A CALL TO ARMS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 175, 28 August 1909, Page 3

A CALL TO ARMS

' - A FIVH-YEAR FORECAST. ! (Melbourne Argus)-. ! "To your tents, O Israeli" The naj tions arc arming by sea and on land, I ami Australia sleeps. We lose a test I match at cricket, and the streets are full of the voices of "them that weep"; Germany climbs to a level with Britain in nayal construction, and the Australian breakfasts in sublime indifference. South Melbourne is beaten by Colling"wood, and Monday's workshops echo | with the tale; we could not mobilise | our tiny field force in a month, and who [cares?* The newspapers write, and write again, of the weakness of our bulwarks against hostile attack, and their readers diligently pursue the share-list and the murder column. Nor is Parliament much better. Sir John Forrest and Sir William Lyne quarrel, and the House fills; a member discusses deep problems of armed defence, and addresses empty benches. The militia wants 200 officers, and tne Government is heckled on how often the Lord Mayor went to parade. The j guns in our forts are obsolete, and the political heavens are rent because Gunner Smith was confined to barracks for seven days. Our politicians must think less of the general election aud its personal risks, and more of the general situation and its national dangers, if they would be worthy of the occasion. What, would this Common-1 wealth care whether Colonel Foxton is' discreet or indiscreet, or has instruc-' tions or a free hand from his colleagues? That which matters is what he and his colleagues do—and this last matters profoundly. Things' arc wrong—wrong with the public, wrong with Parliament, wrong with the forces; of all of which evidence will be given here In due courseThe primal cause is a paradox; ours is ;i country none can excel in its possibilities, and nowhere is individual happines* greater. We have till now never known or really feared invasion; the flair that protect* us has seemed so absolute a guarantee for the continuance of our peaceful development that our F.uhlimal consciousness as a people has well-nigh co'me to convincing us that we sever can be interfered with. We have, too, for so long enjoyed gratuitously the benefits of empire that we almost resent being asked to share the burden. Had we undergone a baptism of fire on our own soil, as has every other nation on earth; had we. like Switzerland, ever to look upon mighty neighbors, whose armies equalled or excelled our whole population; were we, like Poland a century ago, eyed greedily by hungry kings, with nought to help us save ourselves, we had long realised our danger and our duty. But because all has gone so well, we seem unable to believe seriously that all may frn ' ill. Does it. seem an al • view to .take to declare that, within the next five years, we mav be fighting to the death to keep the Union -lack flying in Australia. Whv. he who runs mav read the signs—if hp will. Britain's next groat war is at hand, and will try her and us to the utmost. Fs, for we an Tio longer bevond the outer edges e' the storm. The great Powers of the world are within striking distance in. the Pacific or the Tndian Ocean. True, I that between the unwelcome visitor and our door stands the menace of our navy, but a generation ago that menace was by comparison enormously greater, and our aecessibility incomparably less. Nations have never succeeded in war, except in proportion to their peace-Ore of patriotism, which is the measure of tlieir ability to translate spirit into practice. That burst of splendid flame, which makes men hitherto careless lay| down their life for a cause, is but aj funeral pyre; what leads to victory is ( the flame, steady and constant as the' lamp in the temple of Vesta, which is forged in days of peace—the sure armor of The only fuel 'or such a lamp is knowledge and determination; knowledge of the need—determination to meet it. This Anstraiia lacks. We must cease to indulge in large promises for the future, and substitute performance, however small, in ihe present. We must give up proclamations of what we can do for statements of what we have done. To offer all iu the hour of peril is vain sacrifice of all, unless we have made ready for all. What Australia first needs is a permanent and universal feeling of obliga-l tion until our young men—for thev| will have to do the fighting— nt their work, and in their homes, and during their hour* of relaxation, talk of d£ fence as freely as they do of footballthere is no security and little hope. T his country's dreams had need be plea-1 snnt, for the awakening will surely be| bitter. Had wc not better abandon 1 dreams?