THE EVASIVE PACIFICIST.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1575, 11 July 1916, Page 4

THE EVASIVE PACIFICIST.

The illogical attitude of the pacificist is exposed in a. letter by Mr H. Cl. Wells, recently published in the London Times. Mr Wells says there is a small group of people who are doing their utmost to impede this country in the prosecution of the war, to discourage patriotic effort, and hamper the supply of munitions, They set up a clamour for peace, peace, “immediate peace.” We ask; “Do you want this country to make an unconditional surrender to Germany irrespective of its allies, and if you do not, what are the minimum terms you would consider satisfactory 4 /” To this plain challenge no honest reply is forthcoming from the group. A number of people have demanded from them just this plain reply that we cannot get. The inevitable conclusion is that this peace clamour is at least intellectually dishonest. They cry “Peace,” just out of contrariness; it is a way of annoying old friends in office; it is an excuse for shirking, for unhelpfulness; it is a sort of political lock-up investment against possible discontents after the war; it is a cry of distress; at any rate, except for Mr Bertrand Bussell, none of these people are prepared with any definition of peace at all. He is frankly a hon-resister, and so has at least an arguable position.