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The Dominion WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1918. VOWS RENEWED

The King gives expression to the sentiments of Britishers in all parts of the world when ho assures tho President of the United States of our unswerving determination to continue the war with all our strength until tho victory of right over wrong is achieved. 'This steadfast determination to win out was tho unvarying kcyiobo'sounded at the war anniversary meetings which have been held in New Zealand and in other parts of the Empire. Britain and her Allies have a groat task to do for humanity's sake, and they will persevere till the end in spite of the wails and whimperings of the weak-willed and faint-hearted few who want to plead and parley with a gang of bloodthirsty Prussian, thugs who have deliberately inverted the moral law; who have said "evil be fchou my good," and i have put this precept into practice with ghastly thoroughness. We would degrade ourselves if wo consented to bargain for peace with men who, as iSiu Francis Bell reminds us, have utterl.j' disregarded every decent, and humane principle, have turned_ loose on helpless populations a licentious soldiery with directions to treat wonun and children 'as slaves, and threaten to treat British women and children in the same way. Almost at the very time when Sir Francis Bell was pronouncing these words the German pirates were 'engaged in the cowardly act of sinking one of our hospital ships. Shall the wanton murder of over a hundred of our wounded soldiers bs allowed to go unpunished 1 Shall we enter into negotiations with the murderers? bhallwe not rather resolve to fight on with ever-increasing determination until i victory enables us to punish them as they deserve? A compromise peace' would enable these criminals to evade the proper penalty of their crinus. The disastrous moral effect of such a contingency must bo apparent to anyone who has even the most rudimentary sense of justice. The sinking of hospital ships is one of tho foulest of the many foul crimes Germany has committed dilrimr this war. Shall we forget theseatrocities when the day of reckoning comes? Wo. cannot and will not. Lokd Chewe recently declared V>at he knew of no rule of Divine justice or human procedure which, when tho enemy ' sank passenger ships or- attacked hospitals, would forbid us to try the perpetrators) by a drumhead court-martial and to execute them, not by shooting, as brave enemies, but by hanging as malefactors. In fact, the rules of justice not merely permit but positively demand such retribution. But what about the Kaiser and the high officials who arc- primarily responsible for the policy of frifrhtfulness? Is then to ba no punishment for them?- In an • impassioned speech at Philadelphia, Dr. Lyman Aubott, a distinguished GWreijationahst, declared that he. would pray for the forgiveness of ignorant and unwitting criminals, but he would not offer such a prayer "for tto Kaiser or for his pals." He went on to say that "any man who proposes a compromise with Germany or a peace negotiation with tins band of bricrands is a traitor " The words of this grand' old man • S3 years of age, who has returned to tho platform to denounce Germany's atrocious war methods, deeply i'mpresscr his hearers. He went on to say: Wo will never, never, never pay a tithe of the debt we owe to Jineland and to France. We are going to be allies with England in tlic coming, neace as we are in , the present war." .

In tins war the Allies stand as tho champions of humanity, and Me. Llovd George states plain tact when he says that to stop short of victory would be to compromise the future of mankind. The only Possible way of realising the hope •that this terrible conflict is preparing the way for the creation of a new and better world is bv pressing; on unfalteringly until Germany, the enemy of the human face, is compelled by the defeat of Her plots and her armies to sue for peace If by any chance this struggle should end in a draw there would be no rest for the world. An unbeaten and unrepentant Germany will never repent until she is beaten— would compel every nation that valued its freedom to stand armed to tie teeth. Every day we would bo thinking of and preparing for the awful, and inevitable clash, and we would l>e ..dreaming of it every night. How could we concentrate our minds on social and industrial reforms with a sword hanging by a thread over our heads? Yet there are peoplefortunately not many in New Zealand—who in the name of freedom and democracy and peace are prepared to give Prussian militarism another lease of life. It is a marvel how anyono in full possession of his senses can make himself believe that the men who now control the destinies of Germany would, with honest intent, join a league of nations to ensure peace. War is to them a biological necessity. They openly and impudently repudiate any moral obligation ' to non-Ger-man peoples. The Kaiser has placed on record the assertion l.h.it humanity dops not exist beyond tin Vosrcs. It is impossible to make a Inndinp agreement with rulers, who do not admit tho existence of a supreme moral law to which all mankind owes allegiance. It is futile to ap-

peal to the conscience of a- conscienceless power, and beg it to sheathe its sword. The only possible way of making the world safe for democracy and to form a family of nations is by striking the sword from Germany's hand and smashing it. If we are now fighting with the object of making war impossible agiiin, then it must bo a fight .to a finish. ' Mr. Batten, .the president of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' , Association, did well to insist upon this point at the Town Hall meeting. The returned soldiers and the soldiers who have not returned stand for the sound policy of "finishing the job now," and that is. the policy for which our soldiers who will never return sacrificed their lives. Those who talk about New Zealand or the Empire having "done enough" should remember that unless this war is won thoroughly wo will have done noIf we do not "carry on" till victory has been achieved, history will brand us as shirkers who had the greatest opportunity of any generation, but made "thp great refusal."

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19180807.2.9

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 273, 7 August 1918, Page 4

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,078

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1918. VOWS RENEWED Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 273, 7 August 1918, Page 4

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 1918. VOWS RENEWED Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 273, 7 August 1918, Page 4

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