CHEERS FOR PEACE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23156, 30 September 1938, Page 14

CHEERS FOR PEACE

ATTITUDE IN LONDON COMPARISON WITH 1914 GREAT CHANGE IN FEELING The cheers with which London crowds yesterday greeted the news that immediate danger of armed conflict had been averted were the sign of an attitude toward war very different from that of August 4, 1914. After the lapse of 21 years, it is of interest to recall the scenes of enthusiasm in the same London streets when it was known that Germany had curtly refused to respect the integrity of Belgium and that Britain had declared war. "As the news of the declaration of war reached the street (Downing Street)," stated a report in the Times, "the crowd expressed its feelings in loud cheering. It left the precincts of Downing Street and gathered in front of the War Office, where further demonstrations continued until an earl} hour this morning." Vast cheering crowds packed Whitehall, Parliament Street and Trafalgar Square that night. Favours bearing the Union Jack and the Tricolour were worn everywhere, and the sight of a khaki tunic was sufficient to cause l'resb outbursts of enthusiasm. Outside Buckingham Palace, singing and cheering were maintained without a break for more than four hours, and the King and Queen made two appearances on the balcony, amid tumultuous shouts and the singing of the Xational Anthem. Just before midnight silence fell, but at the first strokes of Big 3Jen cheers burst out, echoing and re-echoing for nearly 20 minutes. "The Xational Anthem wfts then sung," the Times reported, "with an emotion and solemnity which manifested the gravity and sense of responsibility with which the people regarded the great issues before them." . Reasons for tho change in reeling a f ter nearlv a quarter of a century are not far to seek. In 1914 there had been no major European war since the Franco-Prussian conflict of 1870, and Britain's security had not been menaced since the days of Napoleon. Her people had not tho loss of a million British lives to remember, and the lull horror of air warfare, with its slaughter of civilians, was scarcely imagined. Londoners yesterday needed no reminder of these things, brought home equally by precautions on every hand and by recent and current events in Abyssinia, Spain and China.