The New Zealand THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1920. STOCK-TAKING

New Zealand Tablet, 15 April 1920, Page 25

The N ew Zealand THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 1920. STOCK-TAKING

• «♦» . M HE war is over now. All , are agreed that yld we arrived at what is called peace some■W 1 “4* where about the beginning of March. In -b J Hie view of confirmed imperialistic optimists who see no farther than their nose, and who _would wear spectacles of iron if ' iilr ' they thought the sight of their nose would be different from what they expected, we are on the threshold of the new era promised so abundantly by our, various political —liars what time they drove young men to fight, for what they called the abolition of despotism, the making of the world safe for democracy, the freedom of oppressed nations, and the right of self-determination. Well, it may be conceded that we are on a threshold of some sort ; even if the vista before clear-eyed people is far other than is seen in the day dreams of our true blue Jingoes ’who objected to hearing a word about Deutschland ucbci* jLlles, but cherish in their hearts the ambition to see England neber^kites- before they die and go elsewhere. Therefore, there is an ex-, cuse for stock-taking, -in ’ order to see'where ' the ! war has , brought us and wnat it has done for us.

: An object of - the war " was destruction of militarism. We have destroyed four empires; and we are realising that, bad as they were, - the governments * destroyed were a thousand times better , than what ;we , have in their stead. That is the first thing to be set down as the result of the war. Again, we set out to I destroy what we called Prussianism. We have given it a new lease of life. For witnesses we call upon the Egyptians, the Indians, and the Irish. We have handed over a large tract. of China to Japanese militarism—or Prussianism if you like. We have frankly and without shame adopted what we denounced, as Prussian methods. That is the second thing the war has brought us. We vowed to break up the German power. Instead, we have united the German people and implanted into their souls a hatred of ourselves and of France that will never die now. That is the third boon the war has given us. We went to. war to make the world safe for Democracy. To-day there is in every country less human liberty than ever there was before in history: our Government is a despotism; it has no claim to represent the will of the people; a rotten Bureaucracy has succeeded a sham Democracy. That is the fourth gain of the war. We fought—-said-for self-determination for oppressed people. Ireland, India, Egypt are crying aloud at our despotic cruelty, and the blood of innocent people is on our hands. That is the fifth victory of the Avar. We were, to establish a League of Nations which should secure lasting peace. We began the work by a game of grab behind doom; Ave continued it by a stern and stubborn refusal to put in practice the principles we advocated; and because, while the delegates sat at Versailles, we went on persecuting a small nation and breaking faith with the men who fought, America has now torn to tatters the chart of our sham League of Nations and scattered the fragments to every wind that blows. That is the sixth result of the war. »; ' 5 . The war for the rights of small nations is over. Mr. Hughes in an expansive moment told us that it was a war for economic domination. AAe have made that quite plain. We have removed not one cause that led to the Avar: we have intensified and strengthened the passions that gave it birth ; we have aroused elemental forces that Ave cannot now control, and the violence and outrages that are rife in most countries are but the signs of the deeper and more serious sentiments beneath them. AA have taught men to kill, and they kill; Ave have taught men to hate, and they hate; we have set a headline for duplicity, and can. we be surprised that dishonesty and even robbery are rampant everywhere? Nation is set against nation, and class against class, and the dark cloud of revolution lowers over the earth. We have not tried to make peace on the only principles that ensure a lasting peace. We have ignored God; we have violated charity and justice: we have outraged truth; we have deceived the people. We have built a house on sand, and already it totters. Against that mass of failures we may indeed set the fact that Ave have put more red on . the map, and that a few protected profiteers have made money out of “Dope”. swindles and other swindles. AA 7 it for this our men poured out their blood? Was it for this wives were made widows and children orphans in so many homes? If the situation can be retrieved it can only be done by a return to Christian principles and by the restoration of justice and charity and truth on earth. Look around you to-day and say if there is a single government from which you can expect any movement towards the restoration of such principles. And be assured that until such a movement begins the confusion already existing will become only worse confounded. Our stock-taking is not a pleasant one.. But if we only had men of principle and good-will to lead us out of the morass there would still be hope. ■ - . 1 * - ‘ ■. He who is not satisfied with a little is often happy with less. .