ELOQUENT APPEAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 28 January 1939, Page 10

ELOQUENT APPEAL

PEACE CO-OPERATION AMONG NATIONS j TO PREVENT SUPREME CATASTROPHE EQUALITY FOR ALL AND JUSTICE i FOR ALL [British Official Wireless! (Received 28th January, 10.30 a.m.) RUGBY, 27th January. An eloquent appeal for peace co-op-eration among nations over the signatures of nearly a score of public men eminent in diverse fields of activityliterature. education, law, science, finance , medicine. administration, art. and music—has been issued to the press for publication. The signatories are the Marquis of Wellington, Lord Derby. Lord Dawson of Penn, Lord Border, Baron Macmillan. Lord Stamp, Mr Montagu Norman. Mr H. A. L. Fisher, Mr G. M. Trevelyan, Lord Eustace Percy, Sir Michael Sadler, Dr. Vaughan Williams, Sir William Bragg, Sir Arthur Eddington, Sir Edwin Lutyens, Sir Kenneth Clark, Mr John Masefield, and Lord Burghley. “A spirit of uneasiness broods over the world. Men and women in every country are uncertain what the next weeks and months may bring. They see huge armaments piling up on every side. They see plans being made for civilian defence, and they realise only too vividly that war under modern conditions between highly organised states can bring no good but only death and destruction to countless homes irrespective of age and sex. They see our civilisation, to which men and women of all classes and in all countries contributed, threatened with the greatest catastrophe in human history, “It is time, if we are not to be too late, that men of goodwill, who value the fruits of civilisation, who have no hatred or spirit of revenge in their hearts, and who desire in all sincerity to live on terms of friendship with their fellowmen in every country, should speak across the frontiers to those who feci as they do in order that they may use together their gifts of heart and mind to co-operate in preventing a supreme catastrophe and in breaking down the artificial barriers of hatred by which we are in danger of being divided. “We in Britain have no desire to dictate to others. While resolutely determined to maintain our own liberty, we stand for peace—a peace of equality for all and justice for all. We stand for rule of law in the relations between States—the only basis on which our civilisation can be preserved. We recognise that no civilisation, if it is to survive, can be static, but no nation will find lasting resolution in its problems save in the spirit of co-operation with others.

“We appeal to them to use those great gifts by which they for centuries enriched our common inheritance in all fields of human knowledge and activity, and join with us in a supreme effort to lay the spectre of war and enmity between nations, and in a spirit of free and willing co-operation, by which alone can their needs and ours be satisfied, to build with us a better future, so that we may not only preserve civilisation but hand it down to our children enhanced by our experience.” MORAL CASE AGAINST WAR (Received 28th January, 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, 271 h January. The Australian Associated Press says that the statement issued by distinguished public men was submitted to the highest quarters before publication where it is regarded as one of the greatest possible contributions to the moral case against war and is considered most timely. Arrangements are being made to broadcast the statement to Germany at least three times to-night. It will also be included in all other foreign programmes from the 8.8. C. The signatories include science and art leaders who have a recognised following in Germany.