Modern Warfare

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 74, 17 August 1914, Page 6

Modern Warfare

ADDRESS J'.Y REV. F. HALES. AT THE RROTHERIIOOD. There was a large attendance at the Brotherhood meeting yesterday afternoon when hi exceedingly able and interesting address was given by the Rev. .!•'. Hales oil "Some Aspects of Modern Warfare." Tile chair was occupied by .Mr. ,T. (,'. List, vi';iu briefly introduced t!ie speaker. Mr. J laics at, the outset stated thai, patriotism had at all times and in all plaees been of two kinds—one that stands in the synagogues and at street corners that if. may be seen and heard of men. and l'rci|iicn.]y deteriorating into jingoism, while the other —no less loyal to its own country —believes in the dignity and worth .; f humanity.and the virtue or a sense of moral responsibility, being tangumc enough to believe that it may yet be the destiny of a great nation to serve the cause of humanity by eliminating the necessity for war. That England tried to do ....s before entering on the present struggle the speaker' lirmly believed, but failed through no fault of her own. Finding it impossible, .to reason with a ruler drunk with, tiie lust of power, and mad with self-conceit, England had taken the only '-honorable course open to ; hcr, and with a true humanitarian spirit had come to the help of the weak against the arrogant and the strong, and, added t'bo speaker, "that her efforts on behalf of a'righteous cause may be crowned with success, i most humbly and heartily pray." lie considered it would have been Well for liermauy before entering on this war to have, pondered the words of the late Emperor Frederick the Noble, who, himself a proved soldier, had the courage to say: f hate the business of blood. Von have never seen war. If you had ever seen it you would not speak the word unmoved. I have seen it, and I tell you it is a man's highest duty to avoid war if by any means it -<in be avoided. At on.'i 'time men talked of the "field of honor," but who could thus speak of the long drawn fronts of flesh opposed to machines of precision and the triumphs of the chemical laboratory? Was it not time, he asked, that tin; spirit of humanity revolted against tihe cumulative horror of the mechanics of modern warfare.? Forty vears ago, in one battle. 1-ju.iMt) Jay "dead on the. Held of boner. How ninny would return from the slaughterhouse of Europe today' Armies more Mist thai; the world has ever sen; were now meeting in awful and terrible coniiict. Herman-'.' ahu ■ could put six million soldiers in the field: Franco almost, as many; Russia possibly more. It was enough to masc one's brain reel. AITAEEINC (USTLiNEc'-S OF WAR. According to reiia'de • aieulatiolis. in less than ."DO years there lias been spent on this game of human slaughter Cl.500.000,00.) drawn in taxes from the hard earnings of the workers of England. The world's wars during the nineteenth century cost nearly £4.1W1),(h)'!.«,-i). About lGs in every £ raised in taxes bad to he paid for existing armaments and for interest on the national debt — eTSS.UIII!,0(19 increase; mainly by pievious war-. In the .South African war the total of .deaths was 7;sl!i, wounded 12.2::i>. invalids sent home J!).227, horses an.! mules killed 4'Kt.WH). and a do;, o! £.'Z:A).(mi\'.-«<). besides twenty millions a year since in increased taxation. In the Russo-.fatuinese war ihe .laps ihad 2!'h--42:) killed and wounded, and 21i1,"2ii sick, while the Russian casualties reached nearly a million. Arbitratim would ave prevented that awful catastrophe. The Crimean war. which was developed by Napoleon 111 mainly for the purpose of establishing his owifd .misty, cost the Western Powers 42!\(.)(>il men, and Russia HJ.-j.UT), while it cost England L'(i,;.!v;;:..::,!) diivctiv and f(;;j,n;i([.n(7;l indirectly—a sheer waste of life and monoy. "Nothing. - ' said Wellington on the, morrow of Witcrloo, "except a battle lost can be ihalf so melancholy as a battle won."

, TirE URITALITV AND CiU;F.L'iT OF WAIL ■c said Mr. Hales, is. bad , :ioii;j!i, but tin' brutality and c'.uolly of it arc worse. If; No good bad rcsulled iron; the r,.i!kan war, which could have linn avoided if i the concert o, Kuropo had done its duty at any time duria;;- tne !;-sl :i:» years. ~ but tile voire of .in-tirc had iiceii aihlrcsi. sod to ileal' I .ars. As il coiisc.piciiro I'nssia and Austria had loon mobilising at enormous cost, and pleat sums v.'ouid --jbavo to lie borrowed for eaiii:!"; out hundreds of thousands of ronsrriiits from tlieir homes, and now the fionule had J spread io France end (leniiany. Kiu.de.nd j liein;,' dialed into it u;;aiust, :ber' wi;'. Miliions o; inoacy ami thousands of lives will lie wasted over this act or ini::iliil:.\ and who l:i:ow-; what the end will be? The speaker a airai'iiic description of the horrors of the il.ilKiin war, and toe terrible mutilation id' ihe eoiiibaiams. Life and love, he sail, no lonirer ciintcd. nor did lie.di and blood; only -tore and corpses counted for anything now. Kefereuce vas man-, by way of contrast, to save tile live: '„[' individuals, however nscics.-, ;h:v nibaht lie. Lif... said the s-ieaher, was eve'rvthinj,' hi ;:s --liin- mo-i precious possesion on ear;:;, and he!,. U him,' this uio-t precious of possession-. we.-ted and used upr-spiiiu-d as Ihe ,i„ s . „!" (lie earthand we are Mar-hii-. alon:; over it ;;■- over (ins: ami stem-; It w.: ; ■■; a! ,-cd: said Mr. Hale-, hfill war. but he (ontrnd-d that, m, Pl .i, in IS7!.M. W.ilt-! Or' NLCF^i'IT. The.,. „„;,;,: !„. war;, ; f ,:;,-:;tv. -;.; : ; (he .piahe,-. such as wars of d01ea,,.. H'hatevv the' eoii-euaea c" mmii! "'lie' | niii.-t heiij for i,ii:i ( ,: r .| ■:.f,.--:--t i-. 1,,, l '■>'" liici i! was an evil 1 er.lv than nntional .■xti.:e;:en. The American war shot wa ill- 1 in- fh-sie\c ovide:/ parte, and the North .had lo in to war tor ia\. I i.cr.-nti of t ! - ;>efb n. Thai v,aa n-d tie-' o--;;';-.-. lis: ii 1,-i't -i iopa.-y , ;' d', - j -In. is now- niacin--, a,a!, -aid 'Mr. ii.u.-. ••nnii-lerovrrs.-asiheainiou- ii.-li. her 1„ lions war never -'hi JiUr ti;.. Veal \ V !-'- ti :;-'(l lob- at i--ue. f. ,-no (,;.;-.- tie., is ever .rf;,,.,; ;,v : ,.;. ; i,i. |,„t !,, (".•jinmon a. opie, "mosc ino-re-l ■;-. i' lv lit of fie. :.,-.• wlei.a-'-u.'vi'd.c.era-iia-, blind tilei,. e-.es and those ~'f the beholders'. !n the profit •dra-aiie. !■>:■>- I land's, cause v.a- the cause of justice > arid hnmauifv. find wo all prav that Justice and rijriit will prevail! IJut let, the victory, if. as was boped. it was on the I side of right, recognise the brotherhood of the human race, and the infinite crime

a, common family. That the Union .i.-o . id vihi j-.ngiao.d may not droop m .f-i.is is, concluded. the speaker, the, eu.ni. ■; eope of every true Ih'iiisner, but v,-'■:-■.; .t llii's in victory, and your childn.'.',. souths, and maiden-', nroudly wear I:• ■ red, white, and blue, do not fontct '. o tell them that England's Hag stands mo for the want and waste and traged-, .if war, imf, for social justice, social 1;,...and tile redemption of liuiuaii.ty. (be:, i applause.) During the ;>ro< lings, the Rev. A. lb Cliappoll gave a striking rendition of 'ingci'soil's "Napoleon's Tomb.''