Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

4 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

Dr. Clifford ai-, y khyfel,

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

Dr. Clifford ai-, y khyfel, Mr. GOL, Daeth i fy llaw yn ddiweddar y rhifyn am Mehefin o'r flwyddyn hon o'r Young Man and Woman, ym mha un y mae dyfyniadati o lyfryn bychan tair ceiniog, gyhoeddwyd ers ychydig amser yn ol gan y Patriarch en- wog Dr. Clifford, arwr llawer ymgyrch, ac er ei fod wedi gweithio ei ffordd drwy wyth neg dau o auafau, ac wrthi a'i holl egni, dyma fel y dywed un sydd yn ei adnabod yn dda, "I have known Dr. Clifford for nearly forty years, and the longer he lives the more his vita lity.baffles me." Cofgennyf ddarJJen, yn y Baptist Times and Freeman, ym mli-eti rhai misoedd wedi dechreu y rhyfel, ysgrifau gan Dr. Rushbrooke wedi iddo gael ei draed yn rhydd o lyffetheiriau yr Ellmyn, oblegid yr oedd wedi ei anfon yn gynrychiolydd gyda Dr. Clifford i'r gynhad- ledd, ac yn ystod y Sul y soma y Dr. Clifford am dano, dywedodd wrth Dr. Rushbrooke y byddai yn cychwyn adref ben boreu dran- oeth, ei fod yn teimlo fod pobpeth yn symud o'i gwmpas i ryfel, ac ymaith ag ef, a'r Ell- myn arfog wrth ei sodlau yn dylifo wrth y miloedd. Anghredodd Dr. Rushbrooke y Dr, Clifford, collodd ei gyfleustra, a bu yn garch- aror am rai misoedd, cafodd driniaeth arw, a thrwy gyfryngiad yGweinidogAmericanaidd Gerard y cafodd y fraint o gael troi ei wyneb tua chartref. Yn awr fe ga y Dr. Clifford siarad drosto ei hun. In the last week of July, 1914, I was travelling in Germany to a Conference of some eighty representatives of the Churches Peace Alliance of the different countries of Europe and of the United States, arranged to be held for four days at Constance) in the hotel famed as the place where John Huss was tried and condemned to death. I found that though war was not declared, the mobolisation of German forces was proceed- ing with the utmost rapidity. The whole continent seemed to be trembling with the tread of armed men. The hum of soldiers preparing for battle filled the air. A long train at Worms was on its way to the front, laden with ammunition. At the Constance station we were challenged as to our business by soldiers with fixed bayonets, and not suffered to move until satisfactory accounts concerning us were received from the hotel. The Con- ference had to meet at once, crowd the four days' business into one, a Sunday, and hurry home on the Monday or run the risk of being interned. I could not free myself from the dread impression that the greatest calamity in history menaced the civilisation of the world, that Armagedon was at the doors. All my life-long loathing of war raised and repeated the questions, Is it necessary that Britain should be drawn into this whirlpool of misery and woe and death ? Must we fight ? May we not—indeed, ought we not to be neutral ? All through Monday and Tuesday the problem forced itself upon the mind; and, when crossing the Channel for home, so intense was our desire for peace that we drew up a statement, intend- ing to publish it in England, in favour of a rigorous abstinence from joining in the war. But further investigation of the facts showed (I) that our Government had done everything that could be done to allay the storm and preserve the peace of the world (2) that Prussia had launched an ultimatum to Russia, and declared war on Russia on August ist; (3) had violated Luxembourg; and then (4) deliberately and of express purpose and according to long-prepared plans, had broken into Belgium, flung to the wind as veriest chaff her solemn treaty obligations, flouted public law, and trampled under foot with ineffable scorn the rights of small nationalities as not even the small dust of the balance. My eyes were opened. My conscience refused to be quieted in the presence of that gross wrong done to the soul and to the homes of a small. nation, that scornful and contemptuous tearing-up of a solemn compact in the face of the world. I saw, painful as the conclusion was, that it was as just as it was necessary, not only in the interest of little Belgium, but for the security and autonomy of small states all over the world that Britain should take her stand and wield her sword in an entirely unselfish service for the good of mankind. We could do no other We could not be neutral. The indefeasable right of a people to legislate for itself, to control its own territory, to live its own free life was at stake. Loyalty to those principles of liberty and justice of which each one of us is a trustee for others, left no other course open unless we were willing to, continue our existence as tools and slaves of Germany. It was a question of duty to others, not of victory. The odds were overwhelmingly against us. Our country was not ready. We were weak. Ours was a contemptible little army." France was not prepared. Russia was a doubtful quantity. But before us the path of duty shone out in clearest light, and wherever it might lead us we had to go. It was the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. We must follow. We dare not hold back. England would have lost her soul in the wilderness of calculated comfort," and enervating ease had we allowed the brave little one "to be crushed into ignominous servitude by the perfidious Kaiser and his military lords. And now, in the fourth year of this war, we can truly say that not a single event has happened since the war began, not a single disclosure has been made, in official books, or through diplomats-and disclosures have been many and startling-which has not fully vindicated the attitude taken by our Government, dis- missed every doubt as to .the justice of our course of action, justified our reasoning, and made manifest to all men the innermost meaning of the fight for Belgium. It is a world-fight for the self-government and liberty of small states that is at stake. Lose that and all is lost. Life ceases to be worth living. There is the key to the situation. (I) As a matter of fact, Belgium was seized and annexed in the war policy of the Kaiser planned years before, and prepared for with a thoroughness that missed nothing that made for the triumph of might, and ignored everything that had to do with right. In the calculation of the military despots who claim the world and its God as their own, there were no peoples to be considered, no communal rights to be taken into ac- count, no State to be consulted, no laws to be observed. Belgium was merely a gateway, a line of route, the shortest road to Paris and London and Washington, and the summit of the world. That was all, and it was enough. Put justice away," said Augustine, and what are your empires but brigandage and rapine' as the story of the last forty months overwhelmingly proves." (Pw barhaa.)

Dargafifyddtad Hynod. I

Cydnabod Cydymdeimlad.

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