PATH TO PEACE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18758, 15 July 1935, Page 4

PATH TO PEACE

BRITAIN’S GREAT TASK CAN SAVE EUROPE LONDON, May 21. General Ilertzog, Prime Minister oi South Africa, referred last night, to the European situation as being fraught with possible serious consequences to the British commonwealth.” Addressing the, South Africa Club at a dinner at "he Savoy Hotel, he said:--“The general European situation has, during the last month and more, so prominently forced itself upon the attention of the world that it may well be forgiven me and other responsible individuals from the far-ol't Dominions when, at times, we. have fell ourselves constrained to ask the question, Wlwt is Europe steering tor: “There can be little doubt- that international relations, uo less than international feeling, in Europe are in a chaotic state —a- chaos admittedly the fruit of war and of the passions engendered by war and the wrongs oi war. “When, thereiore, war comes to he suggested as a remedy for the evils of war, it does not- quite surprise me, but I cannot but feel deeply disturbed ancl look upon the suggestion as a fatal counsel of despair. “GOVERNMENT BY MADNESS” “To hold l-hat war should build where wav was destroyed, is to believe that the world can be governed better by madness than by reason. “Quite to the contrary, I firmly hold that peace is the only way to salvation for Europe—a peace established on a broad basis of genuine goodwill _ and accompanied by a generous recognition, and by a generous measure of rectification of mistakes and wrongs committed. “Peace in Europe must always bo a matter of very great importance to Hie Ountuon wealth, more especially 'o Tu'ilain, \si ILi whom it- may even become a matter of supreme concern. But t-llis is no reason why Europe should envelop the commonwealth in her Nossus shirt of passion and strife. “If Europe of necessity must have war, that, after all, will "be her responsibility. Our main concern, however, must .always be the British commonwealth of nations. “Tlie -British commonwealth stands for peace; and in its attitude towards peace let ns pray that it will persist to maintain it in the spirit of a _ homogeneous whole, even when institutions more specifically dedicated to the service of peace, threaten to succumb beneath the weight of the passions of strife. “The fundamental cause underlying all the fear and talk of war, and of the inevitablcness of war, appears to me to be no oilier Ilian the continued insistence upon war terms against which the conscience of the world has been in revolt ever since their inception. CAUSE OF CONCILIATION “As, however, I can find no reason or justification for the Commonwealth to he involved in any war sprung from such a cause. I fail to discern anywhere on the political horizon of Europe any sign -of a hostile intention necessitating us to forsake the path of peace and follow the footsteps of war. “Tn spite, therefore, of her apparent failure so far in her unwearied endeavors in the cause of conciliation, the great and noble task entrusted to Great Britain slili remains—the maintenance of the peace of Europe—ail impartial and whole-hearted devotion Lo which cannot but ensure if not success, at any rate the gratitude and admiration of all who do not believe in war ns a desirable substitute for peace.”