Manaivata Herald. THURSDAY, FEB. 28, 1898. Peace.

Manawatu Herald, 23 February 1893, Page 2

Manaivata Herald. THURSDAY, FEB. 28, 1898. Peace.

'• Peace reigns in Warsaw " was the pleasant message by the field-mar-shal to his imperial master after he had swept the streets and squares of the unfortunate city very clean with grape shot, rifle bullets, and bayonets. There was a quaint touch of satirical humour in the message which was greatly admired at the* time— by the other nations of the European continent I And peace reigns in Europe, airover' Europe indeed, just now. We see in the daily cablegrams frequent references to the peace of Europe obviously intended to be reassuring. War, " the amusement of princes," has always been a costly luxury. But never since the world began, from the wars of Cyrus the Persian to Attila the Hun, from Ghengis Khan and Tamerlane to the Eranco-Prussian, has any war imposed such a terrific strain on thn resources of nations as does the armed peace which now reigns in Europe. The subject is worth considering a little even at this distance. The Franco Prussian war ended in 1871, as everybody knows, in the total overthrow and submission of the French. Ihe man of " blood and iron " wrung from his prostrate enemy two provinces, Alsace and Lorraine, and a fine of 5,000,000,OOOd. francs, or about £200,000,000 sterling. By imposing Buch a tre mendous penalty Bisinark thought he was draining the very life blood of France, bleeding it " to the white," to use his own grimly expressive praise, Since the payment of that indemnity there have been some twenty-one years of " peace," and during these years France hag positively expended the amazing sum of £720,000,000 sterling in preparing for another war. That; is to say, since the dose of the war France has actually spent more than three and a half times the sum total of the prodigious indemnity imposed upon her in the hour of her utter helplessness and despair, and i his astounding amount has been avowedly spent in preparations for a war of revenge. The German Chancellor, Caprivi, estimates the numbers of the French army under the existing military system at 4,058,000 trained soldiers, every man of whom can be put into the field, fully equipped, at a months notice. This enormous armament of course necessitates a similar arming on the part of the other powers. Hence the German Chancellor's new army bill, intended to increase the effective strength of the German array by sweeping into the barracks 70,000 more conscripts every year. This bill, if passed, would raise the German army to the numerical level of the French. But Russia is understood to have an army of 4,550,000 well trained men ready to take the field, and when " the dogs of war " are next " let slip," these will probably be found ranged on the side of Frnnce. This probability again necessitates the formation at whatever cost of the Triple Alliance, although AustriaHungary and Italy are all but bankrupt and groaning under the intolerable 'oad of taxation ; for Germany alone would manifestly be unable to sustain the simultaneous

attack on two. frontiers of forces amounting to something like 8,000,---000 men. When we consider that not less than 10,000,000 of European naeu are fchu3 at thjs moment withdrawn from all reproductive labour in the very prime of their health and. vigour; when we think of the enormous sum 9 required to • support these men in worse than idleness ; and. when we .try to realize the result if this treasure in men and money were diverted to peaceful industries instead of being expended in the construction of fortresses, ironclads, cannon, and all the horrid equipments of war, as well as in training the men to massacre each other in the most improved methods ; we are. simply stupefied to find that all^. this cost must be regarded merely as the insurance premium paid for safety, for the bare right to exist I Surely it is an astonishing tact ; and it is not so surprising after all that men are beginning to question whether peace itself is not too too dearly bought at such a price, and the whole frame work of society is being honey combed by socialism, nihilism, and all the « " of that ilk." Unmistakably there must be war sooner or later to clear the European atmosphere and give civilisation itse f a chance to continue ; for agenera' disarmament.which seems the only possible alternative, is not now, to use the slang of the politicians, '-within the range of practical politics." The one thing that mainly makes for peace appears to |>ethe absolute uncertainty of the result of any war amongst, the great powers of Europe Not only will the hostile armies be more tremendons ia numbers than ever before in the world's history, but the amis which they will use will be more deadly. Every nation, for example, has' now its own special rifle which it hopes will shoot faster and carry further and kill more than any other rifle. But it can only hope so ; for the rifles have not yet been tested <i«ainst each other in actual conflict. The French have, to be sure, had a sore of little trial prac f.ice with their Lebel rifls against the pabqmeyans ; but as the Amazons, were armed only with the usual weapons of savages, the test can hardly be considered satisfactory. It was sufficiently remarkable, how ever. •• The effects of the Lebel rifle,]' it is stated, " are a revelation to everyone. It resolved the charging hordes of Amazons into a regular human hash. The bullets passed through trees us through pats of butter, and acted on the human, body with the rending force of exploring shells," and so on, and so oh. Rather sickening reading on the whole ; but it gives some idea of why statesmen are disposed to hold back as long as possible from the inevitable war, and should make us thankful that our peaceful lot has been cast in these sunny gems of the Southern seas I