THE NEAR EAST.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 7 October 1922, Page 4

THE NEAR EAST.

To th« Editor.

. Sir, —There are many people whose sole idea of patriotism consists in a refusal to admit that their own coun-: try can ever make a mistake. The phrase, "My country, right or wrong/ j is too often the defiant utterance of a man who has a dim suspicion that his ! country is really in the wrong, but is ; determined to shut his ears to the j voice of truth lest his peace of mind' be disturbed. To such people it is! natural to support rigorous methods of! suppression. That the views put for-; ward in my first letter did not re-j ceive universal acceptance was no sur-1 prise to me, but I did expect that! among those who have opinions of; their own thej would be recognised as ] my honest opinions and respected ac-; cordingly. I hardly calculated thati' they would arouse such" intolerance as j. would denounce them as "traitorous; stuff" and "vicious propaganda." j Perhaps now that the Near East crisis! has grown less acute discussion upon! it will be less likely to rank as trea- j son. After all, when are we to dis-' cuss these matters if not when they j are burning questions ? It is all very. well to express a desire for peace when ! war seems unlikely. It is more neces- 1 sary to adopt the pacifist attitude j when the war-clouds seem darkest- j The lessons of the late war will have ■ taught the world nothing if when wars! threaten in the future people do not i face clearly certain definite questions. And the first of these will be: Is war worth while ? Is it likely to achieve > the object for which it is proposed to embark upon it ? If we merely ask j such questions, as^ Is this war likely} to prove barbarous or costly? and! so on, we have not faced the really vital questions, and though we may bet convinced that war is barbarous., armaments wasteful and a peace based on. arbitration^ desirable, we are still not proof against the sperial pleadings which will undoubtedly be- used "to show that each case as it arises is the exception to the general rule. We can only safeguard ourselves in this respect by cultivating a general scepticism towards war. an attitude of j mind which instinctively questions the motives of those who propose to plunge the country into war. which critically examines the issues involved and weighs the possibility of achieving the desired end by the proposed conflict. Such(t\aii attitude, though it may in many cases lead us to misjudge the motives of individuals and of nations and will surely arouse the hostility of the more headstrong "patriots," is surely preferable to the attitude of blind obedience to authoritywhich manifests itself in a rush to en- j list at the first beat of the war drum. J The patriotism which begins and «mts I with "My country, right or wrong," is a tawdry affair beside the higher form of loyalty which, recognising that!

nations are as liable as individuals to err, does not shrink from criticising the policy of its country even in times of crises. In conclusion, I must refer to one point in '.'C.M.'s" letter. . "CM." admits, in what he no doubt feels is a generous mood, that "Turkey and the small adjacent nations are entitled to be granted facilities to use the Straits." Who is to "grant" to Turkey this benefit and how is Turkey to be "granted" _as a privilege that which is hers by right? "CM.' 5 must know j as "a student of international politics1 for many years" that Turkey has enjoyed this right for centuries, that she has never surrendered it, as the Treaty of Sevres has never "been ratified, and so it is not within the power of any nation or group of nations to earn a reputation for just dealing by now "granting it to her.—l am. etc., PACIFIST.