WHY BRITAIN IS AT WAR

NZ Truth, Issue 508, 13 March 1915, Page 9

WHY BRITAIN IS AT WAR

ALL THE GUILT NOT GERMANY'S

IS COMMERCIAL RIVALRY BEHIND IT?

Solicitor Jellicoe Jostles the Jingoes

[Solicitor Jollicoe, returned to New Zealand last week-end. He had been m the Old Country for several years and had practised his profession at the Liverpool Bar. In • 1906 and 1910 he unsuccessfully contested the Walton Division of that city as Liberal candidate , against F. G. Smith, M.P., K.C., the Conservative member. Mr. Jellicoe having just returned from the Heart of the Empire, his opinions m connection with the causes leading up to the present world conflict 'is of special interest to New Zealanders.—Ed. "N.Z.Truth."] Mr. Asquith m. his Dublin speech frankly admitted that "War is at all times little better than the letting loose of hell upon earth," and as our nation has been drawn Into this welter of carnage and human suffering by a statecraft in -which Mr. ABquith's Government has played a leading part, I, at the risk of being traduced by our arm-chair war party of braggarts and money bags, solemnly ask myself whe-, ther the wisdom" and honesty, of Britain's, diplomacy and the expediency of her policy during the last twelve yearß leaves no uneasinefla m thoughtful minds regarding our alleged Justification for the perpetration of so heinous a wrong upon all humanity which Mr. Asquith has ao aptly described. THE JINGOES OP LUXURY. It outrages mankind to hear the Jingoes who sit at home enjoying the' luxury and wealth of their comfortable surroundings calling "for a fight to a, finish" while the country is sending the most necessitous of her work-a-day people to be slaughtered on the battlefields of a foreign country, and, when we remember that this Jingoism is being actively incited by an effete, and worldly clergy who have the shatneleasneas to teach that the letting loose of hell upon earth Is the "righteousness that exalteth a nation," it is enough to call forth the vengeance of the Almighty upon' our race. I have now for over a quarter of a century, both m Britain and the Southern hemisphere, fearlessly advocated and defended In the courts of Justice the rights and liberties of my fellow countrymen, and, as a politician of the Gladstone school of thought, I have never hesitated whether m season or out of season to state- the truth. I intend m the present summary of events to be equally fearless regarding the cauaea and methods which have contributed to the war, however unpleasant the truth may be m our mouths. The man who m time of war espouses an unpopular side m an honest endeavor to move the conscience of mankind to a sense of truth, m my humble Judgment, gives effective service to his country greater than those who at the bidding of a War Minister or his agents, the Jingoes, render martial service In the field. IS GERMANY THE AGGRESSOR ? It is alleged by the War Party m Britain that Germany is the real and responsible author of this war, and that the allied nations — Britain and France— in fighting on the side of Russian despotism — the enemy of all democracies — are engaged m defending principles and m maintaining all that Is worth having In our common civilisation. Let me, therefore, submit the real facts and their natural and proper inferences to the Judgment of every impartial and candid reader. For forty year's at least the House of Hanover and the British nation professed the greatest affeotion and friendship for the German peoples, who are, after all, their own race and kinsmen. The two nations built up together a colossal world-wide commerce, whllo Great Britain welcomed and encouraged within her borders and dominions a German population, the result being that some hundreds of thousands of German citizens m confidence of perfect security have resided and established vast commercial and industrial enterprises on British soil and created a trade with Oermany which, according to figures given m Whltaker, for the year 1913 amounted to seventy millions sterling, of which it is estimated some ten' millions sterling Is still owing on the balance of the year's account by this country to Germany. ; TARIFF REFORM CAMPAIGN. In the early years of the .present century, Immediately after the Boer war, an unscrupulous political section of one of the great political parties m the State, who sought to make political capital out of some resentment which existed on the part of our trading and industrial classes against German competition, instigated and incited by every means m their power a tariff war against Germany and Ger-man-made good*. By these means they succeeded In extracting from the trading community fabulous sums of money m the establishment both within and outside of I'arllument of a great Protectionist propaganda. They flooded the country with political speakers and literature denouncing Germany's trade and prosperity as a menace to the workers of this country, but they only succeeded m stirring up a jealousy and bitterness towards Germany on tho part or the most ignorant and petty-minded of the British public, without even that section of the public really knowing why they huted the German peoples. I denounce tho Tariff Reform League and their political champions us the primary propagators of Urltaln's ill-will towards Ormany. Their selfish hatred of both Germun competition and the benefit* which that competition brought to the people of small means m Britain, and the unscrupulous methods they and their hireling* In the Press and on the public platform adopted to attain tholr ends will now recoil on the head of the nation ltnclf. ah Hritaln'x trade with Germany — her hem customer— will never rl«e again. AGREEMENT WITH FRANCE. It waH during ihe second year of thin infamouM political cumpuigu of trauV Jwilouny und Mclutuim-Mx, In 1904, that an agreement wan concluded by the Bulfour Government . between Grout UrlUiln. und France nwmltnic tho trade of Morocco to thi- exclusion Of the InKTCHtN of Germany, an agreement which gladdened n»e heart* of the Tariff Reformers and their Apostle of Protection. th« latn Mr. Joseph Chamberlain. Until this period was

reached France liad not for centuries been particularly friendly disposed towards Britain. She still remained the avowed enemy of Germany, while despotic Russia had become the ally of France. Germany was now always liable to invasion on her eastern frontier by Russia, and on her western frontier by France, and, m consequence, she has always been compelled to maintain a great, military establishment, which, according to Lord Lansdowne's last recruiting .speech, "Britain never begrudged her" — she required to' be always ready for any emergency. Her life as a nation, both industrially and commercially, continually depended upon her always being m a state of preparedness for war. She always required, to be the strong man armed, and to have as head of her Executive a man of. strong will and decided opinions. No weakling could possibly uphold the power of the German Empire for a single day. ARE WE SMASHING MILITARISM ? Militarism to Germany is the essential safeguard of her industrial life, just as m France and Russia it seoures the national life of the people, and

SECRETARY C. AGAR (Of the Lyttelton Waterside Workers' Union). He collects the weekly subs, From the boys who load the tubs, That ply from Honolulu to Jamaicar; And should they pass a minute His book he writes It m it, Oh, the wharflea think the world of Mister Agar. "■ He's no reneger.