DEMOCRACY AND THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 253, 13 July 1918, Page 6

DEMOCRACY AND THE WAR

The Anglican Bishop..of Wellington (Dr. Hpkott) recently reminded us that; the present war may show that a democratically constituted society cannot survive in this world. The democratic idea, ho said, is at, present passing through the furnace. It is one of the issues , of tl:o war. The ' Bishop has nothing to say against the democratic principle. He believes in it, and hopes that it will prevail; but Germany's deliberately planned attack on tbo fundamental rights of humanity shows that the world has not yet been "made safe, for democracy." One of the chief aims of the great alliance of free nations which German aggression has brought into existence is to make: the position of democracy secure for all time. President Wilson has. insisted upon this point over and over again. The Pan-German tyrants have challenged democracy to prove that it is strong enough to survive in the struggle for .existence. It has often been said that a democratic nation is at a disadvantage in a war. against an autocratic pow.r, and there is undoubtedly a good deal of truth in this contention as regards the material factor; but as regards the moral factor democracy has a decided advantage. In' the" present struggle the democratic nations have been slow to get into their stride. This has enabled their enemies to strike effectively and gain a strongposition, but free peoples have greater spiritual resources to draw upon than tyrant-ridden nations. a l ■■■, when the opposing material forcer, are evenly balanced tho spiritual factor must in the end turn the scale. For centuries the democratic principle has been gaining strength in the world, while, the autocratic idea hns been continually losing ground. Who can beliovc that tho process i'i now to ha reversed and that Kaiscrisiir is to give freedom its death-blow'l Wo are confident in the power of democracy to protect itsulf, but it would be folly to shut oiu , eyes- to the fact that-the democratic principle iy in jeopardy until the Potsdam gr.ng has been overthrown and punished for its crimes.

Mors than a century ago Edmund BiiKRH' declared: "It is with .in armed doctrine wo. arc at war." These words are as trim to-day as when they we , ? first uttered. ' We arc now in conflict with the armed doctrine that there can be no progress without war, unci that Germany is destined to conquer the world.and to impos« her will and hiiltur upon the whole human race. In referring to the fact that the two .ureal; English-speaking democracies, Britain a.'id America, arc fighting side by .side against the greatest foe that democracy )v\-i ever had to face, Mn. Baijpour recently remarked that the Germans had got it firmly implanted in thair minds that "idealism was Jolly: thai the. only thing worth national effort was 'power: that power 'oiild only be obtained by casting aside all tip. ordinary principle? of morality; iiid that that was the only road to Imperial success. Those ideas arc responsible for the crime against humanity of which Germany became guilty when she started this war. The entry of America into the conflict in union with Britain not only makes

''•iipl victory ne certain as anything human can be, but it will also'cstabiisli democracy on unshakable foundations. As Mn. Balfour Lclls us, the union of Britain and America will nut result in "the dominion over the .world of any special typo of civilisation, of any particular world power, but rather that opportunities will be given for each race, fen- each nation, to develop that which is best in its own character, that which its own history suggests as its true lino-of development, and that under the aegis of a world peace which it will be the business, of tho Allied nations to guard, all the family of man may find a higher, a freer, and a safer development than they, have ever yet found" in- the history of the world." But if the impossible should happen—if the Central Powers should win this warthen -under their "blighting domination; freedom, democracy, power of self-development, the free, and unsuspicious intercourse between different nations will become absolutely impossible, and all the highest growths of civilisation will be sterilised at the root," The contrast which Mn. Balfoct draws so impressively between the ' war 'ideas and ideals of the Allies and those of the Central Powers gives powerful emphasis to Bishop ;Spkott's reminder that the democratic idea is one of the issues of the present war. Yet some people who.pose as the special champions of democracy and ceaselessly render lip-ser-vice to freedom are not ashamed to talk of a truce with a- Power which is irreconcilably opposed to democracy and is doing its utmost to drive freedom from the world.