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WORLD PEACE

MR. BALFOUK ON THE LEAGUE DUTY OF GREAT NATIONS A great Armistice Day meeting, organised bv !!ie League of Nations Union, at the Queen's Hall, London, on November 11. was made Uu , occasion of an important speech by Mr. Jiulfour, Sceretarv of State for Foreign Afljairs: Mr. Balfour Enid:— One year exactly has elapsed since the main stros; of vav came to an oml with the signing of the declaration of tho armistice. Ami to-day, an hour before noon, in every part of tlie Britieh Empire, in every latitude, and on every continent, theiv was a pause in the business and in the pleasures of men. and everv member of the Empire erased from bis dailv p.vcciilicns for a brief space of time, and devoted himself in silent tliouriit to tlif great ".vents which this timo last venr *av their greatest consummation. It is rot for me, or for any nan. to tv :ind fathom the thoughts that pnssed thrnusjli these countless multitudes ivh?n iho hour struck, and yet, Biirelv. wo m.iv conjeelnro that among tho tlin'iu'hb that P.'issod through their I minds threo nt '.east were paramount. 1 Thf t'irst wa-= .•> thought for the glorious dwd—tho rlrrious dead, associated in almost everv man's nnd woman'smind with the loss of some individual or some individuals FPfciallv dear, whose places were emptv, never a?ain to be filled. That would be tlm fiv.-t thought that passed through the heart? of every man nnd womnn ibis mornin;;. The second thousrht I ccinjochire to have been one of profound crnfitudc at the fact that these homes had not died in vr.in. but that the flnjico for rhich they Ah-t\ was tviumnlmnt in the end. {Ch<wO

T think thoJhird thought and tlio nno most relevant to our meeting here this afternoon.. was tl'.o thought that .never ncaJn (should Jminaiiil-y be allowed to go throiifrh this terrific trinl—fell eer?)— never naain was there to bo this disastrous lo«s of, life, not in tho ,old and tlmso who nre destined In any cafe to pass ftwav in a few y«en> or months, but in thn verv flown , of nmnlinod of all tho most civilised nations of tho world. That js tho thoiinht Hint should > dorninnto us t.liiq nftcrnoon ' Thnt w the thought that, has rt.ovnd you to. come'-to this room, as it has moved me to attempt to nddre.w von. for it rooiu j to me clear as t'.nvlieht that if a repetition of these inef.lculahle ej-lnniitio.* is to he nrevented fov our children ami our srandehildren, it. can only he through the beneficent operations of thp.Lcagim of Nations.

Critics of the. Leslie. The League o2 Nations hns had many critics, hut 1 am not awaro that, among tho multitude of criticisms that have been offered, any 'suggestion makes its appearance for finding' a substitute for that organisation, which wo desire to eee entrusted, I bdinit, with tho great task of' pTeservinsf tho peace of the world. Those who criticise the League of Nations liavo no substitute for the League of Nations. They are prepared, it seems, for tho civilised world to go on in tho future, as it has gone on in tho past, oscillating between those scenes of violence and sanguinary disturbance and tho intervals in which great and ambitious natiens pile up their armaments for a new effort. To mo siich an ideal appears to .be absolutely intolerable, and I am not prepared, seriously, to discuss with any man what tho future of the international 'relations should be unless ho is prepared either to accept in somo form or another the League of Nations, or to tell mo what substitute ho proposes for it. (Cheers.) There are those who think that the horrors of the last (iv* years will cure mankind for an indefinite series of generations from any repetition of those abominations.. Wei!, I think it is true that, not in my lifetime, nt all events, will' maiikind iwillimrly plunge again into the abyss from which they have been with such difficulty extricated. But, after all. wo have to think not'merely of tho next few years. We have to east our eyes forward and think of the fate of those who are now voung and tho fate of their children, and, again, , of their children. Memories are short. The weight of misfortune once thrown aside is apt soon to he forgotten, and you may derrvid upon it that if we let tho critical "moment pass, if we permit the instant at which all mankind is conscious of what it is that war means, and that war must mean—if wo let that moment pass, and if we slide back into, our normal condition of indifference, we shall have wasted one of. the greatest opportunities that Heaven ever gave mankind. (Cheers.) But wo are told that the project, however well-meaning, or however beneficial, however consistent with all that, is'great in morality, has this one fatal disadvantage: They tell you it is impracticable. "Human nature," say these critics, "never changes. The wprld has always Buffered from wars. :Whnt has been will be; the future must resemble tho past, and war. which we have never succeeded in escaping hitherto, will dog our footsteps to the end of time."

Counsels of Despair and Folly. Now I* do not, of course, deny that the notion of fundamentally altering human characteristics is only tho crotchet of the doctrinaire or tho pedant, and that no practical statesman ought to lend his Land to any project wtich clearly involves a fundamental alteration in our inherited characteristics. ■ But are ws, therefore, to givo up all hope of amelioration? Grant that tlia raw materhil on which statesmen and legislators workremains substantially "unaltered, arc we, therefore, to Bay that society is inherently fixed, in all its old fatbits, be they good or bp they bad? That seems to me to be a counsel not only of despair but of foolishness. (Cheers.) I have noticed that the very people \yho_ tell you that the League of Nations is folly, that war after all, is a necessity; and perhaps in tho long run a bcnefieiont necessity, and that in any case it is ingrained in human nature—those are. the very people who tell you that wo are not as good as our forefathers were;, that in the good old days men wero really indifferent to money, and really pieierrad their country lo their privato interests, and really were always prepared to fight for any cause wiluc'li they thought to bo the cause of right.

But is human nature only to go downhill? Then, if wo'are. so nvnch worse than our progenitors in these particulars, it 6hows, at all events, that wo can change. Must wo only change for the worse? I take an entirely different view, not only of what, tlio history of the past has been, but of what the history of the future may bo. It is perfectly true that you cannot chango as by a miracle tlio 'hearts of men; but what you can do, and what you ought to do, is to make such changes in the habits of men Hint that which, weincd natural and inovitablo to their forefutJiors seems monstroiin and avoidable tft their children, and that you really uiijtht to bo able to do. That you havo done—that civilisation hns done in many particulars. We say with truth that niter all, at the root of society, there must bo the clement of force; there must bo a criminal law • for criminals; and that tlio peaceable citizen must be protected by the'police. All that is quito true, but just consider tho amount of work which has to bo done by tiioso guardians of society now, compared with tho, disorder, the crimo, tho recklessness, imlifforeiico to life, which habitually and commonly prevailed among our not very' remote ancestors. If you can do that in social life why can you do nothing comparable to it in international life? What you havo to do, and what you can do if. you soizo tho propitious moment and'uso it to the best advantage, is to create such a habit of dcnling wilh international difficulties by international machinery that tho very thought of Beltling International disputes by Hip abominable practice of mutual slaughter wiii seem an truly nlien tu tlio views of civilised men as somo of the habitual disorders under which society suffered not so u>rv long a?o. Difficulty of the Task. But I do not deny that the task is a difficult on». Indent, I belong to a school oi thought whioh thinks that progress is difficult to attain, and is not (inly difficult to attain, but is not easy to maintain. (Hear, hear.) There " who oro optimistically framed,

and their on Hook on the world is no optimistic that they seem to think that progress is something that coiuca of itsolf and by itself without linninii effort, and each stago that is conquered.by this almost automatic procedure is one that will of itself forever remain. I take a different viow. I think society may go back as wull as forward. I think it requires, -ami lins always required, tho constant ciTort ami the best elements in ovory society. !>ot merely to improve ii, but to maintain it at its level. It is on that condition nlono that civilisation, in my judgment, is possible. But tho very thought—tliu very candid reflection which makes mo anxious makes mo also hopel , ul-.- J tbu Tory thought) that ■without effort we may slide back assures mo that .with effort wo can press forward.

All that I ask tlicso critics of tho League of Natioi>3 is that, if they can find no substitute for the machinery which (we propose, they will, at all ovonts, throiy themselves into the task of making it work if they can, and that they will go forward in a spirit of hopefulness and faith, conscious of the difficulties, recognising' all tho obstacles in their path, mid will nevertheless say, "That if the path which wo must pursue!" There lies peace, and, with peace, an improvement in our international relations which will mako this dato, tho date which \vo celebrate today, ' the grwiiost date in human history. (Cheers.)

But there nris (to conditions at least which must bn fulfilled if the league of Natiniin kto bii n success. The League of Nations provides the machinery, but machinery without mctivo power, a body without -a soul, is utterly useless, and behind I.lm machinery of 'the League of mtions. if the Lewie is to do all that it otislit to do. must be the motive power rlerived from the wills of tho peoples of the world—(cheer.")-iukl their action must bo founded on the common conFcicnre. 'iliat is tho first condition. Another condition is that all the Powers, and more especially tho Great Powers, on whofO notion so much in the near futuro must inevitably depend, should take an tonal share of tho burden which I do not for n moment deny Hint the League of Nations is "oing to throw upon them. If tho description I have, given of what Hie League of Nations in ay be has the flii-'htcst inith in it, do you suppose refiiills so Irrmrmlons can be attained without some risk and some effort? Of course tliev cannot, mid nil the great nations responsible for tin's great iiudertalcim.' should aw-pt the same risk nnd bo prepared to make the samo effort.

The Oanqcr of "Reservations." If one of :is Iwsins to mako reservatioiw I cullies-) th.-it I think the future of tho Lnnuue of Nations is dark indeed, for llm reservations flint one great nation ninkos will lie copied inevitably by others. The whole ACII.SO of equality of effort will l>9 thrown aside; solidarity will be dissolved. Great statesmen will look moro and morn lo tho narrower interests which iulliienco public opinion. More and more the.v will turn their ryes away from that common obieet which all must pursue in common, and for which all must beprepared to ninkc Hie same sacrifice. Tliorefoi-o. I venture to say to any friends of mino in any country who are considoriim their responsibility at this nrent moment of (he world's history that thpv ought clearly to understand that, unless , they are prepiircdto bear an equal share in an equal task, they are threatening wiih ultimate dissolution the whole nf that new system which all of us, in common vith the sreat nations, most sinci'relv desire, to fc-o work effectually. .Cheers.) . . •

As you know. T am but one of the speakers this afternoon, and 1 must pursuo no farther the general line of argument which moves mo in Hi s connection, and which T think hns moved you to como here, this afternoon and support me. T firmly believe lint you are representative, t firniiv believe that all tho best thought in Enrlaml is behind us. (Cheers.) I bel : eve, what is at le;ist' as important, that nil the best thought in tho civilised worjd is behind'us, and. if that he so. do not let us be diverted by small difficiiHies, techn'cnl oljstaclcs, petty con= : deration>. from niirsuinj; the '.'rent of poliw which lie before us. Now is the appointed hour, for, if tho world—?Hll «itfißfffi"iii!! under the effects of (ho icpific sti'iijKl* of the Inst fivo yrorsi—if (he world now ..is not prepared to undertake the fin-nt tnsk which lies before it. T dosniir of the t'mo ccmhur —certainly not, within my experience, and I doubt whether in your?—wh.««i an onwrfimitv of n .like nature will present ibelf. Let ; t lint 1" ?«id that, havin? sacrificfd untold millions of wealth and untold millions of invaluablo livs, after having woii in the great struggle, after having saved Europe from imminent disnfitor, we threw nway tho fruits of victorv, and. from mere carelessness , and laziness, wp Jet (to V that golden onnortunih- which once lo=t may never return (Loud cheers.) T now move the following resolution :~ ."Thnt'thie public meeting of the e:ti-zr-ns of I.ondnn heartily approves of, and pledgps il-self to s-upnort, the Covenant. Ibp T,p ; iqiie of Nations, m enib'"<li'".(l i'l the Pcice Treaty. "That Ihis mertMiir. moreover, approves nf the geiiprril nbjeeh and ai-ms of the League ef Nation- Union, and deelnres its willi'ignes? to support a Nnt'oual Tfiiinn orr-niiisetl on a voluntarv Ijasis to stmnsrtheii I' , ? Lmgu" of IVnt'c-ns as dstabli'ilied. w'lich "ill provide the machinery for the alxilifion of war, end for Vinjiu? abmt democratic control over, ihternntiornl relationships,"

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19191224.2.38

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 77, 24 December 1919, Page 7

Word count
Tapeke kupu
2,417

WORLD PEACE Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 77, 24 December 1919, Page 7

WORLD PEACE Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 77, 24 December 1919, Page 7

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