnace in the field of battle, self-respect, and respect for others, which is, perhaps, not less important. But charac, ter inestimable asset which they will bring to this country, We talk of the sciences and various arts and faculties to which university life is rignuy deyoted, but unfortunately we have not, and I suppose we cannot, furnish a -faculty of character. It is character that rules the world. What is this war hut a conflict, of character, a conflict between the gallant, reckless, confident Briton —always taken unawares, but always ready to make up the gap—and the cold, calculating nation, of assassins, able through a whole generation' to devote all their resources of science and knowledge to the preparation of a hideous conspiracy against their neighbors and the liberties of all men. I cannot understand how neutrals can look with indifference on this conflict of characters, because the ,r must know that if the British character prevails—as we know before God that it will—every neutral State will be free to follow its old developments in liberty and without attack,, whereas if the Teuton —wo shall shake off all relationship with that .word — if the Prussian wins it wily enclose Europe in a coffin with a Prussian sentinel to guard it.” AN IMPERIAL PRO.TECT.

Earl drey, at the annual meeting of the Royal Colonial Institute: “It is a, humiliating: fact that notwithstanding that London is the centre of the greatest Empire that has over existed, there is not one conspicuous building which suggests that the Em. pire consists of anything outside the United Kingdom, not one stone to tell our overseas kinsmen when they come to London that we are proud of them or even realise their existence. After the war is concluded the public opinion of the Empire will require that a memorial inhonor .of those Britons • who have offered their lives; in order that .the world may retain its liberties, shall be erected in the heart of London. Fortunately, through the liberality of Imperialists in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, ’as well as in, the United Kingdom, the finest undeveloped site in London, namely, that between Kingsway and the Strand, has so. far, been safeguard, cd against'the appropriationof the-pri-vate builder, and has been kept available for high Imperial purposes. It isr my hope that on this site may arise a building in whiclrihhe Royal Colonial Institute may find more dignified and appropriate habitation than in its present extended, but still too. limited, .quarters, and that this building may bo the inspiring centi-e of countless Imperial activities radiating to every part of the Empire, enriching the lives both of ourselves and of our oversea kinsmen, socially, educationally,' commercially, and politically, and consequently distributing new strength and. cohesion to the Empire.” PRUSSIA’S IDEAL. Sir Edward Grey, to the Chicago Daily News: “What Prussia, proposes, as we -understand her, is Prussian supremacy. She'proposes a Europe modelled and ruled by Prussia. She is to dispose of the liberties of her neighbors and of us all. We say that life on these terms is intolerable. We are not only

fighting Prussia’s attempt to do, in this instance, to all -of Europe what she did to non-Prussian Germany, but fighting the German idea of the whole-* someness, almost the desirability,' of every recurrent war. We want a set tied- peace. Germany’s philosophy is that a settled peace spells disintegration, degeneracy, the sacrifice of the • * heroic qualities in human character* Such a philosophy, ‘ if it is to survive as a practical force, means eternal ap. prehension and unrest. It means ever increasing armament-si. It means arresting the development of mankind along the lines of culture and humanity. We are fighting this idea. We do not believe in war. as the preferable method of settling disputes between na tions. Nobody wants peace more than we want it. But w© want a peace that does jstice,- and a peace that re-©stab« ishes respect for the public law of the world. ' We should be glad to see the German people free, as ourselves want to be free, and as we want other nationalities to be free. It belongs to the rudiments of political it is" abundantly taught by history, that you cannot enslave'a people and make a success of the job—that you cannot kill a people’s soul by, foreign despotism and brutality. We believe that the German people—when once tha dreams of world-empire cherished by Pan-Germanism are brought to nought —•will insist upon the control of its Government; and in this lies the hope of secure freedom and national independence in Europe. For a German democracy will not plot and plan wars, as Prussian militarism plotted ware, to take place at a chosen date in tho future. Unless mankind learns from " this war to avoid war, the struggle will have been in vain. Over humanity will loom the menace of destruction. Th© Germans have thrown the door wide open to every , form of attack upon human life. All thgir scien- ; tific genius has been dedicated towiping out human life. If th© world cannot organise against war, if war

must go on, then nations can protect themselves henceforth only by using whatever destructive agencies they can invent, till the resources and inventions of science end by destroying the humanity that they were meant to serve. The Prussian authorities appar, ■ ently have but one idea of peace—an iron peace imposed on 'other nations by Gorman supremacy. They do not ' understand that free men and free nations will rather die than submit to that ambition, and that there can be no end to war until'it is defeated and ' renounced.” . v ' U-

A FIGHTING CHURCH. > . The Bishop of London at the Diocesan Conference:

“The picture one really obtains from certain papers—even Church papers—is that the Church is an old gentle-

man in a long coat, with hands in his pockets, sitting over a fire and taking about two years to take off his coat and another two years to' take his

hands from his pockets. I repudiate that with all the force in ray .power. The Church is an alert, mobile force* £ read™ for action. The Church wag meant to go anywhere and do any-

thing. To say that in this crisis of the nation’s history—when the nation hag

its back to the wall for all that iri

worth in this the Qliurch was to stand bv mum -'and snv nothing ig an idea I repudiate

with a-H the indignation at my'.oommand. If the Church had nothing

better to say, then, it would be, bet-

ter* to go out of. business. My belief

is that the Church ought to breathe

into the soul of the nation just"that 'courage and fortitude which at \ this moment the nation needs. One nation

only was bent on war. It was determined to have it. and it has got. it.

I was going to say I hope it will like

it now it has got it. Lean imagine

nothing more' awful than the homo of

freedom becoming a German, province. I would re’ally any moment gladly diia

'before England, became a German pro- * vince. We do not ceaise to become citireps : because- we are clergy, and I

teol to the bottom of mv soul that

every man here ought to be ready to

die before such an .awful calamity

came upon us. The .first message of

the Church to the nation is. that wa - must not listen for one’ moment to.:a

’'•’.hilied-up peace. f Cheers.)- Our T Church is a fighting Church.”