WHAT WAR REALLY MEANS.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 2 March 1901, Page 4

WHAT WAR REALLY MEANS.

Thb war with the Boers has by no means created a large number of brilliant reputations. Our generals who have been Drought prominently before us had, to_ a large extent, distinguished themselves in previous undertakings. It is among journalists that genius has been discovered and were it not for the war, latent powers would have remained undiscovered to-day. No one who has followed the newspapers will need to be told to who A. Cr. Hales is. _ Being an Australian he has for ns a special interest as through his brilliant letters to the London Daily News his name has become familiar to all who claim kinship with the British. His career has been very varied and ho nearly missed the tide which has led him on to fortune. In' the ear y part of war he suggested a Camel corps, but the military authorities did not like this innovation and the project fell through. Had it been entertained Hales would have gone to the war with a gun instead- of a pen. He ventured as a correspondent and his literary reputation was soon developed. He has now gone to England where he intends settling down to journalism. Mr Hales was to have been a Minister but he disappointed his father by showing no aptitude for the pulpit; he was nest tried as an architect but he spoiled both paper and timber in abundance. He roved from one place to another gaining experience and making “copy” and in a great measure laid the foundation for the career that has won for him a worldwide fame. Of the young men of this generation, lie is one who teaches the utter folly of being pressed into a position in life for which nature has entirely unfitted him. He was born for journalism and the well defined track has been selected in preference to a load chosen indiscrimately. In writing of the war his pictures become most vivid. “It is one of the most ruthless bitter things on God’s earth” he said when speaking of the war. “I am not sentimental, but I would like to see the men in Parliament who shriek and yell for war, compelled by the laws of their country to take up arms and fight in the front rank. Why are men so willing to shed other people’s blood and so loth to shed their own? I think statesmen rarely realise the fearful responsibility that rests on the men who make war. It is awful. If the men who bring war about by their reckless talking ; the men who talk war and the men who write war, could he sent to the front lines to get some of the butchery and put up with the misery and hardship of it, we should have less shrieking and less fighting.” Mr Hales regards war _as a “cold-blooded business concern,” entirely destitute of the romance and chivalry one hears about. He docs not believe there will be universal peace, as in human nature the strong will govern the weak, and the weak will bo foolish enough to fight against the strong. For a nation to make itself absolutely impregnable lies the only hope’Jof freedom from attack, because its enemies will fear to face it. He blames the bungling and blundering of our previous wars as the reason why the Boers attacked us, and makes a strong indictment on the lack of business ability in the men sent out to manage the commissariat at the early part of the present war. He regards it an impossibility to “humanise war,” and advocates that it be made more “ fiendish ” bo that a nation’s power and strength will not be under-estimated. “ Civilisation on the battlefield,” he says, “is only skin deep. You have only to scratch the civilised man to find the savagery of his ancestors.” Before Mr Hales received a bullet wound in the forehead, he was without fear; but afterwards the slightest noise seemed to unnerve him. Many of his articles are very suggestive, but our space will not allow of a more detailed review. Speaking of Australia’s fidelity to England, he says : “ Australia is like a gigantic child and there is a feeling among her people like that of a lusty son towards a mother who has been good to him.” He emphasises that the lighting instinct is very strong in Australia, and there is one question upon which he believes she would even fight England—- “ They will not have Chinese or Japanese immigration.” Mr Hales lias become one of the most popular writers in London, and his unique attainment of such honours as now showered upon him should be an impetus for all colonials to aim at being their best in whatever sphere their future may be allotted.