IF GERMANY WON.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 August 1915, Page 5

IF GERMANY WON.

KIPLING'S PASSIONATE WAKXINtt, Mr. itudyard Kipling look a hand in the Earl of Derby's West Lancashire recruiting campaign, and told a gathering at Southport what, in his opinion, a German victory would mean for Britain. Following are suine of the most striking points of a remarkable speech:— I am here to speak on behalf of a ays. tem in which I do not believe, and in which, I dare say, a good many of you do not believe—the system of voluntary seh'ice. . The German has spent quite as much energy in the last 45 years preparing for war as wo have in convincing ourselves that wars should not be prepared for. Ho has started this war with a magnificent equipment, 'which took him time and heavy taxation to get together. That equipment we have had to face for the last ten months. We have had to face more. The Germans went into this war with a mind which had been carefully trained out of Ilia idea of every moral •souse or obligation—private, public, or international. Ho does not recognise th* existence of any law, least of all those lie has subscribed to himself, in making war against combatants or noncombatants, men, women, and children. He has done from his own point of view very well indeed. All mankind bears witness to-day that there is no crime, no cruelty, no abomination that the mind of man can conceive which the German has not perpetrated, is not perpetrating, and will not perpetrate if he is allowed to go on. These horrors and perversions were not invented by him on the spur of the.moment. They were arranged beforehand, their outlines are laid down in the German war-book. They are part of th« system in which Germany has been scientifically trained. It is the essence of that system to make such a hell of, the countries where her armies set foot' that any tenns she may offer will seem like heaven to the peoplo whole bodies she has defiled and whose minds she has broken of set purpose and intention. Out own strength and our own will alone cap save us. If these fail, the alternative for us is robbery, rape of the women, starvation, as a preludo to slavery. Ndr need we expect any miracle to save us. So long as an unbroken Germany exist*, so long will life on this planet be intolv erable, not only for us and wr our AUlos, but for all humanity. And humanity knows it. At present six European nations are bearing the burden of the war. There is a fringe of shivering neutrals almost under the German guns who look out of their front doors and see, as they were meant to see, what has been done to. Belgium, the German-guaranteed neutral. But, however the world pretends to divide itself, there are only two divisions, in the world to-day—human beings and Germans. And the German knows it. Human beings have long ago sickened of him, and everything connected with him —of all he does, says, thinks, or believes. Ftom the ends of the earth to the ends of the earth they desire nothing more greatly than that this unclean thing should be thrust out from the membership and the memory of the nations.' The German's answer to the world's loathing is, "I am strong, I kill. I shall go on killing by all means in my power till I have imposed my will on all human deings." He gives no choice. He leaves no middle way. He has reduced civilisation and all that civilisation means to the simple question of kill or bo killed. Turn your mind for a moment to the idea of a conquering Germany. You need not go far to see what it would mean to us. In Belgium at thiß hour several million Belgians are making war material or fortifications for their conquerors. They are given enough food to support life as the German thinks it should bo supported. By the way, I believe the United States of America supplies ft, large part of that food. In return they arc compelled to work at the point of the bayonet. If they object they are shot. Their factories, their houses, and their public buildingß have long ago been gutted and everything in them that was valuable or useful has been packed up and sent into Germany. They have no mpro rights than cattle; and they cannot lift ,a hand to protect the honour of their vwomen. And less than a year ago they were one of the most civilised and prosperous of the nations of the earth. There has been nothing like the horror of their fate in all history, and this system is in full working order within 50 »ile3 of the English coast. WheTe I live I can hear the guns that are tryvin" to extend it. The same system exists in° such parts of France and Poland as are in German hands. But whatever has been dealt out to Belgium, France and Poland will be England's fate tenfold if we fail to subdue the Germans. That we shall be broken, plundered, robbed, and enslaved like, Belgium Will bo but the first part of the matter. There are special reasons in the German mind why we should be morally and mentally shamed and dishonoured beyond any other people—why we should 'be degraded till those who survive may scarcely dare to look each other in theface Be perfectly sure, therefore, that if Germany is victorious, every refinv ment of outrage which is within the comWss of the German imagination will be Vflicted on us in every aspect of our liVes. Over and above this, no pledge wo ciixi oiler, no guarantee we can give will "be accepted bv Germany as binding. She bins broken her own most solemn oaths, nfciM's, and obligations, and by the very fact" of her existence she is boundlO trust nothing and to recognise notlunjj except immediate superior force backaf ,by illimitable cruelty. So you boc then "arc m> terms possible. Healise. too, if the Allies are beaten, tliere will be no spot on the globe where a soul'.can escape from the domination of this envniv of mankind. There has been childish talk that the Western hemisphere wftiild offer n refuge from oppression Put that thought from your mind. If the AllV-s wen. defeated, Owmany would not liuve to srid a single battleship over the Atlantic. She would U«MS ,m order and it would be obeyed. Civilisation would be bankrupt, and the western world would be taken over With the vest of the wreckage by Germany, the, receiver. So you see there is no retreat possible. There are no terlis and no retreat in tWs war. It must go forward, and with those men of England who are .eligible for service, but who have not yet offered themselves, the decision of the i war rests.