BIND THE MURDERER!

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9632, 12 April 1917, Page 2

BIND THE MURDERER!

BURGLAR OP THU NATIONS MUST BE CAUGHT. lu a letter. Major W. A. Chappie (M.T. for Stirlingshire and formerly of New Zealand), replies to a resolution, ol the local branch of the Auckland 1.L.1 •, urging the Government to enter .into peace negotiations. "I have your letter,'’' ho writes, with the resolution of your branch urging the Government to enter into peace negotiations with Germany and asking my support. I have seen the horrors ol this war—the broken bodies on their beds of pain.j the broken hearts of those bereaved, the awful mutilations that must be carried to the grave, the waste, the wanton, wicked waste, of homes and towns and piled-up treasures, the fruit of sweat and tears—and I solemnly declare, that for the man who makes war upon his fellow's with the modem weapons of destruction there are no torments made in Hell to fit his crime. If such a man there be. and such a nation, every babe in every cradle, every mother in. her home, every maiden trusting chivalry, every Christian knowing Christ, cries to you and me, and all who would have peace secure, to bind them fast. Such men there are in Germany, but none in Britain. Our conscience as a nation is clear, and posterity,. even German posterity, will acquit' us of every lot and part in the ■causation 'of this- war. Germany designed, prepared for. and consummated tliis bloody raid upon mankind with no other justification that the lust of power, the price of an insane egoism, and the desire to Use a military machine, she thought she had brought to the highest nitoh of destruction perfection. "Before the war Germany was free to trade and travel everywhere. Our Noyy never abused its power. We never bunt a port or policed an ocean route that was not as free to Germany and on the same terms as it was to ourselves. Geimany had no legitimate . complaint against, her neighbours or against ns, or against the world . When, m July, 1914, she showed her claws and teeth, we did all we oould to pacify and restrain her. We asked for delay, w© urged a conference, we humiliated ourselves by offering to befriend her if. in the future, she were aggressively attacked, we appealed to the treaties she had s'gned, W'e even wore designedly the aspect of a coward unwilling to help Trance lest Russia might bo emboldened to some act ot aggression." , , “What more could mortal man or nation do? .Wo had to defend our country and our honour or die—and worse—deserve it. And now the burglar of the nations must 'be caught; the murderer must be bound. He is still nt large. To say, 'Yes, we will negotiate a peace’ when he is brandishing his sword in . the homes of our Allies and claiming to be victor, unconquerod, unrepentant, free to claim the triumph of his bloody creed, and start again with his second wind, is to throw away a victory of good over evil, when ve have it in our hands. ... I am an operating surgeon to limbless men. . In answer to an inquiry, a mutilated soldier, who had lost a lower limb, and was awaiting, after many months of suppuration and pain, another and a graver operation said: 'I left Scotland for New Zealand, and had a nice litle home there amd a growing business, and I left it all for a bob a day anefi—this.’ W’ith a grim smile he raised his shrunken hand from the counterpane and indicated bis broken body. But his aspect changed in an instant. His eyes flashed and his face took on the stern, set look of the man who know= and feels and does, and ndddd. ‘But I don’t regret it; I'd do it again'.’ “You with your country uninvaded, vour homes secure, your wives unviolated vour ‘bairnies safely 'cuddled doon,' your work continuous, and your purses full, think what you owe that man—and such as he If you respect and value him and them you will not ask for peace before victory comes for which •they gave so much."