Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, JAN. 22, 1938. THE WILL TO PEACE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 46, 22 January 1938, Page 8

Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, JAN. 22, 1938. THE WILL TO PEACE.

Nothing is more patent than that contemporary public opinion, corporately expressed and implied by the reaction of “the man in the street” to current events, is strongly actuated by the will to peace—a lasting, virile state of peacefulness admitting of no rifts, and conducive to unfettered international relationships. The “straw polls,” which have become so popular in recent years, have repeatedly emphasised the earnest desire of humanity of all stations and under all flags to be permitted to live their lives unshadowed by threats or concomitants of warfare; it is so obvious as to have become platitudinous—it is so much commonsense that to proclaim an alternative is to meet with ridicule. But it is apparent that a mere desire for peace is insufficient; nor is the absence of expressed violence adequate. The will to peace is an intensely positive experience comprehensive in its scope and generous in its conception. It is the expression through every available channel of the practical application of ideals which have for too long been relegated to secondary positions. Itight relationships between nations are not to be obtained by vague generalities and intangible hopes, but by the frank, generous, • and intensive examination and removal of unhelpful factors. No more notable contribution to the exchange of opinion on this tremendous issue has been made recently than that which emanated from the address of Ur Cosmo Lang, at the Convocation of Canterbury. The Archbishop, with his accustomed perspicacity and very real sense of realities, put in positive and intelligible form his expression of hope for improved relationships when he linked spiritual desires with practical politics. There were, he declared, “two obvious lines of policy which ought to be followed” —the maintenance and strengthening of cooperation with the United States, and doing our utmost while continuing the established friendship with France to reach a friendly understanding with Germany. His Grace probably gave utterance to the wish uppermost in the minds of all British people, and in doing so he did not blink the facts. While he desired to see a fuller and more generous recognition of the words of Herr Hitler about his desire to do all in his power .to maintain peace in Europe, he could not forbear to tax Germany with alienating sympathy by internal actions. Hr Lang implied, in other terms, that the peace which is an absence of war required to be succeeded by a generous, pulsating reality, actuating the policies of nations in a common bond.

It 'will be recalled that in his reply to the New Year wishes of diplomats, Herr Hitler reiterated the oft-repeated statement that “Germany wants peace,” adding that his nation “wholeheartedly prefers the work of peaceful reconstruction in the service of general progress to the destructive influences of strife. . . . Mankind, even above the din of armaments, calls for peace, never losing confidence.” It is surely the highest task to which diplomacy can be assigned to transmute that confidence into actuality. But it is a process all-inclusive, for peacefulness is a derivative of right relationships and cap be maintained only by continued application of the ideal of the common weal. Probably, more than any other factor, this is the rock on which relationships have so many times threatened to split—that the domestic policies of nations have run counter to the best interests of the commonwealth. Balance of power, blocs, and alliances are at their best only expedients; nor can they achieve the ideals which have fallen so readily from statesmen's lips. “The British Empire,” declared Earl de la Warr at Adelaide, “must show the world that it is determined to use its strength in the cause of peace.” Sir Thomas Inskip, in reply to the Fuehrer, stated: “I am prepared-to accept Herr Hitler’s statement at its face value and build upon it a happier relation between Germany and Britain.” But, as the Archbishop of Canterbury implied, it is a task for all humanity—an ideal of which tangible expression through the most mundane channels counts for more than carefully weighed phrases.