The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1915. A GREAT STATESMAN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 42, 20 February 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1915. A GREAT STATESMAN.

Britain-is to-day more than fortunate, in the statesmen who guide her destinies through the most troublous time the civilised world ' has everj known. Many fine utterances have thrilled the Empire when made by the nation’s leaders since Britain was reluctantly compelled to unsheath the sword in defence of outraged and bleeding Belgium. Of all our great statesmen none stands higher in public .confidence and esteem than does Sirj Edward Grey. His part lias been aj difficult one from the beginning.. In, those Strenuous days which preceded the outbreak of the war we now know what mighty efforts ho made to deter Germany from her wicked and criminal determination to plunge the world in' war. Xu the still more strenuous days! which have followed, ovehts have prov-, ed that the Empire’s welfare and the national honor have been jealously | guarded, and of the group of great men who have given their best, none have done more nobly than Sir Edward Grey. The villification heaped upon| him by the mendacious opportunists of Berlin, is sound proof of this, if such were needed. In the difficult negotiations regarding contraband and belli-, gerent rights over neutral ships, Sir. Edward Grey’s high dignity and gen-| orous forbearance have compelled the, world’s admiration, and if the dollar-] seeking spirit which sets all else at, nought could but lie held in check for a little, America and other neutral nations would be compelled to admit that to Britain they owe the fact that they can sail their ships in comparative safety and that their volume of trade has increased rather than decreased. But to ask that in return for this Britain should allow herself to be hoodwinked into permitting sup-, plies to he freely carried to the assassins with whom we are waging war—and waging it on behalf of these very neutral countries themselves—is even beyond British tolerance. In bis AVI iito Paper—a document deservingi a great place in the war annals—j Sir Edward explains the actual position and shows how little really Britain has interfered with neutral trade, and how carefully she has, in her every act observed in its entirety the law of nations. Britain’s right of search for contraband is undoubted, and no one who does not wish to be deceived will in the slightest be deceived by the cunningly concocted but utterly false and foolish statement which Berlin poured into the ears of America, as published in our cable messages of yesterday. 1 nalarmed, the Empire awaits the “new terrors” of naval warfare which German bombast threatens to introduce, feeling fully certain that the Allies will be able to meet! and checkmate anything, however fiendish, the desperation of utter hopeless failure, may imagine or invent.

dressed to Russian authors in which

they say:—“When at last our victorious fleets and armies meet together and the allied nations of East and West set themselves to restore the well-being of many millions of ruined homes, Eranee and (treat Britain will assuredly bring their large contribu-] lions of goodwill and wisdom, but your country will have something to contribute which is all its own. It is not only because of your valour in war and

your achievements in art, science, and letters that we rejoice to have you as allies and friends; it is for some quality in Russia herself, something both profound and humane, of which these achievements are the outcome and the expression. You, like us, entered upon this war to defend a weak and threatened nation which trusted you against the lawless aggression of a strong military power; you, like us,] have continued it as a war of sell-de-fence and self-emam ipation. When the end comes and we can breathe again we will help one another to re-| member the spirit in which our allied] nations took up arms and thus work together in a changed Europe to pro-1 tect the weak, to liberate the oppress-] ed, and to bring eventual healing to the wounds inflicted on suffering mankind both by ourselves and our enemies.” Among those who have signed the manifesto are Mr William Archer, Sir J. M. Barrie, Mr Arnold Bennett, Dr. Robert Bridges, Mr Hall Caine, Mr G. K. Chesterton, Sit Arthur Conan Doyle, Mr John Galsworthy, Mr Thomas Hardy, Mr Anthony Hope, Mr Henry James, Sir Gilbert Parker, Mr William Watson and Mr H. G. Wells.