OPINIONS ON THE WAR
THE WAR AMD GLASS DISTINCTION. Sir, —This is essentially a war for liberty, equality, and fraternity, thai treat triumvirate in tho name of winch so many atrocities have been perpctiated. and which notwithstanding is still the trinity within which the whole spirit ot freedom is embodied. To the standards of this great cause liavo iloeked during tiie past ten moutlis the Mower of our .British youth and manhood m such numbers that the greatest manufacturing country in the world, assisted by tiie immense workshops of America, have so far failed to suiiiciently equip and munition them. That to those vast levies, as well as to those originally engaged at the front, the leisured classes ul Britain, which your correspondent "British Born" has seen fit to attack, have greatly contributed, the most aupcriicial glaiicu at that roll of honour, the British casualty list, will amply prove. Indeed, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that the name of no great British family is unrepresented in that sad but glorious record, and many are represented over mid over again. 1 cannot believe your correspondent so ignorant as not to know that the tradition of the British Army is the unest in the world, and that tho British officer, who is essentially the product or that class which ho attacks, has played his appropriate, and therefore leading, part in the building up and maintenance of that great tradition; and surely ho must know what all history has established, namely, that tho club man whom he contemptuously refers to as a liability, lias at tho call of danger always proved a iirst-class lighting man, and often a born leader ol men. Moreover, in the earlier of this war, before the Army outfitter had rairly got down to his task of obscuring tho identity of tho individual behind the khaki of the soldier, if Mr. "British Born" had stood with me ill any of the great thoroughfares in London, he would have seen squad after squad of raw recruits continually swinging past; and he would have seen in those brigades In very just proportion the product of the Bond Street tailor side by side with the rougher home-spun, appropriate to tile farmer and the artisan; and going still further one morning in September. he could have seen within the railings of St. James's Park 4000 men of the Public Schools' Brigade, recruited from the public schools of England, and all of gentle birth; and he would have heard, as I did, the lato Lord Roberts, that lover as well as that idol of the common soldier, refer to that brigade of gentlemen as one of tho finest body of raw material ho had ever looked upon; and I think, Sir, that seeing these sights and many others, such as the troops of King Edward's Horse, the Honourable Artillery Corps, tho Sportsinens' Brigade, Princess Patricia's Canadians, the great Bands of Terriers, and marking as ho must have done their composition, he would, rather than give vent to the sentiments expressed in his letter now under review, have found that golden silence to which I do most heartily commend him.
But what I really do want to explain to botli your- correspondents, namely, "British Born" and "John Bull," is that though I have been forced to take up the cudgels for the particular class which it seems to me that "British Born" has unjustly attacked, I really deprecate all such class distinctions, and I deem the man a common enemy who raises that standard in our midst. Rather do I wisli to make manifest to both these gentlemen that all classes of our British raco have given of their best, are giving of their best, and will keep on "giving of their best; and that in the ranks of our military system the man of gentle birth and the ploughman, both gentlemen in the truer sense or that misused word, stand linked together by tho golden thread of a common ancestry, and a common heritage, both clad in tlmt spotless raiment of khaki which whilst it merges the individual in the soldier, grades all according to their military merit and station, and knows no other standards whatever. In short, let "John Bull," "British Bom," and all true patriots leave off their party cat-calls and cast out their class distinctions, and in this darkest night of British history let us all adopt as our watchword for the night "Liberty. Equality, and Fraternity,"-and hopo that a ladiant dawn may shortly illuminate for all mankind tho beauty of that sentiment. —I am, etc., C. A. LOUGH NAN. Palmerston North. [It is obvious that what Mr. Loughnan says is the proper course to pursue, and ail class distinctions should bo dropped. We cannot continuo the correspondence.] THOSE REMOUNTS. Sir, —Some few days ago I saw in your paper's country correspondents, or rather country news, where Mr. J. M. Johnson, of Palmerston North, had. circularised tho Pahiatua and Woodville A. and P. Associations, urging on the members thereof the necessity of, and advantages to be derived from, the breeding of remounts. Several of my farmer friends have approached me on this matter. las well as they am puzzled to know oil what grounds Mr. Johnson views the breeding of remounts as advantageous. Unless this: I see by your advertising columns, Mr. Editor, where another Palmerston North firm are buying boner bulls. Possibly Mr. Johnson has a, or anticipates a, market for potted horse. Otherwise I fail to seo where there is any need to circularise farmers in any way to stimulate the breeding of horses above normal. However I would beg through tho columns of vour valuable paper for fuller details, which would be highly appreciated—l al "' ° tC " SAM BLAKE. Wellington, June 18, 1915. I
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Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2492, 21 June 1915, Page 6
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967OPINIONS ON THE WAR Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2492, 21 June 1915, Page 6
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