HOW THE CURTAIN IS RUNG DOWN ON WAR.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 270, 27 April 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

HOW THE CURTAIN IS RUNG DOWN ON WAR.

PEACE USUALLY SADDLES LONG ERE SHE IUDES.

llarineio will t-ell you that tiro first rise in. the during a storm is a harbinger of the worst blow of all, and thu analogy would seem_to held good in war—peace muttering axe frequently followed by the fiercest fighting taking place in an entire campaign. Tho history of wars—modern wars at all events—does not encourage the weaving ot hopes either out of the first friendly offices of neutral States or tho wishes for peace expressed by the belligerents themselves, though startling surprises there have been in wars' terminations. In so gigantic a struggle as tho present, however, with stakes at issue entirely in proportion, not to mention a yawning gulf dividing the aspirjitiond of the contestants, nothing short oi a miraculous could bring about all early peace, iar from this being a view calculated to depress, it ought really to inspire .renewed hopes, for the most dangerous of all peac« compacts is the one which is consummated with neither one contestant or tho other being reduced to the last 6tages of war misery and decrepitude. Tho reaction after peace on a strong loser is too often a compelling force leading to a further war gamble. In the Franco-German war of 1870, Germany had strong hopes of forcing a victorious peace following upon the fall of Metz and the capture of the flower of tho French Army, and when comparatively early in the autumn they beleaguered Paris fnd defied the forces therein to break through the oordon of guns, the world anticipated the end, and marvelled with each week's budget of further French misfortunes that it was possible for human flesh and blood to stand such sledge-hammer blows without falling to pieces. Week after week tho tricolour was declared by the prophets to bo fluttering for a rundown, but it was not until almost the advent of spring that the intrepid Frenchmen cried enough. They had fought themselves into such a state of inertia that they virtually were at tho mercy of tiio victors and any terms they cared to exact.

Tho longest enduring war for a century past was the blood fend between the Northern and Southern States of America, best known, perhaps, as the War of Secession, one of the most deplorable struggles ever fought between tho peoples of one tongue. The first hostile act opened in April, 1860, but by t;ie time the struggle was the age dS tho present war peace talk filled the air, and but for the deadly animosity which imbaed either side tho war might have ended then. Had it done so, however, who shq.ll sny that peace would havo been enduring? The Southerners, from being victors at the commencement, fought themselves to a standstill, and, nauseated to death by the terrible rigours of the last few months of the struggle, literally threw themselves on the mercy of their victorious adversaries. How different a ta'e has to 'to written of our duel with the doughty Sikhs, those upstanding warriors of Punjab. Tho Sikhs first threw down tho gauntlet of war to us in 1845, and in three months' time suffered four notable defeats tho last of which brought the campaign to a dose. But they wore only discouraged, not exhausted, and three, years Liter they struck out at us with greater strength than ever, and for a time caused so great anxiety in England that popular clamour led to the recall of the Commander-in-Chief, an order happily rendered inoperative by a great British victory. Those grinding times of almost incessant strife, the first fifteen years of List century, so satiated the leading Powers with war that nothing really big happened until tho year 1848, when Austria and Italy set the ball a-rolling for a seriec of sanguinary troubles extending right up to the grand climax between Gaul and Teuton in 1870. Napoleon himself was only half defeated in 1814, merely "winded"', as one might say, by the very prodigality of his efforts, or he could never have come to scratch again less than a year later.

If over both sets of contestants were heartily sick of a war it was in the Crimean campaign. Confidently expected to l>e A short and sharp struggle, it dragged on for fifteen months, and or en then several months had still to elapse ere peace was signed. As all Rrtions know, this war reflected undving renown on the arms of our rank and fi'e. but apparently so little glory on British prestige that it was held by many well informed people to be directlv responsible for the ghastly uprising which desecrated India a few months later.

It will be in tha memory of most readers that when Japan and Russia got into grips fully a derade ago the end was clearly in sight six months later, so crushing were the Japanese blows and Mj <:nivo was the discord aroused in A quick pear-? seemed assured, but as a matter of fact t'hn war took many months more to die out. yet when peace did arrive, it came in the midst of rumours of a new campaign. Treat wars, however, seldom have dramatic endings, and for surprise finishes we have to turn to comparativeIv insular struggles. When Bulgaria fought and l>eat Serbia in the war listed scarcely a fortnight, peace rushing almost miraculously (between th-i adversaries just when a long, bitter struggle seemed assured. The end came wu'-h ,-iniilarlv when the fir-t-named (fimtrv tcrned savrcelv on her former friends, Serbia and Green?, a few year; ago. Tliis war. which started with rocket-like energy, died away in spark*. intervention in ltotli instances a-coiintini' for the surrri<e ending. - ARCHIBALD DOUGLAS.