THINGS IN GENERAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13456, 5 June 1907, Page 9

THINGS IN GENERAL.

"PEACE ON EARTH." .'■•- Qjfoß again' the Powers assemble at The Hague, at the invitation of the Tsar, to discuss matters of vital concern to the .: people of all nations., "Peace on earth" is an ideal worth striving for, a consummation men, , have long been looking .for and praying for, but which, like will-o'-the-wisp, seems ever to evade us. But man is a creature hard baffle, not easily dismayed, and he goes on pursuing his ideal all the time. He does not look back, . except it be to mark the progress he has made, and he never stands still; always he is marching forward to the goal. And the harder a thing is of attainment, the more difficult of accomplishment, the more bo strives after it. And when a man is fired by the determination tjiat is twin brother to zeal, who can say what lie shall not accomplish? "In the lexicon of youth, which Fate reserves for a bright manhood," we are told, "there Is no such word as fail." Slowly, but surely, with the hopefulness of youth,'., we are marching towards our ideal of peace among the nations; and one day universal arbitration shall hold sway, our swords shall j be beaten into plougshares, Eros shall j reign in place of Mars, and all men shall | be "the better for it. We look forward hopefully to the deliberations of the inter- i national delegates at The Hague. The first Conference accomplished much, but it left much undone; and even if the second Conference should fail to bring about an understanding; in. regard to the limitation of armaments, be sure it will.mark a step forward and not backward. »Unfortunately, we know only too well that the nations are as a house divided. Greed and jealousy are nob easily to be overthrown. For the second time, on the eve of a Hague Conference,' Mi. W. T. Stead recently made a tour of Europe, and in a. letter to The Times ho expressed the opinion that the limitation of armaments was almost certain to be discussed, though nothing practical would result. That the matter will be discussed by the Conference is now quite certain. It is understood tint Britain's representatives, and those of at least one other nation, will withdraw from the Conference if any at- » tempt be made to baulk the discussion ; but whether any practical good will result is quite another question. '■ It was from Britain that the proposal emanated. The burden of armaments is every year becoming more intolerable,' but so long as other nations go on building new ships Britain must do so, too. For onco the two-Power standard is allowed to lapse our security as a nation will be menaced, and our supremacy jeopardised. It is not long since Germany said she could not consent to any proposal which would have the effect of making Britain's sea supremacy, permanent; and this is what a limitation of armaments ;■' would mean. But this is as illogical a policy as it is expensive, so long as Britain insists on keeping up the two-Power standard. It only makes; of her a more determined Watch-B'-uai8 '-u ai GeraiM y can: rely on it that as she builds more ships others will be built to match them. Tired as Britishers may ha. of tho burden, they will never drop it it the doing m means .at surrendering of that supremacy which Drake fought for and Nelson upheld But while such men £&£?"?■■ ve^o W> the German naval «pert, continue to tell Germany that her ♦hips are rotten and only fit for the scrapheap, we will Lave ho fear. x "

c THE MADNESS OF WAR. . : We need no Wells to tell us of the madnew v of | war ? ations a » ' but >■ individuals, and when; two . men fight it is t i^i^*^«* i pa S : sion m the clash i of J arms, men do things is not "i M Sl ? udder - And if murder is not called so, in war time, the name' matters not much - The Crusaders did things m the name of Christianity -which constitute one of the blpodiest blots in history. Patriotism is a noble thing, and it is noble to fight for one's country in the hour of danger; but the crimes that have been perpetrated in her name are legion It .would be a : nobler thing for all men to Jay down. their arms and refer their disputes to arbitration. -I have seen : two strong men fighting till the blood ran down their faces, and ... 1 -have seen a man step m between them and play the part of peacemaker; .and arbitrator; and the strongmen listened, and then shook hands with each other, agreeing to settle their differences - m another way.. That was noble.

v- A n i less £ ve himself he can irect himself, how mean a thing is man! The day may come— let us hope it ' may come soon— there shall be arbitration among f the nations, and the lion and the Jamb shall lie down together in peace. Well might the Tsar, whose memorable .rescript if. wis: that called the Powers; together at The Hague, wish for the dawn of a new , era, for the Tsar of all the Russias has good cause.. Peace in Russia is ,:. not yet, let alone peace throughout the world. There never was a people who had more wrongs that needed righting than the - Russians, ; . and when ■{-he Little Father recognises the truth of the adage that regeneration- must come from within and puts his own house in order, then will his appeal to his neighbours carry more weight than now. "A house divided against itself cannot stand," and that is what lost Russia the war with, •Japan. Fightings and fears within and wars without spelt ruin. : "Bloody Sunday' in St. Petersburg was": as sad a sight as the mowing down of. thousands of Russians at Port Arthur and Mukden and Liao-yang. And this is certain: There will be no peace among the nations till thereis peace within the nations. A mob is a mob, and.a drunken mob is a drunken mob, and a drunken mob with weapons in its hands is, a drunken mob with I weapons' in its hands, all the time. And it matters not whether the mob is drunken with, liquor, with rage, or with victory— . weapons in it's hands, and it means misery and disaster.' Hardly jess inconsistent than the Tsar of Russia is the Emperor of Germany. He makes speeches in favour of peace on earth and good-will towards men, and goes on giving orders for new warships. Germany desires to live on good terms with all na.tions, says the Kaiser, and he takes a trip to Kiel, or wherever there are warships building, or two or three of his soldiers or sailors gathored together, and tells them to sharpen the edges of their swords, and keep their powder dry. Always it is England, little England, that is aimed at. ft is human to envy the. strongest and the richest, the Tenth Commandment notwithstanding. And thus is bred Anglophobia. Truly, it is hard to see peace- in sight— and meanwhile we had best "prepare for war." • ' . - .

ATTITUDE OF THE CHURCH. I sympathise with the Churches in their indeavours to further the cause of peace; \Tr U i e c ' rcu ' ar to the clergy issued by the Wellington branch of the International Arbitration Mid Peace Association was welltimed. " The objective of the conference," runs the circular, "should meet with the Bvrong-approval of all who desire the welZZ hum anity, of the Christian Church especially. Some may object that the question of substitution of arbitration for r»u« i? 51 not come within the scope of the Uiurchis activity. Everything is the ron-K-rnof the Church, if she sightly understone, and determine to. fulfil, her Divine mm?ion. ; Broad a 3 the need of humanity, 10 broad is the Church's rightful sphere of i , 1 .V l l'- is not divided into a number M water-tight compartments, into some of wfticii religion.'miv not enter. On the contrary, everything in life is correlative, RKfl religion, and the Church as its expounder, bears,'; or should bear, a relation- • % to every aspect of it. The Conference if. the visible expression of the fruition of a nooW ideal. It is the result of years of PftMoat toil on the part of those who beheved passionately in the ultimate triumph pi fiooxi &ver all the powers of evil. These

men possessed the priceless Jewel of Faith, without which nothing great can be accomplished." The Church need make ;no apology, for interesting itself : in such a matter. It is the function and the duty of the Churches to interest themselves in anything that has for its' object the lifting up of humanity and the betterment of mankind. There is no reason, *to my mind, why religion and politics should not walk hand in hand; but this is not a mere political question. It is a movement that appeals to the belter side of all men's natures. In it the forces of bumanitarianism and morality aro at work, and these- are forces that, even though they may move slowly, cannot be choked. Good must ultimately triumph over evil. And, indeed, even if it be wrong to do evil that good may come —which is an open question— evil produces good, just as surely as the acorn produces an oak. If there were, for instance, no such word as Failure, there would be no need to . put the meaning of Success in the dictionary. , ' ; ' ,' ~

IS THE CHURCH DECLINING? Time and again we hear it asked, " Why do not men go to church?" • It is a question whether the churches to-day hold •that power over the people which they did in former times. And if they do not, nt whose door lies the blame? Only on I Friday last I read an article in the I Hkhald, showing that the position of the • Church of England to-day is such as to cause grave anxiety for its future welfare, I so much so that thoughtful observers see a time of great stress and unrest approaching for it. This is a sign of the times. The church must no longer be content to remain steadfast to its old customs and traditions, treading along the old beaten track, and hugging to itself the belief that its foundations are secure and can . never be shaken. There has arisen a new school of theology, which enters more closely into the lives of the people. Men do go to church, but they like the church also to come -to them. It is not enough for them to hear that blessed word Mesopotamia falling from the preachers' lips, as it was for the good old lady we have read about; for the world is a more practical world than it was, and high-sounding words and phrases do not count for much nowadays. " Faith is dead," say some; but it is not. At the bottom of all great human endeavour there is f? .h. " These men possessed ' the priceless Jewel of Faith," runs the peace circular to the clergy, "without which nothing great can be accomplished." . With Stevenson, we all believe in an ultimate decency of things-— and that is faith. The trouble is that some of us seem, to be born with less faith than others. John Banyan recognised this when he wrote: Poor Little-Faith has been among . the thieves! Was robb'd! Remember this, whoso believes. And get more Faith! But how to get it?there's the rub! If j the churches do not help us, who will? This General.