SECTARIAN BIGOTRY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 116, 9 October 1914, Page 3

SECTARIAN BIGOTRY.

STRATFORD'S LIBERAL CANDIDATE

TAKES UP THE CUDGELS.

(From our Special Reporter)

In the course of his political address on Wednesday night, Mr Hawkins said that ho felt he must refer to the question of sectarianism that had been imported into the struggle by his own opponents. He approached the question from a fresh viewpoint. "A few months ago," he said, "the news was flashed across the wires that our Empire's very existence was threatened. The dogs of war had been let loose, and our nation was faeed with a crisis unparalleled in her history. Tho 'bugle call' to rally round the nation's flag rang throughout the Empire. Was there any response? We thank the God of Battles that even as the crisis through ■which our nation 'was called upon to pass was unprecedented, ev«n so was the rally round her banner. • The response to that bugle-call electrified the world, and staggered our enemies. "Tell me, tell me, here and now: When the sturdy sons of Britain rallied to the standard, in their tens and hundreds of thousands, were they divided by sectarian and political bigots, into political and religious camps? "Tell me, were they asked whether they were Catholics or Protestants?

"Whon on yonder European battlefields, fighting to the death for your liberty and mine, When amid the awful and hellish din of armaments and the death cries of their comrades—tell me, was tho question of religious creeds considered 1 "When amid the wounded and the dying, lying side by side on those bloodsoaked battlefields, Catholics clasp the hand of their Protestant comrades, as their life-blood ebbed away—tell me, was the question of religious creed considered?

"When those gal'.ant sons of Britain, who had sealed their loyalty and their blood, were laid side by side in foreign graves—tell me, was the question of creed considered?

"When the grief-Btricken cliaplainß in broken voices uttered those solemn words, 'earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust' —tell me, was the question of religious creed considered? "When the bugle sounded the 'last post,' over the graves of the nation's honored dead —tell me, was the question of religious creeds considered? "Xo, a thousand times no! Unsectarian comrades in life, unscctarian comrades in death!

'"Listen! When the last bugle call rings loud and clear for the final resurrection review; when our brave sons, Catholics and Protestants whose intermingled Wood drenched the same foreign soil, rally for the last muster; when shoulder to shoulder they stand in unserried ranks) reverently awaiting the Divine Decree that will seal their everlasting destinies; methinks the Omnipotent Commander-in-Chief will not ask whether they are Catholics or Protestants, but the questions will rather be, *,Did each play the man during life's battle, and were they true to themselves, their country, and their God? "I stand here to-night as a sworn uncompromising enemy of sectarian bigotry. It is a withering, blighting curse that exists only under the ban of heaven and the smiles of hell. It was spawned by Satan to divide the home, blight the nation, and curse the world. From whatever source it springs, I hate it with an undying hatred, and I shall fight it as long as God gives mo breath. If at any time during the present political fight the hydra - headed sectarian monster is dragged into the firing line, whether by party haek or sectarian bigot, crush it even as you would any other viper that exists only for the blight and ruin of mankind."