VON MOLTKE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 2829, 30 August 1890, Page 6 (Supplement)

VON MOLTKE.

This great Fiold-Marshal Von Moltke seldom makes a speech in the Reichstag, but when he does speak he is worth listening: to. His weight of 90 years presses lightly on him, and his voice is nearly as clear as ever. On May 14th he made a great speech, which, it is said, ensured the passing of the Army Bill. He said : —When the war which has now bung suspended over our heads for more than ten years nlroady, like a Damocles' sword, at last breaks out, there is no Baying how long it will last. It is the mightiest Powers of Europe, armed as they never were before, that will encounter one another now ; nor can any one of them be so completely overthrown in one or two oampaigns as to admit itself vanquished and conclude peace on hard terms, or aB not to be able to renew the struggle after the lapse of a year. Gentleman, there can be another Seven Years' War, or even a Thirty Years' War, and woe to him who sets Europe on fire by hurling a brand into

the powder-cask . . . "The better we are armed by land and sea and readier for wur the more we may hope to preserve peace a little longer, or. at any rate, to carry on the inevitable conflict with honour and success. (Cheers.) All our Governments are confronted with social problems of the greatest importance— vital questions which war may postpone, but cannot solve. I believe that all Governments are sincerely desirous of maintaining peace, and the only question is whether they will bo able to do so. I believe, moreover, that the great bulk of tho inhabitants in all countries desire peace, but that the decision rests not so much with them as with tho parties whioh have placed themselves at their head. Gentlemen, the pacific assurances of both our neighbours in the East and the West, assurances for the rest which are tendered us simultaneously with the continuance of their warlike preparations, are no <10ubt very valuable, but seourity wo can only find with and from ourselves."