THE KAIPARA AND WAITEMATA ECHO With Which Is Incorporated "The Kaipara Advertiser & Waitemata Chronicle." Helensville, Thursday, Jan, 28, 1915. THE WAR OF LIBERTY

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 28 January 1915, Page 2

THE KAIPARA AND WAITEMATA ECHO With Which Is Incorporated "The Kaipara Advertiser & Waitemata Chronicle." Helensville, Thursday, Jan, 28, 1915. THE WAR OF LIBERTY

"The responsibility of the war," is the title of one of the Oxford pamphlets. It is written by Professor W. G. $. Adams, Gladstone Professor of Political Theory and Institutions. It is, he says, because the Germans have, despite their great efficiency and wide culture, nev rer realised that full sense of political freedom and selfgovernment, best expressed in the common law of England and in its responsible Parliamentary and local institutions, that men who have known what such freedom means are determined at all costs not to let the dominance of Germany spread. " And closely connected with this,''he goes on to say, "is the question of the rights of the smaller nations. The sense of nationality has always been deep in England, and men have felt the strongest sympathy with the small nations of Europe in their struggle for independence, and their right to lead their own life and make their .contribution to civilisation. The greatness of a nation is not measured by its size, but by its spirit, and one of the desires of England today —quickened powerfully loy recent events—is to see the smaller nations of Europe secure from domination by the larger Powers, v This war is one for the liberty of the smaller States —Belgium, Holland, Denmark —as well as the States of south-east Europe. Nations must be free to enter into alliance or union, but the end of such alliance or union must be national self-realisation And where, as in the Scandinavian States, in Holland, Belgium, and Switzerland, the democratic spirit is strongly developed, here men have freedom and the desire for peace and culture. Every additional such State is a guarantee of peace, and England sees in such States nations which have with her a great bond of common interest. " There is a third ground which played a large part in the outbreak of the controversy, and which is no minor issue— the maintainence of international obligations. If a matter such as the neutrality of Belgium is to be treated as 'a scrap of paper,' there is an end to the security of international agreements. What guarantee oan there be that any agreement will be found of value if the plea of 'necessity' can be put forward to justify its disregard ? It is perfectly true that circumstances may arise which justify the denunci-; ation of an agreement. But if a country ceases to regard an agreement as binding upon it, it must give full and proper notice. So again, if there has to be war, at least some progress has been made by the conventions of civilised nations to conduct war on lines which mitigate as far as may be the suffering of non-combatants and neutrals. But by Qerman methods on land and sea both non-combatan fs aud neutrals have suffered. The war must punish the breaking of agreements, and establish on a firmer basis than before the sanctity of international regulations. . . The main object in view must be that of requiring disputes between soverign States to be the subject of arbitration before there is recourse to war, aud of securing international action to punish the disregard of arbitration.'?