"CONSCIENCE IS KING"

Maoriland Worker, Volume 12, Issue 299, 22 November 1922, Page 11

"CONSCIENCE IS KING"

''ffa\kltoswF SCEtfE''lN THE

COMMON'S,

_ato?gaii'' Joiies Tindicates tbe ConObjeetoirs from the ? floorof tlieSHoase. „ .. : .;~

During the four years of the war, to even hint that ybiir"opinion differed from the prevailing one was to be labelled "Disloyal—and unfit to mix with decent people!

The .multitude, duped and doped, mouthing lies, turned like a paciPuf snarling, ravening wolves if one ventured io cast even the shadow of a doubt on the veracity of the vicious propaganda. -

Under the poisonous influence of the war. atmosphere, men'ordinarily level-headed and sensible, became little better than drivelling, idiots.

A newspaper gravely stating that if a man could prove (Prove!) that he believed more in God and his immortal soul than in Lis King and country, he should be exempt from military service, the Bishop cf London, fervidly orating on Tower Hill 16 the strain of "if the men won't go, the Boy Scouts will," our own New Zealand clergymen fienziedly ..proclaiming "that if Jesus Christ were on earth to-day, He would be in the trenches with a bayonet "—all appeared to be bidding-for fame in a_ competition of national inanity!

The brutal treatment'meted out to conscientious . objectors will remain, for all time, afoul blot on our national life. Hunted like wild beasts by the "wild beasts" who had'temporarily got the world in their grip, exposed to the most degrading indignities, *the most revolting inhuman tortures —the whole thing is too hideous to recall.

But all that was in war iime; .when even the most intelligent -minds are apt to be thrown oil their balance.

Nov.- the world is slowly getting back to sanity. Public opinion in all civilised countries has compelled the governments to scrap all this war-mad legislation.

• It is POSSIBLE NOW FOR A CO. TO BE ELECTED TO THE BRITISH HOUSE OF-COMMONS, sent there by an overwhelming majority —l>y returned . soldier?, their sisters and wives and moiiie;%..,.. » #.*■-• » The appeal made lor the C.O.s by our Leader in the House was received with fatuous complacency and absolute want of understanding that one has come :o expect when any measure of statesmanlike breadth or humanitarianism- is brought forward. A Government which is as- much out of touch with the jiv'ng, vital Questions of the day as -hough it were on another planet siill' hugs to itself the fend delusion that "New Zealand leads the world!" But yet in this matter, "progressive" New Zealand lags behind even ''Conservative Bri-

tain, where a- "conscientious objector" may say a''few Christian things about human life unopposed--- and uniniterrupted, from the iicor of the House itself! ■ ' A DRAMATIC .SCENE. "■ There was real drama in the scene when Morgan Jones rose to speak. Round him were -Labour' and Liberal M.P.'s—opposite io" kin-, was a group of the bitterest Tory opponents of anything in the nature of Internationalism— ex-army men. retired colonels and generals. Scattered about were other 3LP."s, who suddenly woke to interest in the.'debate when they found that a CO. was actually gain? t o defend himself within the sacred 'and . historic precincts of Westminster!

For .a moment--one- imagined that Morgan Jones was addressing, not the House of Common-*, but a court-mar-tial. Facing him were men of the same: military iyp.e. He seemed to be almost'as much alone as he was then. But the significance of the changed situation flashed across the mind.

Here was the outcast CO., spealuhg as the chosen representative of thousands: of his fellow citizens in the Parliament of the land! ■r* * *.''"*'■ He began by that his constituents did not all necessarily agree with his war attitude —but they were prepared to let bygones be bygones/ because- they . recognised, that, while they tried to stand for the truth as they saw it, he tried to stand for the truth as he saw it. Alluding to the war services of. some M.P. s, he said "there are members of this House whose greatest service to the,country during the war was to believe in the war—for other's!"

He reminded his Tory officer of the Curragh incident. Officers who' had taken the oath of honour to obey, openly declared they would abandon their commissions rather than do so, and in this attitude they were backed up by Mr. Bonar Law- "" •

He reminded them of the fact that in 1900 Mr, Lloyd George was a CO., and : had to escape from Birmingham Town Hall on account of his OPPOSITION TO WAR! ■-..-■

Dwelling on the normal .good-citi-zenship of C.O.s, he said:' "A very large proportion of them have never been in "a court of law befoi*e, and never will foe again. I am not sure that every member of this House can point to, such a record. You will allow men to lie, 'to thieve,'to be guilty of the most immoral practices, yet, if they expiate their crime, by a very moder- •'■ ate sentence of imprisonment, they may still become members of this House. But because in a big crisis in human conduct, when the great decision has .tOv.be made whether men will grant to the State the right to call upon them to take the life of their fellow-men; because they declare that NO STATE AUTHORITY HAS THAT RIGHT, they are to be ; penalised by ten 3 7 ears' disfranchisement! 1 » # .*..'». Then came a fine peroration, ia.which Morgan Jones asserted his be- ! lief in the right of the conscience 'above that of the State.

"I assert, without any fear, that I will not accept the statement that ■'ANY'TEMPORAL AUTHORITY HAS THE RIGHT TO INTERFERE BETWEEN ME AND WHAT I REGARD TO BE THE MORAL IMPLICATIONS OF MY CONSCIENCE. You have a right to call upon mc to obey the laws of the country, but I absolutely deny your rjght to abrogate the MORAL LAW, and to say * THOU SHALT KILL!' You have iv_vor received such a right. You never will receive it. There is a higher authority than you possess, which calls, upon us to honour the right of man to live, and it will never be conceded by mc nor, I hope, by my fellows either.

"The time will come when WAR MUST BE DESTROYED. Some of us regard war as being the trick of the diplomat—the trade of the statesman. IT IS ALWAYS THE GRAVE OF THE COMMON PEOPLE, and the only way, to the mind of some of us, to destroy war is to inform the diplomats of the world that, if they will go on PLAYING WITH THE LIVES AND SOULS OF MEN, they themselves, who MAKE THE WARS, MUST BE THE FIRST TO FIGHT THEM."—OUTSIDER.