THE MAD DOG OF EUROPE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLV, Issue 4005, 11 August 1915, Page 5

THE MAD DOG OF EUROPE.

.MORAL OF LORD CURZONS VISIT TO THE FRONT. MORE'OF THE TRUTH. Lord Curzon. who recently visited the battlefields of France and Flan-

Lord Curzon. who recently visited the battlefields of France and Flanders, made an eloquent plea for further efforts on the part- of Britain at the annual meeting of the Primrose League, held at Caxt-on Hall. “Not’ merely have we to throw bark Germany from Franco and Belgium, and drive her over the border into muown country,” he said, “but wo have io break thH idol with its fac-e of br-'ss and its feet of clay.

“The mad dog of Europe must be chained up. Ho lias shown no mercy to anybody, and I can sec no reason why we should talk of mercy to him. “We ought to make our calculations for a war that will last, not merely through the summer and autumn, but into next year, and perhaps beyond. The question wo ought to ask oursolvos is not 'Are wo downhearted.-' but 'Are wo in earnest V ‘Do we mean to see this thing through?" •'Our soldiers arc all right. Only a fortnight ago I had the opportunity of being among them ini the trenches, within' seventy Yards of the enemy. “Everywhere I found them cheerful, active, 'uncomplaining, devoted to their task, longing to _ get at the enemy, performing prodigies of valor, under conditions enough to shatter the nerves of any man, and subject to a shell fire that might more properly be described as ‘hell fire.’ “Are we as a nation all right.- Only on Saturday last while our soldiers were going through indescribable agony on the battlehelds, 30,000 men at Manchester were looking at a match in which twenty-two other men were kicking about- a leather ball. “I have seen the garden or Europe turned into smoking wilderness—and this within seventy miles ot Dover. The sound of the guns can at hoard from our own shores. Out ro. good luck and: the bravery of our men all these things might have happened to us —and still may conceivably nappen to us before the war comes to an 0ll «>in these circumstances, it is for the Government to give a load to the country in helping to a truer realisation of the facts of the situation, the Government ought to take the country more, fully into their confidence than they have: hitherto done. “Wo want more of the truth. Why do the Government speak with two voices on the question of munitions? Any ono who has boon to the frontand heard our officers talk, and seen the men, knows perfectly noil that tho want of shells is the great need of the day. , , , “The Government ought to coinemvilato tho possibility of steps in the nit lire much more drastic. than any they have yet taken They ought to proparo for eventualities which ait more than likely to'occur and the nation ought to be prepared to submit to sacrifices and to be com routed, bv dangers and losses incomparably greater than any they have endure during the past nine months. “Criticism is just as patriotic as, and much more useful tham silence, declared Lord Cur son, who intimated that there would bo unrestrained errncism of some of tho acts of the -Government after the war was oi e r. 'Pho Government ought not to pi esumo on our patience. There fix* things which may have to be sedd’