THE NEW-WORLD.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XLIX, Issue 13906, 6 November 1919, Page 3

THE NEW-WORLD.

GREAT SPEECH BY MR LLOYD GEORGE. The British Prime Minister delivered a. great- speech before the International Brotherhood Congress in the City Temple on the 17th September. Therein lie reviewed the great and fundamental changes that have occurred in Europe and Britain since August, 1914, and expressed the hope that the spirit which Britain displayed during the war will in peace load to the promised laud. " There was," says one commentator. "one dramatic point in his speech. Quoting the suggestion of some critic that he is going to be

' leading counsel for the old order of tilings." he flung up his right hand and in his most Stirling tone exclaimed, ' Rather than do that I would throw up iity brief to-morrow.' This- declaration was greeted with loud cheers." The Prime Minister declined to make any political pronouncement, saying:— "My feeling for the moment is that it is a time tor co-operation rather than for controversy, and at any rate on this occasion I will not say anything in the- nature of political controversy. 1 am glad to be able to attend the annual meeting of th'is great and promising movement. It has achieved great things. I feel it is capable of achieving a hundredfold even what it has already done, if it secures the necessary

support from all the Christian Churches in all lands; and 1 know nothing that more thoroughly deserves support than the Brotherhood Movement. May I say this also —and that is why I act here: There never was a time in the history of Britain, there never was a time in the history of a distracted and torn world, when the Brotherhood Movement was more needed than it is at his hour. Reference has been made to General Smuts, and how distressed you all were to hear of the death of his great and distinguished predecessor. It was a calamity to South Africa: it was a calamity to the British Empire, for T am using no words of exaggeration in sayiti"- that in the councils of

nations there was no man the noliility «>!' who.so character as well as the sagacity of whose mind carried greater weight and exercised a more beneficent influence than General Botha. His death lias "been a real calamity. T am glad he is succeeded by one of the most brilliant minds that Scruth Africa, lias produced. We owe a great deal to General Smuts, far more than the oountrv because through .the trying days of the war his great ability arid genius were at the disposal of the Allies, and he helped us in many ways to secure victory for the " cause of brotherhood for which we were fighting. I introduce his name at the pre-

sent moment because I think lie uttered one of the most penetrating phrases of the war. It was in his document, his great document, on the League of Nations. He saicl : Humanity has struck its tents and is once more on the march.' There never was a truor saying than that. The direction in which it will emerge, the objective it will reach, will depend on the guidance and the direction it sets, and that it why we look upon the Brotherhood movement as a timely one at this moment. "There are men who do not realise that the world is on the move. They lack not merely the gift of imagination but the more ordinary gift of observation. We. have'.illst- emerged from one of the most terrible conflicts the world has ever seen. They could not leave things exactly where they were. Every disturbance does not necessarily alter things fundamentally. Yon have seen great storms, and the sea in rng~ing turnuit and anger, the waters dashing against the rocks and threatening to sweep over the land. But the configuration of the coast lias not been altered. You have simply had a shifting of the pebbles on the beach, but- no real change. That is true of many political hurricanes, which some of us have been in before now. They sweep over the land, but- there are 110 landmarks moved. The hurricane has passed and the configuration is pretty much as it was. But this was a tidal wave, which swept away landmarks and submerged territories, and if men who lived on the earth on August <l. 1914. were privileged to revisit it, they would not know it to-day. It is 110 use talk- i ing about the old world as if nothing has happened to it. Two-thirds of ; 'Europe was. on August 1, 1914, governed by Powers which were apparently firmly established autocracies. Where arc those autocracies now? Banished! The greatest army of the ages, which was a menace to Europe and to the world, has gone, and you have substituted for it actually a police irirce, *rhe changes are great and lundameiital. The Hapsburgs, the Hohenzol'lerns and the Romanoffs, who not merely governed three-quarters of Europe, but represented in themselves an older order of things, have gone, and gone for ever, and the world is richer and safer for their disappearance. It. is exactly as if yon visited Switzerland and found that the flatterhorn and Mont Blanc had disappeared. That is 1 he change which has taken place in the political configuration of Europe. There never has been a period 111 tlu* historv o( tho. w oriel where in live years there were such fundamental changes in continents as which vou have had since August V 91.1. There have been other changes; there have bepn political changes. \ou have verv nearlv trebled the electorate of this country. Is that no change? You have a change in the hours ol ia',,ol- of a most fundamental character. \"on have had a change in the attitude of the nation towards problems like unemplovment. and in the sense ot obligation 011 the. community that where men are prepared and willing to work you have no right to let them starve 'The changes are fundamental, aiid. in face of all this, the people who sneer at the idea that the world lias crumbled are simply silly when they think they are superior. "A great many more changes will have to take place to complete the new picture. Slums have to go. 1 hope that great armaments will disappear, 1 not merely in Germany. Otherwise millions of gallant men will have bled in vain. T hope I' am not treading on the region of political controversy if 1 express the hope that the long-drawn and wretched misunderstanding between Ireland and the rest of the United. Kingdom will also disappear. I am looking forward to seeing waste —waste of the resources of tho land, waste in everv shape and form—disappear, and a new Britain springing up., freed from ignorance, freed from insobriety, a really free land, freed from penury., freed from poverty, freed from squalor, freed from the tyranny of mankind over mankind—a. free land. There are men who seem to imagine that T have accepted the position of leading counsel for the old order of things. Rather than do it. I would throw tip my brief

to-morrow. (Loud and prolonged cheers, n. portion of the audience rising and waving hats and handkerchiefs.) "I believe that there is a spirit in this land, a new spirit that, ha's arisen from the sacrifices of the war, that- will lead us to that land of promise of which many ol : us have been dreaming, and which I believe is within ihe reach of us if we only hold-together in the great spirit of brotherhood. The changes cannot bo effected, as T have been told—and ! agree—by speeches, by congresses, or by loading articles. There is nothing tc effect, these changes, believe me. but the steady, patient work of all, by all. for all—thai, must be done in the spirit of co-operation, and; lhis movement can help it. Everything depends on the spirit in which these tilings arc attempted. The right spirit iu which in begin the rebuilding of rlsis new land, worked for and prayed for, is the spirit, of the war:- the spirit of comradeship among all classes, the spirit of a passionate desire to see justice done at all costs, the spirit- of deep sympathy with the suffering wherever they arc and whoever they may I be. the spirit of readiness among all. [ ranks to make, if necessary, sacrifices jto achieve the right. Why should war ! always get the best out of mankind and I peace always get tin:- poorest? My ! heart thrills when the story is told of unselfishness, comradeship, brotherhood. valor such as the world has never seen, self-sacrifice—all placed on the j altar of war. Cannot we get them at the altar of peace? Is peace going to call forth nothing hut. arasping, greed, avarice, faction, timidity, indulgence? T wonder whether any of us realise the obstacles wo overcame in making the war. Unprepared, unready, untutored, in three or four years we became the most, formidable military Power in the world. Having overcome, gigantic obstacles, do not let lis quake or (|iiarrel before smaller obstacles. 11 1 remember the great scenes at the beginning of the war, the young men who thronged to the Horse Guards Parade to give their names, and I remember how the Cabinet was sitting, and wo heard the names one after anfjrtlier being rung out. There were men from every part of London, the EastEnd, the north, the centre, the. west, and the suburbs, men of all grades, men of all trades .men of all ranks, men of all conditions. They knew they were tendering their lives to their country. They were fighting for something for which there is a good word in the English language. I have not been .able to discover an equivalent for it in any other tongue. It is fairplay. What is fairplay? A sense of riqht—yes, but it- is a good deal more. It includes a sympathy for the weak who are harshly treated. It is a compound of justice and mercy, and. therefore, it is one of the greatest words to be fowiid in the world. I am proud of tli" fact that it is always associated with the British character. Tt sometimes needs rousing, it sometimes is discouraged and overcast, it is sometimes misled as to its facts, but it is there always, deep down in the British heart. The coal is always there, ready to warm hearts and hearths, hut the seam must he worked and the peace of the world, the security of the world, the happiness of the world depends on th" rav of- fairplay." Tn minor to the Leaiue of Nations, Mr Llovd Gepree said it was an organised attempt to substitute fairplay for force.