'THE EMPEROR'S HONOUR'

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 138, 7 December 1929, Page 20

'THE EMPEROR'S HONOUR'

Die Kqv..- T. Khondcta; Williams, as t;hairman of tho British Congregational Union, speaking last, month on ' tho death.;of-Dr.: Stresemann, 'saids i:' . : .T-'./Be3;oro.the:.war there.:wa»-a--.bel] in Cologite-Cathedral "bcaTingr.the'.inseripl--•tion: :':I am-tlie Emperor's bell; I'proelaini. the Emperor's honour.' . It had been-made out of cannon captured by the Germans from the French, and they evidently, did not think it derogatory to Godthat-it should proclaim in. the .church' honours won in the war. ; ■ -.■When: I 'went-.' into thb Cathedral two yoars:.agb I missed the-bell, and asked tli c: janitor • what :h ad", become -of it.:; -.'Oh,' he said, 'in I'9lß we -had to take it doirn and melt it to make munitions.' What .irony of history! Wax. material melted to make a bell, "■id after more .than forty years of proclaiming the Emperor's honour the bell goes: back' to make, fighting :m'aterial once more.:: So much for: the honours that can bo Won in war, ■ and the-empire, that can be built With the sword.. • ■' ; '-.-'- ---"'But,' said the janitor to: me,:'we have a new bell now, and a better one.' Let us hope that the "new- bell' in Cologne Cathedral is a symbol-of new ideals and aspirations, proclaiming, as it should in a. church, .Only the glory of God. I would renfove" "all" the war trophies from churches, and indeed from everywhere, and put old tanks and guns in: the earth or.in the'sea beyond reach and'sight. ' . ' ' ■' ■• ■ -" . "When Dr. Stresemann '. said these .Words'at Geneva: ..'A'real progress has been made: in the .reconciliation1 of peoples. Those who deny it are Mind or pretend to "be "blind. The' heroism which always manifests itself' on the field of battle . must, in future, manifest in. the conflicts tff life, where the true heroe? ate those who facilitate better relations among men,' I thought I heard Germany's' new bell.''