IN WAR PREPARE FOR PEACE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11508, 2 October 1915, Page 8

IN WAR PREPARE FOR PEACE.

"Si vis pacem para helium" has been claimed as a good working principle, and the converse may be equally true. At least, it is worth considering. The Allies entered the war quite unprepared for a long struggle, and it has cost them a tremendous effort to make good their defective armament. It would be little short of a calamity if they entered peace in the same style of unpreparedness. In war prepare for peace should' be our motto from now on. Not for peace in the direction of conciliating the enemy, but in the direction of guarding ourselves from the disasters that may easily follow in the wake of a great war. It will be said that it is premature and unwise to talk of peace at this stage, when the sinews of war are tightening for more terrible efforts, but, after all, the years of war are short in comparison with the vearsi of peace, and in the heat of the struggle we should never forget that significant fact- Our duty is not only to ourselves, but to those who come after, and we should be careful not to burden them unduly with a debt of our own making. AVe know what legacies great wars bequeath to future generations, but beyond the material debts we bequeath we should endeavour not to transmit principles which may hamper the freedom of action or hinder the national growth of the coming people.

To prepare for peace in war does not mean to strive to arrange terms with the enemy. It has a far graver and deeper significance. In war times there is ever a tendency to discount spiritual things; to d'rop overboard tbo ideals

cherished and fought for by our ancestors There are always noisy coteries of people in a time like this who are ouite prepared to sacrifice great moral principles in order to contend more quickly with the matter in hanu. Ihey take short and narrow vfcws, a«d wou.d sacrifice all the gains of the past provided the exigency of the moment could be-met. These, people, forget that changes brought about in war timo arc apt to become permanent. History is Ml of evidence on this point, but such people are as a rule unaffected' by appeals to history.

The Allies must and shall defeat Germany. It ..is absolutely necessary for us to do so. and we refuse to reflect for a moment on the prospects oi defeat for the simple reason that if we wore defeated we would havo no prospects as a nation. So, if wo must win, we should make elaborate precautions for the victory, for victory will not bo simply;a'matter for jubilation, but a work of tremendous importance just as, vital as preparation for Avar. Already wo have eliminated much that was useless in our nationaf life, but there is a danger that some of our jingoistic enthusiasts may bo unable to discriminate between tin- gold and the dross.' Britain has been censured for the way she. has clung to principles and has refused to sacrifice them at the call of the God of War. She has been called decadent and other bad names, but the very fact that these principles survive in the greatest crisis in history shows the virility of their growth and the strong life of the nation that refuses to cast them lightly to one side.