Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9,1909. “A LOVING CUP FOR JAPAN.”

Te Aroha News, Volume XXVII, Issue 4473, 9 October 1909, Page 2

Te Aroha AND Ohinemuri News.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9,1909. “A LOVING CUP FOR JAPAN.”

Jhit above all—to thine own telfbe true t And it mutt follow at the night the dag Thou eanst not then be (alee la any tnan Shakespeare.

According to recent cablegrams the sailors of the American Fleet which recently sailed around the world, and made such a display iu the Auckland Harbour, as was never seen before and probably will not be seen again by the present generation, has sent a “ Loving Cup ” to the sailors of the Japanese Fleet, in commemoration of the past and to establish a bond of friendship for the future. This spontaneous action of the American Fleet w ill strike a chord in the heart of the Japanese nation, which will vibrate with reciprocating goodwill and sympathy. If a time should come—some day. when the lion shall lie down with the lamb, and the child shall. play on the cockatrice’s den—when swords shall be turned into ploughshares, and spears into pruning hooks, it will be brought about by expressions of good-will and lrinri acts of fellowship. It is a psychological law, that love begets love as wrath begets wrath, so it will not be by armaments and brute - force that nations can be brought into amity and fellow-feeling, but by humane, generous sentiments, and the manly, friendly approach of heart to heart, each beating with a responsive desire, for peace on earth and goodwill among men. One of the wisest kings of antiquity very justly observed, that “ He that would have friends must show himself friendly.” The universal testimony of history, all down the stream of time proves the truth and wisdom of the King’s utterance.

When the great famine prevailed in Ireland in the middle of last century, the generosity of the English people in sending food to the famine-stricken districts awoke such geperowi impulses as expunged the sense of the wrongs of former generations. No people op <earth are more amenable to kindness ftfluua. the Irish. After the great war of tbhc -seventies between France and Germany, when Britain sent her shiploads of food to (the suffering Parisians, it brought the two nationa into warmer,

closer, stronger friendship than ever ; j and the generosity of the English people towards the famine-stricken . districts in India did a great deal to attach them to the British flag. A few l days ago when the Emperor of Germany cabled his sympathy to the French people in the accident to their airship, it evoked very friendly feelings in the hearts of the French nation.

Hence the loving cup sent by the American Fleet to the Japanese, may leave a good moral effect, not only on the Japanese, but through them on the peace of the world. It is the opinion of those who are best acquainted with the Far East that there is a coming struggle in Eastern Aiua. A war between the United States and the Japanese would seriously disturb the trade of the world, and inflict loss and sufferings on millions of innocent people. We therefore look upon the gift of a loving cup as a happy augury for the future peace of the world. There was fear a short time ago of a rupture between the United Btates and Japan, owing to racial animosities over the education question in San Francisco. It was even suspected in some quarters that trouble might arise if the United States’ Fleet went to Japan. Past experience which has culminated in the presentation of a ‘ loving cup,’ is the satisfactory answer to all sucn fears. The whole civilised world will applaud the friendly act of the American Fleet.