AN OPEN LETTER TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

Maoriland Worker, Volume 12, Issue 301, 6 December 1922, Page 11

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

I . %E. D. Morel, in tereiga Affairs"

I true,, would your Grace' contend that; I the Faith whose ethics it is jour j j -privilege to propound, demands the! ! punishment of the common folk over j i whom these men unco' ruled— the; j avtifVJixl, the farmer, tlie peasant (lie! I the ;imskilled".labourer in i!&c-■! lovy and field';' tlie" women? -What! part had they in fc-aeii plotting?. Doe;-s j I lay "WhHeliaven. coal-nrlner us lit- 'sets j 1 forth ii].n>n the daily journey from j ' vvbJcb lift 'may never 'retuvii; ctoos tho ; 1 man directing tlio niaebvie that | churns and sweetens thk> earth iv the | I ttortiOrcMi're fivlcl opposite tlie win- ; mlow -«■ here t write; (iocs tha-Olviiam; ' "otton-opcra'ive, or tlie Dundee .jute-1 1 worker - -<lo di f -a-2' shake ilia secrets or i ' 3n the subterranean - ac-j i tiviijes oi! Ministers 'at Whitehall? | ! Whr.it do they know of "high .policy" j { or" "hian finance"? How can vhey j ■be hold rospcviable fer ;, il:o jof tii eh , governors?' Their lot is to jokey, to defend a soil in which their j : ; t-ii:3 Js yi-J # to cha'ugo ■ the greyr.css ; of their lives for Uia bloody carnage; jf the battle-Held, ly order, and lot] i ends tboy 'wut not of. Here is no \ ] Question o£ "Brii/sh" or "German" or j j'/French": tut of • common equity, of j i common setise, '.of elemental jus Lice; | S -uvely of Christian principle. ; j But when the war came there were! I Germans—-as there were Britons —j who wsre children; there are Ger-: ruo.ri.s-—s.s th<ire a"c Britons—who; have been born since i.he w.ar; there : are Germans —as there are Britons —■ j (7 l;e bo-. ! i± every day dur\ng the next: i qvx ;.:•■[. o.v oi a century. .This army of; German children., ac.ual and prosjiec- j jiive, also fells under the "blight of the j ! Sentence of Versailles. 111-uourMietl, ■ I fiisc'ase-ssmitten bodies, stunted lives,, h:ior.al physical, and spiritual dege-n- ! Jersey for multitudes of children—j ; n 7,t is how the Sentence works out. I j W.—was i: not the Master you serve i' jwl.o "Suffer the little children! |o coin* unto nic . . . Whoso shall of-j i>;:id cno oi these l.iijtie ones ... it | v;;-'-fi bitter for bini that a millykiite \ were hangfd about his neck and that j jh-j-wf.-re drowned in the depths of; J '.he sea"? Suppose that poor reed the Xa = ser, Hie German Central Staff, and the i Gorman Civil Administration to have! ! d:f .toHcally conspired" against Ul2 j peace of Europe, their conspiracy charge against them —hare -beenj secret. And in tba:, charge of secret! conspiration is' writ the innocence of j Uie German people. A population of j ■ sixty-five millions cuunot conspire in j secret, and the ersserice of conspira- j I iion is secrecy. Toddl : ng infants, ■ babes clutching at a mother's breast,; jor leaping in the womb—these do not j I conspire. Ye, punishment is their [ portion at our hands. Is it possible II tat your Grace is not conscious "of Viva Wrong? ' : T)hc's'ns of the fathers !. . . ?"■ A. double-edged sword: may , , 'cur children be spared its sharpness. Has European history ever fashion- j isil bo mad a chapter? Vast and long ! accumulated arnuyuiems by rival | groups of State?. In.rigra and coun- I icr intrigue. Why. Ten millions \ Four and a half years of homicidal mania, 0? unimaginable j liorror:.-!. . Tha, gradual crvrr.pj'iug up j cj , ont> cirte. An armistice fsirmed on j vhe Tj^-yJgod basis of a he.xlmg \ progran)juft. That pTo^r amine fifing! aside by [he vioioriouo Governments, i 3ui;:-;i:vui(.?(i icy it, a Sentence Ujicn , 'bo unprecedented in ths i annals of Christendon:> —v/hero "was j ;tie Church of Cbrisv at that great', betrayal which re-crucified its Master? —justified on the ground that re- . sponsibility was confined to one jiiirty in the struggle! ("Was- that discovery SUBSEQUENT to the . acceptance by the victors of. the pro- ■ gramme of a Peace, not of vengeance, but of constructive restoration!) Four j> more years during winch tbe .Sen- • tence is savagely ecforced. The re- ■ pult? A Militarism is being more formidable than ever, drawing its in- < opiration from the fears engendered til rough the enforcement of that very 1 Sentence. The victorious States engaged in . sordid and interminable i wrangling over the continued enforcement, of the Sentence: snarling over ' the'-r respective shares in the tribute j levied under. the Sentence upon a . People reduced i.o helotry: baying: J their teeth at one .auothci , .s:-; ilie.v I „ snatch this piece of loot and.that ii-mtj. , arming,- arming—the. while Europe disintegrates. The common, people crying out everywhere for peace. The victorious Governments . Bt'll intent upon carving the pound oi flesh from the helpless and inuocon t victims of their * furious inconi- , petenco. In all Europe confusion, brooding hate, fear begotten of cruelLy and injustice, economic dislocation. Poverty and want among the masses; ; shameful parade and ostentation j among the wealthy fev,\

Your Grace r —Some years ago. and j for several years on cud, i:t was my | privilege to co-operate with you -if | I may dare recall for a momeiH; your I association witix one of whOiii mucft evil has' since been spoken- in a ta:-k j wh'clx was once described by yourself j as "far transcending in importance all questions of contemporary politics." It before-ihe cL'.uk fcmros! of the world had gathered :n em Sicient strength' to ii;-.flict Knrope v. : iUi' - tlie scourge of wholesale, muruor^nre,; pestilence, and famine, whose devat-t- j ating progress -.a tho gloomy -va"t- ! : nesses of the Congo forests yo;i and; I were seeking to arrest. It may, ! eoraetimes have occurred to yon viuv- ; ins the" period which has elap^id; since August, 1014, in the silent-j watches of the night and in intmuvLe nu-raeni's when thu rcui | groped agon'singly for light--ft- may i som.oi.imes have occurred to you fci! such moments that the fundann'n.Ln? | causes which made possible iho proIlongation of the gre:!,t crime -you .'.nee denounced wenj the same that flung! Europe into the abyss, i.e., tho in- j ingues and rivulries of governinenis, j the suspicion and ill-w-Jl between .na-j tions, the absence of moral purpose j in the governance of States and of! moral courage in Kt'i-.esinon. Bnt.it Ss not to revise the memory oi! a pa~L co-operation nov^t o make such coTiiocturo-s that I Kin venturirg 1u acl'Jr:•«!-. you. • - (The oiJic-! , day you preached a ocv-lEC-i at Gon\iv r a. It was a lufty i.)ro- ■ oouncrirent. • It expressed what I .urn sure you deeply feel .a passionate fiatvocl of war, a passionate, hope thai | the intr-rniM-Uonal Body known a r ; tiio ] LeajTue of Nations-—but v/liieh, you j will arreti, is' at present no,-., more j th:>:n a League of .some Nations—may j .ev : :v;tu;.;Hy become the recognised i hn:i:rn mechanism thrcuigli v/h s ch j ■Governments will evenlualJy, and! grr:c'ously, consent to sot:le the'? iiif-j. fererrjOH, without corn p≥3 ling their j Bubjes!-.:•; to massacre one another ly j tnillfovis in the name of Patriotism, j It fail t o be conduci-ViO of pood j Iha: the head of the official Christ'-an Church of this land should thus conspicuously express his detestation of - ft<s ytvocesa of international murder, R'li-cli has always appeared to some: of us incompatible with the teachings d£ the' Founder of the Christ'cm Faith, deimte the invariable and universal official and moral endorse merit given (0 that process, while in operation, by the various Christian Churclxes. But", if your Grace avUI pardon my - presumption, may I ask how you i suppose the grip" of thai. 'Militarism 1, j srliieh you denounced can be loosened i ironi its hold upon mankind, while Ihe whole- EuropH-an situation con-' mmmi to be vif'-ated by a great Wrong .eri&inf? out, of an historic untruth? It tiiat Wrong remains not only unicdres&od and uncxp'aterl, but. vhe lory base of the directing purpose . ln;i of the executive law of t'nore vie- , mvious States m the war to -whose j ' ■rill Europe needs mu&t bend, how .' ■pi; the world find Peace? f I 1 searched your sermon in vain foi ' |a illusion even to the existence of j Ittcli Wrong. This is very iviyrfu-ri- ( Was. -It is also very terrible. For if j, ■c world is to bo saved from • '""31'2- . " li'ism/', which is primarily a slatOjj ■ mind, it cau only be saved by ilicl! emoval of -wrongs and injustices in ', , ■ ■teriiational'l'fe for '.bat , late of mind, and for its material- ' lation in war. And if at Uiis juuc- j ■re in tlie world's affairs those whose t ■sition as leaders in the interpreta- i :mn and application of the Cluistian . fclh invests them v/ilh so illimitable ' ( I towards mankind ( •Bfino thoDJselvos to tlie condwmna- , •n of wrong and injustice in the | ■•tract, .and shrink from condemn- t 'K.them in the concrete; liow shall t : Iβ eyes of. men be opened? You may f •• Intend that to deal with the con- j ( .j.wk would be to enter the political '~ .fc a vfJijch your high-spiritual oflice Ibids. But the powerful organisa- j In of which you are tlie head did m bold aloof from that arena dur- I m the war. r I ->?*** t ■jtorly four years have passed since \ .Bmteucc was imposed at Versailles I ■» w.hole People—the old, the 1 eple-aged, the young, the unborn. ■< imposed on the ground that h rHnifii w]io ruled over that People I the war broke out, but who j: ■jctasod to do so~bPtor-e its close., j; BI deliberately conspired, planned, s> BlDJ'tpared to bring the war about; 0 m I r -^ ne incarnated the evil anibi- 0 ■ P and passions of Europe; they p ■ ''sJiad accumulated explosives to b I ihoy cynically and with pre- l; Vv , I'lat'ian applied the torch. Sup- £ * I ',■ tor a moment, this incredible, s — ' l: utterly'fantastic c-har-ge were'a

The working out Its nemesis—ls . : it; r conceivable that this is , Qiyidehi--.ii , om^-yoiir' , 'tSiraiie.?-. -Two weeks ago some of us were discussing the siate of Europe with a disdnguished, *American.' cf-tizen. No dignitary of the Church of „ Christ was he; merely a powerful business man. Yet from his lips fe'lV dui'ing llxose" which seem to crystsillise the deeper sg- ?- ---! niiioance that lies behind the spoken J word, Q truth" whose message you J will pardon met— I sought- Yaiaiy ia ; your Geneva address. "What Ea'vopo i needs," he said, ."is. a great msral \ personality,*' Whereupon one of. j. those present remai'ked, "Yes, or if i tho Church v .'. it is the Church's J business, but . . ." TL.Q seiilonce. v»aa ■I'iefi, iiiifiu'islicd. ■ ■■. . . J I have Ufilahied your Gra.ce too I long. I--should, not have ventured to : address you at uli-did 1 not l'euie-nt-I b'er that in da;.s gone by, in the I course o? the struggle against the ! tliirlc 'forces to which I allutied, i you put allele the many bonds of i social custom, of ecclesiastical. t:adiI tioji, of. oificial .pressure which enJ compass tho'hcldor of your h-'gh otfice. and curtail hjs freedom to an -extent, the layman can v/ith diL-icuity. ap- ! preciate; You put them aside, you I were no: cor*tout to general!;:-;;, but ,' courageously, p&rsisLon;]y, yo\i held !on your way, unshaken by opposition. I The vv-rcngrs you .struck at then were I not acUvcly imputabla to cur couri- ! try's statesmon. a'hoir ! was real: but. it was indirect. The Wrong perpetrated upon mll- | lions in 'Europe to-day: iho Wrong I which is preparing another era of ! bloodshed for the .'world.: ' : tKs Wrong i which explains Mil'-tari/sin's triumphi ant emergence from a Avar -which w{;s •to. have dt;;Hroyed it: tho .AVrong I which, it' it be not redressed, makes j futile the labours ct men of goodr will che world ever —that Wvong is ! sne for which our country's i:Ua'.es--1 men are directly—though rio&'al'jiie-— ; responsible, directly, actively rospon- ■ sible. I Vv r JII you not, in default of the ,up- ! risiag of r<. i73.0r.al pcrEonali<-y" I among 'iirt of tho world, J tjeth-irxk. you that in the told deilc.ticn i and def.u'jiciat'-on of that Wrong ma; ] I'-e, pereh-ance ihG means- wherel-y I the still mighty force you represent ; may assist hi bringing unuexsUmding to uis/nklnd and liglrt to a. wcrlii plunged in the darkness of Injustice I and of error? J I have the honour to be the obedI lent servant of Your .Gr&ce. I —The Ed.tor, "Foreign Affairs/