CHAPTER XXXVI

WHAT WILL THE HORRORS AND ATROCITIES OF THE GREAT WAR LEAD TO?

WAR, A REVERSAL TO THE PRIMITIVE BRUTE IN MAN -- THE SPREAD OF DEMOCRACY -- DECLINE OF THE WAR SPIRIT -- THE DAWN OF UNIVERSAL PEACE.

In the mobilization of armies, in the appropriation of colossal funds and consequent imposition of intolerable taxes, in the disregard of the neutrality of lesser nations, in the “emergency measures” that tear apart a home to give its bread-winner to the reeking shambles--in all these phenomena original incentives quickly are forgotten, as though they had never been.

What imperial chancellery now remembers, or now cares, that a sovereign’s nephew and his morganatic wife were done to death in an obscure dependency upon the Adriatic shores? Their hands and steel are at each other’s throats on that pretext, but they improve the occasion to settle all old scores that rancorous racial antagonism in an interminable blood-feud have created. War has thrown down the barriers of social restraint; it has abolished the delimitations of political adjustment; international decorum, propriety, all that is signified in the German tongue under the untranslatable name of “Sittlichkeit” are no more; landmarks set in place with a thankful sense of achievement and a pious aspiration are obliterated.

None will deny to our heroes living, nor to those who after warfare rest in peace, the sublimity of their utmost pattern of devotion and of the sacrifice they made. But with all that selfless devotion implies and patriotism means, with all that the bugle sings or flaunting pennons inspire, with all that the sight of old and tattered battle-flags conveys, with all that the histories tell, with all the exemplary careers of conquerors that were not ruthless and armies that sang psalms and nations whose quarrel was just and kings who laid their crowns before the throne of God in prayer, and their laurels in the dust of the profoundest self-abasement--the nature of war is not changed.

With all the Te Deums that have risen in cathedrals, and hosannas that were sung for conquering Caesars when earth and sky were shaken like a carpet with their welcome at the gate; with all the splendor of shining accoutrements of guardsmen and Uhlans and cuirassiers; with all the investiture of romance that poet and painter and even the sensitive historian have been able to confer upon it--war remains what it is: an abysmal and sickening reversion to the primitive brute in man. It must still be a sight “to grieve high heaven and make the angels mourn” that men created in the image of their Maker, endowed with a diviner instinct beyond the body’s need or transient existence, could sink so far, and in the slough of primordial animality forget the very light of life and their immortal destiny for the sake of the mere fiction of power on land, sea and even in the throbbing and embattled air through which the prayers of women ascend like silent flame to God.

The World’s Best Intellects on War

JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU: War is the foulest fiend that ever vomited forth from the mouth of hell.

THOMAS JEFFERSON: I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: There never was a good war or a bad peace.

WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON: My country is the world; my countrymen are all mankind.

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE: The more I study the world, the more am I convinced of the inability of force to create anything durable.

PAUL ON MARS HILL: God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth.

ANDREW CARNEGIE: We have abolished slavery from civilized countries, the owning of man by man. The next great step that the world can take is to abolish war, the killing of man by man.

GEORGE WASHINGTON: My first wish is to see the whole world at peace, and the inhabitants of it as one band of brothers, striving which should most contribute to the happiness of mankind.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive * * * to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

EMANUEL KANT: The method by which states prosecute their rights cannot under present conditions be a process of law, since no court exists having jurisdiction over them, but only war. But through war, even if it result in victory, the question of right is not decided.

THE SPREAD OF DEMOCRACY

We are apt, in thinking of the consequences of the European war, to consider the readjustment of national boundaries as of prime importance. Such a thought betrays a wrong perspective, or a narrowness of vision, or both. Territorial definition is a small, material factor. The larger, spiritual considerations that affect all mankind are the momentous things. And probably of all the consequences that are evolved out of the horrors and atrocities of the great war, the spread of the democratic spirit must be the most momentous. Despite the fact that the ambitions of the people and the dynasties are in accord, the effect of the war upon monarchical institutions must be momentous. The spirit of democracy is abroad. It has practically abolished the British House of Lords. It has forced the establishment of a parliament in Russia. It is so active and alert in Germany that the Social Democratic party is the largest and most powerful political organization in the empire. In France it overturned the monarchy nearly half a century ago, and is now so firmly established that only the wildest dreamers ever imagine that republican institutions can be displaced. It is regnant in Portugal and nearly so in Spain. A nation in arms, as Germany now is, will not long be content to remain a nation without a ministry responsible to its Parliament. The democratization of German institutions is inevitable after the war, whatever the result. The people, even in Russia, are no longer driven serfs. They think, they reason, and a demonstration of the power of 5,000,000 men on the battle-field will not be lost on the patriots who wish also to demonstrate the power of the same number of millions in deciding at first hand the causes for which they will take up arms. Whether the kings and the emperors remain on their thrones matters little. Great Britain, though it retains the fiction of a monarchy, is as democratic as the United States, and its Parliament responds with greater precision to popular sentiment than the American Congress. The war means the end of autocracy whether the kings remain or not.

DECLINE OF THE WAR SPIRIT

It is significant that the most democratic nations are likewise the most peace-loving. With the spread of democracy must come the decline of the war spirit. The teaching that war is a biological necessity for the preservation of the heroic virtues in men has met its fate in this war, for we have found men, whole regiments of them, who had only been in warlike training a few months, showing just as cool courage and just as stubborn fighting powers as men who had been trained to war from their youth. Even from the standpoint of effectiveness in war the war spirit is unnecessary.

And we have a right to insist that the bravery of the battle-line is not the highest bravery, and that the deliverance wrought by bayonet and shrapnel is not the most necessary to the welfare of humanity. The courage which is unmoved by the roar of great guns and undaunted by the gleam of advancing bayonets is good, but it is no better than the courage of the timid woman who faces death upon the operating-table without shrinking or complaint; and it is in nothing superior to the courage which, in the daily life of our people, takes up patiently the burden of the day, and in the face of poverty, sorrow, and pain, and bearing also the contempt of many, goes forward without bitterness and even with cheerfulness to the end of the journey, faithful unto death.

THE DAWN OF UNIVERSAL PEACE

Finally, as the spirit of democracy rises and the spirit of war declines, the vision of universal peace begins to crystallize. While to many it may seem that this must always remain a vision, the real seers of the world do not doubt that, when the awful conflict in Europe is ended, the warring nations, viewing their dead and their devastated countries, will welcome a plan which promises an end of such disasters. The practicability and feasibility of the idea of an international tribunal is shown by the successful operation of the American Constitutional Courts of Arbitration, which have settled controversies between the states, and by the so-called general arbitration treaties to submit justiciable disputes to arbitration. And if an international arbitration court is feasible, an international police, to give force to the decrees of the tribunal, is also feasible. We have only to come to believe this and the plan itself can be formulated. All great achievement in the world has been a matter of great faith.

The hope of humanitarianism and civilization rests on the very enormity of the present calamity. The horrors and atrocities of the war are so great, its waste and devastation so enormous, its scars so deep, that no one who is touched by it can want war again. The disaster is so overwhelming that peace when it comes must be lasting.

The 32 pages of illustrations contained in this book are not included in the paging. Adding these 32 pages to the 320 pages of the text makes a total of 352 pages.

Transcriber’s Notes

Inconsistent and unusual spelling and hyphenation have been retained, except as listed below. p. 139, Todeshusaren (Death’s-Head Hussars): either the English translation should be Death’s Hussars, or the German name should be Totenkopfhusaren. p. 148, Haybes (Belgium): Haybes is in France (albeit close to the border with Belgium). p. 153, Mme. X.: probably an error for Mme. Z. p. 155, Bignicourt-sur-Saultz: probably Bignicourt-sur-Saulx. p. 234, “A WASTEFUL WAR”: there is no such section.

Changes made: Some illustrations have been moved out of text paragraphs. Some minor obvious typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected silently. Accents have been corrected and standardised on French and German words (Châlons, château, Hôtel de Ville, Liège, Visé, Jäger, Pêcheurs, Pégoud), but not on English words (debris/débris); the capitalisation of German nouns has not been corrected. p.34: several section titles added to the list of subjects cf. the actual text p.109: Onsmael changed to Orsmael p. 159: BURNING OF CITY SYSTEMATIC added to list of subjects p. 179: Poekappelle changed to Poekapelle Illustration caption after page 200: Fort Loucin changed to Fort Loncin p. 280: RAPID FIRING added to list of subjects