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SOME THOUGHTS AT LARGE.

MR. ARNOLD WHITE OX THE WAR WELTER.

RIGHTS OP ASYLUM

HOW WE HAVE BEEN OVER LAX. Anything that Arnold White writes may be assumed to be worth reading, as there are few men who have so deliberately set themselves about the task of getting into touch with the essence of things, social and political. On the present struggle he has written very little to date, most likely because he has felt that it was not necessary to rush into print, as so many contemporary authors have, merely for the sake of keeping his name before the reading public. The extracts quoted below are from an article he contributed to the London "Daily Express" recently. He is not therein concerned with any one special aspect of the war, but rather gives to the world at large some of the thoughts that have occurred to him in a general consideration of the various events both before and subsequent to the formal declaration of hostilities.

"Only a week before the Boer War broke out Cecil Rhodes spoke of the Boer military reputation as 'an unpricked bubble.' For the last 14 years the majority of the people on both sides in politics, including some of the ablest and most upright of our statesmen, indulged in the daydream that the German war fleet existed for the legitimate defence of the maritime interests of the Fatherland. "A half truth, as a rule, is more pernicious than a thumping lie. The pernicious half truth that Germany had legitimate oversea interests to protect obscured the fact that Germany contemplated aggression and was out for loot, because the population of these islands, with very few exceptions, were and are ignorant of the elements of military science. "The opinion that was widely held until three months ago was that Germany was unable and unwilling to invade England. The average Briton believed in the reply of Lord Whitworth, the British Ambassador in Paris, given to Napoleon I. in 1803— the time when French, troops were assembled at Boulogne and hundreds of flat-bottomed barges were in readiness for the conveyance of an invading army across the Channel. Napoleon, it is said, met Lord Whitworth at a reception, and suddenly accosted him in a loud voice, saying, 'I hear, my lord, you English" are afraid of my coming to England.' The British Ambassador is reported to have replied, 'Sire, we are afraid you will not come.'

DEFENCE AND ATTACK. "Had Napoleon landed in Kent or in Essex he could have 'scuppered' all the forces that Britain could have brought to bear against him. Germany, had she landed Von Kluck and two hundred thousand men on r.ur shores, if the British Army were abroad, could have scuppered the Territorials last July. In the last decade of the eighteenth century Britain lost the command of the Narrow Seas for nearly a fortnight. Hoche landed at Bantry Bay. Our escape from a French invasion, as our escape from a Spanish invasion in 1588, was due quite as much to bad weather as to bad management. "The absence of military knowledge, using the term as covering war by land and sea, is suddenly succeeded by the forced necessity for raising one million men, training them, teaching them to shoot and to manoeuvre against some of the best trained troops in Europe. The first of all military axioms is that a merely defensive army or navy is a contradiction in terms. One can only defend oneself against a foe when one is able to attack him. All the great naval victories of Britain during the last 20 decades have been won by attacking at a distance.

"The British never thought of sea affairs as they have always thought of land fighting. The word 'War Office,' for example, is a misnomer, because capacity to attack at sea is the condition under which the British troops can fight on land in the only place they are wanted, namelv, at the doorsteps of the enemy. The First Lord of the Admiralty, unlike the War Minister, is not even a Secretary of State. He is paid a smaller salary than the President of the Board of Trade or a puisne judge RIGHT OF ASYLUM. "Tho scales have fallen from the eyes of unmilitary writers, preachers and orators: It is the dutv and privilege of every one of us to give to his Majesty's Government loyal and unwavering support in the tremendous task entrusted by the nation to the Cabinet. A healthy public opinion is essential if the Government is to succeed in smash/ng the Potsdam General Staff.

"Healthy public opinion can only be formed by reasoned and honest appeals to the intelligence of the people. The right of asvlum, for example, is a doctrine that has warmed the heart of generations of the British people, but stretched until we have given shelter to large numbers of the biggest scoundrels on the face of the earth. The right of asvlum has hitherto carried with it the right of naturalised aliens to change their names. The right of asylum has carried with it cheap naturalisation papers. Thousands of foreigners, undesirables in every sense are now naturalised Englishmen. "There is reason to believe that the hands of his Majesty's Government would be strengthened if the proper authorities were enabled to denaturalise undesirables by royal proclamation. If there are legal difficulties in the way they should bo abolished. No lawyer's quirk sho.ild stand between the safety of tin's realm and the sword of the Executive. THE LESSER EVIL. "While Britain is engaged in a struggle for existence, it is necessary to give absolute power to naval and military authority. The grant and possession of absolute power is always an evil, but 10-day it is the lesser of two evils. For that reason it is more necessary in time of war than in time of peace to draw the line between the suppression of healthy public opinion and the suppression of news or information that may be of use to the enemv.

"When (ho English were in the middle of their civil war ]\!ilton wrote the finest of his prose works >n favour of the liberty of the Press. Tim title 'Aroopagitica' was taken from the Areopagos, or Mars Hill, of At liens, a famous court of justice and equity. Tf this war with the Huns is to be a lone; one. as Earl Kitchener is said to believe it will ho. the strategic importance of an instructed public opinion can scarcely fce overrated.

"Of all the professions, it Is probable that journalism, in worthy and capable hands, exercises more power than any other. The country is unanimous as to the wisdom and necessity of suppressing all news that under any possibility might be useful to the enemy. It is also agreed that any comment on our allies likely to raise comparisons or to cast reflections should be sternly suppressed. But the suppression of legitimate comment is undesirable and will lead to dangers. "If we emerge successfully from this war, but under the yoke of rigid censorship of opinion, as well as a censorship of news likely to be useful to the enemy, we shall only have exchanged the haunting menace of Potsdam for the very tyranny against which .Milton protested in 1644." A good deal of what has been said by Mr. White has a local application, particularly as regards the laxness of our methods in the granting of the rights of asylum. We have erred in the past—admittedly. Let us now set about educating ourselves up to what we have now discovered to be the proper appreciation of our situation as a nation.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/PWT19150129.2.30.33

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 8, 29 January 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,282

SOME THOUGHTS AT LARGE. Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 8, 29 January 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

SOME THOUGHTS AT LARGE. Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 8, 29 January 1915, Page 4 (Supplement)

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