IDEALISM WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18553, 10 November 1923, Page 11

IDEALISM WAR.

THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS, « FANTASTIC CLAIMS." DESTINY <OF : THE EMPIREA and.N.4. •*•*' :. . Lord Birkenhead, m a stnlfMg MC; torial address at the Glasgow on the subject of idealism in tnternational politics, said wars were hkely_to occur in the future as.in the.past, ""J feamers of the League of Nations forgot human nature as . absurdly as they neglected the; history ■«*. all idealists. - . Jesus was the most pre-eminent of these idealists, but it. was uateasonaW. to suppose that when He admonished the assaulted to turn his cheek to/the sroiter . or the rich to sell his possessions and giv« to the poor, He was layingdown stan- : dards of conduct '.which Ho either expected or desired to see generally adopted.: On the contrary Jesus -as diffusing through the medium of metaphor a sweet, beautiful moral atmosphere for the purification' of imperfect mankind.. , '..;."_ , Politically and philosophically tits motive of self-interest not only was, but must be, the mainspring of human con-* duct. ' .'.. '; v / 0./.'-

The experience of a thousand year* had shown that the desire for 6elf-s,d- "

vanrcment was the only adequate incen-« tive for the achievement of the standard of labour which each individual might.be required to contribute to the common scheme. Undeterred by the shattering repudiation of their beliefs which the world war had brought about, idealists had the orginality to exploit the outbreak of war for their own controversial purpose*. They admitted that war was unfortunate, but said it had a Fright side, as it was a war to end war. ' 'V

The larger claim made on' behalf of the League of Nations always seemed to Lord Birkenhead fantastic. What was the influer*; spread by ; Cue; Christian religion over the recent world convulsion? Why did the Omnipotent.Deity suddenly doom so many innocent victims to bestial destruction? Did the' greatest priest in the world, enthroned in his Roman palace, ever pronounce an intelligible conclusion on the moral resposibility for war? Was he ' influenced by the fact that his flock had-diverged beneath different standards?;TJf, so, he ceased to be the divinely, appointed mouthpiece of the higher morality and took his place among politicians. We must learn from history that no warrant existed for the belief «:• that human nature had altered its whole character. . .■ ■. >*_ \-', : : ,v j , From the dawn of time man had been a combative animal. The world continued to offer glittering prizes to the men with stout arms and sharp swords, and it was for a martial people like the British to abstain from provocation, but to : maintain in their hands adequate • means for their own protection, and being so equip* ped, to march with head erect and eye* bright along the road of their Imperial destiny. ; *S" " ' ' '"', -■- .: