BRITAIN'S DETERMINATION

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 28 September 1915, Page 3

BRITAIN'S DETERMINATION

WILL WIN WAR AT ANY COST

I The correspondent of the Boston i Globe, writing from London on July 81, said Sir Edward Carson, AttorneyGeneral in, the Asquith Cabinet, had prepared for the Associated Press a signed statement giving a hr.oad outline of the first year of the war from the British .standpoint^, (together an expression of the unalterable pur- t pose of the Bi-itish Government and . people to carry on the war to .a successrul conclusion. The statement was as follows: "How; long will the \wix last, ,and what will be the result? To such fluestions as these any British subject can give but one answer, arid that is that, the war will last until .the'.cause-of-.the Allies has been/brought to a Successful issue and Europ^ and the world have been relieved from the ideals involved m the aggression of Prussian tion. ; "The word peace does not enter into •our vocabulary at the present time. It; is banished from our conversation as' something immoral and impossible under existing circumstances. .And yet we are the most peace-loving people in the world; a. nation which throughout the globe, within its many dominions, has inculcated good government and social and industrial progress, and the free exercise r in its widest sense, of civil and religious liberty. TO WIN AT ANY COST. "Rightly or wrongly we have in the t past devoted our energies ;and .our intelligence, not to preparations for war, but to that social progress which makes for the happiness and the contentment . ct the mass of our people. And .this, no doubt, is the reason why other nations imagine that we, as & nation of shopkeepers, are too indolent and apathetic to fight for and maintain -these priceless liberties, won by the men who laid the foundation of our wast Empire. "But they are entirely mistaken m forming any such estimate of the temperament or determination -of iout ple. Great Britain hates war., and. no nation enters more reluctantly upon its horrible and devastating operations, but at the same time no nation, when it is driven to M-ar by the machinations of its foes, who desire to filch from it or from its eo-chatapions of liberty any portion of their inherited freedom, is more resolved to see the matter through, at whatever cost, to a suocessful issue. NAVY HAS UPHELD TRADITION. "A year of war has transformed Great Britain. Of our Navy I need hardly speak. It has upheld -to vfcne fullest extent the great traditions which fill the pages of history in the past; it has driven its enemies off the • seas; it holds vast oceans free for .al- - fhost the uninterrupted commerce of neutral Powers; and it has preserved these highways for its own supplies of material and food almost without interruption. ( "I do-not minimise the peril of the f submarines, which is in process of being dealt with through the careful ! and zealous watchfulness of our Ad- ( miralty, but while the submarine has 1 enabled the Germans to commit savage < and inhuman atrocities contrary to the '' _ laws of civilisation and against the! i said rules of international law, it has * done nothing to affect the vast com- * merce of our Empire. MILLIONS OF MEN TRAINING.. < "The German submarine attack has \ signally failed to hamper our mili- I tary operations.. Under the protection ] of our Navy hundreds of thousands of , men, who have been brought to the i fighting, are from the most distant ;parts oof the Empire. I "Troopships are crossing daily to I France, and not a single ship or a | single soldier has been lost in the pas- i sage. The manner in which our troops have received their supplies is a. source of satisfaction to us and admiration to our enemies. "At the commencement of the war we were not and never did pretend to be a military nation. An Expeditionary Force of 170,000 men and a small Terri-.,-tonal Army of 260,000 men for defence against invasion was all we could boast i of; but .to-day Great Britain teems | | •with military camps, in which millions of men o'fithe finest material are being < , trained and equipped to cope with . -every emergency. ' 1| GROW AS ENEMIES WANE. ' . "No other :nation in the world ever ! produced t>r 'hoped to produce a volun- , teer army of such proportions.. Each , ; day brings to the colors thousands of : men who had never thought of niili- ; tary service before, and each day, as : rour enemy grows weaker, the infancy , 1 -of our strength is growing into raan- ! hood, and with increasing virility and I prowess. : "No doubt some people are foolish •enough to be influenced by the misrepresentations which are a part of the equipment of aur German enemies, who represent us as a decadent race. But they know little oi the spirit of our people. "As the problem unfolds from day t© :.tlay, and the task "before us expands in 'its herculean form, our spirit becomes more determined, and our efforts ami organisation quietly shape themselves to- meet the emergencies that are before us. "That all this is being accomplished without dramatic demonstration and foolish boasting is not a sign of weakness, "but of strength. TO LAST MAN AND LAST DOLLAR. "Th& splendid heroism of our Ihissian ancl French Allies is not only an example which stimulates ns., 'but it is an additional incentive to our national honor to carry on to an end the obligations we have undertaken. And if for the moment we are confronted with the impossibility of offensive action by our brave ''Russian Allies, and are compelled to wage a costly and difficult war against the Turks in the Dardanelles as well as against our enemies : in Flanders, we cheerfully resolve to j fit ourselves for the situation -which ; confronts us. "It is of course true that our counI "try has not been accustomed to organisation and. discipline, which leads uni tliinking men "from time to time to ■imagine that there could be a different (discipline in the coal fields or the workshops from that "which preyai'ls in Ifie 'trenches; but all that is a mere temporary difficulty, and it cannot imi^ede the country, which has made up its mfrnl to win if it has to spend the lasi man and its last 'dollar in the process. NO SIGN OF WAVERING. "The sviecess of the recent war loan shows how anxious our people are to invest their money in tfhe prosecution of the war. Not only is :rt the largest loan that ever has been floated, but it represents not merely the accumulation of capital of a few large banks, but the hard-earned savings of small investors in evsery part of the country. "Although our shores are not invad-j ed, and we have not experienced the impelling necessities of a war waged in our own country, yet there is hardly a family in any village in the fcind that has not willingly sent its sons to fight our battles in foreign lands. "While I see day by day more and' more anxiety from every man to do his share, I can see no sign nor trace of wavering in any section of the community.

OF .NEUTRALS. "We .have .the .right -to^say vto^Jieu.trals that our cause is.just, that tne war has been force.d upon us,Vand that we,are making and aie gtjjng to make every sacrifice that makes a nation great) to bring our cause to a successful conclusion. • „ " f'We have .a .right , J».think, .to -ask neutrals to examine their own, -consciences as to whether they have clone everything that neutrals ought to do or can ao, in insisting 'that the laws of humanity and the doctrines' of in- !•> law, which have Jbeen -so .fostered .in .times,of peace, are carried out.

are the executive power to compel observance ot the principles of international law^and if they fail to do so the result must be disastrous to the world at large/ in the present and in the future, and give free play to a savagery and bar barianism Which is none the less revolting because at carries out its methods by the aid of ..the discoveries of scientific research and progress. "xiutj however that may be, our courage is undaunted. It grows into exaltation by reason of the difficulties that surround us, and we will go on' to the end without'fear of trembling and in the certain inspiration of a victory which will restore to tbe world that peace which ;can .alone .bring /happiness and contentment to the mass of its' citizens." ,