WAR AIMS OF ALLIES

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20956, 8 November 1939, Page 7

WAR AIMS OF ALLIES

OUTLINED BY VISCOUNT HALIFAX FIGHTING IN DEFENCE OF FREEDOM DEMAND FOR LAW, INSTEAD OF BRUTE FORCE (Official Wireless) (Received Nov. 8, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, Nov. 7 Viscount Halifax, Foreign Minister, broadcasting, adressed himself to two questions which are likely to present themselves with growing insistence to thoughtful minds. ‘'The first of these questions,” he said, “is what is the real purpose of our struggle, and the second is may we, in fact, feel secure that, through victory in this conflict of physical force, we can achieve it? These questions accounted for the desire expressed in many quarters that the Allies should define with greater precision what were called their war aims. “In general terms the answer has been plainly given. We are fighting in the defence of freedom. We are fighting for peace. We are meeting the challenge to our own security and that of others. We are defending the rights of all nations to live their own lives. “We are fighting, too, against the substitution of brute force for law as the arbiter between nations, against the violation of the sanctity of treaties and disregard for the pledged word.” Dealing with the record of the Nazi regime, Viscount Halil ax said: "In general it is not the business of one nation to interfere with the internal administration of another, and history has plenty of examples of the futility of such attempts. The British are particularly reluctant to interfere with other people’s business, provided always that other peoples do not seek to interfere in theirs. But when the challenge in the sphere of international relations is sharpened, as to-day in Germany, by a denial to men and women of elementary human rights, that challenge is at once extended to something instinctive and profound in the universal conscience of mankind. We therefore are fighting to maintain the rule of law and the quality of mercy in dealings between man and man in the great society of the civilised States.”

Britain’s Honour Stating that only with supreme dishonour could Britain have averted war, and declaring that the supreme dishonour now lay with Germany as the aggressor, Viscount Halifax added:— “We and those fighting side by side with us—men of our race from every i quarter of the world—peoples owning the same loyaltv to the Crown—our French and Polish 1 allies—we are all united in will, and under Providence we have the power to prove also the supreme folly with I which the German Government has I moved to its own destruction. • “But after victory, when then? Mr I Chamberlain stated that we seek; ! no vindictive peace, that we have no territorial ambitions for ourselves, and that we should feel the future to hold little hope unless a new peace settlement might be reached through a method of negotiation and agreement. “But we are determined, so far as it is humanly possible, to see to it that Europe is not again subjected to a repetition of this tragedy. “With this purpose in view we shall use all our influence, when the time comes, in building a new world in which the nations will not permit insane armed rivalry to deny their hope of a fuller life, and future confidence shall not be for ever overborne by grim foreboding of disaster. Seeking a New World “The new world we seek will enlist co-operation of all peoples on the basis of human equality, self-

respect and mutual tolerance. We shall have to think out again many things that lie at the root of international contracts—social, political and economic—and find means of reconciling the necessity of change in a constantly changing world with security against the disturbance of the general peace through resort to violence. “To this order that we shall seek to create all nations will have their contribution to make, and a great responsibility in both thought and action will rest upon our people. We, not less than others, have our lesson to learn from past failures and disappointments. What After the War? “We have no idea what shape the post-war world will be. We do not know the circumstances in which the hostilities will end or the materials which will be to our hands in building an edifice of peace. There are some who believe that the new order can only come through the J surrender in some measure by J nations of their sovereign rights, in < order to clear the way for some more organic union, but if it is thus hoped to create a more truly inter- £ national system out of the independent States we must learn the lessons of the past.

“No paper plan will endure that does not freely spring from the will of the peoples, who alone can give it life, nor will it avail for one people alone to see a vision that has no message for its neighbours. “International, like national, institutions must have deep roots, anc if they are grown they must have,

like everything else, a soil that suits them. There is a cynical saying that it is often the task of the wise to repair the harm done by the good. “When this war is over we shall have to see to it that wisdom and goodwill shall combine for the immense task that will await the world.”