My Country, Right or Wrong

Maoriland Worker, Volume 12, Issue 294, 18 October 1922, Page 1

My Country, Right or Wrong

Rev*-Dr. Gifob's Fine Sermon oil. the Immorality of Jingoism, Secret Diplomacy and WW

On Sunday week last the Rev. Dr. Gibb, of St. John's Presbyterian Church, Wellington, preached "on the above subject, taking as his text from Jeremiah : ''And unto this - people thou s.iu..lt say the way of life and the way of death. He that abideth in this city shall die hy the sword and the famine and pestilence; but he that goeth out and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you. he shall live and his life, shall be unto him for a prey.'' * * # * With the object*of showing "a patent fallacy in the use general--1 made of this maxim, 'My country, right or wrong,' " he said first:

"What do men mean when they speak of their country in this connection? My country in this connection is not the hills, the valleys, the cities, the rivers and ■villages of the 1 and; ' The - use of the expression is absolutely unintelligible unless it means the pooDle of my country, the citizens of the land and the political constitution, which—so we imagine---is government of the people for and by the people. In matters oi' domestic legislation, this democratic idea is fairly well brought out. You govern yourselves, rule yourselves by means of delegates whom you call or elect to represent you in Parliament. If you are wise you will not desire to tie the hands of these representatives too severely, so as to make them mere automata who move at the pulling , of the strings, but there are limits to the liberty of members of Parliament in departing from the platform on which they were elected—that is surely the A.B.C. i

of the matter. If a candidate for Parliament pledges himself to his constituents in certain matters, well, if when these matters came up he voted against them it seems to mc we have a right to call that man to account. You would turn him down, otherwise government of the people by the people is a farce, a screaming farce.

THE GRAVITY OF WAR. "The question of peace or war for the nation altogether transcends in importance any conceivable piece of domestic legislation. ■; . . . Think how this question afreets that of wages and work. There arc some million and a half of unemployed in Great Britain. To-day I was reading that there are hundreds of thousands of of what is usually termed the working class, who are prematurely aged, their hair growing .grey before their time, because they do not, know how to make ttids meet and to keep their childf*en from what is very like starvation- Nearer home there is a procession every day to the -Town Hall in this city where men and toomen—reduced to beggary I was !s&g to say—at any rate reduc-

Ed to the acceptance of charity— gather to be served with rations to keep their body and soul together. That-is the outeoine of war. No domestic legislation is of such importance as this. War is the People's concern. So it must be regarded.

WARS MADE IN SECEET. Now who actually decides the question of war or peace for the British Empire? The people? Assuredly not. Parliament should have no right to determine that the nation shall go to war until I means have been taken to ascertain whether the people are wilij ing to face its suffering:* and hor-. ror. It is the people, not Parliament, that has to pay in the long run, but mark this. . For quite a lengthy period not the British Parliament, not the British- House of Commons, or the House oi: Lords--either,- but a of piivileged and very exalted■'persons-• the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister, the War Minister—these are the men who practically have decided for the people, not only of Britain, but of the Empire. The citizens of the Empire have, I tell you, had no more say as to who-. ther war shall be duringthe last 70 or 80 than if they had lived in Timbuctoo or among the hills and valleys of the moon. BRITISH CABINET KEPT IH THE DARK. I

Think how true this is of the battles of 1914-18. Two or three British Ministers ■ pledged the honour of Britain to support France against Germany. Not only did the House of .Commons know nothing about it, all the members of the Cabinet did not know. Think of thai! John Burns and John Morley left the Cabinet in 1914 because they knew nothing about the compact Sir Edward Grey had made on behalf of Britain. The keenest intellect in the Anglican Church to-day, Dean Inge, , recently characterised the war as "A : . Colossal-Stupidity." Lloyd George said not long ago that now he did not think the rulers of the nations really did plot; they reeled and staggered and stumbled into Avar, and a little time for discussion would have prevented the horror. I am very sure of this, that if the British people had known all the facts,' if they had known of the compact, the horror would not have taken placeTHE GHASTLY STORY OF MUDDLE.

If war breaks out now between Britain and Turkey, if that, leads to another world .conflict, when that conflict is over, there will be the same ghastly story to tell agaiii—it's =all-/a' muddle—-swept into it by a few persons who are in,the know, who have" knowledge of things of which we know nothing. Is there anybody who knows

the truth about the present crisis —how far Britain has been helping Greece, how far France has been .supporting Turkey? We do not know, and I say that if we become involved m another eoniiict the same things will have to be said as Lloyd George has been saying lately about the last war. FOOLING ABOUT THE TURKS What do we know even of the opinions of the opposition at Home? We are not told much, about it. We are told Britain is ready to fight to prevent the Turks from over-running Greece; but, mark you, the Turks are evi"dently going back to Constantinople, once more to become a Eui-o-pean Power . . . What do we know, we whose sons may soon again be cannon fodder, or victims of the unspeakably deadly "poisonous , gases that have lately been manufactured? ■ Lloyd George, who a few weeks ago entreated the Churches to put an end to this unspeakable horror, isagain rattling, the sabre, sending , ilamboyant cables throughout the ; Empire, and calling her sons to war. My country, right or wrong! It is not my country right or wrong, it is Lloyd George right or wrong, or the British Cabinet.

! ' SENSE FROM ASQUITH The communication from Downing Sireet appealing to the Dominions sounded lifce 'a. Note o? provocation and panic. All this strident , rhetoric, bugle-blowing , and flag-waving was wholly inexplicable unless the prospect of war was well in s.'ghL Had we Iwen fighting Turkey to-day we would have' l>een single-Jiajide**. .Nei.']te.r Franc© nor Italy would hUve siie2'ifieed a man or fired a g'.in. The freedom of the Stral&s was a waiter oi international importance, and In no sense exclusively or inainlj; Brit- , islu—H. H. Asquith, cable, 6/10/22.

right- or wrong, and here it may be Mr. Massey right or wrong. Thank God,, the rulers of the other Dominions have shown quite a judicious sense of the issues involved! ... Even Mr. Hughes, whom I regard as little more than .a charlatan, has for once uttered some words of sense. . . . THE RIGHT OP CONSCIENCE

Let us consider the maxim (My country, right or wrong) in the light of the supposition that a majority of the people have really decided and are in favour of war. Let.us suppose that you and I are convinced that they are wrong. The question is: Must I therefore stand in with my country, must my conscientious convictions be over-ruled, must I, by sympathetic or co-operative action in the name of nationality, approve of l my country's folly and sin? Oh,

to ask srcich a question must surely be for a Christian man or woman as if one was to enquire whether Caesar is Icing of conscience or Almighty God! (Dr. Gibb here, briefly explained the attitude. of Jeremiah in the war of his nation against the Chaldeans, and after declaring that the life of Jesus demolished "'this vile sophistry,, my country, right or wrong," and 4 * branded it with indelible shame, }> he proceeded:) AUTHORITIES WILL HAVE .THEIR HANDS FULL.

If another war comes, and the majority of the people approve of it, then citizens who. stand opposed" will have to take their chance as to what may happen to them —at the very least, imprisonment. I was struck by a part of a sermon of Dr. Horton, in London, to an immense congregation. About six weeks ago, speaking of the possibility of another war, he announced his determination to stand against it, to go to prison if need be, as he. certainly would have to go if he took up that attitude, and there arc many such, and in New Zealand too. It will be a very different story from that of i 914-18. The authorities will have their hands full and more than full.

WAR'S DISILLUSIONMENTS.

Now what will be the end of that, world war ? We had the Great War to make us all brcb thers and reconcile the nations. What have we got? This "is from the "Round Table," which is strongly British and even Imperialist: "Europe to-day is mad with nationalism, a nationalism which largely takes tlie. forni of hatred* and suspicion of other nations. . • . Every nation on the Continent of' Europe to-day is mesmerised by the tr^cUlions .of the past, maddened by the- propaganda of national hate and national ambition, is tliiiiMn.g of the future almost exclusively in terms of its own self and of the jealous rivalries of its .neighbours." That is Avhat we have as tiio result of 1914-18. Suppose some poor shattered wreckage of "civilisation" should survive another world conflict, can you imagine the state the 'world will be in ? What about the hates like hell-fire burning , , the hates of the remnants? War, I tell you, solves no problems, it is not only a barbarity, it is idiocy* —a colossal stupidity. THE MONSTROUS FUTILITY !

But suppose Turkey and Britain alone fight, do you imagine this, will solve the problems of the Balkans secure protection for the subject races whom the Turks brutally suppress? "What have the militaristic nations of the past, armed to the teeth, done for these races oppressed by Turkey? What did the Great War do for them during its currency?" The

Turks as if thejj I had been and since the ! tva ,1 (the war was to settle, question)' what has .happened iH the Armenians? And what will happen if another war comes! "Wav has never brought us forward, has settled no problems, and then, as I have already pointed out, Turkey is actually going bac-k to her old position in Europe and Britain is willing , that shd should go. Her European statiiS will presently be what it was in 1914. Qh, my G-od, the monstrous 'futility of it all! WILL THE; CHURCH GIVE A LEAD 1

I wondcv will the Church arise in its might, and give a true leadership to the people. It will not lack a great respon.se if it doesC Behind Government and politic* ians, behind diplomatists, anc| militarists there is a great silent world of men and women yearling for peace. The peoples are not numb, they -are only dumb. They do not lack heart, they are only in want of a voice. They, cannot demonstrate their desires; they cannot speak so as to make Governments hear and heed theni< They need a medium of express sion, and where can they find ii but in the Church of the.Living God? Many things are on trial these days,, and most of all th< Christian Church. Lot mc from a speech by Dr. Jowett a{ an international gathering of the Christian Churches: 'Behind the question of material disarmament there is the deeper and more serious matter of mental and spiritual disarmament. It is because our minds arc armed that material armaments linger iix'the field. The greatest cj-caries to the peace of Europe and the peace of ; the world are lurking iierce, insidious suspicions aral 'want of confidence- ,our bigger antagonisms are illusions, and these things we ■have, to deal whh., end they are fundamental—tlie arm;; .< aents- of fear, suspicion, envy; jealousy, and traditional ili-i'cciiii :■ and.misunderstanding. How ,-ire these things created-' Primarily BY| THE PRESS ox oriv several .countries,, by the suppro-sioii of facts, by news fashioned by financial interests rather ih.an by devotion to chivalry and truth, and these evil warlike things are nourished by; AN UNHEALTHY PATRIOTISM, a narrow nationalism, whicji does not offer room for the mind of Christ, nor does it express- our Lord's conception of humanity. THE CHURCH MUST BE P URIFIED FROM THESE EVILS." And I say from the bottom of my; soul, "Amen! ,, Are you willing to do your part in the work of purification? Are you eager that the will" of God shall be done .on; earth? You may have to pay a great price, BUT TUB END IS WORTHY OF ANY SACRIFICE^