The Daily News. THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1913. THE PRICE OF PEACE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 191, 2 January 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1913. THE PRICE OF PEACE.

The Rev. J. W. Burton, like most othci militant preachers, certainly lias thicourage of his convictions, but we must frankly admit that we cannot agree with his views expressed last week in a sermon upon militarism. We have already published a substantial digest of the sermon, which at least was picturesquely phrased, and there is no need to recapitulate its urgings. Briefly, Mr. Burton wants lis to scrap onr warships, dis'iiiaiilli' our forts and batteries, and disband our armies. This is to be such a glorious Clu-Mian lesson to his mind that even the uncivilised world will sit up in amazement, and from very admiral ion of this noble principle will refiain from laying hands on any portion of the Empire. . li is a delightful theory, of course, but an utterly impossible one. History, hand in hand with philosophy, has long since settled the faflt that the only way to prevent war is to be prepared for it. It would be just as sensible to argue that we should pull down our hospitals, scatter the world's medicines to the four winds, and hang, draw and quarter our doctors in a determination: that nobody shall be ill. It is really a revival of the old story of the boy who was undecided whether to '''duck or take the hrick." and if history counts for anything, it is those nations who iluivo "taken the brick" that have led the way in the councils and the |civilisation mid Christianising of the world. We are quite at one in approving of any sane efforts to stop the desperate rivalry of the nations in fleet-

building and arming their peoples, and, of course, peaceful methods of settling international differences are to be preferred where they will not detract from the sovereign independence of the nations. But unfortunately we are all human, and while there is a possibility of war we must be prepared for it. Nor are we at all convinced that this very fact of preparation is "a mixed blessing." We are reminded of a thoughtful article which appeared two or three years ago in the London Spectator touching on exactly this subject. Preparation, the writer argued, or making oneself or the nation ready to meet a great strain is simply a facet of duty. '"No man or woman," ho wrote, "who estimates and undertakes seriously the duty of national preparation will do anything or indulge in any habit, mental or physical, which may later on incapacitate them or make them less efficient in serving the Motherland at a moment of peril." Nor does he ask people to do what is on other grounds a religious and. moral duty merely in .order to make thenwelves secure as a nation. Archbishop Whately once said appositely that 'Honesty is no doubt the best policy, but he who is honest for that reason is mot an honest man.' In the same spirit it must be argued that if the practice of religion and morality is the best policy, any nation which became moral and religious on that ground would' he an evil nation. The motion of purchasing national security by moral and' spiritual regeneration is not only odious in itself but is necessarily a chimera. No doubt the man who leads a moral and religious life will find it far easier to be a good patriot than the'materialist who ignores the teachings' of religion' and morality, but religion and morality must be'practised for their own sakes and not for ulterior motives. It is not enough that the people who make up the nation should he individually guided by moral and religions aspirations. That alone will not secure national safety. A community will not be saved as a community by the sanctity of its - inhabitants. And this is the whole crux of the argument. Cromwell knew this truth and expressed it with convincing force. • No reformer and no soldier ever had the Word of God more often in his mouth and in his heart than this prince of the Puritans, and yet his standing injunction to his troops was to "put their trust in God and keep their powder dry." Jt is a strange and disquieting symptom among the moral symptoms to which Mr. Burton has given voice that there is a certain fearfulness among many good people that there is something of wickedness in all preparations for war. But the truth is that the preparation for aggression and the preparation for defence, are too widely different things. War, just the same as peace, is a purely neutral thing, and it is only when its purpose is known that its justification or its condemnation can be judged. Peace which is maintained because people are too luxurious, too cowardly, too much sunk in self-indulgence to endure the sacrifice of war, is not good, and might easily become a hideous evil. We have our hearths and our homes to think of as well as our national prestige, and it is in no jingoistic spirit that recalls the old line fraught with the wisdom of the countryside for centuries past that we say—

"We don't want to fight, . But, by Jingo, if we do " There have been so many illustrations in the pages of history of the value of locking stable doors before steeds are stolen that the subject really requires no elaboration. Peace o*i earth we desire, but we, too, believe that while the world remains what it is, its discipline reqirres the possibility of wair. We have built our house upon the rock of character formation, and we are not at all concerned with any impression that our military spirit is likely to undermine our national character. It is a builder rather thai! a destrover.

A XEW GREAT BOWER,

Mr. Howden Smith, a young American war correspondent who lias been making a name for himself recently by his vivid descriptive messages from' the Balkans, contributes to a recent issue of the London Express some interesting speculations regarding the position of the Balkan .States once the present war is concluded. He inclines to the opinion that the Bulgarians*, tiro Greeks, the Montenegrins and the Servians will federate in one Empire, with Constantinople as their capital und Ferdinand, King of Bulgaria as their Emperor. He admits the jealousies and differences of national outlook which the Montenegrins and the Vlaehs, the 'Greeks and the Roumanians, but against all these divergencies he sets the fact that the Balkan States have discovered that whereas singly they were impotent, united they are irresistible. In one short month, by acting in concert, they have lifted their countries from the level of barrier States and localities for comic opera scenarios to a position eqwi.l with that of any of the Great Powers. Counting in the territories which have been conquered in the recent lighting, and others which will accrue to them by any treaty tliey may sign, the Allies may reckon upon a combined population of more than 1.5,000,000. They can. at present put at least 1.000.000 armed men in the Held, men who have "proved themselves Hie equal of any troops in Europe." King Ferdinand is generally recognised to be the ablest of the Balkan rulers, and according to Mr. Howden Smith, his coronation as Emperor would not necessarily mean an hereditary tenure of the Imperial crown for his family. Ferdinand of Bulgaria, crowned Emperor of the Balkans in the Church of St. Sophia, .with bis capital in Constantinople, might revive all. the glories of the Eastern Emperors, and as logical .successor through them of the Roman ■Caesars would perhaps be able to build up si State in South-Eastern Europe second to none on the Continent.