"SAVIOUR OF HIS COUNTRY"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23339, 6 May 1939, Page 1 (Supplement)

"SAVIOUR OF HIS COUNTRY"

The Soldier's Job

By KOTARE

THERE was a jingle composed by a soldier in the armies ol the Duke of Marlborough and preserved on the lips of the ordinary people of England ever since, which enshrined the bewilderment of the simple mind in the presence of the constantly changing attitude of the public to the man-at-arms. When there was danger knocking at the gates the soldier was flattered on every hand. Everybody told him what a fine fellow he was. He was cheered on to the battle-front and reminded how sweet and decorous a thing it was to die for the Fatherland. But as soon as the danger was past the soldier dropped out of the picture. He was in good company; for the public treated God in exactly the same way. Now the war is over, "God is forgotten and the soldier slighted." Arthur Hugh Clough once made a poem out of the first signal ingratitude, and Kipling was continually thundering forth his condemnation of the second. This was Clough's version, with the cynic uppermost. "There is no God," the wicked salth, "And truly, it's a blessing; For what He might have, done with us Is better only guessing." Some others also to themselves Who scarce so much as doubt it, Think there is none when they are well And do not think about it. But conntry folks who live beneath The shadow of the steeple, The parson and the parson's wife, And mostly married p'fcople. And almost every one when age, Disease, or sorrows strike him, Inclines to think there is a God, Or something very like Him. Ingratitude

Kipling was more concerned with the inconsistent attitude to the soldier. O, it's "Tommy this," an' "Tommy that." and, "Tommy go away," ' But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins," when the band begins to play. £" For it's '.'Tommy this," an' 'lTommy that," and "Chuck him out, lhef brute." Bnt it's "Saviour of his counfry," when the guns begin to shoot. J

We have been experiencing once again the change of heart induced by menacing circumstances. In the days when Collective Security was the magic formula, and it seemed that we could be eternally safe by trusting to others to defend us, things were said about the soldier and soldiering that can be remembered only with profound shame. Men that fought in the Great War were informed that they had been exploited and fooled. They had toiled and suffered for utterly unworthy ends, and the gift they had been prouder than anything else to offer to their country in its hour of desperate danger, was belittled and discredited. For a time it almost seemed that a day would dawn when a soldier of the Great War would best keep dark the service ha had rendered. There were many bitter hearts created by this stupid ingratitude.

Students of great Universities, met in solemn conclave, decided that under no circumstances would they ever be induced to fight for Bang and Country. It seemed that our intelligentsia had grown their grey matter at the expense of the qualities that had made and kept the Empire great. Writers-and speakers had to apologise for the use of the word Empire. For some reason, that name of pride had' become the symbol of greed and selfishness and heartless exploitation. . Even here in New Zealand the bonds of Empire became first unimportant, and then a handicap. With the League to protect us our old need of the Empire connection no longer existed.

Changed Conditions We were not long left in' our fools' paradise. The cold winds of reality have been blowing starkly even across our little world, and with.the lowering of our temperature we are not quite so sure of our inevitable security in the wild tempests are abroad. That is all to the good. Anyone that lived through the early days of the war knows that our young men dedicated themselves to their country's safety as certainly and with as deep a consecration as ever marked a medieval knight -before the altar.

% It needed the heart-stirring of these dangerous days to enable us to do jus■tice to the spirit of Anzac. And we have this to our credit," that increasingly Anzac Day is becoming the embodiment of the finest things in the national life, the focussing of our vague love of country in the light of what our manhood and womanhood once achieved in the hour of supreme danger, and would, cne is certain, achieve again, should the same need arise.

That we see again that the soldier in certain circumstances is the Saviour of his country, that situations will arise apart from anything the most pacific idealism can do, in which the soldier is the only man who can speak for us in a language the world will understand and heed, is at least a gratifying return to reality. The condemnation of the Hebrew prophet still stands against those that treat lightly the wounds of the people, saying, "Peace, peace," when there is no peace. It must have dawned on the most sincere pacifist, 4 as well as upon those curious folk who believe their own country is always wrong, that there are tides in the affairs of men which with the best will in the world we cannot control. ** " Things As They Are They may do things differently in Mars. But it is futile to prepare solu-. tions for our troubles in this, the world we have to live in, on the basis of what a more intelligent race in some far distant Utopia might be expected to do. Some day, perhaps, force will be completely discredited among the children of men. Some day it'may. yield to goodwill and common sense, for it does not take a Solomon to conclude that force solves nothing in a rational world. But when the things we prize most are threatened by barbarous force, their only possible protection lies in the exercise of a counterforce strong enough to be effective.

If anybody calls that war-mongering f give him up. we have to lie down and take whatever is coming to us, or we have to Be ready to back the things we believe with everything wo are worth in mind and character and treasure and flesh and blood. And if the menace of force has to be met by force, then that defensive force has to be adequate. If defence is legitimate, and only the extremist" would say wo should never defend ourselves, then common sense demands that it should be adequate. It must be sufficient in numbers and in fighting quality to meet whatever demands will be made upon it. One does not defend one's country just a little bit. If it is not the very best we can do then it had far better not be attempted. If again we are to fall back on the soidier he must be a fu y trained man with effective weapons that he knows how to use. , And every fit man must know: ana hold his place in the line-.