OURSELVES AND THE WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 15930, 29 May 1915, Page 1 (Supplement)

OURSELVES AND THE WAR.

BT Wlf. SATCHEIX.

Hundreds of columns have now been written in extension of the simple theme, "Please sir, he began it." All quite futile. I do not dispute the possibility of proving that if Bethmann-Hollweg had done so and so, or Sir Edward Grey something else hostilities would not have commenced when they did ; but that is the limit of what can be proved. No war in all the world's history was ever so inevitable as the war between Britain and Germany. What 1 Shall Egypt and Assyria, Greece and Persia, Hume and Carthage, the Frank and the Saracen fight for the hegemony of the world, and the two who arc in some respects the greatest that ever dwelt upon its surface refrain? For consider what is. the alternative to war : is there ought but submission? And who is to submit? You may say that instead of fighting one another it would bo possible to combine- to carry out their wills together. True, if their desires were tho same, not otherwise. Are the desires of Britain and Germany the same? Are they even capable of reconcilement? Let us see.

When, a century hence, this war becomes a matter of history, probably nothing will surprise the student so much as the serene, unconsciousness of. the British Empire in the years preceding the outbreak of the storm that was gathering over it. In vain Earl Roberts went to and fro in the land, a modern Daniel, prophesying doom. While German literature, was saturated through and through with the doctrine of Pan-Germanism, so that the very infants in arms babbled for tie world, scarcely a whisper of what was going on reached the shores of England. In 1913 Professor Cramb was lecturing in Harley Street, a street haunted by the footsteps of great Englishmen, but who of them came to hear him, or, hearing him, departed tc act upon what he had heart)? The boo! of collected lectures— of them unfortunately fragmentary— is in everyone's hands to-day, and for that reason, as we); as for the broad humanity that charact -rises it, I shall consult its pages in the search we are making for the German motif. The desire of the German nation, according to Professor Cramb, is to Germanise the world, to give to every man in it a German mind ; and the justification of its desire is this, that the German mind has shown itself, through the deeds accomplished by tho German people, to bo the highest product o! life upon this earth.

Wo need not attempt to refute this, the point that matters is that thy Germans conscientiously believe it to do true, and that the carrying out of their proposals, no matter by what means, would redound to the immense advantage ci mankind. Do not say that this is a low or ignoblo ambition, remember that no loftier ideal was responsible for the greatness that was Rome. Rather let us ask, Whatliave we to set in opposition to it? Can we show ourselves to be animated by an ideal as great, or even greater, than that which inspires Germany? On this point I find Professor Cramb disappointing. He had deeply studied tho German mind, but apparently failed to see tho necessity for subjecting tho English to an equally close-analysis. Had he done so be couia hardly have arrived at the- conelusion, so lacking in imagination,, that Britain was inspired by a motivo precise!;' similar in kind to that of Germany— the desire to Anglicise the world, to give to every man in it an English mind.

Before you can even begin to get an English mind you must first be capable of thinking in the English language. What steps has England taken to bring this about? I can call to mind none. When, at last, the Boers were utterly subdued and England was provided with an opportunity of carrying out such a purpose, did she make any attempt to do so ? Scarcely were our English dead deee.itly covered by the Africaii soil thau, to the wonder of the world, our late enemies wen given a freedom surpassing any they had hitherto known. Whet, we turn to the older colonies the same difficulty confronts us. French is the native language of hundreds of thousands of Canadians; no voice is raised to suppress it. If there is a bond or chain upon us of England's making it is at least certain that wo are unconscious of it. With India and Egypt the position is only in so far different as the inhabitants of those countries may bo called child nations, using the word in relation merely to their capacity for self-govern-ment. For my part I have no doubt whatever that theso peoples havo only to prove that antonomy would be a blessing and not a curse to receive it freely at our hands. In short, I can see no alternative to the conclusion that our Empire is cemented and held together simply and solely by the bond of a common ideal ; an ideal so transcendent that the very breathing of it is an inspiration to all mankind. Freedom ! There is novelty in the idea. From its turbulent beginning the spirit of freedom has always supremely expressed the genius of the English race, but it is only during tho last hundred years that we have come to see with over clearer and clearer vision that liberty cannot be the prerogative of any one race, but must belong equally to all. Let what may be said of mixed motives in our leaders I am confident that tho British peoplo as a whole was absolutely single-hearted in its determination to uphold the freedom of Belgium. I will go further and say that even if Germany had, under pressure, refrained from its long-formed intention of invading Franco through the lowlands, public feeling would none the has have thrust tho Government into war in defence of Franco itself.

What had tho millions of England to gain by war with Germany? No blood hatred inspired them; quite tin reverse. They had seen the German Empire emerge from a number of wrangling States to a place in tho sun, and given it a friendly greeting. They saw this new Empire devoting all its energies to the making of a war machine, such as tho world had never known, and scarcely a soldier was added to their ranks. Only by reason of their century-long pride and the threats of the men they trusted did they grudgingly increase the number and efficiency of their ships of war. They saw their handiworktaxed in German markets, and left their own doors open. They saw Gorman commercialism grow until it rivalled their own and accepted it as part of tho frame. Into their colonies as into the houses of a brother came men of the German race: some spied upon their actions, none asked them if they were friend or foe. But— Herman soldiers -entered Belgium, and from these peaceful, not to be roused, millions, came a threatening murmur as from a hive of bees disturbed. In the name of reason, why? This ignoble, this bestial people, rapt in contemplation of its money bags, what was Belgium to it? Well, I have given you what I believe to be the answer.

So far as Britain is concerned this is a holy war; there never was any with a great.?r right to the title. We are the champions of an ideal which is not only great and nobis in itself, but is recognised as such by every sane people, and on amount of tho greatness of this ideal T Of licvo that we shall win. No horrors, no reverses can shako belief in a cause so exalted. Though we have made it ours, it is none the less a world light. It can never cease to inspire us. In the darkest hour in France, in Belgium, in the Dardanelles our crusaders will see it ever beaconing them on, and Ufa or 'death, theirs id the happiness and the glory.