The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1920. PREACHING AND PRACTICE

New Zealand Tablet, 2 September 1920, Page 25

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1920. PREACHING AND PRACTICE

« lIREE things, according to the universal consent of the patriots, the politicians, ind J&'ll d X the pressmen of the great British Empire, make a Hun; and the three are: violation tVjjSK of pledges, oppression of the weak, and outraes <> n innocent people. Go back five ’ ‘psP years and read our enlightened • and honorr able daily papers, and , see to . what a fury of rage and tears our editors, our reporters, our anonymous correspondents lashed themselves when they contemplated Prussian pledge-breaking, Prussian oppression of Poland or Belgium, and Prussian crimes acrainof. linmonifw t> V, _ •„ i.-L , * days it was declared to be the solemn religious, patriotic, inevitable duty of every able-bodied man .... to go forth to make war against .those who were guilty of these things not because they were Prussians, but Because of the things they did. To stand by, and see poor little Poland and poor little Belgium overrun

was-cowardly and disgraceful; to be unmoved or'even sceptical about every crime that the press reported was enough to warrant hanging; to doubt that there could be a word said at all for the other side of the story was idiotic, unpatriotic, inhuman.

. * Look back now and see with what burning rhetoric, with what vibrating periods, with what fire and fury we called on humanity to arise and destroy those who broke solemn pledges, oppressed weak people, and committed outrages against humanitynot, as we have said, because they were Prussians, v but because they who did such things deserved extermination and ill manner of torture. Have you forgotten, you patriots? If you have we will remind you briefly of the sort of things you used to say, of the sort of pledges you used to make, of the high ideals and of the sacred anger that .then inflamed your hearts. Mr. Asquith it was who protested amid the applause of thousands that “This is a war. . . Perhaps T might sag primarily a ; war for the emancipation- of the smaller States. The peace must he, such as will build upon a sure and stable foundation the. security of the weak, the liberties of Europe, and the free future of the world.” Mr. Churchill it was who proclaimed; “We want a natural and harmonious settlement which liberates races, restores the integrity of nations, and subjugates no one. . . . Let ns war against the principle of one set of Europeans holding down by force and conquest, against their wills, another set.’’ Mr. George it was who said:. “The sanctity of treaties must be established; a territorial settlement must he secured, based on the right of self-determination, nr the consent of the governed It was the same orator who declared that," W h he saw an organised and insolent bully trampling on the. weak, he felt he was pursuing his ideals in his endeavor to combat that oppression. The 'world is a world for the weak as well as for the strong. If not why did. God make small nations ?” President Wilson said—and the British Ministers accepted what he said as a new gospel —“We believe these fundamental things; “1. That every people has the right to choose the sovereignty under which they shall live like other nations. “2. That the small States of the world have (he right to enjoy the same respect for their sovereignty and for their territorial integrity that the great and powerful nations insist upon. ; “3. That the world has the right to be free from every disturbance to its peace that has its origin in aggression and the disregard of the rights of peoples and nations.” These were Wilson’s words; and, speaking for England, Bonar Law said, “What President Wilson longs for we are fighting for.” And yet again, Wilson said: “We have used great words, all of us ;we have used the words Right and Justice, and now we have to prove whether or not we understand those words.” *

There is the preaching ; what is the practice ? Has- England kept her pledges to the world, to the dead as well as to the living Ask India, ask Egypt, ask Ireland what the British Government Lloyd George, Bonar Law, and Churchill, and the other makers of fine phrases, —have done for the rights of oppressed peoples. Ask the widow of the Lord Mayor of Cork, ask the friends of the kidnapped boys and the murdered girls and the terrified children if the atrocities committed by the English in Ireland are no-: as bad as those we were told the Huns committed in Belgium. Ask President Wilson how he kept faith with the American soldiers, and what he did for the destruction of despotism and the freedom of small nations. Ask the whole world to-day if Britain is not the outstanding example of perfidy in the comity of nations. Ask the statesmen of any country if they would trust Lloyd George, or Bonar Law, or Chur-'

chill. All the.' war pledges have been torn to tatters. Scraps of paper indeed! What do they matter to the tools of'the international money-kings that have wrecked Europe? British statesmen frankly declare that they have no intention of considering the right of peoples to self-determination,v and they are outspoken in their admissions that they recognise no guiding principle . but that Might is Right and that selfinterest must come before Truth and Justice. Truth and Justice, forsooth! These words served their turn, but what do they matter now? And in Ireland, in India, in Egypt, the tanks roll through the streets,'the machine-guns are let loose upon unarmed women and children, the police and the soldiers murder with impunity. We have seen what the preaching was like: there is the practice. Let any honest Imperialist or Jingo lay his hand on his heart and tell us whether we fought Prussia or Prussianism. But are there any honest people of that type? Are there any who have the manhood to stand forth and say that such crimes ought to be punished no matter whether done by the Kaiser or by Lord French. There may be a few; and the fact that there are but few shows to what a depth of moral rottenness the great and glorious British Empire—the champion of small nations—has fallen today. And so there is the end of all our war-lies and all our war-aims and all our splendid protests. On the one hand our fine preaching; on the other our infamous practice; and the consequence of both, our shame""as an Empire of boasters and hypocrites'.