THE TEST OF WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16032, 25 September 1915, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE TEST OF WAR.

BT TOHTTNGA.

?E?tJ St** is ri « ht - <°* «»* Zt? a • re6 ° ri the Uasb o{ nat ™« ™av be found m war. Where German '< Kulmen K? * '"J* 1 Gumption that men and nation* will not mate greater sacrifices for righteousness than thev will tor aggression; where it is infamous" is in he teaching that cruelty. rapine, treachery murder> and destruction are lawful and permissible means for terrorisms the weak into abject submission to organised force. We need sav nothing of the ridiculous German pretention to mental, artistic, intellectual and scientific superiority over all other Peoples ; ttiat is only important if we permit ourselves to be hypnotised b v a „ assertion which has been iterated and reiterated until it is insanely accepted bv a mutual admiration society of many millions, and haa even impressed itself" upon thousands of susceptible Britishers. ' Whether, we like it or not the test of war has been imposed upon civilisation, which has been compelled to accept a war for which Germany has systematically prepared itself as the alternative of submitting to German domination, not in Europe alone but throughout the entire world. It is quit« true that all civilisation is not directly engaged, though the "Hole 01 civilisation is direct interested. it civilisation were better Organised, if every civilised nation recognised a duty of maintaining the principles which make civilisation possible and humanity hopelul, the war would soon end in the absolute and complete defeat of German militarism. The weakness of civilisation is m the absence of a clear understanding of international duty and its consequent failure to move as one in times'of common peril. Only V a providential series of happenings did the Great Alliance come suddenly into being, to tlhe confusion of Germany's original plans, and only slowly are other nations beinc compelled by fateful circumstances to choose their sides. Italy has come in. Greece and Roumania are" visibly drifting n"n Bulgaria— Prussia of the Balkan* '—is apparently yielding, as Turkey yielded, to the German intrigues that find congenial soil in barbarous communities. But Holland, the twin of . Belgium: Denmark, the victim of Prussia; Norway, the cradle of democracy; the American republics, great and small, whose future safety depends upon the Allied triumph'; "with other members of the international group bound together in what we call " civilisation," are looking on. The resources of civilisation are manifestly sufficient to protect it against Germany if they are applied. That they are not being applied is nothing new. ' German designs depended from the beginning upon the probability that . civilisation would allow itself to be attacked, section by section and nation by nation, and overwhelmed in detail.

The empires that have been based on force and built up by conquest have ( always depended upon lack of unity among ■ their- neighbours. They overwhelm their neighbours one by one, annex them and incorporate them, gradually reducing tb.3 process to a system as they realise that no sacrifice is too great to achieve incidental victory, because they can make the conquered pay. and by every victorious war discourage the resistance of the next to be absorbed. The Germans have unexpectedly encountered a combination they did not foresee. They were prepared to deal with France and Russia. They expected to be able' to deal with Britain afterwards. They dreamed, as they dream ' still, of laying down. German law to ~ America, after Europe had ' been reduced to vassallage. The refusal of the British to look on at the violation ,of treatyguaranteed Belgium disturbed the German plans and turned the anticipated easy triumph of German militarism into a desperate struggle for the very existence of the Prussian system. German autocracy fights to-day for its life, fights with ail its complete resources, all the capacity of its highly-trained bureacracy, all the cohesion of its organised and hypnotised masses.' To the test of war it brings an unprecedented unity, a single determination, a ruthless masterfulness of direction and control. ■ This we cannot ignore, for it is a fact.

And what do we bring to the test of war, we of the free nations, particularly we British who were laboriously reducing to a science the government of the people, for the people, by the people, among whom democracy was working as yeast in dough and whose great Empire is the first attempt of men to bind together by goodwill nd good faith nations in themselves free, unfettered and self-governing? We can see for ourselves that civilisation shirks a duty it does not yet comprehend, that the United States is a reed for any Hague Conference to lean upon, that "Holland leaves us to defend the very basis of her liberties, that unless we help ourselves there is none other to help us. If we value the things that to free peoples are dearer than life, not to mention the material things that in a progressive and democratic state become more and more available tc all and not to a few alone, what are we to do to defend and assert all that we value most now that Germany has thrown down the gage of battle and is setting herself to tear them from us with all her giant strength? The answer is easy, surely. We must do the utmost that we can, unitedly and without hesitation. It is easy to talk of God, if one is a Kaiser, but a difficult thing if one is only British.' Yet we may say this, with all reverence, that the Creator of Life, the rather of all Humanity, the Source and Ruler of nations as of individuals, the Master of powers and continents as of worlds and constellations, has given to us the means to win a great triumph for what we know t« be right. It is for us to use those means, to use our national wealth and our national intelligence, as our individual energies and our individual devotion, to meet this great test of war and by destroying an evil thing to make the world better for all time for all. those who come after us. If we are beaten it will not be because our cause was not the cause of Humanity but because we are nationally and racially unworthy of that cause, because Humanity has not ! yet suffered enough to learn the great lesson that he who thinks to save his life shall lose it and he who shrinks from sacrifice must pay it tenfold. If we conquerand who can doubt that we shall conquer?—we shall conquer because we used the strength that God has given us. We should prav, not for national strength or for individual life, seeing that strength is ours in unstinted measure and life is but a flickering of the divine spark that can never be quenched, whether it flames and fades in Gallipoli or passes unnoticed in the green pastures of Auckland, but for the moral courage to use our national strength and to dedicate our individual lives for the cause that needs them.

It is futile and foolish for us to condemn America and to criticise Holland and to wonder how long Germany can hammer at Russia. In the centuries to come, if we do our duty to-day, civilisation will be a living thing, and war will be only known as a police affair, in which would-be Kaisers and fanciful conquerors are treated as now we treat burglars and highwaymen. But to reach that stage in human progress, we must concentrate the strength, we have, without wailing about the strength we might have if others joined us. More, it is of New Zealand and her concentration that we must think first, not comparing what we do with what others do, fearful lest we do too much where none can do too much, having in our hearts that same glowing sense of duty which made the landing at Anzac and has bought every foot of ground at Gallipoli with priceless lives. It has been said of men grown wise that a little child shall lead them. Of us it should be said that we were led to do our national duty by the lads who thought of nothing bat their country