THE WORLD AT WAR

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 1164, 3 November 1917, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE WORLD AT WAR

Cj Germany has more than once shown the Uj K road (out of the war); it is the road of agree- Dj 5j ment and compromise. But that is precisely Dj n] what Lloyd George and his fellows do not and [a jG cannot desire, because it gives the lie to all qJ }0 the assumptions upon which he assumed the fjj H task of government. In a sort of joking |Q H fashion, which is on the lowest level of politi- j3 |q cal dialectics, Lloyd George says that Ger- Jg ffi many's new Chancellor and the German Em- uj Dj peror have stuttered over the word "restora- K ffi tion,'' that this word is the first letter of the DJ K peace alphabet, and that the English lads Cj ft will teach it us He does not say plainly what ft n] he understands restoration to mean; probably N [Q he is thinking not only of Belgium and Serbia, 3 }fl but also of Alsace-Lorraine. .. A Minister who H |{] speaks of the most terrible conflicts of man- s) H kind in the tone of a circus clown is simply Jfl Dj not worthy to lead a great and proud nation fjj Dj with England's past. But that is their affair bj Di and their misfortune. To us it seems as if Dj DJ Lloyd George is no longer the real spokesman Dj fjj of the English nation, or, if he still is so, that [}| n] he will not remain so much longer. The dif- pj n) ference between this coarse manner of talk- rJ jQ ing about war and peace and the cautious jQ ffl utterances of his colleagues, Asquith, Bal- rfj |{] four, and even Bonar Law, is too great for |Q pj us to be able to believe that it is merely acci- jg Dj dental; and, in spite of all the agitations of Lj Di the people like Lloyd George, we still believe DJ D, that in England, also, the peace of reconci- Dj K liation is drawing nearer, although, indeed, [}j 3 it must be a terrible idea for the party of the QJ jQ war agitators.—"Frankfurter Zeitung." q|

Victory awaits us on one condition only. We must not weary in well doing. Everything depends on that —tillage, ships, and all the rest. Without steady, assiduous, and willing lahour, we cannot win the war. We share the Prime Minister's faith that the people have only to he told what to do and they will do it. They have done it splendidly for three years. If only the truth is told them frankly and kept steadily before their eyes, they will not falter to the end. We have developed marvellous military and material resources in this tremendous war, but, as Mr finely says, the greatest force of all, the force which inspires and sustains this unapproached effort, is our unabated belief in the justice of our cause and in the immeasurable results for freedom and for civilisation which the triumph of that cause will bring. In that faith we are fighting, and in that faith, with the blessing of Heaven, we shall conquer. —"The Times."

'nJ Nicholas Romanoff, the deposed Emperor r3 n] of Russia, and his family are living in a 14- rQ H room apartment on the second floor of a large, kj sj old-fashioned house at Tobolsk, Siberia, ac- kj kj cording to reports from Petrograd. Nicholas kj |fl and the one-time Empress each have a room, kj kl Two rooms have been put aside for the four rQ kj daughters, and one for Alexis. The other rooms, kJ W except the dining room, kitchen, and reading kj kj room, are occupied by the servants. The house kj H is without a garden, and the only way of kj kj getting fresh air is from a small balcony, kj kj The new home of the Romanoffs was not ready kj kj when the family arrived, and they were com- kj k] polled to spend two days aboard the small kj kj steamship on which they travelled the last 50 nj kj miles down the Tobol River. The deposed kj kj Empress and her daughter Olga rode to the kj kj house, while the other members of the family kj kj walked. The day of their arrival was a holi- kj kj day, and few persons saw the newcomers, kj kj except for a small crowd which had assembled kj kj to watch a priest conduct the usual ceremony kj kj of blessing the house for its new tenants. The [j] kj guards of the family are mainly cavaliers of kj kj the Order of St. George and fusiliers, and the 3 kj family is virtually under the same mode of kj kj life as at Tsarskoe-Selo. Nicholas has asked |{j jj] permission to engage tutors for the children. "] K The mother herself will attend to the religious j/i Cj instruction of the younger ones. It cost the Dj K Government 10,000 roubles (§5000) to move K re the family to Tobolsk. ft pi..—. — —,.-,——. !_; ~J

In the air alone has the chivalric warfare of single champions survived, and the national gTief when a Boelke, Warneford, or Guynemer goes down is the old national grief when some picked knight perished between opposing encampments. Having advantages of romance, gallantry and spectacular daring over even the mediaeval Taillefers and Bayards, the modern individual representative of a nation, in a conflict in which millions of unnamed struggle, faces one great misfortune of circumstance. He is not reserved for the single theatrical occasion, hut day in and out, in all weathers, and facing opponents small and great, must p\irsue his warrior's path. The career of the great airman is a game against inevitable fate in which his skill can only postpone the final day. First a small army group, then a part of the public, then all France, and finally all the world is watching Guynemer's tallied exploits; but it takes no one conversant with the mathematical theories of changes to know that he cannot continue avoiding accident and crushing enemies forever. The hero of to-day must make place for another to-morrow. —"Evening Post" (New York).