THE END OF ARMAGEDDON

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXVI, Issue 17478, 24 January 1919, Page 2

THE END OF ARMAGEDDON

I-THE NEW FACE ON THE OLD WORLD — PUNISH THE CRIMINALS!

By HORATIO BOTTOMLEY (Editor of "John Bull"). Rearding the great war as, for all practical purposes, now at an end, Mr Bottomley, in one of the most interesting articles he has written, contemplates the new face of the earth brought about by »the destruction cf the German, Austrian and Turkish empires, and the changed conditions at Horns

At las* it has come —Armageddon is ended. As by a miracle, Germany, Aus_ tria and Turkey, as we knew them five years ago, are no more. Teuton and Turk have been relegated to their right, ful sphere in the Scheme of Things, and the Anglo-Saxon and th© Latin races have definitely and permanently taken their place in the van of human progress. God and the Devil had fi pitched battle^—and th& Devil is vanquished. Glory be to God!

Do you realise what has happened? Do you know that thg world is free? Do you understand that, in our time at least and thaib of our children, war is no more? That the earth is at peace? And th*s have our brothers done; From 'to.day we'may pursue, unmolested, t!he path of our normal lives, from which wo have been diverted these four years of b]ood and 'tears. In short, we may once more "live and move and have our bemg." Grim as has been the reality, v"'o look back upon it pll as a hideors dream. Ws have seen' Death and Desolation—we have looked into the jaws of Hell—but it is all over. Yesterday till we held .dear was in peril—life, home, liberty, honour. ' To-day neither land nor &ea nor air holds any terror for us. Now. thank we all our Gcd!

Tlie storm is 1 spent. It s distant rumblings began in 1888, when William the Vanquished came to his throne. And right down to 1914 it was ever gathering force. But our rulers heeded not. And then it burst. Th© re«t you know. A million of .our best.and bravest were engulfed in the whirlpool—a million more were scarred ar.d shattered; ten thousand millions of treasure, which mightf. have built a new earth, have besa dissipated in the science of slaughter—a "hundred thousand homes are bereaved and desolate. Industry and commerce have came 'to a holt; gentle girls and women don the garb of the workers*who went; out to the wai-—the whole face of the nation is changed.

And what of the face of Europe and the world generally? That, too, .has changed. New maps are in the taking. They will be settled at *he Peace Conference. I hope it will then be found that instead of Germany, Austria and Turkey standing out as compositeStaites, a dozentfree nationalities, wh'di for years hav c been held in bondage to them, will again appears—whilst Turkey proper will be relegated to Asia. The " Sick Man of Europe" mu^t be removed ; we have nursed him long enough.

But it is more particularly with the new oi"der of things ta& home that I am ebncei'ned. I confess' that lam apprehensive that unless we are alert many, of the restrictions and innovations jusri. tied by war necessity may be foiated upon us as permanent institutions. -We must by on our guard. 'The boys ;will soon be coming back. They will expect to find a better, brighter, freer England tfcarj the one they left. They have not been" lighting for ths re^toraition of the Curfew and the Sumptuary Laws —they have been fighting for Merrie England. Let us make merry.

Nor have they been fighting for worn., cut political shibboleths and moih-eaten jcreeds. Neither the Religion nor the Politics of pre-war days will attract' them. Something real and warm ana human will have to tnke *heir places. The pealing bells and tilie floating banners and the gay bunting will not de_ ceive them. Those things will be;out the emblem of our joy—not the symbol of their.sacrifice. "We have saved you," they vfill say—" wha* are you going to do "for us?" Yes, that is the question.

Weil, the first thing we are going to do is to punish 'the enemy. If he had been left to the boys they would have wiped him out But toe is capitulating —end we must finish the job. Dont •tell tha fighting men that we have "no quarrel with the German people." Remember those word-? of Bismarck —• "With Pru?.sia war ig an industry. Wo are n°t a- country with an army, but an army with a country." And "Jack" arid "Tommy" know that.

Yes, there are the culprits of the Kai. ser —cold, callous brutes, who never calculated that the day would coni c when we should demand their trial for their crimes and ousrages against even tha bloody ethics of war. I see that, under tli© guidance of the Attorney-General, a Committee has been set up to collet the name s and demand the surrender of the criminals, and to determine the mode of their impeachment. lam dis. posed to leave 'those matters in tne hands of "F. E."—as we did the trial' of Roger Casement. I remember the closing sentence of his speech—" He has been a traitor to the King, and we claim his life as forfeit." So, if you please, we will get the ropes ready.

And the Kaiser —h lie to escape? Is his, eievenrtih-hour abdication to be considered sufficient atonement? Never forget that it was he who planned the crime of this war; \\<q who sanctioned the worst barbarities of his "troops; he who never lifted a finger to stay the flood of' murder, outrage and rapine which lias made the name of Germany a byword amongst the nations r-f the ear'Ui. Where is this dastard skulking to-day from the vengeance which must certainly overtake him ? Surely no voice will bo'raised in that Council of Retri. huticn to protect this foul miscrean'? Think of Napoleon. Clearly, in barest justice Ho France, we "must insist that nobe-titer fate shall befall his mad imitator.

Ah, yes, France —never forget her. Who .<4iall doubt tliat history will one day do her iu&tice for her part in this struggle? Foch shall take no second place to the grea/t Corsican. For be under no illusion as to the cause of Ger_ many's collap.se. It is due not to Bolshevism or anarchy at hpme. nor to re„ volt amongst either the soldiers or trto sailors of the Raiser —butt to the superb and invincible valour of the Allied Arm. i<=s. guarded and watched o^er by oui glorious fleet. She has been crushed by her own lethal weapons. And, but for the cruel reciprocity of war, I could y!-

« most find it in my heart to wish that she would inarch on to her final doom.

Biiit I suppose we must have a Peace Conference Let it, however, be clearly understood tiha-t at that Conference the German delegates must be allowed not to use their tongues but only thejx ears. They will be there to listen to, and noic to discuss the^ terms. And two of the things I hope" they will heiir nothing about are '' the freedom of the seas" and the German colonies. Those subjects should be definitely ruled out before the Conference meets. And there is one thing, not in President Wil_ son's Fourteen Points, tliaij I hope she will hear about —full Indemnities to the Allies for the total cost of the war.

And Avlieu^ is th c Conference to be held? NtarJy fifty years sgo, Bismarck selected Versailles for the dictation of his terras; Berlin should be the venae of the Allies. That is where the dock: should be erected —that is where the enemy should hear his sentence pronounced, whiteit British. French and American troops keep order in court. Yes, we must honour the troops. After all, it is they who have done it. Talk of honours of knighthood, of decorations, of orders of chivalry! A* leasiteverv hero of Mons and the Marne should be included in th 6 'New Year's List.. But this is no time for invidious distinction. Everyman who has fought, every woman who has helped, and suffered ; every civilian worker in the Great Cause must have a place on the Ttoll of Honour- —whilst: every sleeping soldier shall be canonised in our hearts. I don't want to talk fake sentiment, but do you know that "something tells me" that when the day of rejoicing comes, they, too, by the wireless telapathy of the soul, will share our joyand pride?

And what of 'the outlook at home ? 1 have no real misgiving. We have endured splendidly. No Bolshevism will take root in British soil. That sort of thing is for either nascent or decaying nation.9. "We have won a great victory over tha enemy in the field; and now -we musit tackle the incipient "forces of re. action at home, as we have hurled down and trampled under foot those sinister alien influences, unbridled greed, class hatred, lack of, brotherhood between man and man. suspicion between man and wqnran. With these and other foes of liberty we must conclude not merely .an armisitice, but a permanent peace.

And, above all, we have demonstrated that this old Constitution of ours- —with all its contradictions and anomalies —is equal to any test, resting on the surest of all foundations —"broad based upon a People's will."