THE HEW ERA.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 May 1918, Page 4

THE HEW ERA.

THE GERMAN MENACE

(Contributed.) General Sir William Robertson says character is going to decide the war. “It is,” be says, “the fibre, the stuff, the grit of the civilian people, which will decide it, and be sure of this—the side which lasts longest, the side which endures—is the.side which will give its character to the future of civilisation. The quality of national fibre will decide the war, and decide the future of the world.” I am going to again refer to the utter impossibilities of anything approaching a permanent peace being established, or any new era of civilisation dawning, until Germany is thoroughly beaten, because this vital point must be one of absolute conviction, and not merely opinion, before the points 1 wish to make later can be understood. Mazzini lias said: “There is no peace but a long and veiled war wherever tyranny is dominant, and injustice, and arbitrary power.” Let, us see therefore whether there ds

either honor, truth, or justice in the German nation judging from its recent history. If not, then no permanent civilisation could be built np on it. That is not a matter of opinion but of cold logical fact. First, let us take honor. This is one of the most intangible and yet most precious possessions of a civilised being. The code may vary, hat the underlying principle is unchanged and unchangeable. It assures that any pledge given must be binding in the spirit and the letter. Amongst the big men of the earth—men who do things, men who count thousands of pounds may ehauge hands with a word ora.nod, and the most important questions be finally/ and irrevocably settled with as little formality. The legal verification follows as a matter of course. Ask a banker why certain firms have a ‘ standing ’ and cm get credit almost to any extent; ask the manufacturer why he will place large open orders with some men and firms without any apparent legal safeguard ; ask any big employer why ho gives certain of his men a ‘freehand’ and puts it within their power to let him down for perhaps thousands of pounds. The reply will be that these men or firms so trusted are ‘ honorable ’ In fact, in the commercial world the word ‘ honorable ’ and ‘trustworthy’ are almost, interchangeable, and the ‘captains of industry ’ generally have the instinct to detect its presence or its absence. In the social world and in the world of sport the terra has an even wider significance. It means that those with a sense of honor ‘ play the game’; that they will trike no mean advantage of an opponent; that they will stand up bravely and meet the

result of their mistakes, their follies, even perhaps their sins, and that never will they ‘give away’ their partners in such indiscretions, or save themselves at the expense of others. Honor is a very essential feature in character and is the distinctive badge of its possessor. The honorable man is the world aristocrat, the world ruler ; that is in any world in which it can be woith living. The existing social distinctions may be swept away, the dividing line between rich and poor may disappear, but the gulf between the ‘gentleman,’ the ‘ sport,’ the £ white man,’ and the ‘blackguard,’ the 1 shyster,’ and the ‘bounder’ can never be bridged. The man ol honor may be known by different names, in different ages, and different countries, but bis individuality remains. It is these men and their feminine counterparts who must build up the future civilisation. How for some history. By the Frankfort treaty which terminated the Franco-German war in 1870 -71, Alsace- Lorraine was taken from France and an indemnity of 5,000 million francs was imposed on her. To the surprise of the world, and particularly the Germans, France made such an effort that the indem- :

nity was rapidly being paid in advance of time, the gallant. French people wishing to clear their country from the incubus. Germany, finding she could have secured more plunder, immediately tried to fasten a quarrel on France. Moltke convinced the Emperor that war with France was an immediate necessity. The German armies were to invade France, take up a position on the Plateau of A iron' from whence they could destroy Paris when they wished. They could then impose a war indemnity of 10,000 million francs payable in twenty annuities without any chance of allowing payment to be made in advance, and keep garrisons in France—at the expense of France—until the whole sum should be paid. The whole scheme was carefully worked out and it was only by the efforts of England and Russia—a personal appeal by the late Queen Victoi’ia to the then German Emperor—strengthened by achorusof international condemnation that caused the prospect to be aban-

doned. Such was German honor in 1874. What it is in 1918 the piess daily shows. Then take the matter of truth. Truth is more tangible than honor though interwoven with it, and equally as important. No true ,civilisation can be built up without it, and it is always a symptom of a decaying civilisation when it is absent. It is, too, a reiparkable fact that those who are untruthful are always the just to make charges of , untruthfulness against others— tfyeir pioi'al level beipg low they ijre unalfip to, realise tha,t othgjrsj may bp on $ hjgjipr level. Rnt js it nqt obvipps-tliaji there can be no true civiljsafjpp yyljpre each individual . doubtg.- .'the ... yyprd of another, where each community doubts the , other- P In the commercial world it is known . that untruthful statements ivilh. .'wreck a business ; among the workers the lie direct is regarded as a deadly insult. It is only witli * us , when.'axlman becomes a “ public man,--when he tries in some way to “ do his bit ” for- his fellows that he can with impunity be accused of lying. Bat'with the German uittion' whatever may be the internal code 'of*

ethics, in international relations lying is a predominant and essential feature. From the initial lie that the war was foi'ced on her; from the tearing up of the Belgian treaty up to the' latest report from the front, or regarding the piracy campaign there has been nothing- but a tissue of falsehood. With the full and authenticated reports of atrocities by German troops in Belgium and Northern France before me,lot me quote two small illustrations of the limit to which German lying can reach. Px-ofessor I. Raethe says : “ We see everywhere how our German soldi era respect the sacred defencelessness of woman and child.” Pastor 1 Rump says : “ From all sides testimonies are flowing in as to the noble manner in which our troops conduct the war.” Let us remember, particularly in the case of peace overtures fi’om this mad and deluded nation that the truth is not in their nature and they speak but to deceive If anyone has the slightest doubt about this let him examine the case of Russia. Lastly, take justice. No civilisation can be based on injustice. Whore injustice has once been perpetrated its effects remain for genei’ations. Take the case of Ireland. For generations

now Britain has endeavored in every way to conciliate Ireland and do what she could for that “ most distressful country.” But the injustice our forefathers perpetrated bears fruit to-day, and Ireland (though thousands of her gallant sons are fighting for us as Irishmen can fight! is, as a community, a veritable thorn in the flesh of Britain, and the Irish question appears insoluable even for Irishmen themselves. From past experience we know as a nation how injustice re-acts, and the German dream of making up a great world power out of units of smaller nations conquered, oppressed and enslaved is an utter delusion. ! Under the strain of the present war I we can see how nations so conslituted are breaking up, and Germany will in like manner break up, as will Austria, if only the Allies show themselves grimly determined to see the war through It may be said of tlu Germans that they make no claim of justice. Their policy is frankly the policy of the bandit and the robber. Germany for years past has talked of his right to make war ; bis duty to make war; but not one word about the justice or injustice of war. “It is absurd,” says one German writer, “to wax indignant over a war of conquest.” “We need territory,” says another writer, “ and not only colonies ; we need territory now occupied it may be by foreigners whose destinies we shall dispose of in the future according to our own requirements.” A s a. final example of German methods let ns take the copy of a document circulated by a German propagandist in Spain prior to the offensive of March 21st. This document says : “ Germans have taken incalculable bootv in France

and Belgium as tlio result of the stupid stubbornness of the Belgian people in continuing the struggle after defeat. Total lines of :600,000,000 have been imposed on wealthy individuals and cities, this ligure including £ 6OOO, fines imposed on Alsatian , children who insisted on speaking ! French. More than 50,000 British i prisoners had been taken, as against 124.5n6 Germans by the British, but it. must be remembered that the I British treated prisoners with notable kindness, while Germany treated ; British prisoners with extreme rigour, so that the Germans have secured a superior moral effect. Several thousand British prisoners had died because of disease, scanty food, and other accidents. If any neutrals contemplated siding with the allies they had best take warning.” | This' may well close the case ! against Germany and the Central Powers. Nations without honor 1 , , truth and justice cannot possibly,until chastened by thorough and complete defeat, be rendered fit to enter 1 the League of Nations which will be initiated with the formation of tire new civilisation. It may be said that none of the nations have a past , record so clean, high, and honorable

j that they can be trusted with the , task. That may he true, but it ; mast be remembered the present war will have chastened all nations. Those which unselfishly entered the struggle on the side of right against wrong, the cause of tire weak against the oppressor, by making this sacrij tice will have done much to atone for { past errors and will have shown their fitness, for future trust. As the character of even a bad man is improved by the doing of a good action, so the moial tone of the nation now making heroic and unselfish sacrifice will be raised. Then again it is what we may call the spirit of true democracy, and not any individual nation which will resolve itself into the final arbiter and peacemaker of the world. Those nations in which this spirit predominates in its highest form will he simply the more useful instruments for the fulfilment of its purpose—the maintenance of the just rights of the weak, be they individuals or nations, and the curbing of the tyranny ot the strong. The present struggle is so clearly and obviously as between the powers of good and evil that the issues will probably be greater than mankind has yet, in the heat and turmoil of the struggle, had time to grasp. The dream of past ages—the dream of a time when war will he no more-is apparently about to be realised, and if we remain true to ourselves and true to the best traditions of our race through the present terrible ordeal, wo shall see a prospect of a higher, jnightjerrand more lasting civilisation has yet seen. All that thus will mean yyp cannot yet grasp, but some phases o| jt nj*e even now pjeariy distinguishable, .ant] whether they will materialise is .only a question of how the war ends. An inconclusive peace, a compromise, will only

put tbo. vrorld back whore it was before ; the whole agony will have to be gone through again 'and under the still more frightful conditions which science—onr handmaiden for good or for evil—will in the meantime have evolved. Win the war for now and for all time, and save humanity and civilisation must be the watchword of the present. The alternative is too horrible to contemplate.