OPINION AND THE WAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 16591, 14 January 1916, Page 8

OPINION AND THE WAR

NO OLD GODS'. £Fbom Oub Own Correspondent.) LONDON, December 7. Mr Birrell, at North Bristol: " Somo people think that alter the war changes which have been made in social thought and relations will disappear, that men will summon back their gods Irom temporary retirement in the attio of St. Stephens, and begin worshipping them afresh, chanting the old litany, ' The Devil take the hindmost, and the weakest goes to the walL' If wa do that—arid the changes represent rtu.l solidarity of feeling between all cLasses—an approach to something tho Lord camo to call us to —the brotherhood of races —then tho war will have given rise to an epoch. It is the only happiness of my life to believo most confidently that! tho crime of this war rests u{>on other shoulders than i>nrs, and that Great Britain had no choice but to take tho part it has taken. Tho riches in the country will bo heavily reduced, but if we accomplish our purpose of serving the cause of humanity and liberty, that will not matter, and that must be tho object of us all." THE TRIUMPH OF. RIGHT. Lord Robort Cecil, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs: " The outstanding impression of the war is tho extraordinary courage and tenacity of tho soldiers and officers in the great fight. More, perhaps, than in any previous war this is a contest between two highly-organ-ised human machines. It is like all contests in human history, fundamentally a combination of ideas, and unless one side or the other : s prepared to abandon these ideas, sooner or later, tho great controversy must be fought out. We believe we are fighting for liberty, justice, end permanent peace. That eertair.-ly is true. But even underlying these great ideas there is a fundamental issao be twee a the combatants. The German oonception, acted long before they began to preach it, was that as between nations there was nothing but material power; that tho only thing to which appeal can bo nn.de was actual, material, mechanical, and physical force.. German ' Kultur,' if I understand it rightly, i 3 nothing, if it is kwked at fairly and truly, but organised barbar.sm. —(Cheers.) We— and I speak of people in the 6ystem of Christian civilisation—belie re that that is not eo, and that beyond all physical power there is something still more powerful. If tho Get-man idea ia to triumph, that will bo the end 8f all hope for tho human race. I do not moan to say that the great ideas for which we uro lighting will go down at one contesr. If we can imagine such a Lhing as tlie final triumph of the conception that might is right, that will strike at the root of, everything which makes life worth living in the worid. After ail, what is human progress, what is the gradual growth from anarchy to civilisation? Itis the substitution of something beyond physical force as that which is to rule mankind. The great instrument which we have evolved in this country, and, indeed, in all civilised courtries, as between man and man, has been the supremacy of the law and the enforcement of moral obligations, apart from individual strength and the numbers of the population. If wo can establish our idea, it means hope for the human race, it means the substitution of international law for international anarchy, and it means that we shall secure a peace on the only true foundation, that of righteousness."

. THE ROMANTIC GERMANS. Mr G. Bernard Shaw, speaking in aid of baby clinics:— "Wc may put peace as completely out of our heads at present, as wo may clear skies and summer beat. Even supposing that the German Emperor, in a fit of inspiration, were suddenly to withdraw his ajmy into his own frontiers, and to say, 'Now, I have shown you that I can sweep all your armies before me, nevertheless, as I believe tho world cannot bo governed by the sword, I am going to ask you to discuss what is best to be done.' Even if this amazing thing were to happen, how could we accept that offer? If we did, we should' bo acknowledging that tho German army was invincible, and that we were vanquished. The nation is in no temper to think of peace. I venture to tell you that the German army is not the perfect and infallible machine which everybody believes it to be. In fighting that army, you are fighting a romantic dream-—tho dream of a romantic people. Being in tho romantic lino myself—(Laughter)—l know how short of proficiency all romantic people aro. Tho German army attacked Liege without siege guns, and were held up for a fortnight by a little Belgian army, thereby losing the war. Since then, of course, the German armies, liko all other armies, had learned its business, until it has done wonderful things, and now the Germans _ themselves have got mto that attitude of mind towards the rest of mankind, out of which they will have to be awakened thoroughly, and that is why we must go on fighting. You must make up your minds that we must go on until we have destroyed that dream." THE NIGHTMARE. Mr C. F. G. Masterman, at Whitefields Tabernacle: — " Viewing it all with tho death of men and the wiping out of whole nations, and no immediate prospect of peace, I still 6!iy to-day that I should have voted or accepted tho position which i accepted 15 months ago, when 1 was a member of his Majesty's Government, and should declare to-day, seeing all that has happened, as wo declared then, that we had no alternative but to do what we have done. I don't suppose any mail in tho world lias over passed through such an experience as wo passed through in tlioso six days, meeting practically continuously in a hot summer at Downing street, with telegrams pouring in from every capital of Europe, saying that one thing had gone, and now another, and now another, and the clock tioking out inexorably the hours that alone remained if peace and civilisation were to b© continued in tho world. We tried this wav and that; wo offered conditions; we asked for conferences; we pleaded for time in days; wo pleaded for time in hours. Everything was refused us, until finally wo were left with this choice—security, or tho destruction of the honour of our country. And that choice would have been tho choice that every man of you would have made. It was not the interest of England that led us into tho war. It was tho honour of England. Tho war seems almost, to have been taken out of the hands of ruler 3 of nations and passed into tho hands of the devil himself. What is tho good ot crying peace when there is no peaco? We have to fight this thing through, whatever it costs, for the sako of our honour, for the sake of generations that will come after, and for the sake of the preservation ot ideals for those generations. Whenever tho end docs come, whatever else happens, nil will agree that a nightmare has passed from tho world."