NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20307, 15 July 1929, Page 10

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

HERALDRY OF THE SEA. A grant of arms has been made to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, which received its first Royal Charter from Queen Victoria in 1839 and five supplementary charters from Hei Majesty and her successors, and now owns 38 steamers and seven motor-ships, of more than 370,000 tons in all, and controls nearly 2.000.000 tons of other shipping besides, including the fleets of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company, and of the famous White Star Line. Both the shield and crest contain "a ship in full sail," the supporters of the former being two seahorses. Among other recent grants to such maritime bodies as the Port of London Authority, Lloyd's, the Free Shipwrights of London, the Blythc Harbour Commission, the Chamber of Shipping, and the Company of Master Mariners, the last-named also has sea horses as the supporters of its arms, which contain a representation of the Golden Hind, the famous ship in which fust an Ei»;li.sh master mariner—Sir Francis Drake—circumnavigated the globe. Lloyd's, on tlie other hand, lias sea lions to support its shield, which contains an heraldic reference to the City of London, and is surmounted by a crest showing "11.M.5. La Lutiue, 32-gun frigate," from which came the bell which to (his day tolls ominously in proclaiming a total loss at sea. THE DUTY OF BEARING ARMS. Isy a majority decision, the United States Supreme Court has refused American citizenship to a woman over 50 years of age because she refused to bear arms in the event of war. The petitioner was Madame Rosika S'chwimfoner, a Hungarian by birth, who is said to have inspired Mr. Henry Ford tn send his "peace ship " to Europe in 1915 " to get the boys out of the trenches by Christmas." Delivering the majority opinion, Mr. Justice Butler said that by a fundamental principle of the Constitution it " is the duty of citizens by force of arms to defend our Government against all enemies whenever necessity arises," and he ruled, that any views held by aliens which tended to lessen the willingness of citizens to bear arms constituted a matter that could not be disregarded in the granting of citizenship. " Taken as a whole, her testimony shows that her objection to military service rests on reasons other than mere inability because of her sex and age to bear arms. The fact that she is an uncompromising pacifist with no sense of nationalism, but only a cosmic j sense of belonging to the human family, justifies belief that she may be opposed to the use of military force as contemplated by our Constitution and laws. And her testimony clearly suggests that she is disposed to exert her power to influence others to such opposition. A pacifist in the general sense of tho word is one who seeks to maintain peace and abolish war. Such purposes are in with the Constitution and policy of our Government. But the word is also used and understood to mean one who refuses oils unwilling for any purpose to bear arms because of conscientious considerations, and who is disposed to encourage others in such refusal. And one who is without any sense of nationalism is not well-bound or held by tho tics of affection to any nation or Government." Tho minority opinion was based on a plea for the principle of free thought and tho argument that a person who thought the American Constitution could be, improved should not be refused citizenship—" only a judgo mad with partisanship would exclude because the applicant thought that tho Eighteenth Amendment should be repealed."