The Daily News. MONDAY, MAY 22, 1916. THE ALLIES CAUSE.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 May 1916, Page 4

The Daily News. MONDAY, MAY 22, 1916. THE ALLIES CAUSE.

The report of the interview given by Sir Edward Grey to the Chicago Daily News (which appeared in our issue of Tuesday last), deserves more than passing notice, for therein the British Foreign Minister restated in most emphatic terms not only the historical basis on which the Allies rest their cause, but made it plain why there can be no peace until the causes which provoked the war no longer exist. German statesmen an:l writers have again and again advanced studiously false and malignant statements on this subject, and by crushingly refuting these mendacious untruths Sir E. Grey has done good service at a time when, above all others, it is advisable to proclaim exactly why this terrible war must be fought to the hitter end. "Our people will not stand Prussian tyranny over Western Europe, including these Islands," said the Minister. "We are fighting for a Europe free, no', only from the domination of one nationality, but from hectoring diplomacy, the constant rattling of the sword in the scabbard, perpetual talk of shining armor and war lords. Prussia proposes that Europe shall be modelled and ruled by Prussia in such a way as to dispose of the liberties of her neighbors, and of us all. We are fighting the German id«:a of the desirability of ever-re-current vars. We want a settled peace that will be a guarantee against aggressive wars" It may be assumed that the Allies case is well known, but there are many who do not or will not understand the nature of the fundamental basis on which it exists. In again emphasisir.o the fact that the present war is not a war of armies but of peoples who demand the.right to leave their own lives in harmony, with their own racial aspirat'.jns, Sir Edward Grey places his finger on the crux of the whole matter with unerring instinct. The object of the Huns is not so much to kill their enemies, but to destroy by despotism and brutality the souls of the nations who dare to Hand in the way of their attempt at worh" domination. This was the cause of the war—German ambition, the lust for world power, the insane desire to rule supreme over the lives of the nations doomed to slavery if the German arms were victorious—and this accounts for the awful outburst of frenzied cruelties and horrors, as well as the mendacious utterances which have marked the prosecution of the war by these cultured bn v barians. Above and through all is to be seen the German fetish of "kultur," which they assert is so extraordinarily superior that it gives them the right to impose it on the rest of the world by force, and even to make the unspeakable Turk an agent for this purpose. To ascertain what is implied by "kultur" we have only to turn an- attention on its work in Belgium, Serbia, Montenegro, Armenia, and tens of thousands of desolated homes throughout the world. ' All the blatant falsehoods and casuistry of the German Chancellor cannot alter the fact one iota, nor can he hope much longer to dereive the people of iiis country. Not even the latest and grossest untruth—that Britain wants to destroy a united and free Germany—can long survive the searchlight of reason, for, as Sir Edward Grey rightly pointed out, you cannot kill a people's sou! by foreign despotIsm and brutality "We believe," he gaid, "that the German people, when once tfie cherished dreams of world Empire tire brought to naught, will insist upon the control of ita Government. Therein lives the hope of securing freedom and flatien?] indeijrauenje in Eurofle. because

a German democracy will not plot and plan war as Prussian militarism has plotted wars to take place at chosen dates in the future." It is to be hoped that the German democracy will speedily learn this lesson and so help to put an end to the war. A world's crisis is involved in the issue now being fought out. If the world cannot organise against war, if war must go on, all nations can only protect themselves henceforth by using whatever destructive agencies they can invent, till the resources and inventions of science end by humanity instead of being a means of development. It is therefore imperative that the cancer of despotic militarism should be absolutely destroyed, and those who are striving to accomplish this greatly to be desired achievement should be assisted by the whole ••"sources of the nations who are now allied for the purpose of riddir.g the wo:Id of the menace of eternal warfare, nnd there ean be n„ end to their efforts until the object in view has been carri?d out, and a lasting peace assured.