A DENOUNCEMENT OF PACIFISTS.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 November 1917, Page 7

A DENOUNCEMENT OF PACIFISTS.

To the Editor. Sir,—lt is humiliating that in this hour of imminent peril even one single member of the British, Parliament is found advocating peace with 'Germany. Apart from the fact thnt tho Kaiser and his ministers have been adjudged murderers by British courts of law, and that our nation cannot negotiate terms with felons,. the Kaiser's platform has been too loudly proclaimed to make any secret of his intentions, should breathing time be permitted—Prussian subjugation of tho nations and absolute control of the commerce of the world, to he established and maintained through the agency of tho most colossal and perfectly equipped army ever assembled, or that has ever been dreamed of even by the inventive brain of the most imaginative writer of fiction. Ready and armed cap-a-pie—as one writer puts it—"to the last gaiter button." What might be. the means adopted to retain control of the coveted world domination when once Acquired may be conjectured from the diabolic treatment of the unfortunate inhabitants of the districts lately overrun and occupied by the German army, an inhuman attitude towards the conquered to which the nation has been educated in recent years by tho teachings of their military commanders and philosophers. Bismarck's saying that nothing should be left to a conquered people but "their eyes to weep with," and the words of the poet philosopher, Nietzolie: "Pity is a waste of feeling, a moral parasite injurious to the health" may be quoted, among a host of other epigrams, as a fair sample of the teachings diffused among the common puoplo by their leaders, and, at least partly, Explains the cold-blooded ferocity of tho German soldiery in Belgium and Northern France. Against this formidable military organisation, brutalised by a methodically arranged, harsh system of drill, and made callous by 'the men to whom they look for guidance, half-heart-ed methods are of no avail—would, indeed, he suicidal if adopted by the Al- ■ lies at the present juncture. The enemy must be dealt with by equally iron-hand-,ed, convincing methods as those which they have adopted towards other nations. ]f the allies fail to inilict a crushing defeat it needs no gift of prophecy to foretell a recurrence of the war, with all the added horror.? which, in this wonderfully inventive age, the intervening years may supply, before our present rising generation shall have passed across the world's stage into "the unknown bourne." That we should leave our immediate posterity to be crushed by overwhelming odds is unthinkable, for the future welfare of the nation should be the foreuieat care of each successive generation. Thnt the brutalising of the German army by the "war lords" is not an idle rumor the following extract from a recent publication will show:—"ln this war the Prussian lieutenant has himself destroyed his own prestige. Not even. in the event of a victory for Germany will the people adore him, for their idol has shown his feet of clay. He was the chevalier who waa to war on men; he is the swashbuckler who has laid hands on women and children. When Uie stories of his barbarism become known after the war, the day of tho dashing lieutenants will have set, for the German people are a people of sentiment, who sigh for home and children. The German officer has dishonored the German army." I must confess that I am not surprised at this, for I have seen how decent young boys were rendered vicious, how they came to the school (military) with a high valuation of honor and the reverence of good, and how they left as prematurely aged rogues. The fault lay not in them. Differently trained anil away from that hero worship, which is the greatest curse in a military country, they would have made honorable as well „a» brave men. The training in brutality and the lovo for the infliction of pain begin with the. first days of the cadet's school life. It is impossible to afford any just idea of the barbarity of the -'hazing' to which every new cadet is subjected, and it is not unusual for a cadet to take his own life rather than to continue to suffer the persecutions imposed on him. Diielling—an imitation of the 'Monsur' of tho color-students, or students who are members of the duelling clubs —takes place, although this practice is officially forbidden. During one term no less than seven cadets committed suicide. The parents received a .notice of the death of their son, but in ,no case has am enquiry been requested. It is saddening to notice how these young fellows deteriorate; to see them, at first fresh from motherly influence, gradually become bullies and libertines and cavaliers to notorious women."—"My Year 3 in the Kaiser's Army," by an ex-officer, page sli. The author proceeds to illustrate how the brutal methods adopted in training these young lieutenants hear fruit later in the barbarous cruelties indicted by those ollicers on the recruits they are required to handle, and concludes: "The Prussian lieutenant," said the Kaiser, "cannot be imitated by any other army." We leave him the sorry honor. From start to finish the one endeavor of the Prussian War Lord seems to bo to thoroughly brutalise his army and render them oblivious to feelings of pity or remorse. There is, unfortunately, ovidence that he has succeeded with tlie majority of his soldiers. New Zealanders have a further incentive to continue the war when we look through the columns of our illustrated papers on the portraits of the hundreds of fine young men who have been sacrificed in this remorseless struggle, and whose blood cries for vengeance on a foe who made use of every dishonorable and cowardly means to destroy them. That their murderous inventions are being used with deadly effect on themselves is a retributive justice which is, apparently, not relished by the Prussians. When the German people become sane and weary of Prussian domination will bo time enough for Lee-Smith to air his peace programme; at present the nation is too busy lighting. to listen to his feeble squeaks,—l am, etc J.'l&S. ■NoYMiber. 13. 1M«.