,a ,,sheaf ,,by ,,john ,,galsworthy ,illustration ,,london ,,william ,,heinemann ,london3 ,william ,heinemann4 #aiaf4 ,to ,,william ,,archer ,,author',s ,,note ,this volume is but a garnering of non-creative writings2 mostly pleas of some sort or other--wild oats of a novelist1 which he has been asked to bind up4 ,he cannot say that he had any wanton pleasure in sowing any of them2 and lest there be others of the same opinion as the anonymous gentleman who thus joyously addressed him last ,july3 8,but there--,i suppose you are getting a bit out of it4 ,men of your calibre will do anything for filthy lucre--you old and cunning reptile60--he mentions that he has not1 personally1 profited a penny by anything in this volume1 and that the future proceeds therefrom will be given to ,st4 ,dunstan's1 and the ,national ,institute for the ,blind1 ,london4 ,in these days of manifold human misery1 many will be impatient reading some of the pleas written before the war2 but the war will not last for ever1 and in the peace that follows life will be rougher1 the need for those pleas even more insistent than it was4 ,the writings have been pruned a little1 and a few have not yet met the public eye4 ,to the many ,editors of ,journals and ,reviews wherein the others have appeared--cordial thanks4 ,j4 ,g4 ,august1 #aiaf4 ,,contents ,,page ,,much ,,cry--,,little ,,wool ,,on ,,the ,,treatment ,,of ,,animals #c ,,concerning ,,laws #gg ,,on ,,prisons ,,and ,,punishment #ie ,,on ,,the ,,position ,,of ,,women #acj ,,on ,,social ,,unrest #adh ,,on ,,peace #afj ,,the ,,war ,,valley ,,of ,,the ,,shadow #afi ,,credo #afi ,,france #aga ,,reveille #agc ,,first ,,thoughts ,,on ,,this ,,war #age ,,the ,,hope ,,of ,,lasting ,,peace #ahh ,,diagnosis ,,of ,,the ,,englishman #aid ,,our ,,literature ,,and ,,the ,,war #bjd ,,art ,,and ,,the ,,war #baj ,,tre ,,cime ,,di ,,lavaredo #bai ,,second ,,thoughts ,,on ,,this ,,war #bbc ,,totally ,,disabled #bdc ,,cartoon #bdg ,,harvest #bdi ,,and--,,after8 ,,prelude #bee ,,freedom ,,and ,,privilege #bfj ,,the ,,nation ,,and ,,training #bff ,,health1 ,,humanity1 ,,and ,,procedure #bgf ,a ,,last ,,word #bhc ,,the ,,islands ,,of ,,the ,,blessed #bhi ,,much ,,cry--,,little ,,wool ,,on ,,the ,,treatment ,,of ,,animals ,i ,,for ,,love ,,of ,,beasts 7,a ,paper in the ,pall ,mall ,gazette1 #aiab47 #a4 ,we had left my rooms1 and were walking briskly down the street towards the river1 when my friend stopped before the window of a small shop and said3 8,gold-fish60 ,i#a looked at him very doubtfully2 one had known him so long that one never looked at him in any other way4 8,can you imagine10 he went on1 8how any sane person can find pleasure in the sight of those swift things swimming for ever and ever in a bowl about twice the length of their own tails80 8,no10 ,i said1 8,i cannot--though1 of course1 they're very pretty40 8,that is1 no doubt1 the reason why they are kept in misery40 ,again ,i looked at him2 there is nothing in the world ,i distrust so much as irony4 8,people don't think about these things10 ,i said4 8,you are right10 he answered1 8they do not4 ,let me give you some evidence of that4 4 4 4 ,i was travelling last spring in a far country1 and made an expedition to a certain woodland spot4 ,outside the little forest inn ,i noticed a ring of people and dogs gathered round a gray animal rather larger than a cat4 ,it had a sharp-nosed head too small for its body1 and bright black eyes1 and was moving restlessly round and round a pole to which it was tethered by a chain4 ,if a dog came near1 it hunched its bushy back and made a rush at him4 ,except for that it seemed a shy-souled1 timid little thing4 ,in fact1 by its eyes1 and the way it shrank into itself1 you could tell it was scared of everything around4 ,now1 there was a small1 thin-faced man in a white jacket holding up a tub on end and explaining to the people that this was the little creature's habitat1 and that it wanted to get back underneath2 and1 sure enough1 when he held the tub within its reach1 the little animal stood up at once on its hind legs and pawed1 evidently trying to get the tub to fall down and cover it4 ,the people all laughed at this2 the man laughed too1 and the little creature went on pawing4 ,at last the man said3 #8,mind your back-legs1 ,patsy6' and let the tub fall4 ,the show was over4 ,but presently another lot came up2 the white-coated man lifted the tub1 and it began all over again4 8#8,what is that animal8' ,i asked him4 8#8,a 'coon4' 8#8,how old8' 8#8,three years--too old to tame4' 8#8,where did you catch it8' 8#8,in the forest--lots of 'coons in the forest4' 8#8,do they live in the open1 or in holes8' 8#8,up in the trees1 sure2 they only gits in the hollows when it rains4' 8#8,oh6 they live in the open8 ,then isn't it queer she should be so fond of her tub8' 8#8,oh1' he said1 #8she do that to git away from people6' and he laughed--a genial little man4 #8,she not like people and dogs4 ,she too old to tame4 ,she know me1 though4' 8#8,i see1' ,i said4 #8,you take the tub off her1 and show her to the people1 and put it back again4 ,yes1 she would know you6' 8#8,yes1' he repeated1 rather proudly1 #8she know me--,patsy1 ,patsy6 ,presently1 you bet1 we catch lot more1 and make a cage1 and put them in4' 8,he was gazing very kindly at the little creature1 who on her gray hind legs was anxiously begging for the tub to come down and hide her1 and ,i said3 #8,but isn't it rather a miserable life for this poor little devil8' 8,he gave me a very queer look4 #8,there's lots of people1' he said--and his voice sounded as if ,i'd hurt him--#8never gits a chance to see a 'coon'--and he dropped the tub over the racoon4 4 4 4 8,well6 ,can you conceive anything more pitiful than that poor little wild creature of the open1 begging and begging for a tub to fall over it and shut out all the light and air8 ,doesn't it show what misery caged things have to go through80 8,but1 surely10 ,i said1 8those other people would feel the same as you4 ,the little white-coated man was only a servant40 ,he seemed to run them over in his memory4 8,not one60 he answered slowly4 8,not a single one6 ,i am sure it never even occurred to them--why should it8 ,they were there to enjoy themselves40 ,we walked in silence till ,i said3 8,i can't help feeling that your little white-coated man was acting good-heartedly according to his lights40 8,quite6 ,and after all what are the sufferings of a racoon compared with the enlargement of the human mind80 8,don't be extravagant6 ,you know he didn't mean to be cruel40 8,does a man ever mean to be cruel8 ,he merely makes or keeps his living2 but to make or keep his living he will do anything that does not absolutely prick to his heart through the skin of his indolence or his obtuseness40 8,i think10 ,i said1 8that you might have expressed that less cynically1 even if it's true40 8,nothing that's true is cynical1 and nothing that is cynical is true4 ,indifference to the suffering of beasts always comes from over-absorption in our own comfort40 8,absorption1 not over-absorption1 perhaps40 8,ha6 ,let us see that6 ,very soon after seeing the racoon ,i was staying at the most celebrated health resort of that country1 and1 walking in its grounds1 ,i came on an aviary4 ,in the upper cages were canaries1 and in the lower cage a splendid hawk4 ,it was as large as our buzzard hawk1 brown-backed and winged1 light underneath1 and with the finest dark-brown eyes of any bird ,i ever saw4 ,the cage was quite ten feet each way--a noble allowance for the very soul of freedom6 ,the bird had every luxury4 ,there was water1 and a large piece of raw meat that hadn't been touched4 ,yet it was never still for a moment1 flying from perch to perch1 and dropping to the ground again and again so lightly1 to run1 literally run1 up to the bars to see if perhaps--they were not there4 ,its face was as intelligent as any dog's----0 ,my friend muttered something ,i couldn't catch1 and then went on3 8,that afternoon ,i took the drive for which one visits that hotel1 and it occurred to me to ask my chauffeur what kind of hawk it was4 #8,well1' he said1 #8,i ain't just too sure what it is they've got caged up now2 they changes 'em so often4' 8#8,do you mean1' ,i said1 #8that they die in captivity8' 8#8,yes1' he answered1 #8them big birds soon gits moulty and go off4' ,well1 when ,i paid my bill ,i went up to the semblance of proprietor--it was one of those establishments where the only creature responsible is #8,co4'--and ,i said3 8#8,i see you keep a hawk out there8' 8#8,yes4 ,fine bird4 ,quite an attraction6' 8#8,people like to look at it8' 8#8,just so4 ,they're uncommon--that sort4' 8#8,well1' ,i said1 #8,i call it cruel to keep a hawk shut up like that4' 8#8,cruel8 ,why8 ,what's a hawk1 anyway--cruel devils enough6' 8#8,my dear sir1' ,i said1 #8they earn their living just like men1 without caring for other creatures' sufferings4 ,you are not shut up1 apparently1 for doing that4 ,good-bye4'0 ,as he said this1 my friend looked at me1 and added3 8,you think that was a lapse of taste4 ,what would you have said to a man who cloaked the cruelty of his commercial instincts by blaming a hawk for being what ,nature had made him80 ,there was such feeling in his voice that ,i hesitated long before answering4 8,well10 ,i said1 at last1 8in ,england1 anyway1 we only keep such creatures in captivity for scientific purposes4 ,i doubt if you could find a single instance nowadays of its being done just as a commercial attraction40 ,he stared at me4 8,yes10 he said1 8we do it publicly and scientifically1 to enlarge the mind4 ,but let me put to you this question4 ,which do you consider has the larger mind--the man who has satisfied his idle curiosity by staring at all the caged animals of the earth1 or the man who has been brought up to feel that to keep such indomitable creatures as hawks and eagles1 wolves and panthers1 shut up1 to gratify mere curiosity1 is a dreadful thing80 ,to that singular question ,i knew not what to answer4 ,at last ,i said3 8,i think you underrate the pleasure they give4 ,we ,english are so awfully fond of animals60 ----- #a ,for 8,i0 read 8almost anyone40--,j4 ,g4 #b4 ,we had entered ,battersea ,park by now1 and since my remark about our love of beasts we had not spoken4 ,a wood-pigeon which had been strutting before us just then flew up into a tree and began puffing out its breast4 ,seeking to break the silence1 ,i said3 8,pigeons are so complacent40 ,my friend smiled in his dubious way1 and answered3 8,do you know the #8blue rock'80 8,no40 8,ah6 there you have a pigeon who has less complacency than any living thing4 ,you see1 it depends on circumstances4 ,suppose1 for instance1 that we happened to keep ,our ,selves--perhaps the most complacent class of human beings--in a large space enclosed by iron railings1 feeding them up carefully1 until their natural instincts caused them to run up and down at a considerable speed from side to side of the enclosure4 ,and suppose when we noticed that they had attained the full speed and strength of their legs we took them out1 holding them gingerly in order that they might not become exhausted by struggling1 and placed them in little tin compartments so dark and stuffy that they would not care of their own accord to stay there1 and then stood back about thirty paces with a shot gun and pressed a spring which let the tin compartment collapse4 ,and then1 as each one of ,our ,selves ran out1 we let fly with the right barrel and peppered him in the tail1 whereon1 if he fell1 we sent a dog out to fetch him in by the slack of his breeches1 and after holding him idly for a minute by the neck we gave it a wring round2 or1 if he did not fall1 we prayed ,heaven at once and let fly with the left barrel4 ,do you think in these circumstances ,our ,selves would be complacent80 8,don't be absurd60 ,i said4 8,very well10 he replied1 8,i will come to #8blue rocks'--do you still maintain that they are so complacent as to deserve their fate80 8,i don't know--,i know nothing about their fate40 8,what the eyes do not swallow1 the heart does not throw up6 ,there are other places1 but--have you been to ,monte ,carlo80 8,no1 and ,i should never think of going there40 8,oh1 well10 he answered1 8it's a great place2 but there's just one little thing about it1 and that's in the matter of those #8blue rocks4' ,you'll agree1 ,i suppose1 that one can't complain of people amusing themselves in any way they like so long as they hurt no one but themselves----0 ,i caught him up3 8,i don't agree at all40 ,he smiled3 8,yours is perhaps the ,english point of view4 ,still----0 8,it's more important that they shouldn't hurt themselves than that they shouldn't hurt pigeons1 if that's what you're driving at10 ,i said4 8,there wouldn't appear to you1 ,i suppose1 to be any connection in the matter80 8,i tell you10 ,i repeated1 8,i know nothing about pigeon-shooting60 ,he stared very straight before him4 8,imagine10 he said1 8a blue sea1 and a half-circle of grass1 with a low wall4 ,imagine on that grass five traps1 from which lead paths--like the rays of a star--to the central point on the base of that half-circle4 ,and imagine on that central point a gentleman with a double-barrelled gun1 another man1 and a retriever dog4 ,and imagine one of those traps opening1 and a little dazed gray bird 7not a bit like that fellow you saw just now7 emerge and fly perhaps six yards4 ,and imagine the sound of the gun and the little bird dipping in its flight1 but struggling on4 ,and imagine the sound of the gun again and the little bird falling to the ground and wriggling on along it4 ,and imagine the retriever dog run forward and pick it up and walk slowly back with it1 still quivering1 in his mouth4 ,or imagine1 once in a way1 the little bird drop dead as a stone at the first sound4 ,or imagine again that it winces at the shots1 yet carries on over the boundary1 to fall into the sea4 ,or--but this very seldom--imagine it wing up and out1 unhurt1 to the first freedom it has ever known4 ,my friend1 the joke is this3 ,to the man who lets no little bird away to freedom comes much honour1 and a nice round sum of money6 ,do you still think there is no connection80 8,well10 ,i said1 8it doesn't sound too sportsman-like4 ,and yet1 ,i suppose1 looking at it quite broadly1 it does minister in a sort of way to the law of the survival of the fittest40 8,in which species--man or pigeon80 8,the sportsman is necessary to the expansion of ,empire4 ,besides1 you must remember that one does not expect high standards at ,monte ,carlo40 ,he looked at me4 8,do you never read any sporting paper80 he asked4 8,no40 8,did you ever hunt the carted stag80 8,no1 ,i never did40 8,well1 you've been coursing1 anyway40 8,certainly2 but there's no comparing that with pigeon-shooting40 8,in coursing ,i admit10 he said1 8there's pleasure to the dogs1 and some chance for the hare1 who1 besides1 is not in captivity4 ,also that where there is no coursing there are few hares1 in these days4 ,and yet----02 he seemed to fall into a reverie4 ,then1 looking at me in a queer1 mournful sort of way1 he said suddenly3 8,i don't wish to attack that sport1 when there are so many much worse1 but by way of showing you how liable all these things are to contribute to the improvement of our species ,i will tell you a little experience of my own4 ,when ,i was at college ,i was in a rather sporting set2 we hunted1 and played at racing1 and loved to be #8au courant' with all that sort of thing4 ,one year it so happened that the uncle of one of us won the ,waterloo ,cup with a greyhound whose name was--never mind4 ,we became at once ardent lovers of the sport of coursing1 consumed by the desire to hold a ,waterloo ,cup ,meeting in miniature1 with rabbits for hares and our own terriers for greyhounds4 ,well1 we held it2 sixteen of us nominating our dogs4 ,now kindly note that of those sixteen eight at least were members of the aristocracy1 and all had been at public schools of standing and repute4 ,for the purposes of our meeting1 of course1 we required fifteen rabbits caught and kept in bags4 ,these we ordered of a local blackguard1 with a due margin over to provide against such of the rabbits as might die of fright before they were let out1 or be too terrified to run after being loosed4 ,we made the fellow whose uncle had won the ,waterloo ,cup judge1 apportioned among ourselves the other officers1 and assembled--the judge on horseback1 in case a rabbit might happen to run1 say1 fifty yards4 ,assembled with us were many local cads1 two fourth-rate bookies1 our excited1 yapping terriers1 and twenty-four bagged rabbits4 ,the course was cleared4 ,two of us advanced1 holding our terriers by the loins2 the judge signed that he was ready2 the first rabbit was turned down4 ,it crept out of the bag1 and squatted1 close to the ground1 with its ears laid back4 ,the local blackguard stirred it with his foot4 ,it crept two yards1 and squatted closer4 ,all the terriers began shrieking their little souls out1 all the cads began to yell1 but the rabbit did not move--its heart1 you see1 was broken4 ,at last the local blackguard took it up and wrung its neck4 ,after that some rabbits ran1 and some did not1 till all were killed6 ,the terrier of one of us was judged victor by him whose uncle had won the ,waterloo ,cup2 and we went back to our colleges to drink everybody's health4 ,now1 my friend1 mark6 ,we were sixteen decent youths1 converted by infection into sixteen rabbit-catching cads4 ,two of us are dead2 but the rest of us--what do we think of it now8 ,i tell you this little incident1 to confirm you in your feeling that pigeon-shooting1 coursing1 and the like1 tend to improve our species1 even here in ,england40 #c4 ,before ,i could comment on my friend's narrative we were spattered with mud by passing riders1 and stopped to repair the damage to our coats4 8,jolly for my new coat60 ,i said4 8,do you notice1 by the way1 that they are cutting men's tails longer this spring8 ,more becoming to a fellow1 ,i think40 ,he raised those quizzical eyebrows of his and murmured3 8,and horses' tails shorter4 ,did you see those that passed just now80 8,no40 8,there were none60 8,nonsense60 ,i said4 8,my dear fellow1 you really are obsessed about beasts6 ,they were just ordinary40 8,quite--a few scrubby hairs1 and a wriggle40 8,now1 please10 ,i said1 8don't begin to talk of the cruelty of docking horses' tails1 and tell me a story of an old horse in a pond40 8,no10 he answered1 8for ,i should have to invent that4 ,what ,i was going to say was this3 ,which do you think the greater fools in the matter of fashion--men or women80 8,oh6 ,women40 8,why80 8,there's always some sense at the bottom of men's fashions40 8,even of docking tails80 8,you can't compare it1 anyway10 ,i said1 8with such a fashion as the wearing of #8aigrettes4' ,that's a cruel fashion if you like40 8,ah6 ,but you see10 he said1 8the women who wear them are ignorant of its cruelty4 ,if they were not1 they would never wear them4 ,no gentlewoman wears them1 now that the facts have come out40 8,what is that you say80 ,i remarked4 ,he looked at me gravely4 8,do you mean to tell me10 he asked1 8that any woman of gentle instincts1 who knows that the #8aigrette1' as they call it1 is a nuptial plume sported by the white egret only during the nesting season--and that1 in order to obtain it1 the mother-birds are shot1 and that1 after their death1 practically all their young die from hunger and exposure--do you mean to tell me that any gentlewoman1 knowing that1 wears them8 ,why6 most women are mothers themselves6 ,what would they think of gods who shot women with babies in arms for the sake of obtaining their white skins or their crop of hair to wear on their heads1 eh80 8,but1 my dear fellow10 ,i said1 8you see these plumes about all over the place60 8,only on people who don't mind wearing imitation stuff40 ,i gaped at him4 8,you need not look at me like that10 he said4 8,a woman goes into a shop4 ,she knows that real #8aigrettes' mean killing mother-birds and starving all their nestlings4 ,therefore1 if she's a real gentlewoman she doesn't ask for a real #8aigrette4' ,but still less does she ask to be supplied with an imitation article so good that people will take her for the wearer of the real thing4 ,i put it to you1 would she want to be known as an encourager of such a practice8 ,you can never have seen a lady wearing an #8aigrette4'0 8,what60 ,i said4 8,what80 8,so much for the woman who knows about #8aigrettes1'0 he went on4 8,now for the woman who doesn't4 ,either1 when she is told these facts about1 #8aigrettes' she sets them down as #8hysterical stuff1' or she is simply too #8out of it' to know anything4 ,well1 she goes in and asks for an #8aigrette4' ,do you think they sell her the real thing--,i mean1 of course1 in ,england--knowing that it involves the shooting of mother-birds at breeding time8 ,i put it to you3 ,would they80 ,his inability to grasp the real issues astonished me1 and ,i said3 8,you and ,i happen to have read the evidence about #8aigrettes' and the opinion of the ,house of ,lords' ,committee that the feathers of egrets imported into ,great ,britain are obtained by killing the birds during the breeding season2 but you don't suppose1 do you1 that people whose commercial interests are bound up with the selling of #8aigrettes' are going to read it1 or believe it if they do read it80 8,that10 he answered1 8is cynical1 if you like4 ,i feel sure that1 in ,england1 people do not sell suspected articles about which there has been so much talk and inquiry as there has been about #8aigrettes' without examining in good faith into the facts of their origin4 ,no1 believe me1 none of the #8aigrettes' sold in ,england can have grown on birds40 8,this is fantastic10 ,i said4 8,why6 if what you're saying is true1 then--then real #8aigrettes' are all artificial2 but that--that would be cheating60 8,oh1 no60 he said4 8,you see1 #8aigrettes' are in fashion4 ,the word #8real' has therefore become parliamentary4 ,people don't want to be cruel1 but they must have #8real aigrettes4' ,so1 all these #8aigrettes' are #8real1' unless the customer has a qualm1 and then they are #8real imitation aigrettes4' ,we are a highly-civilized people60 8,that is very clever10 ,i said1 8but how about the statistics of real egret plumes imported into this country80 ,he answered like a flash3 8,oh1 those1 of course1 are only brought here to be exported again at once to countries where they do not mind confessing to cruelty2 yes1 all exported1 except--well1 those that aren't60 8,oh60 ,i said3 8,i see6 ,you have been speaking ironically all this time40 8,have you grasped that80 he answered4 8,capital60 ,after that we walked in silence4 8,the fact is10 ,i said1 presently1 8ordinary people1 shopmen and customers alike1 never bother their heads about such things at all40 8,yes10 he replied sadly1 8they take the line of least resistance4 ,it is just that which gives ,fashion its chance to make such fools of them40 8,you have yet to prove that it does make fools of them40 8,i thought ,i had2 but no matter4 ,take horses' tails--what's left of them--do you defend that fashion80 8,well10 ,i said1 8,i----0 8,would you if you were a horse80 8,if you mean that ,i am a donkey----80 8,oh1 no6 ,not at all60 8,it's going too far10 ,i said1 8to call docking cruel40 8,personally10 he answered1 8,i don't think it is going too far4 ,it's painful in itself1 and ,heaven alone knows what irritation horses have to suffer from flies through being tailless4 ,i admit that it saves a little brushing1 and that some people are under the delusion that it averts carriage accidents4 ,but put cruelty and utility aside1 and look at it from the point of view of fashion4 ,can anybody say it doesn't spoil a horse's looks80 8,you know perfectly well10 ,i said1 8that many people think it smartens him up tremendously4 ,they regard a certain kind of horse as nothing with a tail2 just as some men are nothing with beards40 8,the parallel with man does not hold1 my friend4 ,we are not shaved--with or against our wills--by demi-gods60 8,exactly6 ,and isn't that in itself an admission that we are superior to beasts1 and have a right to some say in their appearance80 8,i will not10 he answered1 8for one moment allow that men are superior to horses in point of looks4 ,take yourself1 or any other personable man1 and stand him up against a thoroughbred and ask your friends to come and look4 ,how much of their admiration do you think you will get80 ,it was not the sort of question ,i could answer4 8,i am not speaking at random10 he went on2 8,i have seen the average lord walking beside the average winner of the ,derby40 ,he cackled disagreeably4 8,but it's just on this point of looks that people defend docking10 ,i said4 8,they breed the horses1 and have a right to their own taste4 ,many people dislike long swishy appendages40 8,and bull-terriers1 or ,yorkshires1 or ,great ,danes1 with natural ears2 and fox-terriers and spaniels with uncut tails2 and women with merely the middles so small as ,nature gave them80 8,if you're simply going to joke----0 8,i never was more serious4 ,the whole thing is of a piece1 and summed up in the word #8smart1' which you used just now4 ,that word1 sir1 is the guardian angel of all fashions1 and if you don't mind my saying so1 fashions are the guardian angels of vulgarity4 ,now1 a horse is not a vulgar animal1 and ,i can never get away from the thought that to dock his tail must hurt his feelings of refinement40 8,well1 if that's all1 ,i dare say he'll get over it40 8,but will the man who does it80 8,you must come with me to the ,horse ,show10 ,i said1 8and look at the men who have to do with horses2 then you'll know if such a thing as docking the tails of these creatures can do them harm or not4 ,and1 by the way1 you talk of refinement and vulgarity4 ,what is your test8 ,where is the standard8 ,it's all a matter of taste40 8,you want me to define these things80 he asked4 8,yes40 8,very well6 ,do you believe in what we call the instincts of a gentleman80 8,of course40 8,such as--the instinct to be self-controlled2 not to be rude or intolerant2 not to #8slop-over'2 not to fuss1 nor to cry out2 to hold your head up1 so that people refrain from taking liberties2 to be ready to do things for others1 to be chary of asking others to do things for you1 and grateful when they do them80 8,yes10 ,i said1 8all these ,i believe in40 8,what central truth do you imagine that these instincts come from80 8,well1 they're all such a matter of course--,i don't think ,i ever considered40 8,if by any chance10 he replied1 8you ever do1 you will find they come from an innate worship of balance1 of the just mean2 an inborn reverence for due proportion1 a natural sense of harmony and rhythm1 and a consequent mistrust of extravagance4 ,what is a bounder8 ,just a man without sufficient sense of proportion to know that he is not so important in the scheme of things as he thinks he is60 8,you are right there60 8,very well4 ,refinement is a quality of the individual who has--and conforms to--a true 7not a conventional7 sense of proportion2 and vulgarity is either the natural conduct of people without that sense of proportion1 or of people who imitate and reproduce the tricks of refinement wholesale1 without any real feeling for proportion2 or again1 it is mere conscious departure from the sense of proportion for the sake of cutting a dash40 8,ah60 ,i said2 8and to which of these kinds of vulgarity is the fashion of docking horses' tails a guardian angel80 8,imagine10 he answered gravely1 8that you dock your horse's tail4 ,you are either horribly deficient in feeling for a perfectly proportioned horse1 or you imitate what you believe--goodness knows why--to be the refined custom of docking horses' tails1 without considering the question of proportion at all40 8,yes10 ,i said2 8but what makes so many people do it1 if there isn't something in it1 either useful or ornamental80 8,because people as a rule do not love proportion2 they love the grotesque4 ,you have only to look at their faces1 which are very good indications of their souls40 8,you have begged the question10 ,i said4 8,who are you to say that the perfect horse is not the horse----80 8,with the imperfect tail80 8,imperfect8 ,again1 you're begging40 8,as ,nature made it1 then4 ,oh60 he went on with vehemence1 8think of the luxury of having your own tail4 ,think of the cool swish of it4 ,think of the real beauty of it6 ,think of the sheer hideousness of all that great front balanced behind by a few scrub hairs and a wriggle6 ,it became #8smart' to dock horses' tails2 and smart to wear #8aigrettes4' #8,smart'--#8neat'--#8efficient'--for all except the horse and the poor egrets40 8,your argument10 ,i said1 8is practically nothing but sthetics40 ,he fixed his eyes upon my hat4 8,well10 he said slowly1 8,i admit that neither on horse nor on man would long tails go at all well with that bowler hat of yours4 ,odd how all of a piece taste is6 ,from a man's hat1 or a horse's tail1 we can reconstruct the age we live in1 like that scientist1 you remember1 who reconstructed a mastodon from its funny-bone40 ,the thought went sharply through my head3 ,is his next tirade to be on mastodons8 ,till ,i remembered with relief that the animal was extinct1 at all events in ,england4 #d4 ,with but little further talk we had nearly reached my rooms1 when he said abruptly3 8,a lark6 ,can't you hear it8 ,over there1 in that wretched little gold-fish shop again40 ,but ,i could only hear the sounds of traffic4 8,it's your imagination10 ,i said4 8,it really is too lively on the subject of birds and beasts40 8,i tell you10 he persisted1 8there's a caged lark there4 ,very likely1 half-a-dozen40 8,my dear fellow10 ,i said1 8suppose there are6 ,we could go and buy them and set them free1 but it would only encourage the demand4 ,or we could assault the shopmen4 ,do you recommend that80 8,i don't joke on this subject10 he answered shortly4 8,but surely10 ,i said1 8if we can't do anything to help the poor things we had better keep our ears from hearing40 8,and our eyes shut8 ,suppose we all did that1 what sort of world should we be living in80 8,very much the same as now1 ,i expect40 8,blasphemy6 ,rank1 hopeless blasphemy60 8,please don't exaggerate60 8,i am not4 ,there is only one possible defence of that attitude1 and it's this3 ,the world is--and was deliberately meant to be--divided into two halves3 the half that suffers and the half that benefits by that suffering40 8,well80 8,is it so80 8,perhaps40 8,you acquiesce in that definition of the world's nature8 ,very well1 if you belong to the first half you are a poor-spirited creature1 consciously acquiescing in your own misery4 ,if to the second1 you are a brute1 consciously acquiescing in your own happiness1 at the expense of others4 ,well1 which are you80 8,i have not said that ,i belong to either40 8,there are only two halves to a whole4 ,no1 my friend1 disabuse yourself once for all of that cheap and comfortable philosophy of shutting your eyes to what you think you can't remedy1 unless you are willing to be labelled #8brute4' #8,he who is not with me is against me1' you know40 8,well10 ,i said1 8after that1 perhaps you'll be good enough to tell me what ,i can do by making myself miserable over things ,i can't help80 8,i will10 he answered4 8,in the first place1 kindly consider that you are not living in a private world of your own4 ,everything you say and do and think has its effect on everybody around you4 ,for example1 if you feel1 and say loudly enough1 that it is an infernal shame to keep larks and other wild song-birds in cages1 you will infallibly infect a number of other people with that sentiment1 and in course of time those people who feel as you do will become so numerous that larks1 thrushes1 blackbirds1 and linnets will no longer be caught and kept in cages4 ,whereas1 if you merely think3 #8,oh6 this is dreadful1 quite too dreadful1 but1 you see1 ,i can do nothing2 therefore consideration for myself and others demands that ,i shall stop my ears and hold my tongue1' then1 indeed1 nothing will ever be done1 and larks1 blackbirds1 etc41 will continue to be caught and prisoned4 ,how do you imagine it ever came about that bears and bulls and badgers are no longer baited2 cocks no longer openly encouraged to tear each other in pieces2 donkeys no longer beaten to a pulp8 ,only by people going about and shouting out that these things made them uncomfortable4 ,how did it come about that more than half the population of this country are not still classed as #8serfs' under the law8 ,simply because a few of our ancestors were made unhappy by seeing their fellow-creatures owned and treated like dogs1 and roundly said so--in fact1 were not ashamed to be sentimental humanitarians like me40 8,that is all obvious4 ,but my point is that there is moderation in all things1 and a time for everything40 8,by your leave10 he said1 8there is little moderation desirable when we are face to face with real suffering1 and1 as a general rule1 no time like the present40 8,but there is1 as you were saying just now1 such a thing as a sense of proportion4 ,i cannot see that it's my business to excite myself about the caging of larks when there are so many much greater evils40 8,forgive my saying so10 he answered1 8but if1 when a caged lark comes under your nose1 excitement does not take hold of you1 with or against your will1 there is mighty little chance of your getting excited about anything4 ,for1 consider what it means to be a caged lark--what pining and misery for that little creature1 which only lives for its life up in the blue4 ,consider what blasphemy against ,nature1 and what an insult to all that is high and poetic in man1 it is to cage such an exquisite thing of freedom60 8,you forget that it is done out of love for the song--to bring it into towns where people can't otherwise hear it40 8,it is done for a living--and that people without imagination may squeeze out of unhappy creatures a little gratification60 8,it is not a crime to have no imagination40 8,no1 sir2 but neither is the lack of it a thing to pride oneself on1 or pass by in silence1 when it inflicts suffering40 8,i am not defending the custom of caging larks40 8,no2 but you are responsible for its continuance40 8,i80 8,you6 and all those other people who believe in minding their own business40 8,really10 ,i said2 8you must not attack people on that ground4 ,we cannot all be busybodies60 8,the saints forbid60 he answered4 8,but when a thing exists which you really abhor--as you do this--,i do wish you would consider a little whether1 in letting it strictly alone1 you are minding your own business on principle1 or because it is so jolly comfortable to do so40 8,speaking for myself----0 8,yes10 he broke in2 8quite6 ,but let me ask you one thing3 ,have you1 as a member of the human race1 any feeling that you share in the advancement of its gentleness1 of its sense of beauty and justice--that1 in proportion as the human race becomes more lovable and lovely1 you too become more lovable and lovely80 8,naturally40 8,then is it not your business to support all that you feel makes for that advancing perfection80 8,i don't say that it isn't40 8,in that case it is not your business to stop your ears1 and shut your eyes1 and hold your tongue1 when you come across wild song-birds caged40 ,but we had reached my rooms4 8,before ,i go in10 ,i said1 8there is just one little thing ,i've got to say to you3 ,don't you think that1 for a man with your #8sense of proportion1' you exaggerate the importance of beasts and their happiness80 ,he looked at me for a long time without speaking1 and when he did speak it was in a queer1 abstracted voice3 8,i have often thought over that10 he said1 8and honestly ,i don't believe ,i do4 ,for ,i have observed that before men can be gentle and broad-minded with each other1 they are always gentle and broad-minded about beasts4 ,these dumb things1 so beautiful--even the plain ones--in their different ways1 and so touching in their dumbness1 do draw us to magnanimity1 and help the wings of our hearts to grow4 ,no2 ,i don't think ,i exaggerate1 my friend4 ,most surely ,i don't want to2 for there is no disservice one can do to all these helpless things so great as to ride past the hounds1 to fly so far in front of public feeling as to cause nausea and reaction4 ,but ,i feel that most of us1 deep down1 really love these furred and feathered creatures that cannot save themselves from us--that are like our own children1 because they are helpless2 that are in a way sacred1 because in them we watch1 and through them we understand1 those greatest blessings of the earth--,beauty and ,freedom4 ,they give us so much1 they ask nothing from us4 ,what can we do in return but spare them all the suffering we can8 ,no1 my friend2 ,i do not think--whether for their sakes or our own--that ,i exaggerate40 ,when he had said those words he turned away1 and left me standing there4 ,,ii ,,reverie ,,of ,a ,,sportsman 7,from the ,fortnightly ,review1 #aiae47 ,i set out one morning in late ,august1 with some potted grouse sandwiches in one pocket and a magazine in the other1 for a tramp toward ,causdon4 ,i had not been in that particular part of the moor since ,i used to go snipe-shooting there as a boy--my first introduction1 by the way1 to sport4 ,it was a very lovely day1 almost too hot2 and ,i never saw the carpet of the moor more exquisite--heather1 fern1 the silvery white cotton grass1 dark peat turves1 and green bog-moss1 all more than customarily clear in hue under a very blue sky4 ,i walked till two o'clock1 then sat down in a little scoop of valley by a thread of stream1 which took its rise from an awkward-looking bog at the top4 ,it was wonderfully quiet4 ,a heron rose below me and flapped away2 and while ,i was eating my potted grouse ,i heard the harsh cheep of a snipe1 and caught sight of the twisting bird vanishing against the line of sky above the bog4 8,that must have been one of the bogs we used to shoot10 ,i thought2 and having finished my snack of lunch1 ,i rolled myself a cigarette1 opened the magazine1 and idly turned its pages4 ,i had no serious intention of reading--the calm and silence were too seductive1 but my attention became riveted by an exciting story of some man-eating lions1 and ,i read on till ,i had followed the adventure to the death of the two ferocious brutes1 and found my cigarette actually burning my fingers4 ,crushing it out against the dampish roots of the heather1 ,i lay back with my eyes fixed on the sky1 thinking of nothing4 ,suddenly ,i became conscious that between me and that sky a leash of snipe high up were flighting and twisting and gradually coming lower2 ,i appeared1 indeed1 to have a sort of attraction for them4 ,they would dash toward each other1 seem to exchange ideas1 and rush away again1 like flies that waltz together for hours in the centre of a room4 ,as they came lower and lower over me ,i could almost swear ,i heard them whisper to each other with their long bills1 and presently ,i absolutely caught what they were saying3 8,look at him6 ,the ferocious brute6 ,oh1 look at him60 ,amazed at such an extraordinary violation of all the laws of ,nature1 ,i began to rub my ears1 when ,i distinctly heard the 8,go-back1 go-back0 of an old cock grouse1 and1 turning my head cautiously1 saw him perched on a heathery knob within twenty yards of where ,i lay4 ,now1 ,i knew very well that all efforts to introduce grouse on ,dartmoor have been quite unsuccessful1 since for some reason connected with the quality of the heather1 the nature of the soil1 or the over-mild dampness of the air1 this king of game birds most unfortunately refuses to become domiciled there2 so that ,i could hardly credit my senses4 ,but suddenly ,i heard him also3 8,look at him6 ,go back6 ,the ferocious brute6 ,go back60 ,he seemed to be speaking to something just below2 and there1 sure enough1 was the first hare ,i had ever seen out on the full of the moor4 ,i have always thought a hare a jolly beast1 and not infrequently felt sorry when ,i rolled one over2 it has a way of crying like a child if not killed outright4 ,i confess then that in hearing it1 too1 whisper3 8,look at him6 ,the ferocious brute6 ,oh1 look at him60 ,i experienced the sensation that comes over one when one has not been quite fairly treated4 ,just at that moment1 with a warm stirring of the air1 there pitched within six yards of me a magnificent old black-cock--the very spit of that splendid fellow ,i shot last season at ,balnagie1 whose tail my wife now wears in her hat4 ,he was accompanied by four gray-hens1 who1 settling in a semi-circle1 began at once3 8,look at him6 ,look at him6 ,the ferocious brute6 ,oh1 look at him60 ,at that moment ,i say with candour that ,i regretted the many times ,i have spared gray-hens with the sportsmanlike desire to encourage their breed4 ,for several bewildered minutes after that ,i could not turn my eyes without seeing some bird or other alight close by me3 more and more grouse1 and black game1 pheasants1 partridges--not only the excellent ,english bird1 but the very sporting ,hungarian variety--and that unsatisfactory red-legged ,frenchman which runs any distance rather than get up and give you a decent shot at him4 ,there were woodcock too1 those twisting delights of the sportsman's heart1 whose tiny wing-feather trophies have always given me a distinct sensation of achievement when pinned in the side of my shooting-cap2 wood-pigeons too1 very shy and difficult1 owing to the thickness of their breast-feathers--and1 after all1 only coming under the heading 8sundry02 wild duck1 with their snaky dark heads1 that ,i have shot chiefly in ,canada1 lurking among rushes in twilight at flighting time--a delightful sport1 exciting1 as the darkness grows2 excellent eating too1 with red pepper and sliced oranges in oil6 ,certain other sundries kept coming also2 landrails1 a plump1 delicious little bird2 green and golden plover2 even one of those queer little creatures1 moorhens1 that always amuse one by their quick1 quiet movements1 plaintive note1 and quaint curiosity1 though not really1 of course1 fit to shoot1 with their niggling flight and fishy flavour6 ,ptarmigan1 too1 a bird ,i admire very much1 but have only once or twice succeeded in bringing down1 shy and scarce as it is in ,scotland4 ,and1 side by side1 the alpha and omega of the birds to be shot in these islands1 a capercailzie and a quail4 ,i well remember shooting the latter in a turnip-field in ,lincolnshire--a scrap of a bird1 the only one ,i ever saw in ,england4 ,apart from the pleasurable sensation at its rarity1 ,i recollect feeling that it was almost a mercy to put the little thing out of its loneliness4 ,it ate very well4 ,there1 too1 was that loon or northern diver that ,i shot with a rifle off ,denman ,island as it swam about fifty yards from the shore4 ,handsome plumage2 ,i still have the hat it made4 ,one bird only seemed to refuse to alight1 remaining up there in the sky1 and uttering continually that trilling cry which makes it perhaps the most spiritual of all birds that can be eaten--,i mean1 of course1 the curlew4 ,i certainly never shot one4 ,they fly1 as a rule1 very high and seem to have a more than natural distrust of the human being4 ,this curlew--ah6 and a blue rock 7,i have always despised pigeon-shooting7--were the only two winged creatures that one can shoot for sport in this country that did not come and sit round me4 ,there must have been1 ,i should say1 as many hundred altogether as ,i have killed in my time--a tremendous number4 ,they sat in a sort of ring1 moving their beaks from side to side1 just as ,i have seen penguins doing on the films that explorers bring back from the ,antarctic2 and all the time repeating to each other those amazing words3 8,look at him6 ,the ferocious brute6 ,oh1 look at him60 ,then1 to my increased astonishment1 ,i saw behind the circles of the birds a number of other animals besides the hare4 ,at least five kinds of deer--the red1 the fallow1 the roe1 the common deer1 whose name ,i've forgotten1 which one finds in ,vancouver ,island1 and the ,south ,african springbok1 that swarm in from the ,karoo at certain seasons1 among which ,i had that happy week once in ,namaqualand1 shooting them from horseback after a gallop to cut them off--very good eating as camp fare goes1 and making nice rugs if you sew their skins together4 ,there1 too1 was the hyena ,i missed1 probably not altogether2 but he got off1 to my chagrin--queer-looking brute6 ,rabbits of course had come--hundreds and hundreds of them4 ,if--like everybody else--,i've done such a lot of it1 ,i can't honestly say ,i've ever cared much for shooting rabbits1 though the effect is neat enough when you get them just right and they turn head over heels--and anyway1 the prolific little brutes have to be kept down4 ,there1 too1 actually was my wild ostrich--the one ,i galloped so hard after1 letting off my ,winchester at half a mile1 only to see him vanish over the horizon4 ,next him was the bear whose lair ,i came across at the ,nanaimo ,lakes4 ,how ,i did lurk about to get that fellow6 ,and1 by ,jove6 close to him1 two cougars4 ,i never got a shot at them1 never even saw one of the brutes all the time ,i was camping in ,vancouver ,island1 where they lie flat along the branches over your head1 waiting to get a chance at deer1 sheep1 dog1 pig1 or anything handy4 ,but they had come now sure enough1 glaring at me with their greenish cats' eyes--powerful-looking creatures6 ,and next them sat a little meerkat--not much larger than a weasel--without its head6 ,ah yes6--that trial shot1 as we trekked out from ,rous' farm1 and ,i wanted to try the little new rifle ,i had borrowed4 ,it was sitting over its hole fully seventy yards from the wagon1 quite unconscious of danger4 ,i just took aim and pulled2 and there it was1 without its head1 fallen across its hole4 ,i remember well how pleased our 8boys0 were4 ,and ,i too6 ,not a bad little rifle1 that6 ,outside the ring of beasts ,i could see foxes moving1 not mixing with the stationary creatures1 as if afraid of suggesting that ,i had shot them1 instead of being present at their deaths in the proper fashion4 ,one1 quite a cub1 kept limping round on three legs--the one1 no doubt1 whose pad was given me1 out cubbing1 as a boy4 ,i put that wretched pad in my hat-box1 and forgot it1 so that ,i was compelled to throw the whole stinking show away4 ,there were quite a lot of grown foxes2 it certainly showed delicacy on their part1 not sitting down with the others4 ,there was really a tremendous crowd of creatures altogether by this time6 ,i should think every beast and bird ,i ever shot1 or even had a chance of killing1 must have been there1 and all whispering3 8,look at him6 ,the ferocious brute6 ,oh1 look at him60 ,animal lover1 as every true sportsman is1 those words hurt me4 ,if there is one thing on which we sportsmen pride ourselves1 and legitimately1 it is a humane feeling toward all furred and feathered creatures--and1 as every one knows1 we are foremost in all efforts to diminish their unnecessary sufferings4 ,the corroboree about me which they were obviously holding became1 as ,i grew used to their manner of talking1 increasingly audible4 ,but it was the quail's words that ,i first distinguished4 8,he certainly ate me10 he said2 8said ,i was good1 too60 8,i do not believe0--this was the first hare speaking--8that he shot me for that reason2 he did shoot me1 and ,i was jugged1 but he wouldn't touch me4 ,and the same day he shot eleven brace of partridges1 didn't he80 ,twenty-two partridges assented4 8,and he only ate two of you all told--that proves he didn't want us for food40 ,the hare's words had given me relief1 for ,i somehow disliked intensely the gluttonous notion conveyed by the quail that ,i shot merely in order to devour the result4 ,any one with the faintest instincts of a sportsman will bear me out in this4 ,when the hare had spoken there was a murmur all round4 ,i could not at first make out its significance1 till ,i heard one of the cougars say3 8,we kill only when we want to eat02 and the bear1 who1 ,i noticed1 was a lady1 added3 8,no bear kills anything she cannot devour02 and1 quite clear1 ,i caught the quacking words of a wild duck4 8,we eat every worm we catch1 and we'd eat more if we could get them40 ,then again from the whole throng came that shivering whisper3 8,look at him6 ,the ferocious brute6 ,oh1 look at him60 ,in spite of their numbers1 they seemed afraid of me1 seemed actually to hold me in a kind of horror--me1 an animal lover1 and without a gun6 ,i felt it bitterly4 8,how is it10 ,i thought1 8that not one of them seems to have an inkling of what it means to be a sportsman1 not one of them seems to comprehend the instinct which makes one love sport just for the--er--danger of it80 ,the hare spoke again4 8,foxes10 it murmured1 8kill for the love of killing4 ,man is a kind of fox40 ,a violent dissent at once rose from the foxes1 till one of them1 who seemed the eldest1 said3 8,we certainly kill as much as we can1 but we should always carry it all off and eat it if man gave us time--the ferocious brutes60 ,you cannot expect much of foxes1 but it struck me as especially foxy that he should put the wanton character of his destructiveness off on man1 especially when he must have known how carefully we preserve the fox1 in the best interests of sport4 ,a pheasant ejaculated shrilly3 8,he killed sixty of us one day to his own gun1 and went off that same evening without eating even a wing60 ,and again came that shivering whisper3 8,look at him6 ,the ferocious brute6 ,oh1 look at him60 ,it was too absurd6 ,as if they could not realize that a sportsman shoots almost entirely for the mouths of others6 ,but ,i checked myself1 remembering that altruism is a purely human attribute4 8,they get a big price for us60 said a woodcock1 8especially if they shoot us early4 ,i fetched several shillings40 ,really1 the ignorance of these birds6 ,as if modern sportsmen knew anything of what happens after a day's shooting6 ,all that is left to the butler and the keeper4 ,beaters1 of course1 and cartridges must be paid for1 to say nothing of the sin of waste4 8,i would not think them so much worse than foxes10 said a rabbit1 8if they didn't often hurt you1 so that you take hours dying4 ,i was seven hours dying in great agony1 and one of my brothers was twelve4 ,weren't you1 brother80 ,a second rabbit nodded4 8,but perhaps that's better than trapping10 he said4 8,remember mother60 8,ah60 a partridge muttered1 8foxes at all events do bite your head off clean4 ,but men often break your wing1 or your leg1 and leave you60 ,and again that shivering whisper rose3 8,look at him6 ,the ferocious brute6 ,oh1 look at him60 ,by this time the whole thing was so getting on my nerves that if ,i could have risen ,i should have rushed at them1 but a weight as of lead seemed to bind me to the ground1 and all ,i could do was to thank ,god that they did not seem to know of my condition1 for1 though there were no man-eaters among them1 ,i could not tell what they might do if they realized that ,i was helpless--the sentiments of chivalry and generosity being confined to man1 as we all know4 8,yes10 said the capercailzie slowly1 8,i am a shy bird1 and was often shot at before this one got me2 and though ,i'm strong1 my size is so against me that ,i always took a pellet or two away with me2 and what can you do then8 ,those ferocious brutes take the shot out of their faces and hands when they shoot each other by mistake--,i've seen 'em2 but we have no chance to do that40 ,a snipe said shrilly3 8,what ,i object to is that he doesn't eat us till he's had too much already4 ,i come in on toast at the fifth course2 it hurts one's feelings40 8,ferocious brute1 killing everything he sees40 ,i felt my blood fairly boil1 and longed to cry out3 8,you beasts6 ,you know that we don't kill everything we see6 ,we leave that to cockneys1 and foreigners40 ,but just as ,i had no power of movement1 so ,i seemed to have no power of speech4 ,and suddenly a little voice1 high up over me1 piped down3 8,they never shoot us larks40 ,i have always loved the lark2 how grateful ,i felt to that little creature--till it added3 8,they do worse2 they take and shut us up in little traps of wire till we pine away6 ,ferocious brutes60 ,in all my life ,i think ,i never was more disappointed6 ,the second cougar spoke3 8,he once passed within spring of me4 ,what do you say1 friends2 shall we go for him80 ,the shivering answer came from all3 8,go for him6 ,ferocious brute6 ,oh1 go for him60 ,and ,i heard the sound of hundreds of soft wings and pads ruffling and shuffling4 ,and1 knowing that ,i had no power to move an inch1 ,i shut my eyes4 ,lying there motionless1 as a beetle that shams dead1 ,i felt them creeping1 creeping1 till all round me and over me was the sound of nostrils sniffing2 and every second ,i expected to feel the nip of teeth and beaks in the fleshy parts of me4 ,but nothing came1 and with an effort ,i reopened my eyes4 ,there they were1 hideously close1 with an expression on their faces that ,i could not read2 a sort of wry look1 every nose and beak turned a little to one side4 ,and suddenly ,i heard the old fox saying3 8,it's impossible1 with a smell like that2 we could never eat him60 ,from every one of them came a sort of sniff or sneeze as of disgust1 and as they began to back away ,i distinctly heard the hyena mutter3 8,he's not wholesome--not wholesome--the ferocious brute60 ,the relief of that moment was swamped by my natural indignation that these impudent birds and beasts should presume to think that ,i1 a ,british sportsman1 would not be good to eat4 ,then that beastly hyena added3 8,if we killed him1 you know1 and buried him for a few days1 he might be tolerable40 ,an old cock grouse called out at once3 8,go back6 ,let us hang him6 ,we are always well hung4 ,they like us a little decayed--ferocious brutes6 ,go back60 ,and once more ,i felt1 from the stir and shuffle1 that my fate hung in the balance2 and ,i shut my eyes again1 lest they might be tempted to begin on them4 ,then1 to my infinite relief1 ,i heard the cougar--have we not always been told that they were the friends of man8--mutter3 8,pah6 ,it's clear we could never eat him fresh1 and what we do not eat at once we do not touch60 ,all the birds cried out in chorus3 8,no6 ,that would be crow's work40 ,and again ,i felt that ,i was saved4 ,then1 to my horror1 that infernal loon shrieked3 8,kill him and have him stuffed--specimen of ,ferocious ,brute6 ,or fix his skin on a tree1 and look at it--as he did with me60 ,for a full minute ,i could feel the currents of opinion swaying over me1 at this infamous proposal2 then the old black cock1 the one whose tail is in my wife's hat1 said sharply3 8,specimen6 ,he's not good enough60 ,and once more1 for all my indignation at that gratuitous insult1 ,i breathed freely4 8,come60 said the lady bear quietly3 8,let us dribble on him a little1 and go4 ,the ferocious brute is not worth more60 ,and1 during what seemed to me an eternity1 one by one they came up1 deposited on me a little saliva1 looking into my eyes the while with a sort of horror and contempt1 then vanished on the moor4 ,the last to come up was the little meerkat without its head4 ,it stood there2 it could neither look at me nor drop saliva1 but somehow it contrived to say3 8,i forgive you1 ferocious brute2 but ,i was very happy60 ,then it1 too1 withdrew4 ,and from all around1 out of invisible presences in the air and the heather1 came once more the shivering whisper3 8,look at him6 ,the ferocious brute6 ,oh1 look at him60 ,i sat up4 ,there was a trilling sound in my ears4 ,above me in the blue a curlew was passing1 uttering its cry4 ,ah6 ,thank ,heaven6--,i had been asleep6 ,my day-dream had been caused by the potted grouse1 and the pressure of the ,review1 which had lain1 face downwards1 on my chest1 open at the page where ,i had been reading about the man-eating lions1 and the death of those ferocious brutes4 ,it shows what tricks of disproportion little things will play with the mind when it is not under reasonable control4 ,and1 to get the unwholesome taste of it all out of my mouth1 ,i at once jumped up and started for home at a round pace4 ,,iii ,,the ,,slaughter ,,of ,,animals ,,for ,,food 7,papers in the ,daily ,mail1 #aiab47b ,the thing is horrible1 but it is necessary4 ,why then drag it out into the light8 ,why make our thoughts miserable with contemplation of horrors which must exist8 ,if it were true that the present methods of slaughtering animals for food in this country were necessary1 if all the suffering they involve was inevitable1 ,i should be the first to say3 8,let us shut our eyes60 ,for1 needless suffering--even to ourselves--is stupid4 ,it is just because this particular suffering is avoidable1 and easily avoidable1 that one feels we must face the matter if we want to call ourselves a decent people4 ,i am a meat-eater--we are nearly all meat-eaters4 ,well6 ,we cannot sit down at present to a single meal without complicity in methods that produce a large amount of preventable suffering to creatures for whom the least sensitive among us has at heart a certain friendly feeling4 ,for1 to those who say that they do not care for animals1 or that animals1 even domestic ones1 have no rights except such as for our own advantage we accord them1 let me at once reply3 ,i do not agree1 but for the sake of argument1 granted2 and then conceive1 if you can1 a world without cattle1 sheep1 and pigs1 and tell me honestly whether you do not miss something friendly4 ,no6 the fact is1 we1 who are the descendants of countless generations to whom these animals have been literally the breath of life1 cannot--even now that we have become such highly civilized townsmen--disclaim all sensibility in their regard4 ,consider the magnitude of this matter4 ,the calculations of an expert give the following approximate numbers of animals annually killed for food in ,england and ,wales3 #a1hej1jjj beasts1 #h1ejj1jjj sheep1 and #c1bjj1jjj pigs4 ,these figures are hard to come at1 and may be a million or so out1 one way or the other1 but even if they be1 is there any feature of the national life which can touch this for possibilities of preventable physical suffering8 ,and is there any department so neglected by public opinion and the law8 ,save the eating of bread1 have we any practice in our lives so consistent as that of eating meat1 or any from which we1 perhaps wrongly1 consider that we derive more benefit1 or any about whose conditions1 sanitary or humane1 we are so careless8 ,if a donkey is beaten to death1 a dog stoned1 or a cat killed with a riding-whip1 the chances are that a prosecution will ensue or a question be asked in ,parliament2 for public opinion and the law lay it down that the infliction of unnecessary suffering on animals is an offence punishable by fine or imprisonment4 ,but if in slaughter-houses some #h1jjj1jjj sheep are killed yearly1 without first being stunned1 by a method which1 even in the hands of an expert1 produces some seconds of acute suffering 7,report of the ,admiralty ,committee on ,humane ,slaughtering of ,animals1 #aijd72 if thousands of cattle require two or more blows of that primitive instrument1 the pole-axe 7if even only one in a hundred cattle requires a second blow it means #ah1jjj in a year72 if pigs are driven in gangs into a small space and there killed1 one by one1 with the others squealing in terror round their dead bodies2 if all this preventable suffering is inflicted daily in our slaughterhouses1 what does public opinion know of it1 and what does the law care8 ,there was a time in this country when men beat their donkeys1 set cocks fighting1 baited bears and badgers1 tied tin pots to dogs' tails1 with the lightest of light hearts and no consciousness at all that they were outside the pale of decency in doing so4 ,we1 their descendants1 now look on the unnecessary suffering involved in such doings with aversion2 but we still allow our sheep and pigs to be killed without stunning1 our pigs to be driven in gangs into the slaughtering chamber1 and the uncertain pole-axe to be used for cattle--all without a qualm4 ,why should this enormous field1 wherein does occur such an amount of easily preventable suffering1 be left so unpatrolled by the law1 which has interested itself in warding off all needless suffering from cats and dogs and horses8 ,well6 ,the law stands idle partly because the animals we kill for food are not so near and dear to us as those others4 ,we should never stand the horses and dogs and cats we make such pets of being killed when their time comes in the manner in which we kill our sheep and pigs4 ,and partly the law stands idle because in the case of horses and dogs and cats there is no large leagued interest1 such as that of the meat trades1 unconvinced of the need for improvement4 ,i am told that the meat trades constitute the strongest body in the kingdom4 ,and well they may1 considering the vast proportions of their business4 ,the meat trades are controlled by men like ourselves--as humane1 and undesirous of inflicting unnecessary suffering4 ,surely they will reconsider their convictions and accept such simple1 elementary safeguards against unnecessary suffering as were outlined by the ,admiralty ,committee on ,humane ,slaughtering1 of #aijd4 ,there is nothing really prejudicial to their interest in these suggestions4 ,nothing extravagant1 or experimental4 ,the case has been proved up to the hilt4 ,what is the good of appointing a governmental committee of first-rate men#c to examine into facts if their ,report is to be paid about as much attention to as one would pay to the suggestions of seven lunatics8 ,why set going a laborious inquiry1 for negligible or puny results8 ,it can no longer be pretended that humane-killers are not effective1 in the face of so much evidence from abroad2 in the face of numerous testimonials from butchers in this country2 in the face of the fact that ,mr4 ,christopher ,cash 7for whose consistent advocacy of humane slaughtering the thanks of us all are due7 in the year #aiaj had #d1jjj animals1 the property of thirty butchers1 killed by 8humane0 methods1 and though he was in every case willing to pay full compensation for any injury he might do to a carcase1 had not one single claim made on him4 7,from a pamphlet entitled 8,the ,humane ,slaughtering of ,animals for ,food10 by ,christopher ,cash4 ,issued by the ,r4,s4,p4,c4,a474 ,butchers and slaughtermen perform a necessary task from which most of us would shrink1 and it is both unbecoming and nonsensical to suggest intentional cruelty on their part4 ,i do not for a moment4 ,but ,i do say that it is the business of the law so to control the methods of slaughter as to obviate to the utmost all needless suffering1 however unintentionally it may be inflicted4 ,in the following brief summary of our want of system ,i am not dealing at all with the ,jewish method of killing1 for not being a ,jew1 ,i cannot pretend to be qualified to discuss a custom which appears to have been necessary hitherto to the peace of the ,jewish mind4 ,i only urge a people in some respects more humane than ourselves to search their consciences1 and see if they can still endure this method4 ,neither am ,i speaking as to ,scotland1 which is ahead of us1 having provided by the ,burgh ,police ,act1 of #ahib1 that where there are public there shall be no private slaughter-houses2 and where--at all events in ,edinburgh--they have abattoirs that compare1 ,i am told1 with the best on the ,continent4 ,the following is a rough outline of what at present seems good to a nation which prides itself on being at once the most practical and the most humane in the whole world3-- ,a mixed system of private and public slaughter-houses--thousands of private slaughter-houses 7some of them highly insanitary7 alongside of a few municipally controlled abattoirs4 ,no regulation that where there are public abattoirs there shall be no private ones2 hence great difficulty in making these public slaughterhouses pay their way4 ,inspection of private slaughter-houses1 in spite of all the good intentions of local authorities and medical officers1 admitted to be very inefficient in so far as condition of meat and method of slaughter are concerned4 ,supervision of public slaughter-houses much hampered by the present widespread custom of allowing butchers to send in their beasts with their own slaughtermen4 ,no general statutory regulations as to method of slaughter4 ,model by-laws have been drawn up by the ,local ,government ,board and recommended to local authorities--but they are not compulsory and have been as yet but sparsely adopted4 ,slaughtermen not licensed2 nor--except in slaughterhouses directly controlled by a ,government ,department 7such as the ,admiralty7--required by law to be proficient before they commence slaughtering4 ,these are the methods of slaughter we adopt at present3-- ,,cattle are almost universally stunned before their throats are cut4 ,so far--good6 ,but they are still1 for the most part1 stunned with the pole-axe4 ,this weapon produces complete unconsciousness at the first blow1 if well wielded4 ,if not well wielded----6 ,i have been assured that the cases of misfire amount to a very small percentage4 ,but ,i can only say1 on the first two beasts slaughtered before my eyes the first blow of the pole-axe--wielded in each case by an experienced slaughterman--descended without effect4 ,the animals moaned1 and waited for the second and successful blow4 ,thanks to the efforts of the ,royal ,society for ,prevention of ,cruelty to ,animals1 the ,council of ,justice to ,animals1 the ,humanitarian ,league1 of ,mr4 ,christopher ,cash1 and others1 there are now a considerable number of improved instruments for stunning cattle in use--the ,greener and ,behr pistols2 the ,royal ,society for ,prevention of ,cruelty to ,animals humane-killer and large captive-bolt pistol2 the ,swedish ,cattle-killer 7used throughout ,scandinavia71 and others4 ,but the number of these improved instruments in use at present is only a fringe to the mass of time-hallowed and uncertain pole-axes4 ,,calves4--8,the usual practice in this country appears to be to run the animal up first 7by a tackle fastened to its hind legs7 and then to stun it1 previous to bleeding40 7,report of the ,admiralty ,committee47 ,on this method the ,committee thus commented3 8,this order of procedure is not so humane1 and appears to be unnecessary40 4 4 4 8,calves should first be stunned by a blow on the head with a club0--i4e41 before being run up4 ,when this ,committee conducted its investigation in #aijd1 the best humane-killers had not been invented1 or were not known here4 ,,sheep1 with few exceptions1 are not stunned before they are bled4 ,the method of killing them and the amount of suffering they undergo are thus summed up in the ,report of the ,admiralty ,committee3 8,the usual method in this country is to lay the sheep on a wooden #8crutch' and then to thrust a knife through the neck below the ears1 and with a second motion to insert the point from within between the joints of the vertebrae1 thus severing the spinal cord4 ,in the hands of an expert this method is fairly rapid but somewhat uncertain1 the time which elapses between the first thrust of the knife and complete loss of sensibility varying1 according to ,professor ,starling's observations1 from five to thirty seconds4 ,in the hands of an inexpert operator it may be some time before death supervenes1 and there can be little doubt that this method must be very painful to the sheep as long as consciousness remains4 8,at the best it is a somewhat difficult operation and yet in practice is often entrusted to the younger and less experienced hands in the slaughter-house1 the probable reason being that sheep are easy to handle1 and do not struggle or give trouble when stuck4 4 4 40 ,in other words1 the more helpless the creature the less need for humanity6 8,in ,denmark and many parts of ,germany and ,switzerland the law requires that sheep shall always be stunned previous to being stuck1 and the ,committee have satisfied themselves1 by practical experiments and observation1 that this can be done expeditiously and without difficulty4 ,a small club with a heavy head should be used1 and the sheep should be struck on the top of the head between the ears4 ,this point is important1 as it is almost impossible to stun a sheep by striking it on the forehead4 4 4 4 ,it was also clearly demonstrated that the stunning caused no injury to the sheep's head or to the #8scrag of mutton' which could in any way depreciate their market value40 ,notwithstanding this recommendation1 the ,local ,government ,board had 7up to #aiae7 omitted from their model by-laws 7which1 as before said1 are not obligatory7 a regulation requiring the stunning of sheep4 ,in #aiae1 however1 they added the following alternative clause3 8#i 7b74 ,a person shall not in a slaughter-house proceed to slaughter any animal until the same shall have been effectually stunned with a mechanically operated instrument suitable and sufficient for the purpose40 ,and in their memorandum they say3 8,at the present time the ,board understand that a #8humane-killer' can be got which is adapted for stunning any kind of animal1 reasonable in cost1 and effective and simple in operation4 ,it appears1 too1 that the use of the improved instruments can readily be learnt1 so that no prolonged training is needed for their proper manipulation40 ,one can only hope that every ,local ,authority will now adopt this clause1 and insist on the stunning of sheep as well as of all other animals4 ,,pigs4--8,the ,committee ascertained that it is the usual practice in large establishments in ,england to stun pigs by a blow on the forehead previous to sticking them1 and there is no difficulty in carrying this out1 as the pig's head is soft as compared with that of the sheep4 ,the ,committee are of opinion that the preliminary stunning should be enforced in all cases1 the evidence tending to show that this operation is often limited to pigs which are so large or strong as to give trouble1 or to cases where1 owing to the location of the slaughter-house1 the squeals of the stuck pigs cause annoyance to the neighbourhood4 ,the ,committee feel that considerations of humanity are at least as important as those above mentioned40 ,a sentiment with which most of us will presumably agree4 ,note1 however1 that the ,admiralty ,committee refer above only to large establishments4 ,pigs still appear to be killed in ways that the following quotation describes3 8,i1 with another witness1 saw five pigs killed--three small ones and two large ones4 ,the pigs were #8knifed' one at a time and allowed to wander round the slaughter-house bleeding and in a drunken1 reeling1 rolling state1 and at the same time uttering most plaintive cries40 7,from a letter to a daily journal47 ,and ,mr4 ,r4 ,o4 ,p4 ,paddison 7one of the foremost workers in the cause of humane slaughtering7 thus describes the method adopted in most of our bacon factories3 8,first the animals are hung up alive head downwards by a chain fastened to a hind foot1 and then they are stuck and bleed to death4 ,the work is done quickly in a collective sense--at the rate possibly of #ajj to #bjj pigs an hour1 but each individual pig suffers from forty seconds to two or three minutes1 and several pigs struggle and shriek at the same time40 ,i have not personally witnessed either of the methods so described4 ,i understand that some bacon-curers consider1 or did consider1 stunning cruel1 on the ground that several blows were often required4 ,the use of humane-killers disposes of this objection4 ,the late eminent physiologist1 ,sir ,benjamin ,ward ,richardson1 in a paper read before the ,medical ,society of ,london some years ago1 says3 8,pigs1 ,i have said1 suffer a mental terror of death1 and to them commonly is also given a severe degree of physical pain4 4 4 4 ,when they are killed by the knife alone they die by a hmorrhage that may extend with persistent consciousness over three or four minutes of time40 ,in relation to the pig's mental horror of death1 ,i myself saw the following sight3--,fifteen or so pigs in a slaughtering chamber just large enough to hold them and the slaughterer4 ,of these pigs three or four had already been stunned and knifed and lay dead and bleeding among their living brethren1 who with manifest terror were squealing and straining here and there against the walls1 while the slaughterer moved about among them selecting the next victim4 ,a blow1 a cut1 and there was another dead pig1 and this would go on1 no doubt1 till the whole fifteen were despatched and their bodies shot down the slide4 ,terror of death6 ,yes6 ,at all this1 by the way1 a boy of about thirteen was looking on--and this in a public slaughter-house with a good superintendent and under municipal control4 ,,segregation ,,of ,,animals about to be slaughtered from slaughtering operations4--8,it appears to be the common practice1 even in modern and well-regulated slaughter-houses1 to keep the animals1 which are immediately awaiting slaughter1 in pens which are mere annexes to the slaughter chamber itself1 and in many cases in full view of all that goes on inside 4 4 4 ,there is no point which the ,committee have more carefully investigated than the question as to whether animals do or do not suffer from fear from this contact1 and the evidence of those best qualified to judge is so conflicting that no absolute verdict can be given 4 4 4 ,the animal should be given the full benefit of the doubt40 7,report of the ,admiralty ,committee47 ,but the animal is not given the benefit of the doubt4 ,whatever the degree of consciousness of animals awaiting slaughter 7sometimes for a whole hour7 just divided by a door which1 all regulations to the contrary1 is far from always shut1 whether they know or not that it is death which awaits them1 any spectator accustomed to animals in their normal state has only to look at their eyes1 as they stand waiting1 to feel sure that they are in fear of something4 ,such then1 in brief and in rough1 are the conditions and methods of slaughter which still seem good to us4 ,when the ,admiralty ,committee issued their report in #aijd they made the following recommendations3-- 7a7 ,all animals 7cattle1 calves1 sheep1 lambs1 and pigs7 without exception must be stunned or otherwise rendered unconscious before blood is drawn4 7b7 ,animals awaiting slaughter must be so placed that they cannot see into the slaughter-house1 and the doors of the latter must be kept closed while slaughtering is going on4 7c7 ,the drainage of the slaughter-house must be so arranged that no blood or other refuse can flow out within the sight or smell#d of animals awaiting slaughter1 and no such refuse shall be deposited in proximity to the waiting pens4 7d7 ,if more animals than one are being slaughtered in one slaughter-house at one time they must not be in view of each other4 7e7 ,none but licensed men shall be employed in or about slaughter-houses4 ,what has been done to carry out these recommendations1 the fruit of most thorough and laborious investigations carried out at a considerable expenditure of public money and presumably with some object1 by men well qualified for their task8 ,just this much has been done4 ,the recommendations have been adopted and are worked successfully by the ,admiralty themselves1 and they form the basis of certain clauses in the ,local ,government ,board's ,voluntary ,model ,bye-laws1 to which attention is only just beginning to be paid4 ,seeing that the condition of affairs is such as ,i have detailed2 seeing that the ,admiralty ,committee made the following wise remarks3 8,however humane and scientific in theory may be the methods of slaughter1 it is inevitable that abuses and cruelty may result in practice1 unless there is a proper system of official inspection02 and3 8,in the interests not only of humanity1 but of sanitation1 order1 and ultimate economy1 it is highly desirable that1 where circumstances permit1 private slaughter-houses should be replaced by public abattoirs1 and that no killing should be permitted except in the latter under official supervision02 seeing the enormous dimensions of this matter1 and that our methods are behind those of nearly every ,continental country1 and very much behind those of ,denmark1 ,switzerland1 and ,germany1 it would occur to the simple mind that here was eminently a case for broad and sweeping action on the part of the ,legislature4 ,i have not even thought it worth while to dwell on the insanitary aspect of the present system1 because the ,royal ,commission on ,food from ,tuberculous ,animals 7again at a considerable expenditure of public money7 reported thus--8,the actual amount of tuberculous disease among certain classes of food animals is so large as to afford to man frequent occasions for contracting tuberculous disease through his food4 ,we think it probable that an appreciable part of the tuberculosis that affects man is obtained through his food0--practically without effect6 ,if the public likes to spend its money on ascertaining a risk to itself and likes to disregard that risk to itself when ascertained1 far be it from me to gainsay the public4 ,but if any one be interested in the sanitary side of our want of system1 let him go to the superintendent of some large public slaughter-house and ask what percentage of meat is condemned daily2 then let him ask some medical officer of health how far it is possible to inspect the condition of carcases in private slaughter-houses2 and then let him go home and think6 ,there ,i leave the matter4 ,for1 frankly1 it is not this1 but the disregard by the public of needless suffering inflicted on helpless creatures1 bred and killed for its own advantage1 that moves me4 ,surely no one can call the following suggestions unreasonable3 ,no animal to be bled before being stunned 7or otherwise rendered instantaneously insensible74 ,no animal to be slaughtered in sight of another animal4 ,no slaughter-refuse and blood to be allowed within sight or smell of an animal awaiting slaughter4 ,no stunning or slaughtering implement to be used that has not been approved by the ,local ,government ,board4 ,the licence of no slaughter-house to be renewed unless it possesses these approved stunning and slaughtering implements1 a copy of official instructions how to use them1 and can prove that it does use them and them alone4 ,all offenders against these regulations to be liable to penalties on summary conviction4 ,why has not this simple harmless minimum of decent humanity been--as in other countries--long ago adopted8 ,for the usual reasons3 ,dislike of change2 dislike of a little extra trouble and a little extra expense2 liberty of the subject4 ,to take the last point first4 ,dictate to a man how he shall slaughter his own animals--what next6 ,well6 ,i am all for liberty of the subject4 ,i am for letting him hurt himself as much as ever he likes4 ,i even go so far as to say that prosecutions for attempted suicide are wrong and ridiculous2 but where the subject claims to hurt the helpless with impunity1 then it seems to me time to hurt the subject4 ,i fancy that in most men's minds there lurks the feeling3 8,oh6 a little extra suffering to animals who are going to die anyway in a minute or two--what does it matter8 ,now1 if you were to put it on the ground that it hurts the slaughterer1 there'd be something in it60 ,yes6 ,it certainly may hurt the morale of the slaughterer--but not much1 for he inflicts the needless suffering without consciousness of cruelty2 and ill actions of which one is not conscious only negatively deteriorate morale1 in so far as they are a waste of time in which good actions might have been performed4 ,but to say that it does not matter whether we needlessly hurt the sheep or pig because they are going to die anyway is really to say that no suffering matters1 however unnecessary1 since we must all die and it will be all the same a hundred years hence4 ,it is at all events not a saying that ,i can imagine coming out of the mouth of a human being in perfect health and the possession of all his faculties1 with a knife going in just behind his right ear and wiggling about in his neck and head till it finds his spinal cord between the joints of his vertebr4 ,and though you may think that the infliction of some seconds of excruciating torture on an animal does not really hurt the animal because she cannot tell you that it does--it conceivably might hurt you a little to feel it was needlessly inflicted4 ,the meat-trades and butchers generally deny the need for change1 and claim that the humanity of existing methods cannot be improved on4 ,i really cannot understand this4 ,take for example two conversations ,i had with quite humane butchers4 ,i3 8,so you never stun your sheep before bleeding them80 ,first ,butcher3 8,oh6 no40 8,why not80 8,it isn't necessary40 8,not to avoid pain80 8,oh6 no2 there's no pain40 ,ten minutes later3-- ,i3 8,you always stun your cattle before bleeding them80 ,same ,butcher3 8,oh6 yes1 always40 8,why60 8,oh6 it avoids a lot of pain40 ,to the second butcher3-- ,i3 8,then you never stun your sheep before bleeding them40 ,second ,butcher3 8,no1 never40 8,why not8 ,is there any objection80 8,no1 ,i don't see any objection2 only it's never done4 ,i've never seen a sheep stunned40 8,just custom80 8,yes1 just that40 ,the old1 ignorant prejudice that animals do not bleed freely if stunned first is now1 ,i think1 never advanced4 ,so much for custom and dislike of change4 ,but now we come to what is perhaps the real gravamen of the resistance--a little extra trouble1 a suspicion of extra expense4 ,this touches all the points in the irreducible minimum of reform4 ,for instance1 the various ,r4,s4,p4,c4,a4 humane-killers cost about thirty-five shillings2 the ,swedish cattle-killer ten shillings and sixpence1 with cartridges four shillings per hundred4 ,you must spend perhaps an hour in learning how to use them1 and five minutes or so per day in cleaning them4 ,they are still new things--8fads0--although they have passed all tests1 been proved by dozens of testimonials from butchers in this country to be perfectly efficient2 and the ,swedish cattle-killer is used throughout several countries4 ,again1 it is convenient not to have to be careful to shut doors between slaughtering chambers and animals awaiting slaughter1 or to have to pave your floors so that blood runs well away from the waiting pens4 ,it is handy 7especially in ill-constructed slaughter-houses7 to kill animals in sight of each other4 ,it is always1 in fact1 a nuisance to make any change that involves readjustment4 ,and unfortunately animals have no force behind them1 are not represented on the public bodies of the country2 cannot lobby in the ,house of ,commons1 withdraw votes or commit outrages2 cannot instruct counsel2 have no rights save those which mere chivalry shall give them4 8,besides10 says ,defence1 8everything is already done as well as it can be done4 ,switzerland1 ,denmark--who knows whether they are really better8 ,the ways of our own country are good enough for us--the good old-fashioned methods--if there were any real need for reform we should be the first to undertake it60 ,waste-paper1 then1 the ,admiralty ,report6 ,waste-paper6 ,i have reckoned that in the case of sheep alone the amount of needless suffering inflicted must amount to some #cc1jjj hours of solid1 uninterrupted death agony each year 7number of sheep slaughtered without stunning1 #h1jjj1jjj2 period of suffering1 five to thirty seconds--,admiralty ,committee's report7--all preventable by a few strokes of the legislative pen4 ,but the truth is we don't reflect2 or if by any chance we do1 we pass on with the thought3 8,nothing can be done till the butchers themselves are convinced60 ,is that true8 ,just this far true3 ,as in every other case of new law1 there would be required at first a little special activity4 ,it is only a question of starting a new standard4 ,in two years' time1 if these simple1 harmless regulations concerning the slaughter of animals for food were enforced--not merely recommended1 as now--there would hardly be an animal in this country bled without first being stunned by humane methods1 or any beasts watching their fellows being killed4 ,i attack no one in this matter2 ,i blame no one1 for ,i am not in a position to--the charge of callousness falls heavily on my own shoulders1 who have eaten meat all these years without ever troubling as to what went before it4 ,nor can ,i hope that these words will do more than ruffle the nerves of the public2 but ,i do trust that such of our legislators as may chance to read them may be moved to feel that it is their part to save patient creatures1 who cannot plead in their own behalf1 from all suffering that the proper satisfaction of our wants does not compel us to inflict on them4 ,if what ,i have written has seemed extravagant1 he who reads has only to go and see for himself4 ,and let those who would attack this plea train their guns on the ,report of the ,admiralty ,committee1 #aijd4 ,for ,i have but conveniently summarized the unanimous verdict of able and disinterested men1 who1 officially appointed to examine the whole matter1 held many sittings1 heard many witnesses1 saw with their own eyes1 and made their own experimental investigations4 ,i have1 in fact1 done nothing but give an added publicity to the deliberate conclusions of an impartial tribunal1 which had an unique opportunity of forming and delivering a comprehensive1 dispassionate judgment1 and delivered it--to what end8 ----- #b ,things have moved a little1 ,i believe1 but not nearly enough4--,j4 ,g4 #c ,the ,admiralty ,committee on ,humane ,slaughtering1 #aijd ,chairman1 ,mr4 ,arthur ,lee1 ,m4,p4 #d ,i believe it is the smell of blood1 rather than the sight1 which affects animals4--,j4 ,g4 ,,iv ,,on ,,performing ,,animals 7#a7 7,a ,letter to the ,daily ,express1 #aiac47 ,writing from the standpoint of one whose love of animals at one time caused him to enjoy the spectacle of them performing tricks and capers1 into the educational history of which he never thought of going1 ,i believe ,i well understand the attraction of 8the animal show0 in music-halls or circuses4 ,nor do ,i doubt that there are animal trainers with such a natural gift and love of beasts that the process of training becomes almost pleasurable to creatures who are not by nature intended to ape mankind4 ,i even believe that there may be animals1 especially among dogs1 who grow to appreciate the glamour of the footlights1 and the sense of their own importance4 ,but when all this is said1 ,i have come to abominate the thought of the whole thing1 and ,i fancy that any one who takes the trouble to think the matter out1 any one who does not allow his natural delight in animals to run away with his sense of proportion and the fitness of things1 must come to the same conclusion4 ,to simply bring a horse1 a dog1 a cat1 or even an elephant or camel on the stage as part of the atmosphere or machinery of a play1 treating it with the kindness that is invariable ,i believe in such cases1 is one thing1 and ,i by no means object to it4 ,but the deliberate training and use1 for the purpose of making a living out of them1 of numbers of animals1 taking them from place to place1 hall to hall1 suitable or unsuitable1 is a very different 8proposition10 as ,americans would say4 ,the very nature of it invites suffering4 ,and ,i do not well see how any amount of inspection and the granting of licences is going to do away with the greater part of a wretchedness that comes from forcing creatures away from more or less natural to highly unnatural conditions of life2 nor can ,i see how1 for the purpose of granting licences1 satisfactory evidence is ever going to be obtained that training 7which is and must be quite a private affair between trainer and animal7 is not accompanied by cruelty4 ,in a word1 ,i would like to see the 8animal show0 abolished in this country4 ,it is too ironical altogether that our love of beasts should make us tolerate and even enjoy what our common sense1 when we let it loose1 tells us must1 in the main1 spell misery for the creatures we profess to be so fond of4 7#b7 7,a ,speech made at ,kensington ,town ,hall1 #aiac47 ,i am here to say a very few words on the whole question of the treatment of animals by our civilized selves4 ,for ,i have no special knowledge1 like some who will speak to you1 of the training of performing animals2 ,i have only a certain knowledge of human and animal natures1 and a common sense which tells me that wild animals are more happy in freedom than in captivity--domestic animals more happy as companions than as clowns4 ,and1 quite apart from the definite question of inhumanity1 it is perfectly clear to me that these animal shows are among the many surviving evidences1 the lingering symptoms1 of a creed that--thank ,heaven6--is beginning to pass1 and must pass1 from us4 ,that creed said3 ,we human beings have the right1 for our pleasure1 convenience1 and distraction1 to disregard1 in the matter of dumb creatures1 those principles which our religion1 morality1 and education fix as the guiding stars of our conduct towards human beings4 7,please note that ,i do not touch on the question of our rights over dumb creatures in so far as our actual self-preservation is concerned2 ,i limit my words to pleasure1 convenience1 profit1 and distraction47 ,now1 8,do unto others as you would they should do unto you60 is not only the first principle of ,christianity1 but the first principle of all social conduct--the essence of that true gentility which is the only saving grace of men and women in all ranks of life4 ,and ,i am certain that the word 8others0 cannot any longer be limited to the human creature4 ,whether or no animals have what are called 8rights0 is an academic question of no value whatever in the consideration of this matter4 ,but1 lest there be any one who wishes to take up this point of abstruse philosophy1 ,i admit at once that animals have no more rights than have babies under the age when they may be said to have duties 7on which rights1 we are told1 depend71 that animals have no more rights than imbeciles1 or those who are deaf1 dumb1 and blind4 ,rights or no rights1 ,i care not2 the fact remains that by so much as we inflict on sentient creatures unnecessary suffering1 by so much have we outraged our own consciences1 by so much fallen short of that secret standard of gentleness and generosity1 that1 believe me1 is the one firm guard of our social existence1 the one bulwark we have against relapse into savagery4 ,once admit that we have the right to inflict unnecessary suffering1 and you have destroyed the very basis of human society1 as we know it in this age4 ,you have committed blasphemy1 the only blasphemy that really matters--against your conscience4 ,for the true conscience of this country is proved by the wording of the law1 with its ruling that the infliction of unnecessary suffering is an offence2 and in a country like this1 the law does not precede1 but follows1 conscience4 ,let me quote the law1 and the latest judicial dictum upon it4 ,section #a 7#a7 of the ,protection of ,animals ,act1 #aiaa3 8,if any person 7a7 shall cruelly ill-treat any animal 4 4 4 or being the owner shall by 4 4 4 unreasonably doing or omitting to do any act 4 4 4 cause any unnecessary suffering10 he shall be guilty of an offence4 ,and ,mr4 ,justice ,darling1 on ,november #aith1 #aiac1 said3 8,where unnecessary suffering is caused by some act of an owner1 it cannot be justified on the ground of old custom1 and of benefit to commercial persons40 ,nothing so endangers the fineness of the human heart as the possession of power over others2 nothing so corrodes it as the callous or cruel exercise of that power2 and the more helpless the creature over whom power is cruelly or callously exercised1 the more the human heart is corroded4 ,it is recognition of this truth which has brought the conscience of our age and with it the law1 to say that we cannot any longer with impunity regard ourselves as licensed torturers of the rest of creation2 that we cannot1 for our own sakes1 afford it4 ,in all this matter1 then1 of the treatment of animals it comes to the definition of the words 8unnecessary suffering40 ,and ,i say this3 ,all suffering that is inflicted merely for our pleasure1 distraction1 and even for our convenience1 and profit1 as distinct from our preservation1 is unnecessary and an abomination4 ,and the fact that it is inflicted on creatures unable to raise hand to help themselves1 or voice to tell us what they suffer1 makes it ever the more abominable4 ,whether it be the destruction of mother-birds 7with their whole families of nestlings7 for the sake of the nuptial plumes to be worn in the hats and hair of human mothers1 or the painful docking of the tails of horses1 their sole weapon against the torment of stinging flies1 for the sake of an ugly fashion2 whether it be the treacherous sale of horses worn out in our service1 the snaring of rabbits in needlessly cruel traps1 the turning adrift of friendly but unwanted dogs and cats2 whether it be the unnecessarily slow and painful slaughtering of animals for food1 the wretched keeping in captivity of wild song-birds1 the prisoning of eagles1 hawks1 and many another creature that cannot bear confinement1 in zoos and other places2 whether it be any of these1 or this sometimes distressing and always unnatural training of performing animals1 in all suffering is inflicted for our pleasure1 distraction1 convenience or profit1 and all of it is unnecessary1 all against the conscience of the age4 ,to those who1 tempted by the devil of irreflection1 say 8,but this is the creed of sentiment and softness10 ,i return the answer1 8,sirs1 no man ever became a stoic1 and acquired the virtues of fortitude and courage1 by inflicting pain on others40 ,there is nothing in this new creed that prevents any one from inflicting on himself as much hardship1 risk1 and privation as he considers needful to inspire him with fortitude4 ,let me draw your attention to an anomaly1 which accounts for most of our callousness towards the sufferings of animals4 ,nearly every one who witnesses with his own eyes the infliction of needless pain on an animal feels revolted1 and even hastens to the creature's aid2 yet these same men and women1 or the vast majority of them1 merely hearing or reading of such things1 pass by on the other side1 with the feeling that to pay attention would be either credulous or sentimental4 ,now1 in regard to credulousness1 note that it is hardly ever to the interest of any one to draw attention to cruelty--certainly not to fabricate such a charge2 very much the contrary4 ,and in regard to sentiment1 there seems to be a slight confusion as to the meaning of that word4 ,a man only moved by cruelty seen with his own eyes is no whit less sentimental than the man who takes fire at the mere recital of it2 he is only more deficient in understanding1 more cautious in judgment1 or more sluggish in blood4 ,just as sentimental1 but less sensitive4 ,the longer ,i live the more ,i become convinced that people only use that favourite reproach--sentimental--to stigmatize sympathy with sufferings that they themselves have been unwilling or unable to realize4 ,the moment they do realize1 they become just as 8sentimental10 just as moved by pity and anger--for that is what sentimental means--as those at whom they sneer4 ,ah6 but--says the public--even if there be suffering for animals1 the pleasure that their freaks or their fur or their feathers give us is greater than this suffering2 we are entitled to weigh the one against the other4 ,yet few of that same public would dream of saying this if with their own eyes they saw the tortures2 for then the pleasure they talk of would have vanished in the memory of those quivering visions4 ,out of sheer sluggishness of imagination1 out of mere laziness of mind1 then1 is made that rather pitiable plea--our pleasure is greater than their suffering4 ,yes6 ,nearly all the suffering we inflict1 whether on human beings or on animals1 comes from our not thinking4 ,many people gravely distrust that practice4 ,for all that1 ,i venture to suggest that a little more thought will do no harm to any of us4 ,we pass this way but once1 but once tread this world1 and live in communion with these furred and feathered things1 many of them beautiful1 in a thousand ways so like ourselves1 often friendly if we would let them be1 and yet who1 one and all1 are so simple and helpless in the face of our force and ingenuity4 ,shall we1 as we vanish1 say3 8,i have lived my life as a true lord of creation1 taking toll from the captivities and sufferings of every creature that had not my strength and cunning60 ,or shall we pass out with the thought3 8,i wish ,i had not given needless pain to any living thing60 ,v ,,vivisection ,,of ,,dogs 7,letters to ,the ,times1 #aiac47 7#a7 ,whatever one's beliefs concerning the whole question of experiments on the living body1 the vivisection of dogs is a strange anomaly4 ,even if it be granted that the dog1 by reason of its intelligence and nervous organisation1 is more fitted than other animals for certain vivisectional experiments 7though ,i believe this is disputed71 there are yet basic considerations which make such treatment of the dog a scandalous betrayal4 ,man1 no doubt1 first bound or bred the dog to his service and companionship for purely utilitarian reasons2 but we of to-day1 by immemorial tradition and a sentiment that has become almost as inherent in us as the sentiment towards children1 give him a place in our lives utterly different from that which we accord to any other animal 7not even excepting cats72 a place that he has won for himself throughout the ages1 and that he ever increasingly deserves4 ,he is by far the nearest thing to man on the face of the earth2 the one link that we have spiritually with the animal creation2 the one dumb creature into whose eyes we can look and tell pretty well for certain what emotion1 even what thought is at work within2 the one dumb creature which--not as a rare exception1 but almost always--steadily feels the sentiments of love and trust4 ,this special nature of the dog is our own handiwork1 a thing instilled into him through thousands of years of intimacy1 care1 and mutual service1 deliberately and ever more carefully fostered2 extraordinarily precious even to those of us who profess to be without sentiment4 ,it is one of the prime factors of our daily lives in all classes of society--this mute partnership with dogs2 and--we are still vivisecting them6 ,i am told that pro-vivisectionists are fighting tooth and nail against the ,bill 7now in committee stage in the ,house of ,commons7 which has for object the exemption of dogs from all vivisectional and inoculative experiments4 ,if it indeed be so1 ,i ask them3 8,would you1 any one of you1 give your own dog up to the vivisector's knife1 or respect a man who gave or sold you his dog for your experiments80 ,i take it they would reply3 8,we would not give our own dogs4 ,we should think poorly of the man who sold or gave us his dog4 ,the dogs we use are homeless1 masterless1 dogs40 ,and in turn ,i would answer3 8,there are no dogs born in this country without home or master4 ,the dogs you use are those who have already fallen on cruelty or misfortune1 whom as kindly men you pity or should pity2 these are the dogs1 the lost dogs that you take for your experiments1 to make their ends more wretched than their lives have been60 ,if this be sentiment1 it is not mere cultured sentiment1 but based on a very real and simple sense of what is decent4 ,miners1 farmers1 shepherds1 little shopmen1 gamekeepers1 and humble men of all sorts1 who own dogs1 have precisely the same feeling--that the dog is essentially the friend of man1 deserving loyal treatment4 ,we all have this feeling2 yet1 when for our alleged benefit we want to violate it1 we can still say3 8,oh6 it does not matter2 this dog is already down60 ,in a word1 what we would not do with our own dogs we have no right to do with dogs that have not had the luck to be ours4 ,it is not so much a question of love of dogs as of good faith in men4 ,i do not wish to enter here into the general question of vivisection1 but ,i do plead that1 whether we believe in vivisection or not1 we are bound1 in common honour1 to make a clean and whole-hearted exception of the one creature whom we have trained to really trust and love us4 ,by not doing so we injure the human spirit4 7#b7 ,i answer the rejoinders to my plea for the exemption of dogs from vivisection in no spirit of hostility to science1 with all respect for investigators who are inspired by the desire to lessen the sum of suffering in the world1 and not at all assuming that those who support the vivisection of dogs must needs be without fondness for their companionship4 ,i suggest that there is a distinction between being 8vivisected0 7and in that word ,i include inoculations7 to save your own life or lessen your own suffering and being vivisected by your neighbours to save their lives or lessen their sufferings4 ,the distinction indeed might almost be called profound4 ,and if my contention that the dog has earned for himself a consideration from man1 ,i do not say equal1 but analogous1 to that which man has for his own species1 be admitted1 it would follow that if we approve of cutting up and inoculating the dog1 not for his individual benefit1 but for our benefit and for that of his fellow-dogs1 we must also approve of cutting up and inoculating our children and ourselves1 not for our individual benefit1 but for the benefit of the race1 having regard to the immeasurably more direct results which science would secure from vivisections and inoculations on the human body4 ,it is possible1 indeed1 that some vivisectors are prepared1 in the interests of the scientific treatment of disease1 to say3 8,i am so entirely1 so definitely1 convinced of the benefits to the human race of these experiments that ,i am ready to give not only my dog but my child1 my wife1 myself if necessary1 for the good of mankind40 ,but ,i personally--and ,i venture to think there may be others of the same opinion--am not prepared to go so far4 ,and ,i plead simply that if we are not ready to make martyrs of our children and heroes of ourselves1 the time has come when we are no longer entitled to make martyrs of dogs4 ,the issue raised1 in fact1 is whether or no the dog has reached a position where it becomes unethical to treat him as if he had not reached that position4 ,there are innumerable people in all ranks of our civilized world who would echo the words ,i heard last night3 8,if ,i were condemned to spend twenty-four hours alone with a single creature1 ,i would choose to spend them with my dog40 ,granting that most people would make two or three human exceptions1 the saying expresses a true feeling4 ,there is a quiet comfort in the companionship of a dog1 with its ever-ready touching humility1 which human companionship1 save of the nearest1 does not bring2 and ,i assert that this boon1 to mankind--of dog's companionship--does raise the dog on to the peculiar plane of ethical consideration which we apply to ourselves4 ,there is no need to adduce stories of how 8,dash0 or 8,don0 saved the gardener's baby from setting herself on fire1 or swam to the rescue of little ,thomas who was drowning2 we have only to watch dogs in house or street4 ,i noted three yesterday afternoon1 the only three in the street at the moment4 ,the first1 a fox-terrier1 was trotting along quite by himself with an air of mastery of ,london that could not have been excelled by the best 8man of the world0 amongst us4 ,no other sort of animal could have even begun to walk the streets of man with that quiet busy confidence4 ,the second1 a spaniel1 was looking up at his mistress--it is not often that children and their mothers have the confidence in each other that those two certainly had4 ,the third1 a retriever1 was towing an infirm old gentleman4 ,yes1 the position of the dog is unique4 ,we have made him intelligent2 and it is sinister ethics to choose him for vivisections or inoculations because of the very intelligence we have implanted4 ,we have taught him faith and love1 and ,i feel are ourselves bound by what we have taught him4 ,into other animals we have not instilled these qualities1 we are therefore not bound to the same special faith with them that we owe to the dog4 ,my plea being simply that men cannot make friends of dogs and then treat them as if that relationship did not exist1 ,i am not concerned to discuss the disputed question of whether or not special benefit does arise from experiments on dogs2 but1 in regard to suffering in such experiments1 take the ,home ,office ,returns for #aiaa3 8,dogs and cats experimented upon without ansthetics1 #deb4 ,dogs and cats allowed to recover after serious operations1 #cic02 and the words of the ,report of the ,royal ,commission on ,vivisection3 8,it is clear that even if the initial procedure may be regarded as trivial1 the subsequent results of this procedure must in some cases1 at any rate1 be productive of great pain and much suffering40 ,after all1 we have not only bodies but spirits1 and when our minds have once become alive to ethical doubt on a question such as this 7there are #hgj1jjj signatures to a petition for the total exemption of dogs from vivisection71 when we are no longer sure that we have the right so to treat our dog comrades1 there has fallen a shadow on the human conscience that will surely grow1 until1 by adjustment of our actions to our ethical sense1 it has been remedied4 ,,vi ,,horses ,,in ,,mines 7#a7 7,a ,letter to ,the ,times1 #aiaj47 ,the experience which has just befallen the #cjj horses and ponies imprisoned underground during the strike riots at ,clydach ,vale spurs me to an appeal to all owners of collieries and mines to abandon1 as far as possible the use of horses and ponies below ground4 ,the question of the treatment of pit ponies has of late attracted much attention1 and is under examination by the ,royal ,commission on ,mines4 ,into discussion of the truth of particular stories of cruelty ,i do not intend to enter4 ,i have no first-hand knowledge1 and1 short of becoming a pit-pony driver1 or mine inspector1 no real chance of obtaining any4 ,i wish simply to draw the attention of owners and managers of collieries and mines to certain considerations that need not in the least hurt a just belief in their own humanity or that of their employees4 ,apart from the aberrations of human brutes1 who flourish as well above ground as below1 cruelty in these days is not deliberate1 but requires for its existence three primary fostering conditions3 the first1 an overdriven or irritated state of nerves2 the second1 secrecy2 the third1 a helpless object4 ,the first of these conditions is always more or less present in mine work1 not only because of the atmosphere and unnatural environment1 but also because a certain amount of work has to be got through under difficulties in a certain amount of time4 ,the second of these conditions is always present to a greater extent than almost anywhere above ground4 ,the third of these conditions is obviously present4 ,in mines and collieries1 therefore1 we have human nature1 neither better nor worse underground than it is above1 working continually under circumstances in which the three primary fostering conditions of cruelty are present4 ,we1 thus have a prim facie case for supposing--all other things being equal--that there must be more cruelty in the treatment of animals underground than on the surface4 ,if there were not1 it would mean that miners were not only as humane as the rest of mankind1 which is freely admitted1 but much more humane1 which is not likely4 ,the existence of these three primary fostering conditions in perpetual combination1 in fact1 renders the conclusion1 apart from all actual evidence1 as inevitable as a chemical equation4 ,but far beyond all this we have the fact that herbivorous animals1 accustomed to daylight and fresh air1 are kept from the age of four to the age at which they are about to die in a place where no green thing of any sort can grow1 where the air is strange and dark1 and there is neither rain nor sunshine4 ,and1 further1 we have those occasional catastrophes1 such as that which so nearly did to death the unfortunate #cjj horses in ,clydach ,vale4 ,one assumes as a matter of course that mine owners are as personally humane in their treatment of animals as the rest of us2 that they do not lack desire to see that their ponies and horses underground are treated well2 that they would recoil from the sight of neglectful treatment of four-legged creatures that came under their own eyes4 ,i merely appeal to them to consider1 apart from the breezes and contradictions of a vexed question1 the plain common sense of the matter4 ,there are1 no doubt1 thousands of well-fed1 well-treated1 well-kept ponies employed in pits2 but with human nature and animal nature fixed quantities1 and the conditions what they are1 must there not inevitably be far more suffering1 on the whole1 in their lives underground than in the lives of animals employed on the surface8 ,the heart of the matter lies in the unnatural conditions4 ,small engines are used with success both here and abroad for some kinds of mine traction4 ,for other kinds of mine traction animals may always have to be employed--though that is a hard saying1 seeing what human ingenuity can accomplish4 ,but surely a great deal more of the traction in ,english collieries and mines could be done by engines with safety and economy4 ,is it too much to beg kindly men that they should do their utmost to substitute1 so far as possible1 this mechanical traction for the labour of those four-legged creatures whose lives underground must1 even in the best circumstances1 be unnatural and sad4 ,it is no more desirable for human beings than for animals to have to spend their lives underground2 and what men can put up with animals certainly can4 ,but men have at all events some choice in the matter1 and they do spend half the week at least on the surface4 ,the unnatural conditions of our own lives do not justify us in employing animals under unnatural conditions where we can avoid it4 ,i take it we all wish to see suffering reduced to its irreducible minimum4 7#b7 7,a ,letter to ,the ,times1 #aiac47 ,the inspectors appointed to carry out the provisions of the ,coal ,mines 7,regulation7 ,act in regard to pit ponies are to be six in number3 one for each division in the ,united ,kingdom1 which contains #c1cbe coal mines4 ,i understand that this provision is based on the grounds that the ordinary mine inspectors1 of whom there are many1 will not be thereby absolved from that part of their duties2 and that the multiplication of officials is an expensive and undesirable thing4 ,i wish to point out that the ordinary inspectors will1 almost to a man1 feel that the appointment of special inspectors1 in regard to a particular branch of their duties1 relieves them from what is a very thankless job4 ,it is only human nature not to want to spy on one's own kind if one is not absolutely obliged4 ,under the ordinary system of inspection1 the figures for the year #aijg give only twenty-two prosecutions for cruelty to animals1 underground1 in the ,united ,kingdom4 ,taking the boys and men employed in mines as average kindly folk1 neither more nor less given to cruelty than the rest of us1 this number of prosecutions would work out1 relatively to opportunity1 at extraordinarily below the number of prosecutions above ground4 ,and we can only deduce from this the fact that the conditions in mines are such that acts which above ground would lead to prosecution pass unnoticed underground4 ,i do beg the ,home ,secretary to reconsider this aspect of the question--that is to say1 the certainty that the appointment of special inspectors of animals will in practice bring a feeling of absolution to the ordinary inspector from the duty of reporting on animals4 ,for1 if this is admitted1 the number of six special inspectors is shown to be ludicrous4 ,it means about two mines a day all the year round for each inspector4 ,those of us who have been down coal mines know how perfunctory such inspection must be4 ,it is certainly undesirable to multiply officials without due cause2 but there really is a point of common sense and compromise which will hardly be reached even if twelve instead of six special inspectors are appointed4 ,the new regulations are admirably wide and directed to bettering the lives of these unfortunate little beasts2 for1 putting everything at the best1 they remain unfortunate compared with their brethren above ground4 ,but these regulations will want a lot of looking after1 especially at first1 if they are not to be a dead letter4 ,the great bulk of our material comfort comes out of our coal mines2 surely we can spare a little more of it than this to guarantee so far as we can the welfare of the ponies4 ,,vii ,,the ,,docking ,,of ,,horses' ,,tails 7,foreword to a ,pamphlet1 #aiac47 ,in the year ,a4,d4 #ghe the ,council of ,celchyth--it seems--thus addressed our ancestors3 8,from the influence of a vile and unbecoming custom you deform and mutilate your horses4 4 4 4 ,you cut off their tails2 and when you enjoy them uninjured and perfect1 you choose rather to maim and blemish them1 so as to make them odious and disgustful objects to all who see them4 4 4 4 ,this you are admonished to renounce40 ,thus the ,council of ,celchyth in ,a4,d4 #ghe4 ,the ,council of ,westminster in ,a4,d4 #aiac has not yet been moved to admonish us1 in the only way it can--by law--to renounce this 8vile and unbecoming custom0 of docking the tails of horses4 8,vile and unbecoming60 ,if it be not1 still1 vile to mutilate a defenceless beast 7sometimes at cost of acute suffering7 for the sake of a fashion1 and of a market value dictated by that fashion2 if it be not1 still1 vile to deprive a very sensitive animal of its natural protection against stinging insects1 and against the exposure of what ought to be protected--by what word shall we describe this practice8 ,and if it be not1 still1 unbecoming to destroy the untouched sweep and grace of one of the most beautiful of creatures1 and turn what is natural and decent into the indecently grotesque--what significance has all our talk of beauty1 and all our so-called taste8 ,the idea that a natural tail causes carriage accidents is an exploded myth4 ,the plea that a docked tail saves trouble in cleaning is readily met1 if need be1 by shortening the hair of the tail as far as the end of the 8dock0 or bone of the tail1 without touching the bone itself4 ,the tail will then be as short as even a stable hand can reasonably desire1 the horse not mutilated1 and the hair ready to grow again4 ,in certain exceptional circumstances it may be necessary to dock a horse4 ,but1 to make a fashion of it4 4 4 46 ,ye gods6 ,what a sense of beauty and of decency we must have1 to approve the miserable stumps left on our horses by this 8disgustful0 practice6 ,if we must indulge in mutilation for the sake of 8beauty0 let us perform on ourselves2 tattoo our faces1 perforate our lips1 flatten our craniums1 with other devices suitable to savages4 ,but let us leave the horse alone1 who in his unmutilated state is far less in need of 8decoration0 than we4 ,there are some customs that seem to spell despair4 ,how far1 indeed1 are we removed from savages1 when we can blindly follow a custom so thoughtless and tormenting1 so stupid and ugly8 ,,viii ,,aigrettes 7,a note in ,pearson's ,magazine1 #aiac47 ,am ,i in favour of legislation prohibiting the importation of plumage into ,great ,britain8 ,i cannot conceive of any one1 man or woman1 with imagination1 and knowledge of the facts1 who would not be in favour of such legislation4 ,that ,english women--,english ladies--after years of revelation concerning this dismal matter1 should continue to support by their demands the killing of myriads of beautiful birds at breeding season is the most discouraging instance ,i know of the blindness of the human creature whose vanity is threatened4 ,american law has banned the aigrette2 why does ,english law lag behind8 ,not one of our legislators would torture a bird1 yet because a few thousand miles separate them from the scenes of this butchery1 they seem either unable to imagine what it means or to find time to put a stop to it4 ,i commend to one and all the ,report of the ,house of ,lords ,committee who examined the whole question some years ago1 and said3 8,the evidence has been such as to show conclusively1 in the opinion of the ,committee1 that not only are birds of many species slaughtered recklessly1 but also that the methods employed for slaughter are such as in many cases1 and especially in that of egrets1 to involve the destruction of the young birds and eggs4 8,birds are1 as a rule1 in their finest plumage at the time of nesting1 and have been shown to be especially the prey of hunters at that season40 ,such ,committees should not be appointed if their conclusions are not to be paid attention to4 ,,concerning ,,laws ,i ,,on ,,procedure ,,in ,,parliament 7,a ,letter to ,the ,times1 ,march1 #aiad47 ,i am moved to speak out what1 ,i am sure1 many are feeling4 ,we are a so-called civilized country2 we have a so-called ,christian religion2 we profess humanity4 ,we have an elected ,parliament1 to each member of which we pay #djj a year2 so that we have at least some right to say3 8,please do our business1 and that quickly60 ,and yet we sit and suffer such barbarities and mean cruelties to go on amongst us as must dry the heart of ,god4 ,i cite at random a few only of the abhorrent things done daily1 daily left undone--done and left undone1 without a shadow of a doubt1 against the conscience and general will of the community3-- 7#a7 ,sweating of women workers4 7#b7 ,insufficient feeding of children4 7#c7 ,employment of boys on work that to all intents ruins their chances in after-life4 7#d7 ,foul housing of those who have as much right as you and ,i to the first decencies of life4 7#e7 ,consignment of paupers 7that is1 those without money or friends7 to lunatic asylums on the certificate of one doctor--the certificate of two doctors being essential in the case of a person who has money or friends4 7#f7 ,export of horses worn out in work4 ,export that1 for a few pieces of blood-money1 delivers up old and faithful servants to wretchedness4 7#g7 ,mutilation of horses by docking1 so that they suffer1 offend the eye1 and are defenceless against the attacks of flies4 7#h7 ,caging of wild things1 especially wild song-birds1 by those who themselves think liberty the breath of life4 7#i7 ,slaughter for food of millions of creatures every year by methods that can easily be improved4 7#aj7 ,importation of the plumes of ruthlessly slain wild birds1 mothers with young in the nest1 to decorate our women4 ,such as these--shameful barbarities done to helpless creatures--we suffer amongst us year after year4 ,they are admitted to be anathema2 in favour of their abolition there would be found at any moment a round majority of unfettered parliamentary and general opinion4 ,one and all they are removable1 and many of them by small expenditure of parliamentary time1 public money1 and expert care4 ,it is pitiable that1 for mere want of parliamentary time1 we cannot get manifest sores such as these treated and banished once for all from the nation's body2 pitiable that due machinery cannot be devised to deal with these and other barbarities to man and beast1 concerning which1 in the main1 no real controversy exists2 scandalous that their removal should be left to the mercy of the ballot1 to private members' ,bills--for ever liable to be obstructed2 or to the hampered and inadequate efforts of societies unsupported by legislation4 ,rome1 ,i know1 was not built in a day4 ,parliament works hard1 has worked harder during these last years than ever perhaps before2 all honour to it for that6 ,it is an august assembly of which ,i wish to speak with all respect4 ,but it works without sense of proportion1 or sense of humour4 ,over and over again it turns things already talked into their graves2 over and over again listens to the same partizan bickerings1 to arguments which everybody knows by heart4 ,and all the time the fires of live misery that could1 most of them1 so easily be put out are raging1 and the reek thereof is going up4 ,it is ,i1 of course1 who will be mocked at for lack of the senses of proportion and humour4 ,but if the tale of hours spent on certain party measures be set against the tale of hours not yet spent on measures of health and humanity1 the mockers will yet be mocked4 ,i am not one of those who believe we can do without party2 but ,i do see and ,i do say that party business absorbs far too much of the time that our common sense and common humanity demands for the redress of crying shames4 ,and if laymen see this with grief and anger1 how much more poignant must be the feeling of members of ,parliament themselves1 to whom alone remedy has been entrusted6 ,,ii ,,the ,,nature ,,of ,,laws 7,written in #aiad47 ,among comments on the foregoing letter there occurred again and again criticisms conveniently summed up in a sentence from an ,american journal3 8,it is not the part of ,government to make men moral40 ,one who is generally blamed for offering no practical remedies for the hard cases he provides is not quite so foolish as to think men are to be made into angels by law4 ,cut-and-dried formul are hardly his little gods2 and he knows well that far more important than change and reform of laws and systems is improvement in the spirit of the men who administer them4 ,for all that1 it is fatal to think that public feeling can be divorced from law in the social organism4 ,in effect these critics say3 8,it is impossible to diminish cruelty and injustice by law2 any attempt to do so will only divert the cruelty or injustice banned to another form of expression40 ,very well6 ,it is therefore demonstrably needless and even ridiculous to prohibit1 by law1 murder1 rape1 and the deliberate torture of children4 ,the murderer1 the ravisher1 and the torturer should be allowed to vent their cruelty in these forms1 for fear that if they are not so allowed they will vent it in other forms6 ,that is the reductio ad absurdum implicit in all such anarchistic doctrine2 and how far it is really held by those who talk of the futility of passing laws against inhumanity one must leave to their own consciences4 ,in any case1 the doctrine takes no account of the real nature of laws4 ,in a democratic society1 such as ours1 only public opinion1 or1 ,i would rather say1 the true secret consensus of general thought1 makes laws possible--,i am speaking of laws against inhumanity4 ,and laws so made are but constant reminders to every one that public opinion is against such and such a thing4 ,laws were made against murder and rape because public feeling against such acts became so strong that1 until the laws were made1 normal individuals did not rest till they had torn to pieces persons who acted in such abnormal ways4 ,it was therefore considered more convenient that certain recognized professional persons should undertake the work of punishment4 ,and so on through all the gamut of laws down to those against quite minor cruelties1 which would not perhaps provoke individual retaliation1 but which nevertheless would evoke pity and anger from a majority of those who with their own eyes saw them inflicted4 ,admitting that the state of public feeling toward a particular form of cruelty must always be more or less a matter of discretionary judgment for legislators1 it is yet quite wrong to suppose that laws must wait until the majority of individuals in a community have openly declared a feeling of which perhaps1 never having been tested personally1 they are not conscious4 ,when one urges the passing of laws to prohibit certain cruelties1 one is only urging that the ,legislature should give concrete expression to what it believes would be the general opinion of the country1 if every man and woman therein could be taken apart--isolated1 as juries are--and then actually put face to face with instances of these cruelties1 so that they might judge them with the fresh and genuine feelings of unfettered men and women4 ,one is1 in fact1 only urging the recording of a judgment which he believes to have been secretly delivered2 asking that this secret judgment should be published in the form of law as a daily and forcible reminder that some things are 8not done40 8,still60 would say these critics who want to see no more laws made because men cannot be made humane by law1 and who certainly should logically wish all our present laws removed by law 7for this criticism is radical and not one of degree674 8,still60 they would say1 8all you have done is to make ,a4 and ,b4 mechanically avoid1 for example1 caging wild song-birds1 or docking horses' tails2 but the devil of natural man is so strong in ,a4 and ,b4 that they will instantly set to work to invent some other form of torture40 ,this is too cynical4 ,many of the cruelties that can be prohibited by law--that is to say1 those for whose prohibition the true and secret public feeling is ripe--are cruelties that come rather from lack of thought than from a natural savagery4 ,and it is a very large order to say that1 because you stop ,a4 and ,b4 from 8not thinking0 in a certain direction1 their lack of thought must result in other cruelties4 ,true1 the reason for their 8lack of thought0 is often that they profit by it2 but1 even so1 it does not follow that if one channel of thoughtless and pain-provoking profit be cut off1 they must necessarily seek another4 ,as a fact1 many social cruelties 7such as the sweating of women1 foul housing1 and the harmful kind of child labour7 are but dubious sources of profit in the long run2 and some cruelties practised on animals 7such as the wearing of certain feathers1 or the docking of horses' tails7 are but the outcome of 8fashion40 ,to put it another way4 ,we feel there are certain things our neighbours must not do--we even feel that we ourselves must not do them2 and we pass laws to put it out of our own reach to yield to the temptation of profit or temper6 ,take a person who is guiltless of thought or temptation in the matter1 and show him first a number of wild song-birds in freedom1 and then a bird fancier's shop1 with the same kinds of birds in their tiny cages1 and ask him whether or no he thinks they ought to be kept like that4 ,in nine cases out of ten he will say3 8,poor little beggars6 ,no40 ,if then1 the ,legislature passes a law to penalize such caging1 this law will be effective and will in time stop wild birds from being caged1 because the secret feeling of the majority is really against such a practice4 ,but pass a law to penalize the moderate smacking of small naughty children1 it will simply be disregarded1 because nine out of ten people do not see any harm in either their neighbours or themselves moderately smacking their imps4 ,spirit and body 7that is1 public feeling and the law7 in the social organism are as inextricably conjoint as the spirit and body of a man--public feeling needing its proper clothing of laws1 as our souls need due clothing by our bodies4 ,and if men cannot be made kind by law1 they can and are by law reminded that they must not1 under temptation1 do what1 in cool and disinterested blood1 they disapprove of their neighbours doing4 ,but there is another and perhaps more convincing answer to these critics4 8,you say it's no good passing laws4 ,if men are prevented from ill-treating one object1 they'll only ill-treat another40 ,so be it6 ,is that any reason for not trying to save the victims of such cruelty as we can actually see4 ,are we in fact to disregard the sufferer because his torturer may break out in a fresh direction4 ,that would be as much as to say that a man watching another making his beasts go faster to market by jabbing them with a pitch-fork must pass by on the other side and do nothing to help the creatures1 because if the prodder be prevented he may to-morrow cut off the tail of his horse to improve the poor brute's value4 ,no6 ,where you see cruelty1 stop it6 ,on that principle the individual and the ,state know where they are2 the opposite is but that3 8,what's the good of anyfink--why6 noffink60 philosophy which1 purged from all need for effort1 in a world of facts1 is so truly ethereal and pleasant to hold6 ,some of these critics1 no doubt1 would carry the matter further4 8,we don't think of the object10 they would say1 8because the weak must go to the wall1 cruelty being inherent in the struggle for existence40 ,well6 ,the sort of cruelties we have any chance of legislating against are certainly not necessary to the preservation of our existence2 they are luxuries1 excrescences1 or that kind of short-cut which often takes one round the longer way4 ,the struggle for sheer existence we cannot1 of course1 annul2 it goes on1 and always will4 ,but in this age the human being is surely bound to say3 8,i am not only thankful that ,i am alive1 but that all these other creatures are alive2 ,i am not only thankful that ,i am without pain1 but that none of these others are in pain either4 ,i wish the world to be a decent place for them as well as for myself60 ,and if these critics1 returning to their mutton1 say3 8,quite so1 sir1 we desire that as much as you1 perhaps more2 we only tell you that you can't make men feel like that by law60 the answer once more is3 8,freely admitted6 ,but if you do not concrete and record in laws such humane feelings as you secretly and truly have1 if you do not keep the body of the social organism in time and tune with its soul1 you are handicapping the growth of your humane feeling for want of signboards against temptation to profit at the expense of others2 and you are passing by on the other side instead of going to the help of those you see being ill-treated40 ,,iii ,,passing 7,from the ,westminster ,gazette1 #aiad47 ,i was standing on the ,bridge before dawn of the summer morning2 heat-mist down on the water1 and the bright face of ,big ,ben up there1 disjoint1 set as it were in sky--so dark it was4 ,i had been there some time1 seeking what air there might be in the town1 staring vaguely down the broadway of blackness between the misted lights of the river banks1 thinking idle thoughts1 dreaming perhaps a little1 when suddenly ,i became conscious of something on the parapet4 ,it seemed to be perching there1 a thin1 gray shape1 without face or limbs2 and1 peering at it1 ,i sidled along1 till ,i found that ,i was getting no nearer6 ,startled1 ,i said3 8,what is that8 ,who is it80 ,only a faint sigh answered4 ,i called again3 8,who are you80 ,a soft voice replied3 8,don't be alarmed1 sir1 ,i am the ,plumage ,bill40 ,its shape had grown no clearer2 but in sheer amazement ,i went on speaking as though it were a being4 8,what are you doing out here8 ,why aren't you in there80 ,and ,i pointed to ,big ,ben4 ,the voice answered again3 8,they have no time for me1 sir4 ,i am resting a moment before ,i pass40 8,but10 ,i said1 8you #8pass' in there1 not out here60 ,i could have sworn ,i heard it laugh1 much as a dying child will laugh if you show it a jumping toy3 8,oh6 no1 sir6 ,it is here we pass into nothing and the summer night40 ,and1 as it spoke1 around me came the most extraordinary beating and vibration in the air1 a kind of white-gray wonder of invisible wings wheeling and hovering4 ,the whole of dark space seemed full of millions of these invisible wings1 so that ,i stood utterly bewildered4 ,then from out of that noiseless swirl rose suddenly hundreds of thousands of tiny voices as of birds too young to fly1 calling1 crying1 calling4 ,and1 flinging up my hands1 ,i pressed them against the drums of my ears till ,i thought ,i should break them in2 but still ,i heard the hundreds of thousands of shrill little voices crying1 and crying4 8,hush60 ,i called out3 8,for heaven's sake1 hush60 ,but on they went1 feeble and shrill amid that invisible swirl of winged mothers trying to reach and feed them2 then1 just when ,i thought ,i could bear it no longer1 the mist on the water curled over and broke like a wave1 something sighed out 8,farewell60 and the thin gray shape was no longer there4 ,all was still once more4 ,the ,bridge stretched empty4 ,big ,ben glowed in the sky4 ,i drew a long breath and turned to look down at the water4 ,there1 on the parapet1 was that thin gray shape again6 8,not gone80 ,i cried4 ,a voice answered3 8,sir1 ,i have only just come4 ,i am the ,bill of the ,worn-out ,horses40 8,what60 ,i cried2 8had they no time even for you80 ,and1 as ,i spoke1 ,i heard the sound of thousands of hoofs1 and saw1 passing me slowly on the dark air1 the gaunt shapes of horses4 ,from side to side1 up1 down--horses dragging worn feet1 halting1 passing--their heads lower than their hoofs4 ,and ,i cried out3 8,for ,christ's sake1 pass60 ,the voice answered3 8,we pass1 sir4 ,farewell60 ,with a sound of plunging the water rose black through the mist to the level of the ,bridge1 fell again1 and all was once more still4 8,i'm haunted60 ,i thought2 and crossed to the other side4 ,there1 again1 before me on the parapet was a gray shape that said3 8,i am the ,bill of the ,slaughtered ,beasts40 ,and1 on the instant1 there came at me in the air1 as though ,i were the centre of a wheel1 a million spokes of beasts1 great beasts and little1 snorting1 writhing1 quivering1 with a sound of the gurgling of blood4 ,and in terror ,i cried3 8,pass60 ,the voice answered3 8,we pass1 sir4 ,farewell40 ,and the river ran by below1 swollen to the height of a hill--all red4 ,i began to run1 crying out3 8,enough60 ,but still there on the parapet before me was the thin gray shape1 and its voice said3 8,i am the ,bill of the ,caged ,wild ,songbirds40 ,and from the darkness above came the flutter of myriads of tiny hearts maddened with terror1 and a sound such as no other man can have heard--of thousands on thousands of little wings struggling1 beating1 struggling against cage wires4 ,that sound came slanting down to the water like a swallow dipping1 and passed--invisible as wind4 ,on either parapet1 before me1 behind1 were many1 many thin gray shapes1 like rows of penguins4 ,they sighed and waved1 moving this way and that1 as though saying farewell1 then one by one dived and passed into the dark water below4 ,and the whole air was alive with the sobbing of men and women1 of children1 and the cries of pain and terror from beasts and birds4 ,and just as ,i thought that ,i1 too1 would leap down into the water and escape1 the dawn broke 4 4 4 ,i rubbed my eyes4 ,nothing there1 save the river running quiet and full1 with a gray sheen on it2 that bright clock joined once more to earth by its tower2 and the sky flecked from pole to pole with tiny white clouds4 ,a breeze fanned my face4 ,beside me on the ,bridge a gentleman in top hat and black coat was stretching himself1 and breathing deeply4 ,i turned to him4 8,did you see them1 sir80 8,see what80 8,the ,bills40 8,what ,bills80 8,the ,bills of ,suffering6 ,there1 on the parapet2 thin gray things1 passing into nothing and the summer night80 ,he looked at me1 and ,i saw he thought ,i was demented4 ,then1 with a smile on his pleasant red face1 he pointed to the ,clock ,tower1 and said3 8,bills6 ,i get enough of them in there60 8,didn't you even hear them80 ,he answered coldly3 8,my dear ,sir1 ,i am a matter-of-fact and hard-worked man1 with no time to #8see' things2 ,i have seen and heard nothing4 ,i came out here for a breath of air after sitting there all night60 ,and pounding with his clenched fist at the air1 he added3 8,we have just had a glorious scrap60 ,understanding then that ,i must have dreamed1 ,i begged his pardon and moved towards home1 passing the ,clock ,tower4 ,,iv ,,the ,,modern ,,stoic3 ,,an ,,ill-,,natured ,,duologue4 7,from the ,outlook1 #aiac47 8,well1 ,i can only say that to my mind it's just another appeal to false emotion2 pandering to the softness of our times4 ,this mawkish humanitarianism is undermining our virility4 ,i protest against all this agitation and rot about suffering40 8,suffering of others is what you mean1 ,i believe80 8,how do you know they suffer80 8,forgive me1 but where there is all the prim facie evidence of suffering1 it is surely #8up' to you to prove its non-existence4 ,now1 if you yourself were to try these various experiences of animals which you tell us it is mawkish to concern ourselves about1 then when you say they are nothing1 we shall perhaps believe you40 8,ah6 ,will you be good enough to suggest how ,i can do that80 8,get yourself chained to your study chair--as a watchdog is to its kennel--for a year or so4 ,you could then write convincingly on our morbidity for desiring to do away with your chain by law4 #8,it is nothing1' you would say2 #8no virile person----' ,or1 better1 cause yourself to be taken down a mine and kept there all your life working goodness knows how many hours a day1 like one of those pit ponies1 to gush about whose sufferings you told me was effeminate4 ,the papers would be delighted to get a letter from your death-bed saying that it was all greatly exaggerated40 8,your suggestions don't excite me1 so far40 8,very well4 ,why not1 in the interests of science1 submit your body to some of the less exacting vivisections1 in order that you may reinforce from personal experience your remarks about the squeamishness of cranks1 and the efficacy of curare4 ,for1 think how much more valuable to us all experiments on the human you would be6 ,i won't go so far as to suggest that you should be killed for food2 for even under the comparatively slow present methods1 which1 in contempt of morbid sensibility ,i suppose you would uphold1 you would not be in a condition 7though you might possibly have time7 to write a letter to the paper saying that your suffering was really nothing4 ,no6 ,i should rather advise you to have little bits cut off your ears--a pity you have not a tail6--but the effect can well be got by having your hands tied behind you on a hot day in a fly-infested field4 ,we should then get from you a definite pronouncement that the sufferings of being nicked and docked are nothing1 instead of the mere contemptuous silence with which you at present regard our mawkish attempts to stop these processes4 ,oh6 there are lots of things you could experience1 so that your letters to the ,press might acquire that convincing quality which at present seems to me rather lacking40 8,quite finished8 ,you forget a little1 don't you1 that a human being is not an animal2 so that if ,i followed your charming suggestions ,i should still be no nearer knowing whether or no animals suffer1 as you say they do40 8,oh6 there's no necessity for you to restrict your experiences to those which you advocate for animals4 ,i've noticed that you are always complaining of the morbid twaddle talked about the sufferings of criminals1 the unhappily married1 and the poor4 ,it would very much increase our respect for your pronouncements if you would cause yourself to be confined in a space eight feet by twelve1 in your own company1 for twenty-three hours out of twenty-four1 for those nine months1 whose reduction not long ago1 in the case of convicts1 ,i remember you disapproved of4 ,or again1 if you would marry a hopeless inebriate1 or merely grow to hate your wife--a letter from you to some well-known journal to say that it was all really of no consequence would then be of incalculably greater value than it is at present4 ,or dare ,i hope that you might be induced to embrace the career of making match-boxes1 or carding buttons1 or sewing shirts or trousers for1 say1 twelve or fifteen hours a day1 on a wage of seven shillings or so a week1 in order that we might have the benefit of knowing that your strenuous remarks about the mawkishness of believing that the poor really suffer were inspired by a thorough and personal knowledge of the subject40 8,you're unfortunate in your choice of sufferings4 ,those you mention are all necessary--society being what it is40 8,oh6 then you admit that they are sufferings80 8,to an extent--much exaggerated40 8,very well6 ,you have not yet1 ,i perceive1 grasped my points3 ,first1 what gives you the right to say these sufferings are necessary to society1 and to interfere with our attempts to reduce them so far as we can8 ,secondly1 what makes you an authority at all on the nature and degree of suffering80 8,i refuse to answer your first question1 which ,i consider insolent4 ,as to the second1 which is also insolent1 of what use is one's imagination1 if not to gauge the experiences of others without experiencing them oneself80 8,my dear sir1 imagination is not1 believe me1 a mere capacity for failing to grasp what you have not yourself experienced4 ,it is an active quality1 and even when stretched to the utmost is a little liable to fall short of the poignancy of experience4 ,let me remind you of ,poe's tale about the man on whom the walls of a room gradually closed in4 ,that tale1 ,i am sure1 made even you feel that his sufferings might not be nil--though ,i honestly believe it only roused you because it was so obviously romance4 ,but do you think your imagination when you read the story really provided you with the intensity of the sensations of that man1 especially at the moment when the walls were grinding his bones80 8,that was1 as you say1 romance4 ,but you humanitarians are always magnifying and distorting into the dreadful what is very ordinary experience2 your imaginations are your masters1 not your servants4 ,what you want is to be familiarized with the ordinary sights of ,nature1 and the look of blood2 we shouldn't then have all this namby-pambyism to put up with40 8,you recommend that we should be familiarized with the sight of blood8 ,might ,i suggest that no blood could be so educative as that of one who propounds the doctrine3 ,suffering is nil6 ,let your own blood flow for our enlightenment4 ,believe me1 we shall pay a much more rapt attention to it than we should to that of any other creature40 8,that1 as you well know1 is an absurd suggestion40 8,yes6 ,quite4 ,but what ,i want you to appreciate is1 how tiny the difference between us is4 ,we think1 that a man should make light of his own suffering1 but make light the suffering of others4 ,now1 transposing that first #8of' would make our philosophy identical with yours40 8,and how do you know that ,i have not sufferings1 made light of--hidden from every one80 8,have you8 ,we have1 you see1 no means of knowing2 and you must prove it if you wish for the luxury of having attention paid to you when you make light of suffering for others4 ,but if indeed you have1 are you not a most unhappy person in that you do not let a fellow-feeling make you wondrous kind80 8,ah6 ,i thought that was coming4 ,shall ,i tell you my opinion of you1 sir8 ,you are a sickly sentimentalist40 8,my feeling about you1 is not so hackneyed4 ,with your philosophy of3 #8,i am all right4 ,let them suffer6'--you are--the ,modern ,stoic40 ,,on ,,prisons ,,and ,,punishment ,i ,,solitary ,,confinement 7#a7 7,an ,open ,letter to the ,home ,secretary--at that time1 ,may1 #aiji1 the ,right ,hon4 ,herbert ,john ,gladstone1 ,m4,p4--printed in ,the ,nation47 ,,sir1--,in addressing you1 ,i desire to say that ,i do so with a gratitude and respect that must be shared by those who know how much you have already done for the improvement of our prison system4 ,i head this letter 8,solitary ,confinement0 because1 though the expression has long been officially abandoned in favour of the term 8,separate ,confinement10 it more adequately defines the seclusion undergone by prisoners in closed cells1 and distinguishes that system from a practice obtaining in local prisons of setting prisoners to work separately in their cells with open doors 7when it is impossible to find them work in association74 ,solitary1 or closed-cell1 confinement--that is to say1 complete seclusion every day for nearly twenty-three hours out of twenty-four--is now1 sir1 as you1 but not all men1 know1 endured by every convict 7persons sentenced to penal servitude for three years and over7 during the first three1 six1 or nine months of his sentence1 according to class--star1 intermediate1 or recidivist1 and for the first month of their sentence by all prisoners 7except juveniles7 sentenced to hard labour4 ,closed-cell confinement for women convicts lasts four months4 ,it is the object of this letter to urge on you the complete abandonment of this closed-cell confinement1 save where it is rendered necessary by the conduct of the convict or prisoner after his arrival in prison4 ,in order to demonstrate the weakness of the case for its retention1 ,i shall first quote certain paragraphs from the ,report of the ,departmental ,committee1 #ahie1 over which you1 sir1 presided4 7,the italics are my own47 #eb4 8,we do not agree with the view that separate confinement is desirable1 on the ground that it enables the prisoner to meditate on his misdeeds4 ,we are1 however1 disposed to agree that the separate system as a general principle is the right policy4 ,the separate system rests on two considerations only4 ,it is a deterrent1 and it is a necessary safeguard against contamination4 ,but we are not of the opinion that association for industrial labour under proper conditions is productive of harm4 ,on the contrary1 we believe that the advantages largely outweigh the disadvantages4 4 4 4 ,subject to this condition0 7careful supervision7 8and to a proper system of classification1 ,colonel ,garsia1 a prison official of great experience1 stated in his evidence that there was no danger whatever in associated work4 4 4 40 #ec4 84 4 4 ,we think that this limited form of association is desirable for several reasons4 7#a7 ,it is a welcome relief to most prisoners from the dull and wearying monotony of the constant isolation which forces men back on themselves1 and in many cases leads to moral and physical deterioration4 7#b7 ,it can be made in the nature of a privilege liable to suspension1 and would be1 therefore1 a satisfactory addition to the best kind of available punishment4 7#c7 ,it materially lessens the difficulty of providing and organising industrial labour in prisons4 ,prisoners can be taught trades in classes1 and they can then work in association under proper and economical supervision in regular workshops or halls provided for the purpose4 7#d7 ,it is more healthy4 ,it is desirable that cells should be untenanted for some hours in the day1 and in any case it is better that work which produces dust should not be carried on in the cells40 #ee4 8,in recommending a wider adoption of associated work1 we must admit that several competent witnesses expressed disapproval of the principle4 4 4 4 ,but upon cross-examination1 it did not appear that they could sustain their objection to associated labour properly supervised1 and they seemed to us to have formed their opinion rather because separation has been the accepted rule of the prison system than on any experience of failure of the associated system4 4 4 40 #gf4 8,in the consideration of several matters contained in the reference we had to touch upon the practice of confining convicts for nine months'0 7now1 #aiji1 three1 six or nine7 8solitary imprisonment either in local or convict prisons4 4 4 4 ,the history of it is interesting and suggestive4 ,it was originated in #ahdb by ,sir ,james ,graham1 then ,home ,secretary4 4 4 4 ,we shall show how complete a change in the apparent object of the practice has since occurred40 #gg4 84 4 4 ,the convict was to undergo eighteen months' solitary imprisonment1 but he was to be freely visited by chaplain and prison officials 4 4 4 he was to be kept in a state of cheerfulness2 hope1 energy1 resolution1 and virtue were to be imparted to him1 and he was to be trained to be fully competent to make his own way and become a respectable member in the penal settlements4 4 4 40 #gh4 8,in #ahdh it was determined that1 eighteen months being too long a period for isolated confinement1 a system should be introduced based on a period of separate confinement1 followed by a term of associated labour1 with a maximum of twelve months4 ,this was reduced by ,lord ,palmerston in #ahec to nine months4 ,the original intention of ,sir ,j4 ,graham1 which was that this period should be primarily of a reformatory character1 appears fifteen years later to have been lost sight of4 4 4 40 #gi4 8,it would appear from ,sir ,j4 ,jebb's evidence in #ahec that the main object of the separate 7solitary7 confinement had come to be deterrence4 4 4 40 #hj4 8,in effect1 this is the purpose which it must be regarded as now designed to serve4 4 4 4 ,it is certainly a practical convenience in the sense that the expense of sending convicts immediately after sentence to convict prisons1 either singly or in small detachments1 is curtailed by the system of gathering prisons4 ,this consideration alone is not sufficient to justify the practice4 ,the argument that it is a necessary discipline for penal servitude1 if true1 is no argument for sending the convicts to local prisons4 ,we do not regard the system with favour4 ,we see no objection to short periods of detention in local prisons for the purpose of collecting parties for transfer to the convict prisons2 but if the system is a good one at all1 we think it ought1 as far as possible1 to be worked out in the convict prisons from first to last4 ,we think it cannot be denied that cases occur in which a nervous condition1 agitated by remorse and by a long continuance of the separate system1 may be injuriously affected by it4 ,from the evidence before us1 we have no reason to believe that such cases are of other than exceptional occurrence4 ,we think it is worth considering whether the severity of the system might not be mitigated by a substantial reduction in the period of separation4 4 4 40 ,these1 sir1 were the conclusions of your ,committee as far back as #ahie4 ,i submit that1 as a whole1 they point to the existence of very grave doubts in the minds of its members as to the wisdom of retaining this system of closed-cell confinement at all4 ,since then great strides have been made in the direction of the classification of prisoners1 and of associated labour1 and the whole slow trend of thought and effort in regard to prisons has been in the direction of reformation of the prisoner4 ,the late ,sir ,edmund ,du ,cane1 though one of its chief supporters1 has called solitary confinement 84 4 4 an artificial state of existence absolutely opposed to that which ,nature points out as the condition of mental1 moral1 and physical health 4 4 40 78,the ,punishment and ,prevention of ,crime10 p4 #ach47 ,its effect on a highly-strung temperament is thus described by a young woman who had served a long term of penal servitude4 84 4 4 ,it is like nothing else in the world--it is impossible to describe it2 no words can paint its miseries1 nothing that ,i can say would give any idea of the horrors of solitary confinement--it maddens one even to think of it4 ,no one who has not been through it can conceive the awful anguish one endures when shut up in a living tomb1 thrown back upon yourself 4 4 4 ,the overpowering sensation is one of suffocation4 ,you feel you must and can smash the walls1 burst open the doors1 kill yourself6 4 4 40 ,add to this ,sir ,robert ,anderson's description of his sensations 7,nineteenth ,century1 ,march1 #aijb71 after he had caused himself to be locked up for only a few hours with a political prisoner4 8,i seemed to be in a pit4 ,there was no want of air1 and yet ,i felt smothered4 ,my nerves would not have long stood the strain of it40 ,this is the conclusion1 from personal experience1 of ,h4 ,b4 ,montgomery3 8,the whole of this procedure0 7solitary confinement7 8is cruel and barbarous1 unworthy of a humane or civilized nation4 ,to my knowledge it drives many men mad1 and even when it does not induce lunacy1 mentally affects a large proportion of those subjected to it 4 4 40 ,and3 8,the less a prisoner is thrown in on himself and the more he is encouraged to foster his home ties1 the less likely is he to descend into that condition of despair and demoralization which are such potent factors in driving men to perdition40 ,these are the words of ,colonel ,baker1 of the ,salvation ,army1 before your ,departmental ,committee of #ahie3 8,as to convicts on discharge1 ,i should like to say that we find a great number of them incapable of pursuing any ordinary occupation4 ,they are mentally weak and wasted1 requiring careful treatment for months after they have been received by us4 ,in several cases they are men who are only fit to be sent off home or to a hospital40 ,these1 after personal experience1 are the comments of ,w4 ,b4 ,n4 in his moderate1 and stoical1 book 8,penal ,servitude03 84 4 4 but1 at the best1 the system of #8separate confinement' is a very bad one4 ,it is only solitary confinement slightly improved1 and it has some of the worst effects of that terrible punishment4 ,the intention of it1 doubtless1 is to impress the prisoner with the gravity of his offence against society1 and to bring him to a better state of mind4 ,but in some cases1 ,i am convinced1 it has quite the opposite result4 ,the solitude and the hopeless monotony1 with nothing to think of but the long years of suffering and disgrace ahead1 produces nervous irritation approaching1 in some cases1 to frenzy1 and instead of softening the man brings out all the evil there is in him4 ,under such conditions1 the worst companions he could have are his own thoughts4 ,in men of a different temperament1 again1 it deadens all sensibility1 so that they do not care a straw what happens afterwards1 but would just as soon become habitual criminals as not4 ,it is this sullen hatred of themselves and of everybody else engendered and fostered during the long dismal months of separate confinement that makes the most dangerous and troublesome prisoners at a later stage4 ,there are a third class1 who1 having no criminal instincts1 nor any strong instincts at all1 merely give way mentally1 without any acute distress1 and become little better than half-witted by the time their separate confinement is at an end4 4 4 40 ,these are the remarks of ,professor ,prins1 ,inspector-,general of ,belgian prisons3 8,solitude produces in him 7the vacuous-minded1 erratic1 and animal person who is usually the criminal7 no intellectual activity and no searching of conscience2 it serves to deepen his mental vacuity and to deliver him over to unnatural indulgence in the one animal appetite of which he cannot be deprived40 78,the ,criminal10 ,havelock ,ellis1 p4 #cbh47 ,beltrani-,scalia1 formerly ,inspector-,general of ,prisons in ,italy1 is of the same opinion1 and remarks that 8the cellular system looks upon man as a brother of ,la ,trappe40 78,the ,criminal10 p4 #cbi47 ,the following passage1 taken from ,prince ,kropotkin's 8,memoirs of a ,revolutionist10 refers to a peasant confined solitarily in a cell beneath him in the ,fortress of ,peter and ,paul1 and with whom he and his neighbour could communicate by knocking4 8,soon ,i began to notice1 to my terror1 that from time to time his mind wandered4 ,gradually his thoughts became more and more confused and we two perceived1 step by step1 day by day1 evidences that his reason was failing1 until his talk became at last that of a lunatic4 ,frightful noises and wild cries came next from the lower storey2 our neighbour was mad4 4 4 4 ,to witness the destruction of a man's mind under such conditions was terrible40 ,finally1 this is the judgment of the rector of ,st4 ,marylebone1 ,dr4 ,w4 ,d4 ,morrison 7after more than ten years' experience as ,prison ,chaplain73 8,it tends to have a demoralising effect upon many classes of prisoners40 ,such evidence might be multiplied indefinitely4 ,now1 sir1 in regard to the object of solitary confinement we have surely no need to go behind the finding of your committee3 8,it would appear that the main object of the separate0 7closed-cell7 8confinement had come to be deterrence 4 4 4 ,in effect this is the purpose which it must be regarded as now designed to serve40 ,in regard to its nature1 we have1 as surely1 no need of other description than its supporter's1 the late ,sir ,edmund ,du ,cane's 8,an artificial state of existence absolutely opposed to that which ,nature points out as the condition of mental1 moral1 and physical health40 ,the questions arising1 then1 are two3-- 7a7 ,is this practice of solitary confinement1 in fact1 deterrent8 7b7 ,has a civilized nation the right to retain offenders for months in a state of existence absolutely opposed to mental1 moral1 and physical health1 even for the purpose of deterrence8 ,as to question 7a74 ,no support can be gathered for the plea of deterrence from the statistics of penal servitude2 mere severity of punishment has never been proved to be a factor of deterrence4 ,when men were hung for horse or sheep stealing those offences were far more prevalent than they are now4 ,moreover1 the nature of their coming punishment is too vaguely known to those who have never been in prison for the thought of solitary confinement to have any deterrent effect on ninety-nine out of a hundred first offenders4 ,indeed1 that it is not sufficiently present to any man's mind is shown by the fact that so humane a public as ours knows and thinks so little about the suffering of solitary confinement as to have allowed it to remain part of their prison system4 ,the effect of a period of solitary confinement which comes at the beginning of long years of imprisonment is inevitably wiped out by the monotony of the prison life which follows4 ,mechanical adjustment to environment is always going on in the human being4 ,solitary confinement is a smothering process to which the mind must adapt itself1 or perish4 ,the mental demoralization remains after the confinement comes to an end1 but the consciousness of that mental ruin1 the consciousness of the suffering1 has become dulled2 from his closed cell the convict passes on to the ordinary prison life1 actually unable to appreciate the extent of the misery he has undergone4 ,obviously1 moreover1 deterrence 7if there be deterrence7 paid for by mental and moral weakening is not true deterrence2 for the acquired power of resistance to crime1 if any1 is nullified through deterioration of the prisoner's fibre4 ,the true deterrence of imprisonment lies in the general fear of loss of liberty2 in that nightmare of a thought all details of impending punishment 7even if known7 mechanically merge4 ,this solitary confinement1 however1 is sometimes justified on the ground that it is necessary to buoy the convict up with hope4 ,it is thought that by placing him at the outset in the seventh hell of pain we lessen his sufferings in the minor hells which await him at the expiration of those first dire months4 ,that1 sir1 is humanity with a vengeance4 ,imagine this principle logically applied to social life4 ,the husband would beat the wife that she might not so greatly feel the inevitable wear and tear of matrimony2 the mother would starve the child that it might experience with more equanimity the ordinary pangs of hunger2 the master would withhold wages that the servant might more duly appreciate the receipt of what was due to him4 ,it appears1 indeed1 to be almost what is called a vicious principle4 ,to question 7b7--,whether a civilized country has the right to retain its offenders in a state of existence absolutely opposed to mental1 moral1 and physical health1 even for the sake of a supposed deterrence--,i conceive1 sir1 but this one answer3 ,only so long as we do not realize what this solitary confinement means4 ,six months 7to take the mean sentence7 is a short time to a free man2 it is an eternity to a prisoner confined in solitude4 ,one hundred and eighty days--four thousand hours1 of utter solitude and silence in a cell1 which--in the words of ,sir ,robert ,anderson 7,nineteenth ,century1 ,march1 #aijb7--8;differs from every other sort of apartment designed for human habitation in that all view of external nature1 such as might soothe1 and possibly alleviate1 the mind1 is1 with elaborate care1 excluded0--solitude broken only by one hour a day1 of chapel1 and walking up and down a yard1 by the sight of a warder1 three times or so a day1 bringing in food2 by a ten minutes' visit perhaps from chaplain or governor4 ,four thousand hours of utter solitude in a closed space thirteen feet by seven--with the prospect of anything from two to twenty years of monotonous routine and loss of liberty to follow6 ,can a ,public ,opinion1 which succeeds in bringing these facts home to its imagination1 justly say that two and a half to twenty years of loss of liberty1 with all that this means in prison1 is not sufficient punishment for any crime that man can commit1 without the preliminary agony of four thousand hours of solitude in a closed space thirteen feet by seven8 ,sir1 ,public ,opinion has never yet succeeded in realizing what this so-called separate confinement means4 ,in the year ending ,march1 #aijg1 we set #a1jce persons1 of whom #fia had never been sentenced to penal servitude before1 to endure these hours of agony and demoralization4 ,in the year ending ,march1 #aijh1 we set another #a1agi to endure the same1 #gdi of them for the first time4 ,at the present moment another thousand1 more or less1 are undergoing it4 ,in thus subjecting year by year a thousand persons to nine1 six1 or three months of an 8artificial state of existence absolutely opposed to that which ,nature points out as the condition of mental1 moral1 and physical health10 we are annually committing an offence against our reason1 of which we reap the full reward in the mental1 moral1 and physical deterioration of persons already demoralized enough2 and an offence against our humanity in reality as great as if we had placed them on the rack4 ,i by no means lose sight of the fact that this closed-cell confinement falls with different effect on different temperaments2 it falls1 no doubt1 far less heavily on the sluggish and the brutalized than on the nervous types1 of which1 however1 we are now breeding great numbers4 ,but1 sir1 even the habitual criminal--popularly supposed to dread flogging more than anything--has been known while enduring solitary confinement to beg for the lash in place of it4 ,sir ,j4 ,jebb1 giving evidence before the ,penal ,servitude ,acts ,commission in #ahfc1 uses these words3 8,with burglars and reckless characters ,i think that separate confinement is dreaded more than any other kind of discipline40 ,and in regard to other effects on the habitual criminal1 the words of ,professor ,prins1 above quoted1 are significant4 ,the sluggish brutality of many recidivists is produced in the first place by this very process of closed-cell confinement4 ,man1 even the lowest type of man1 is a social and gregarious animal--all that is best in him depends on1 and is brought out by1 contact with his fellow-creatures2 if that be not so1 our religion and whole social scheme are falsely conceived4 ,deprive man of all contact with his fellow-man1 shut him in upon himself1 hopelessly1 utterly1 month by month1 and he will come out of that artificial existence lower and more brutal than when he entered it4 ,prolonged starvation and agony of the mind is worse than starvation and agony of the body1 carrying1 as it does1 the wreck of the body with it4 ,we have the right to restrain offenders and to safeguard society2 in doing this we unavoidably punish with that already terrible punishment 8loss of liberty40 ,but1 sir1 we have--surely--not the right to inflict unnecessary and harmful suffering4 ,i recognise to the full that there is no lack of humanity among those who work our prison system2 recognise to the full that they would not willingly inflict any suffering that they acknowledged to be unnecessary2 but in every department of life those who administer a system are1 in the nature of things1 with rare exceptions1 too habituated to that system1 too close to it1 to be able to see it in due perspective4 ,i ask you1 sir1 and ,i ask the common sense of the public1 whether harmful and unnecessary suffering must not inevitably be endured by the mind1 and through the mind by the body1 of a human being during these thousands of hours of closed-cell confinement4 ,to answer that question fairly each member of the public has but to ask what would be the effect on himself or herself of nine or six or even three months' utter seclusion 7except for one hour each day7 from all sight and sound not only of human beings1 but of animals1 trees1 flowers1 and from the sight even of the sky1 all but a patch no bigger than a tea-tray4 ,we are on the whole a humane people2 and it is not so much a question of our humanity as of our imaginations4 ,the position is plainly this3 ,those who have to work our prison system perhaps could not do so at all if they allowed their imaginations fair play4 ,the community are too aloof to realize what that prison system means4 ,and so the unnecessary demoralization and suffering caused by this closed-cell confinement goes on at the rate of 7for convicts alone7 more than four million hours a year6 ,i do not base the appeal of this letter so much on humanity as on common sense4 ,why1 when we are faced with appalling statistics of criminality1 with appalling difficulties in dealing with and reforming criminals1 do we deliberately continue a practice which both evidence and reason tell us contributes to the more complete demoralization of such as are already demoralized8 ,in the ,report of your ,departmental ,committee of #ahie occur these words3 8,it should be the object of the prison authorities1 through the prison staff and any suitable auxiliary effort that can be employed1 to humanize the prisoners1 to prevent them from feeling that the ,state merely chains them for a certain period and cares nothing about them beyond keeping them in safe custody and under iron discipline40 ,and again3 84 4 4 it strengthens our belief that the main fault of our prison system is that it treats prisoners too much as irreclaimable criminals instead of reclaimable men and women40 ,i submit that no unprejudiced man can regard this closed-cell confinement as a humanizing influence1 except in the rarest cases1 or maintain that it helps to reclaim men and women4 ,i refer again to this paragraph in the ,report of your ,committee3 8,it0 7the detention of convicts in closed-cell confinement at local prisons7 8is certainly a practical convenience in the sense that the expense of sending convicts immediately after sentence to convict prisons1 either singly or in detachments1 is curtailed by the system of gathering prisons4 ,this consideration alone is not sufficient to justify the practice40 ,i am credibly informed that the whole matter is one of administration1 and can be modified without ,act of ,parliament4 ,i appeal1 then1 to you1 sir1 who have already done so much towards reforming our prison system1 to work for the abandonment of this custom of confining convicts in closed cells for nine1 six or three months1 or any less period1 either in local or in convict prisons2 to substitute therefore work in association from the commencement of sentence2 or1 where such is not immediately possible1 work in separate cells with open doors4 ,and ,i would further appeal to you to advocate the reduction of the twenty-eight days1 closed-cell confinement endured by prisoners serving sentences of hard labour4 ,than this great and necessary reform ,i can conceive none that will1 at a single stroke1 remove so much harmful and unnecessary suffering1 or do more to reconcile our ,penal ,laws with ,justice and ,common ,sense4 7#b7 7,from a ,letter to ,sir ,evelyn ,ruggles ,brise1 ,k4,c4,b41 ,prison ,commission1 ,whitehall1 ,july1 #aiji47 84 4 4 ,i was at ,x4 ,prison on ,tuesday1 at ,y4 ,prison yesterday4 ,saw all the officials1 and talked with twelve convicts4 4 4 4 8,it was suggested to me at ,x4 that ,i ought to stay some days there and see every convict4 ,i would be willing1 if you will allow me1 to stay some days at ,x4 ,prison1 see every convict1 and keep record of the answers obtained from each one as to the effect on him of separate confinement4 ,i think they would speak to me freely4 ,from all ,i hear1 and certainly from its situation and general airiness and lightness1 ,x4 ,prison is the best of the four collecting prisons1 and there would be no danger of getting an impression more unfavourable to separate confinement than ,i should get from seeing each convict in all four prisons4 8,an expression used during our conversation the other day leads me for a moment into the deeper and wider significance of this question4 ,it was the expression #8a downright enemy of society' used of a certain class of prisoner4 ,i have been thinking over that phrase #8a downright enemy of society' to see if one more meditation on it would correct the conclusions of a hundred previous meditations1 but ,i do not feel that it has4 ,i think of it like this3 ,every now and then1 seldom enough but still too frequently1 we come across children1 in all classes1 who1 from the age when they begin to act at all1 show that there is something in them warped1 distorted1 inherently inimical to goodness4 ,it is in them1 of them1 a taint in their blood1 a lesion of their brain4 ,they grow up4 ,they are not insane1 but they have a blind spot1 a place in their souls or internal economy--or whatever you like to call it--that some mysterious1 rather awful1 hand has darkened4 ,they are doomed from their birth by reason of that blind spot sooner or later to become criminals1 that is1 to commit some action which is not consonant with the actions of those who are born without this blind spot2 some are not found out1 some are4 ,when found out they are known as #8the criminal type4' ,they form a portion1 not perhaps a very large one1 of our convicts4 ,can those1 who have had the good fortune to be born like their fellows1 punish these unfortunates for the sake of punishing them1 for the sake of avenging society8 ,i cannot bring myself to think so4 8,these are not1 however1 the bulk of our convicts4 ,the greater part of them are those who are born more or less normal1 but with what is called a weak character4#e ,i don't know if you have ever been much amongst those classes which supply the vast proportion of our criminals2 if you have1 you will recognize1 as ,i do1 what a wonderful thing it is that so small a proportion of them become criminals4 ,you will have seen the very dreadful struggle they have against luck from the time when they begin to know anything4 ,you will feel1 as ,i do1 that keeping their heads above water is1 and must be1 touch and go with them from day to day2 they've just a plank between them and going down1 and a very little extra sea 7it runs high all the time7 tips that plank over4 ,many of them are bred in slums and garrets where the only real ,god is ,drink4 ,when they go under1 they are suddenly up against the most inexorable thing in life1 ,law and ,order1 to whose mercilessness every citizen subscribes in self-defence1 whether he will or no4 ,when they have paid their debt to ,law1 they emerge into the same conditions against which they were too weak by nature to stand up before1 with the one weapon they had1 character1 either gone or gravely damaged4 ,it is not remarkable that they go down again1 and then again1 and so on1 until they become #8enemies of society4' 8,it seems to me that gentlemen 7,i speak in the spirit71 holding as their creed the duty of putting themselves in the place of others1 cannot reconcile it with that creed to punish for the mere sake of punishing those whose chances in life have been so vastly inferior to their own4 8,these general considerations must be platitudes to you1 and ,i feel that you do not1 any more than ,i1 believe in punishment as a means of revenging society1 but merely as a means of protecting society by restraining and trying to reform the offender4 ,society 7,i speak in the widest sense of heredity and environment7 makes the offender2 it can restrain1 but it cannot with justice exact vengeance from the victims of its own shortcomings4 8,all hope of real diminution in crime and criminals 7in default of better social conditions7 depends1 in my belief1 not on the infliction of #8deterrent suffering' in prisons1 but1 first1 on the extension of probation1 and your splendid ,borstal system2 secondly1 on abolition of #8tickets of leave1' and that vicious principle of not having done with the offence when you have paid the penalty for it2 thirdly1 on a moderate1 humane1 and reformatory use of the principle of detention of the hopeless recidivist2 fourthly1 on the increase of humanizing influences brought to bear on prisoners in prison4 ,i give full weight to the necessity for not making prison life a treat1 and to the consideration that what would be hell to us may be comparative ease to the habitual criminal2 but ,i think that1 with #8closed-cell' confinement abolished1 society might still make its mind easy4 ,the man who will come back to prison life from choice1 so long as he can get his bread in freedom1 does not exist2 the cumulative force of hard and regular work1 of silence1 of no tobacco1 of no drink1 of no knowledge of what is going on outside1 of being ordered about from morning to night1 of being1 a number1 not a man1 of losing all touch with his family and friends1 above all1 of utter monotony1 of the sense at the best of being in school1 at the worst of being in slavery1 of the feeling of having whole years sponged out of his life 7for a man does not live in prison71 may not be easy to grasp for those who live in liberty themselves1 but it is none the less tremendous4 8,it is perhaps superfluous to remind you1 who for so many years have been fighting for and achieving reforms1 of what a queer1 hypnotizing influence #8things as they are'--in fact1 the existing system has on the minds of those who are constantly confronted with it2 and to beg you for that reason to take due discount from the evidence of those who are necessarily under that hypnotic influence2 just as no doubt you will1 without my begging you1 take discount from my appeal on the ground that ,i am an outsider4 8,i can't close this letter without saying that it's impossible to go over our prisons and not see that the country has in yourself a great reforming administrator2 ,i shall consider it a rare piece of good fortune if any words of mine help to bring about in your mind the belief that this particular feature of our prison system1 closed-cell confinement1 requires immediate mitigation and ultimate elimination1 except in individual cases4 4 4 40 ----- #e ,criminality1 ,i now think1 is as often the result of too strong a character1 or rather of too much unbalanced self-will4--,j4 ,g4 7#c7 ,a ,,minute ,,on ,,separate ,,confinement ,forwarded to the ,home ,secretary and the ,prison ,commissioners1 ,september1 #aiji4 7,compiled from visits paid to sixty convicts undergoing separate confinement in ,x4 and ,y4 ,prisons1 ,july and ,september1 #aiji47 ,by the courtesy of the ,prison ,commissioners1 to whom my thanks are due1 ,i visited these convicts in their cells1 and conversed privately with each one of them for from ten minutes to a quarter of an hour4 ,i put certain definite questions to each in regard to the effect of separate confinement on themselves1 and1 so far as they could tell me1 on other prisoners1 prefacing each conversation by the information that ,i was in no way connected with the prison authorities4 ,my object in the course of these conversations was to get behind the formal question and answer to the man's real feelings4 ,i met with no hostility1 defiance1 or conscious evasion in any single case4 ,in some cases a word or two was sufficient to bring a rush of emotion4 ,several men were in tears throughout the interview4 ,in the majority of cases1 however1 ,i found it difficult to get the prisoners to express themselves2 and in some cases formal answers1 stolidly given1 were reversed by some sudden revelation of feeling evoked1 as it were1 in spite of the prisoner's self4 ,generally speaking1 ,i judged that feelings were understated rather than overstated4 ,the summary of these interviews is as follows3 7sixty convicts interviewed73-- ,of these3 ,eight preferred separate confinement to working in ,,category ,a4 association1 and were not conscious of harmful ,fifteen would prefer work in association1 but ,,category ,b4 7#a7 ,having suffered from their separate confinement1 had got more or less used to it 7three cases74 7#b7 ,were suffering1 but thought it was good for them 7three cases74 7#c7 ,were so incapable of expressing their experiences1 that no definite answer could be got from them 7nine cases74 ,thirty-seven preferred association2 suffered severely ,,category ,c4 from separate confinement2 and asserted that they had been harmed2 that all prisoners were harmed1 and some driven crazy4 ,of the eight convicts in ,category ,a1 who preferred separate3 ,four were educated men 7three of whom asserted a natural preference for their own society in or out of prison74 ,one was an old recidivist with five sentences of penal servitude4 ,two 7of a callous type7 preferred separate confinement because they had no temptation to talk and get into trouble4 ,one was the only prisoner ,i saw who said he had deliberately committed his offence in order to get into prison4 ,the following phrases taken from notes made immediately after each interview indicate the general nature of the suffering experienced by prisoners separately confined3 8,i used to look up at the window1 and something seemed to pull me back40 8,the first month was awful1 ,i didn't hardly know how to keep myself together4 ,i thought ,i should go mad40 8,it's made me very nervous4 ,the least thing upsets me2 ,i was not nervous before40 8,i've got a daughter1 and ,i grieve over her all the time2 there's nothing to take your mind off40 8,i've never felt right since--it's got all over me40 7,this man cried all the time4 ,he seemed utterly unnerved1 and broken up4 ,a ,star ,class man47 8,i feel it dreadfully4 ,it gets worse as it goes on40 8,it's no life at all4 ,i'd sooner be dead than here40 7,this man was very tearful and quavery47 8,my first spell of #8separate' nearly drove me raving40 7,this was a recidivist serving his third term47 8,it broke me down on my first sentence4 ,it destroys a man40 8,i had a cold lonely feeling4 4 4 4 ,nine months of it is killing for most men40 8,it's punishment to shut up a man for nine months40 7,this is a fair specimen of the very general under-statement of evidently acute feelings47 8,it'll send men #8up the stick4'0 7,off their heads47 8,i'm very miserable and down-'earted4 ,you feel it more and more as you get older4 ,i hardly know sometimes what ,i'm doing40 7,this was from an old man of sixty-one who had been twenty years in prison1 and said he did not expect to last through this sentence4 ,he had still six months of separate to run1 and struck me as very broken up1 and suffering47 8,i keep #8picturing' things1 and walking about4 ,it sends men #8up the pole6'0 7,another bad case of a young recidivist of twenty-nine1 with five months of his #8separate' still to run47 8,walls seem to close in4 4 4 4 ,i get blankness in the brain2 have to stop reading40 8,it's hell upon earth40 7,an educated prisoner47 8,almost unbearable depression40 7,an educated prisoner47 8,sleep's the only comfort40 8,i sit there sometimes at work1 not knowing what ,i'm doing40 8,i've good nerves4 ,a man with bad nerves would soon snuff out in #8separate'40 8,if a man had the spy-hole open even1 so that he could see out1 it would make a vast deal of difference4 4 4 4 ,i've seen numbers of men come on the public works from their #8separate1' quite silly40 8,i've seen many a man driven queer40 7,this recidivist had served four terms of penal servitude47 8,i've seen men driven off their nuts40 ,i could not get an admission from any prisoner that the suffering they underwent in separate confinement deterred them from coming back to prison4 ,the two reasons they assigned for coming back to prison were3 7#a7 ,that they had so little chance outside4 7#b7 ,drink4 ,it is obvious1 however1 that the separate period is almost universally regarded as much the worst part of the sentence4 ,my reasons for believing that1 in spite of this1 separate confinement is not1 in fact1 deterrent were given in my open letter to the ,home ,secretary 7the ,nation1 ,may #ast and ,may #hth1 #aiji72 this belief has been strengthened rather than weakened in the course of this investigation4 ,as a final result of these visits ,i record my deliberate conviction that no competent observer with any knack of getting at men's feelings1 and the opportunity of conversing in private and as a private person1 with the prisoners could come to any other conclusion than that an immense amount of harmful and unnecessary suffering is inflicted by closed-cell confinement extending over the periods 7especially the longer periods7 now prevailing4 ,it is my belief that if the authorities were able to adopt this method of getting at the real state of the case the system would not remain unaltered for a single day4 7#d7 7,from a ,letter to the ,home ,secretary1 the ,right ,hon4 ,herbert ,john ,gladstone1 ,m4,p41 ,october1 #aiji47 84 4 4 ,every day that passes with this question undealt with means so many thousand hours of solid1 tangible1 harmful1 removable misery4 ,there is a distinction between this particular kind of misery and any other experienced by man in a state of society such as we now have in ,england4 ,there is no other form of acute1 prolonged misery enforced on people in such a way as that they can by no possibility avoid it4 ,the old saying1 #8,he deserves all he'll get and more1' stultifies itself the moment it is looked into2 the plea of deterrence does not hold water2 and this misery stands out stark--a survival from the philosophy 767 of the dark ages4 4 4 40 ,,note4--,solitary 7or separate7 confinement for convicts has been reduced from nine1 six1 and three months to three months for 8old hands10 and one month for the other two classes of convicts4 ,but the writer feels as strongly as ever that1 except in special cases1 it should be done away with altogether4--,j4 ,g4 ,,ii ,,the ,,spirit ,,of ,,punishment 7,an ,article in the ,daily ,chronicle1 #aiaj47 ,in the matter of our administration of justice there is a very simple question to be asked by every man of his own conscience3 ,what do ,i believe is the object of punishment8 ,until this question has been asked and coherently answered by the community it is obviously as mad to apply punishment as for a man to set out to dine with a friend of whose address he has no knowledge4 ,but by how many people has this question been asked2 by how many has it been coherently answered8 ,the whole administration of our justice at present treads the quicksands of ambiguity as to the object of punishment4 ,the vast majority of us have never put to ourselves the question at all1 being quite satisfied that the object of punishment is to 8serve people right02 and out of the small minority who have asked the question the far greater number have given themselves no coherent answer4 ,and yet it is only from a coherent and wise answer1 graven in letters of stone on our law courts and prisons1 in letters of feeling in our hearts1 that hope of diminution in crime1 and in the damage which arises from it1 both to the community and to the offender1 can come4 ,now1 whatever sentimental relation there be between punishment and our deep instincts of equity1 the object of punishment is the protection of society and the reformation of the offender4 ,that is the only safe rule in practice2 and everything in our administration of justice which conflicts with it is falsely conceived4 ,but it is the commonest thing in the world for people to accept that definition without considering in the least what it means2 for experts1 after thoroughly agreeing with it1 to suddenly remark that for such and such a crime they1 personally1 would have no mercy2 for sentences to be passed in which the judge has obviously fitted the punishment to his private views of the heinousness of the crime1 without real regard for the protection of society1 or for the reformation of the person sentenced4 ,all which is extremely natural1 and very bad4 ,the confusion arises from not keeping the idea of the protection of society closely enough coupled with the idea of the reformation of the offender2 from dwelling too much on the past1 and not looking enough to the future2 from the continued existence of the old theory1 8an eye for an eye0 condemned to death over nineteen hundred years ago1 but still dying very hard in this ,christian country4 ,the protection of ,society includes the adjustment of punishment so as not to leave on the mind of the injured person a crude sense of injury unhealed by retribution4 ,it includes the removal from individuals of the desire to take the law into their own hands4 ,it is necessary to preserve in punishment a due element of deterrence4 ,the ,state and those who administer its functions have no business with anything but the scientific application of the best means to do all this1 and reform the offender4 ,yet in the glibbest way that golden rule 8protection of society and reformation of the offender0 is cited to cover all the flaws in our administration of justice4 ,in its name men are prosecuted1 when with better comprehension they should be warned or helped4 ,in its name first offenders are imprisoned1 when with better comprehension the imprisonment of first offenders1 of whatever age1 for whatever offence1 should be unknown2 a much greater danger to society arises1 and infinitely less chance of reforming the delinquent exists1 when that delinquent has once been committed to prison4 ,place him on probation1 or send him to a reformatory institution such as ,borstal1 for whatever fixed period may seem necessary--but to a prison1 as prisons now are1 never6 ,to send him there is fatal1 hopeless1 uneconomic1 unscientific4 ,in its name1 the continuance of closed-cell confinement is defended2 and we endeavour to reform men by consigning them to the operation of what1 in the words of its staunch supporter 7the late ,sir ,edmund ,du ,cane71 is1 8an artificial state of existence1 absolutely opposed to that which ,nature points out as the condition of mental1 moral1 and physical health40 ,we try in fact to protect society by a method that does not reform4 ,many have raised their voices against this strange practice since evidence1 given before the ,select ,committee on ,prison ,discipline1 #ahej1 described closed-cell confinement as dangerous to health1 and unjust to the prisoner 8because it throws him back into society with diminished physical ability to encounter the variableness of climate1 the severity of labour1 and the pinchings of want1 to which as a labourer in the market of competition he must ever be liable40 4 4 46 ,yet in the name of the golden rule the practice lingers on1 helping to rot men and women4 ,in the name of this golden rule1 prisoners working in association are1 in our prisons1 forced into an unnatural silence1 for ever furtively evaded4 ,some silence may be good1 but perpetual silence is too unnatural not to defeat itself4 ,classification is the true preventive of contamination1 not complete separation1 nor perpetual silence4 ,in its name the handicap of the ticket-of-leave 7now1 thank heaven1 modified7 is placed on those who are desperately handicapped already4 ,the idea behind these and other practices of the administration of our justice is that much deterrent suffering is needful for the protection of society and the reformation of the offender4 ,but those who know human nature know that1 except in rare cases1 human beings cannot be reformed by suffering inflicted on them against their will1 and it is no use having a system of punishment beneficial to the few and harmful to the majority4 ,the late ,lord ,coleridge once made these remarks3-- 8,there are few things more frequently borne in on a judge's mind than the little good he can do the criminal by the sentences he imposes4 ,these sentences often do nothing but unmixed harm1 though ,i am sure that throughout the country the greatest pains are taken to make our prisons as useful as possible in the way of being reformatories4 ,but1 as a matter of fact1 they are not so40 ,greater pains are now taken than when those words were spoken1 but a man cannot go over prisons 7,i do not speak of the ,borstal institutions7 without seeing that they are not1 cannot be1 reformatory4 ,reformation does not come from beating on the prisoner's fibre with the dull mallet of suffering4 ,to reform one must inspire4 ,there is a spark of good in every man's breast2 the only chance lies in fanning that spark4 ,but if we are not reforming men in our prisons1 how can we be said to be protecting society1 by sending them there8 ,we are surely endangering society2 and nurturing the spirit of crime4 ,the fact of the matter is this3 ,revenge is still at the back of our minds4 ,let a man argue on the subject with whomsoever he will1 ten minutes will not have passed before he makes that discovery4 ,the ,state still feels that because a man has hurt it1 it must hurt him4 ,and this feeling destroys all the economy and science of our laws4 ,when a crime is committed1 all we should be concerned with1 in our own interests1 is the application of the best possible means to minimize the results of that crime1 to ensure that society shall run the least possible risk of a repetition of the crime1 and the offender the least possible risk of remaining a criminal4 ,in doing this we cannot1 in very many cases1 avoid the detention of our criminals2 but we can1 and should1 avoid inflicting suffering on those whom we detain1 beyond the already great suffering and deprivation inseparable from disciplinary detention1 and all that disciplinary detention implies2 for by deliberately superadding such sufferings as solitude1 or perpetual unrelieved silence1 we do not to any appreciable degree deter others from committing offences1 and we do foster in those whom we imprison the disposition to commit fresh offences when they are released4 ,that diminution of crime1 depends not on deterrent punishment1 but on wide and impalpable influences--growth of social feeling1 spread of education1 betterment of manners1 decrease of intemperance1 improvement in housing1 a hundred other causes--is plain from the official statement lately issued4 8,the members of the predatory classes are appreciably fewer than in #aheg1 in spite of the fact that in the interim population has almost doubled40 ,and this in the face of admittedly milder penal measures6 ,for further evidence that mere severity of treatment does not deter we need only look at the comparative success of the ,elmira ,reformatory in the ,united ,states1 and the ,borstal institutions here4 ,under these systems1 which allow the offender some kind of natural life1 the percentage of those who return to crime is most notably smaller4 ,crime is disease--if not in the medical1 in the moral sense of the word4 ,it is either the disease of weakness1 or of unbalanced self-will1 or the disease of inherited taint4 ,we have fought against this conclusion because we still harbour the spirit of revenge2 but as knowledge advances we shall1 we must1 accept it4 ,and the sooner we do accept it the less money we shall waste1 the less harmful and unnecessary suffering shall we inflict4 ,the difficulties of judicial and prison administration are enormous1 the force of prejudice encountered by reforming administrators terrific--all the more terrific because these prejudices1 in the main conscientious1 are wholly reinforced by the fact that change means trouble and expense1 by fears of making things worse1 by all the accumulated momentum of 8things as they are40 ,for a man with any understanding in his composition it is impossible not to sympathize with those who1 administering justice1 earnestly desire to do their best1 and are often1 one is sure1 sick at heart from the feeling that what they are doing is not the best4 ,it rests with public opinion in this country to re-animate our attitude towards crime2 to shake itself free of our muddled conceptions of the object of punishment2 to scotch once for all the spirit of revenge2 to rise to a higher1 more scientific and incidentally more economic1 conception of our duty towards criminals4 ,let us get rid of the idea that we are protecting society and reforming offenders by inflicting suffering that we falsely call deterrent4 ,let us change our prisons into ,borstal ,institutions1 and let us do it as soon as is humanly possible4 ,loss of liberty is1 next to loss of life1 the most dreaded of all fates2 it has1 in and by itself1 almost all the deterrent force that is needful4 ,there may be here and there men who prefer to be detained under strict discipline to being at liberty2 but if there be1 it can only be said that the conditions of their lives outside prison must constitute a disgrace to our civilization1 and that our penal system cannot safely or justly be allowed to rest on any acquiescence in that disgrace4 ,in the last annual report of the ,borstal ,association occur the following words3 8,it is not a namby-pamby method4 4 4 4 ,the panic-monger who prophesies that the ambitious youth of the working classes will still clamour for admission through the gateway of crime to the advantages of ,borstal1 would be regarded as a humorist by those who have been there and #8have had enough and learnt sense4'0 ,let us1 then1 take discipline and loss of liberty as our sole deterrents1 and on those whom we deprive of liberty let us use all the resources of a common sense that shall refuse to apply to criminals methods which would be scouted in the reform of human beings outside prisons4 ,all evidence shows that mere1 so-called deterrent1 severity is useless4 ,let us no longer fly in the face of evidence4 ,let us conform to facts4 ,if we seriously desire to reduce crime to its irreducible minimum we must go to work like doctors4 ,,iii ,,an ,,unpublished ,,preface 7,written in #aiaj47 ,it is not my habit to write prefaces1 but there are certain things ,i want to say concerning the play 8,justice10 as to its subject-matter1 not its artistic qualities1 bad1 good1 or indifferent4 ,holding perhaps a more intimate knowledge of its author's mind than can elsewhere be obtained1 ,i would remark that the play is no indictment or attack1 but a picture of the whole process of ,justice as seen by this painter's eye4 ,there are thickenings of line here1 and thinnings there1 occasioned by lack of technical knowledge1 or demanded by the exigencies of dramatic craft1 but the spiritual essence of the matter is set down honestly1 as best it could be perceived by him4 ,justice was known by the ancients to be blind2 by ourselves is admitted blind2 will be acclaimed blind by the tongues of our descendants4 ,it is blind because it is depart- or rather compart-mental4 ,the prosecutor1 be he ancient ,roman or ,englishman of to-day1 cannot gauge or control the whole effect on the offender and on society of the process which he initiates4 ,the ,judge1 be he ,solon or ,judge of the ,high ,court1 cannot know enough of the temperament and antecedents of a prisoner to adequately apportion a sentence which he cannot see being carried out4 ,the prison official is tied to the terms of the sentence and the conditions of the system1 for some system there must be4 ,the ,public1 on the prisoner's release1 acts mechanically in its own defence against a marked man4 ,all see only their own bits of the game4 ,from this general blindness1 it follows that punishment is almost always out of proportion4 ,this is why it seemed to me worth while to make a picture of ,blind ,justice1 and to hang it on the wall4 ,there are some who believe that this picture will rapidly become out of date4 ,i am not so sanguine4 ,short of our all becoming not only eager1 but able1 to see that which does not lie underneath our noses1 ,i much fear that this picture will remain valid for some considerable time ,the conditions will change1 but the spirit will remain--,justice is too naturally and inevitably blind4 ,is that any reason why we should not occasionally be reminded of the evil--one of the enduring1 but perhaps diminishable1 evils of human life8 ,even the administrators of this ,justice might like now and then to glance at a picture of its blindness4 ,one word about the cell scene4 ,it has been called false and exaggerated4 4 4 4 ,two brothers went to see this play4 ,at the end of the cell scene the younger1 who stammers1 turned to his elder and said3 8,it's n-not so--j-j--olly as all that60 ,precisely6 ,prisoners do not commonly enjoy the relief of beating on their cell doors1 though the incident is not unknown4 ,but he who can project himself into the minds of others knows that prisoners1 in closed cells1 moping and brooding week after week1 month after month1 shut off from all real distraction1 from all touch with the outer world and everything they care for1 with the knowledge of years of imprisonment before them and of broken lives when they come out--knows that such prisoners1 thousands of them1 unseen by any eye1 reach a state of mind which would make them constantly fling themselves for relief on their cell doors1 if it were not for fear4 ,no1 it is not so jolly as all that6 ,the characteristics of all prison life1 at all events in ,england1 are silence and solitude1 physical or spiritual2 and this cell scene was selected to convey as nearly as the limitations of the stage permitted1 these commonest characteristics of detention4 ,for the truth of this picture of ,blind ,justice as a whole ,i rely on the testimonial of that theatre attendant1 employed out of charity1 who1 having been prosecuted1 sentenced1 imprisoned1 and released1 knew1 let us hope1 more of the matter spiritually1 than those who criticize4 ,after the play on the first night1 to the question of his manager1 8,well1 is it true80 he looked up from his sweeping1 and said3 8,every word of it1 sir40 ,i have only this to add4 ,if each scene is taken separately and looked on with a departmentally professional eye1 it must needs seem out of drawing1 for it was visualized by an eye looking on each department only in relation to the whole4 ,when the professional reader or spectator of the ,court or ,prison scene1 says 8,oh6 this or that is not true60 he is criticizing from the departmental1 and not from the bird's-eye point of view1 which an author must needs assume4 ,even if the sentence be more than typically severe1 though ,i doubt that1 or the judgment not typically worded1 they serve well enough as illustrations of that blindness which has accompanied the wisest judgments of one human being on another since the world began4 ,no1 the only legitimate criticism which the professional reader or spectator can pass is that the particular bird's-eye view is wrong4 ,to that criticism this bird can make no answer1 except to say with deference and courtesy that he must believe in his own eye--for it is all he has to see with4 ,,on ,,the ,,position ,,of ,,women ,i 8,,gentles1 ,,let ,,us ,,rest60 7,a ,paper in the ,nation1 #aiaj47 ,a man asked to define the essential characteristics of a gentleman--using the term in its widest sense--would presumably reply3 ,the will to put himself in the place of others2 the horror of forcing others into positions from which he himself would recoil2 the power to do what seems to him right without fear of what others may say or think4 ,there is need just now of aid from these principles of gentility in a question of some importance--the future position of women4 ,the ground facts of difference between the sexes few are likely to deny3 ,women are not1 and in all probability never will be1 physically1 as strong as men4 ,men are not1 nor ever will be1 mothers4 ,women are not1 and1 perhaps1 never should be1 warriors4 ,to these ground facts of difference are commonly added1 in argument1 many others of more debatable character4 ,but it is beside the purpose of this paper to inquire whether women have as much political sense or aptitude as men1 whether a woman has ever produced a masterpiece of music1 whether the brain of a woman ever weighed as much as the brain of ,cuvier or ,turgenev4 ,this paper designs to set forth one cardinal and overmastering consideration1 in comparison with which all the other considerations affecting the question seem to this writer but as the little stars to the full moon4 ,in the lives of all nations there come moments when an idea1 hitherto vaguely1 almost unconsciously1 held1 assumes sculptured shape1 and is manifestly felt to be of vital significance to a large1 important1 and steadily increasing section of the community4 ,at such moments a spectre has begun to haunt the national house--a ghost which cannot be laid till it has received quietus4 ,such a ghost now infests our home4 ,the full emancipation of women is an idea long vaguely held1 but only in the last half-century formulated and pressed forward with real force and conviction1 not only by women1 but by men4 ,of this full emancipation of women1 the political vote is assuredly not1 as is rather commonly supposed in a land of party politics1 the be-all and end-all2 it is a symbol1 whose practical importance--though considerable--is as nothing beside the fulfilment of the idea which it symbolizes4 ,the ,will to ,power and the ,will to ,love have been held up1 in turn1 as the animating principles of the ,universe2 but these are1 rather1 correlative half-truths1 whose rivalry is surely stilled and reconciled in a yet higher principle1 the ,will to ,harmony1 to ,balance1 to ,equity--a supreme adjustment1 or harmonising power1 present wherever a man turns2 by which1 in fact1 he is conditioned1 for he can with his mental apparatus no more conceive of a ,universe without a ,will to ,equity holding it together than he can conceive the opposite of the axiom1 8,ex nihilo nihil fit40 ,there is assuredly no thought so staggering as that1 if a blade of grass or the energy contained within a single emotion were--not transmuted--but withdrawn entirely from the ,universe1 the balance would tip for ever and the ,universe crumble in our imaginations to thin air4 ,now social and political ,equity emanates slowly1 with infinite labour1 from our dim consciousness of this serene and overlording principle of ,equity4 ,there would seem1 for example1 no fundamental reason why limits should ever have been put to autocracy1 the open ballot destroyed1 slavery abolished1 save that these things came to be regarded as inequitable4 ,in all such cases1 before reaching the point of action the society of the day puts forward practical reasons1 being1 so to speak1 unaware of its own sense of divinity4 ,but1 underneath all the seeming matter-of-factness of political and social movements1 the spirit of ,equity is guiding those movements1 subtly1 unconsciously1 a compelling hand quietly pushing humanity onward1 ever unseen save in the rare minutes when the spirits of men glow and light up and things are beheld for a moment as they are4 ,the history of a nation's spiritual development is but the tale of its wistful groping towards the provision of a machinery of ,state1 which shall1 as nearly as may be1 accord with the demand of this spirit of ,equity4 ,society1 worthy of the name1 is ever secretly shaping around it a temple1 within which all the natural weaknesses and limitations of the dwellers shall be1 not exploited and emphasized1 but to the utmost levelled away and minimized4 ,it is ever secretly providing for itself a roof under which there shall be the fullest and fairest play for all human energies1 however unequal4 ,the destinies of mankind are seen to be guided1 very slowly1 by something more coherent than political opportunity2 shaped steadily in a given direction towards the completion of that temple of ,justice4 ,there is no other way of explaining the growth of man from the cave-dweller to his present case4 ,and this slow spiritual shaping towards ,equity proceeds in spite of the workings of the twin bodily agents1 force and expediency4 ,social and political growth is1 in fact1 a process of evolution1 controlled1 directed1 spiritualized by the supreme principle of ,equity4 ,this is to state no crazy creed1 that because equality is mathematically admirable1 equality should at all times and in all places forthwith obtain4 ,equality1 balance1 is a dream1 the greatest of all visions1 the beloved star--ever to be worshipped1 never quite reached4 ,and the long road towards it travels the illimitable land of compromise4 ,it would have been futile1 as it was in fact impossible1 to liberate slaves1 when the consciousness of the injustice of slavery was present only in a few abnormal minds1 and incommunicable by them to the mind of the surrounding society of the time4 ,the process is slow and steady4 ,equity well knows that there is a time for her1 as for all other things4 ,she is like the brain1 saying to the limbs and senses3 ,you are full of queer ways4 ,it is for me to think out gradually the best rule of life1 under which you must get on as you can1 the ,devil taking the hindmost2 and from trying to devise this scheme of perfection ,i may not1 nor ever shall1 rest4 ,social and political justice1 then1 advances by fits and starts1 through ideas--children of the one great idea of ,harmony--which are suggested now by one1 now by another1 section or phase of national life4 ,the process is like the construction and shaping of a work of art4 ,for an artist is ever receiving vague impressions from people unconsciously observed1 from feelings unconsciously experienced1 till in good time he discovers that he has an idea4 ,this idea is but a generalization or harmonious conception derived subconsciously from these vague impressions4 ,being moved to embody that idea1 he at once begins groping back to1 and gathering in1 those very types and experiences from which he derived this general notion in order adequately to shape the vehicle--his picture1 his poem1 his novel--which shall carry his idea forth to the world4 ,so in social and political progress4 ,the exigencies and inequalities of existing social life produce a crop of impressions on certain receptive minds1 which suddenly burst into flower in the form of ideas4 ,the minds in which these abstractions or ideas have flowered seek then to burgeon them forth1 and their method of doing so is to bring to public notice those exigencies and inequalities which were the original fuel of their ideas4 ,in this way is the seed of an idea spread amongst a community4 ,but wherever the seed of an idea falls it has to struggle up through layers of prejudice1 to overcome the rule of force and expediency2 and if this idea1 this generalization from social exigencies or inequalities1 be petty1 retrograde1 or distorted1 it withers and dies during the struggle4 ,if1 on the other hand1 it be large1 consonant with the future1 and of true promise1 it holds fast and spreads4 ,now1 one may very justly say that this is all a platitudinal explanation of the crude process of social and political development4 ,in taking a given idea1 such as the full emancipation of women1 the fight only begins to rage round the question whether that idea is in fact holding fast and spreading1 and1 if so1 whether the community is1 or is not1 yet sufficiently permeated with the idea to be safely entrusted with its fulfilment4 ,none the less must it be borne in mind that if this idea can be proved to be surely spreading1 it must be an idea emanating from the root divinity in things1 from the overmastering principle of ,equity1 and sure of ultimate fulfilment2 and the only question will then be1 exactly how long the rule of expediency and force may advisably postpone its fulfilment4 ,now1 in order to discover whether the idea of the full emanicipation of women is in accord with the great principle of ,equity1 it will be necessary1 first1 to show the present inferiority of woman's political and social position2 secondly1 to consider the essential reason of that inferiority2 and1 thirdly1 to see whether the facts and figures of the movement towards the removal of that inferiority clearly prove that the idea has long been holding fast and spreading4 ,to show1 however1 that the present political and social position of women is not equal to that of men1 it will certainly suffice to state two admitted facts4 ,women have not the political vote4 ,women1 who can be divorced for one offence1 must1 before they obtain divorce1 prove two kinds of offence against their husbands4 ,and to ascertain the essential reason of this present inferiority we need hardly go beyond the ground facts of difference between men and women already mentioned3 ,women are not physically as strong as men4 ,men are never mothers4 ,women are not warriors4 ,from these ground facts1 readily admitted by all1 the reason for the present inferiority of women's position emerges clear and unmistakable4 ,women are weaker than men4 ,they are weaker because they are not in general built so strongly2 because they have to bear and to rear children2 because they are unarmed4 ,there is no getting away from it1 they are weaker2 and one cannot doubt for a moment that their inferior position is due to this weakness4 ,but--so runs an immemorial argument--however equal their opportunities might be1 women will never be as strong as men6 ,why then1 for sentimental reasons1 disturb the present order of things1 why equalize those opportunities8 ,this is the plea which was used before married women were allowed separate property1 before the decision in 8,regina versus ,jackson10 which forbade a husband to hold his wife prisoner4 ,the argument1 in fact1 of expediency and force4 ,now there are no finer statements of the case for the full emancipation of women than ,mill's 8,subjection of ,women10 and ,miss ,jane ,harrison's essay entitled 8,homo ,sum40 ,the reasonings in the former work are too well-known1 but to the main thesis of 8,homo ,sum0 allusion must here be made4 ,the most common1 perhaps most telling1 plea against raising the social and political status of women to a level with that of men is this3 ,men and women are already equal1 but in separate spheres of activity4 ,the difference between their physical conformation and functions underlies everything in the lives of both4 ,the province and supremacy of women are in the home2 the province and supremacy of men in the ,state4 ,why seek to alter what ,nature has ordained8 ,a plea1 in fact1 which glorifies sex qua sex4 ,but the writer of 8,homo ,sum0 is at pains to show that 8the splendid and vital instinct of sex10 with all its 8singular power of interpenetrating and reinforcing other energies10 is in essence egoistic1 exclusive1 anti-social2 and that1 besides and beyond being men and women1 we are all human beings4 8,the whole women's movement10 the writer says1 8is just the learning of that lesson4 ,it is not an attempt to arrogate man's prerogative of manhood2 it is not even an attempt to assert and emphasize woman's privilege of womanhood2 it is simply the demand that in the life of woman1 as in the life of man1 space and liberty shall be found for a thing bigger than either manhood or womanhood--for humanity40 ,in fact the splendid instinct of sex--for all its universality1 for all that through and by it life is perpetuated1 for all its power of bringing delight1 and of revealing the heights and depths of human emotion--is still essentially an agent of the rule of force4 ,we cannot but perceive that there is in both men and women something more exalted and impersonal1 akin to the supreme principle of ,equity1 to the divinity in things2 and that this something keeps men and women together1 as strongly1 as inevitably1 as sex keeps them apart4 ,what is all the effort of civilization but the gradual fortifying of that higher part of us--the exaltation of the principle of ,justice1 the chaining of the principle of ,force8 ,the full emancipation of women would be one more step in the march of our civilization--a sign that this nation was still serving humanity1 still trying to be gentle and just4 ,for if it has ceased to serve humanity1 we must surely pray that the waters may rise over this island1 and that she may go down all standing6 ,if1 then1 women's position is inferior to men's1 if the essential reason of this inferiority is her weakness1 or1 in other words1 the still unchecked dominance of force1 to what extent do the facts and figures of the movement towards removing the inferiority of women's position prove that the idea of the full emancipation of women is1 not petty and false1 withering and dying1 but large and true1 holding fast and spreading8 ,in #ahff1 a petition for the vote1 signed by #a1dii women1 was presented to ,parliament by ,john ,stuart ,mill4 ,in #ahgc1 petitions for the suffrage from #aa1jjj women were presented to ,gladstone and ,disraeli4 ,in #ahif1 an appeal was made to members of ,parliament by #beg1jjj women of all classes and parties4 ,in #ahig1 #a1bhe petitions in favour of a ,women's ,suffrage ,bill were presented to ,parliament1 being #hjj more petitions than those presented in favour of any other ,bill4 ,in #ahfg1 ,mill's amendment to substitute 8person0 for 8man0 in the ,representation of the ,people ,act was rejected by a majority of #aba4 ,in #aijh1 ,stanger's ,bill to enable women to vote on the same terms as men passed its second reading by a majority of #agi4 ,in #ahic1 #ahid1 and #ahie1 the franchise was granted to women in ,new ,zealand1 ,colorado1 ,south ,australia1 and ,utah4 ,in #aijj1 #aijb1 #aijc1 #aije1 #aijh1 and #aiaj1 the franchise was granted to women in ,western ,australia1 ,new ,south ,wales1 ,tasmania1 ,finland1 ,norway1 ,victoria1 and the ,state of ,washington4 ,in #aijb1 a petition was signed by #gej women graduates4 ,in #aijf1 a petition was signed by #a1ecj women graduates4 ,in #aiaj1 the membership of the various ,women's ,suffrage ,societies1 and of bodies of men and women who have declared in favour of the idea of women's suffrage1 is estimated by some at over half a million--a figure subject1 no doubt1 to great deduction2 but certainly also to very great addition for sympathisers who belong to no such societies or bodies4 ,these1 briefly1 are the main facts and figures4 ,from them but one conclusion can be drawn4 ,the idea of the full emancipation of women having fulfilled the requirements of steady growth over a long space of years1 and giving every promise of further steady growth1 is in accord with the principle of ,equity2 intrinsically just4 ,how long will it remain possible in the service of expediency and force to refuse to this idea its complete fruition2 how long will it be wise8 ,for when the limit of wisdom is reached1 expediency has obviously become inexpedient and force unworthy4 ,when out of #fgj members of a ,house of ,commons #djj have given pledges to support women's suffrage2 when a measure for the enfranchisement of women on the same terms as men has passed its second reading by a majority of #agi1 and in face of this declaration of sentiment ,government has refused to afford facilities for carrying it into law1 there must obviously be some definite hostile factor in the political equation4 ,in a country governed as ours is1 it is but natural that those who are1 so to speak1 trustees for its policy1 should not look with favour on any measure which may in their opinion definitely set back that policy1 or affect it in some way which they cannot with sufficient clearness foresee4 ,the cause of women1 in fact1 is a lost dog owned by neither party1 distrusted by both4 ,while there is yet danger of being bitten1 each watches that dog carefully1 holding out a more or less friendly hand4 ,but when the door of the house is safely closed1 she may howl her heart out in the cold4 ,the ,press1 too1 with few exceptions is committed to one or other of these parties4 ,to the ,press1 also1 then1 the cause of women is a homeless wanderer to whom it is proper to give casual alms1 but who can hardly be brought in to the fire1 lest she take up the room of the children of the house4 ,and so out of the despair caused by this lost drifting in a vicious circle1 out of a position created by party expediency1 the inevitable has come to pass4 ,militant suffragism has arisen--ironically1 and1 to my thinking1 regrettably1 since the real spiritual significance and true national benefit of the full emancipation of women will lie in the victory of justice over force2 and to employ what must needs be inferior force to achieve the victory of justice over force is not only futile1 but so befogging to the whole matter that the essential issue of ,equity is more than ever hidden from the mind of the public4 ,militancy may have served certain purposes1 but it has added one more element of fixity to an impasse already existing1 for the woman of action is saying1 8,until you give me the vote ,i shall act like this10 and the man of action is answering her1 8,so long as you act like that ,i shall not give you the vote4 ,to yield to you would be to admit the efficacy of threats and establish a bad precedent40 ,none the less1 human nature being what it is1 militancy was inevitable1 and the wise will look at the situation1 not as it was1 or might be1 but as it is4 ,we must consider what effect that situation is having on the national character4 ,every little outrage committed on men by women is met by a little outrage committed on women by men2 and each time one of these mutual outrages takes place1 tens of thousands of minds in this country are blunted in that most sensitive quality1 gentleness4 ,it is idle to pretend that women have not stood1 and do not still stand1 to men as the chief reason for being gentle2 that men have not1 and do not still stand to women1 in the same capacity4 ,by every little mutual outrage1 then1 the beneficence of sex is being weakened1 its maleficence awakened throughout the land4 ,and the harm which is thus being done is so impalpable1 so subtle1 as to be beyond the power of most to notice at all1 and surely beyond the power of statesmen to assess4 ,that is the mischief4 ,the scent is stealing away out of the flower of our urbanity4 ,it will be long before the gardeners discover how odourless and arid that flower has become4 ,for it is not so much the action of the militant women themselves1 nor that of those who are suppressing them1 which is doing this subtle harm4 ,it is the effect of this scrimmage on the spectators2 the coarsening1 and hardening1 and general embitterment2 the secret glorification of the worst side of the sex instinct2 the constant exaltation of the rule of force2 the rapid growth of a rankling sense of injustice amongst tens of thousands of women4 ,to say that hundreds of thousands of women are opposed1 or indifferent1 to the full emancipation of their sex is not1 in truth1 to say very much4 ,no civilizing movement was ever brought to fruition save in the face of the indifference or opposition of the majority4 ,what proportion of agricultural labourers were actively concerned to win for themselves the vote8 ,how small a fraction of the people actively demanded free education6 ,but when these privileges were won1 what number of those for whom they were won would have been willing to resign them8 ,if women were fully emancipated to-morrow1 many would certainly resent what they would deem a blow at the influence and power already wielded by them in virtue of their sex4 ,but in two years' time how many would be willing to surrender their freedom8 ,as certainly1 not ten in a hundred6 ,to compare the disapproval of women raised against their wills to a state of emancipation in which they can remain inactive if they like with the bitter resentment spreading like slow poison in the veins of those who fruitlessly demand emancipation is to compare the energy of vanishing winter snow with that of the spring sun which melts it4 ,in an age when spirituality has ever a more desperate struggle to maintain hold at all against the inroads of materialism1 any increase of bitterness in the national life1 any loss of gentleness1 aspiration1 and mutual trust between the sexes1 however silent1 secret1 and unmeasurable1 is1 surely1 a serious thing4 ,justice1 neglected1 works her own insidious revenge4 ,every month1 every year1 the germs of bitterness and brutality will be spreading4 ,if any think that this people has gentleness to spare1 and can afford to tamper with the health of its spirit1 they are mistaken4 ,if any think that repression can put an end to this aspiration--again they are mistaken4 ,the idea of the full emancipation of women is so rooted that nothing can now uproot it4 ,but1 apart from the political impasse1 there are those who1 satisfied that women have not the political aptitude of men1 are chiefly opposed to the granting of the vote for fear that it will come to mean the return of women to ,parliament4 ,now1 if their conviction regarding the inferiority of women's political capacity be sound--as ,i for one1 speaking generally1 am inclined to believe--there is no danger of women being returned to ,parliament save in such small numbers as to make no matter4 ,if it be unsound--if the political capacity of woman be equal to man's--it is time ,parliament were reinforced by women's presence4 ,new waters soon find their level4 ,nor are such as distrust the political capacities of women qualified to prophesy a flood4 ,to debar women for fear of their competition is a policy of little spirit1 and not one that the men of this country will consciously adopt1 unless we have indeed lost the fire of our fathers4 ,there are many1 too1 who believe that the granting of the vote to women will increase the emotional element in an electorate whose emotional side they already distrust1 and thereby endanger our relations with foreign ,powers4 ,but it has yet to be proved that women are1 in a wide sense of the word1 more emotional than men2 and1 even conceding that they are1 why forget that they will bring to the consideration of international matters the solid reinforcement of two qualities--the first1 a practical domestic sense lacking to men1 and likely to foster national reluctance to plunge into wild-cat wars1 the second1 a greater faculty for self-sacrifice1 tending to fortify national determination to persist in a war once undertaken4 ,it is well known that during the ,american ,civil ,war the women of the ,southern ,states displayed a spirit of resistance even more heroic than that of their men folk4 ,but1 in any case1 to retain women in their present state of social and political inferiority for reasons which are so debatable savours1 surely1 somewhat of the sultanic4 ,we have1 in fact1 yet to imbibe the spirit of ,mill's wisest saying3 8,amongst all the lessons which men require for carrying on the struggle against the evident imperfections of their lot on earth1 there is no lesson which they more need than not to add to the evils which ,nature inflicts1 by their jealous and prejudiced restrictions on one another40 ,in fine1 out of the practical perplexities brooding over this whole matter there is no way save by resort to the first principles of gentility4 ,it has been uncontrovertibly established that there is in this country a great and ever-increasing body of women suffering from a bitter sense of injustice4 ,what course then1 compatible with true gentility1 is left open to us men8 ,our whole social life is in essence but a long1 slow1 striving for the victory of justice over force2 and this demand of our women for full emancipation is but a sign of that striving4 ,are we not bound in honour to admit this simple fact8 ,shall we not at last give fulfilment to this idea--with the due caution that should mark all political experiment8 ,has not1 in truth1 the time come for us to say3 ,from this resistance to the claims of ,equity2 from this bitter and ungracious conflict with those weaker than ourselves2 from this slow poisoning of the well-springs of our national courtesy1 and kindliness1 and sense of fair play3 8,gentles1 let us rest60 ,,ii ,,appeal ,,to ,,the ,,press 7,a ,letter to the ,daily ,news1 #aiaa47 ,i write as a supporter of woman's suffrage1 but not of militant suffragism4 ,whenever ,i have remonstrated with a militant ,suffragist ,i have received this answer3 8,we could not keep the movement before the eyes of the public without militant tactics1 because the papers1 with two or three exceptions1 would not report peaceful work4 ,for this reason we adopted our methods1 and the event has justified us4 ,we have advanced the cause--simply by forcing it on people's attention in the only way open to us--more in the last three years than those who pursued peaceful methods had done in the last forty40 ,whatever may now be the feelings and intentions of the militant ,suffragists1 this answer did undoubtedly set forth the true reason for the inception of militant tactics4 ,all political and social movements in this country depend for vitality on catching the eye and the thought of the community4 ,and we may draw one of two alternative morals from that prolonged silence of the ,press towards woman's suffrage which originally brought about the campaign of violence3 ,either1 that men having possession of the organs of public opinion1 deliberately kept them closed to the discussion of the political rights of women--a supposition1 ,i should prefer not to entertain4 ,or1 that reports of violence and sensationalism are more sought after than tales of reason and sobriety6 ,whichever the moral drawn1 it is very discreditable to public feeling in this country4 ,is it too late for those who are responsible for the ,press to take the lead in removing that stigma8 ,it is lugubrious that1 in our ,england of free speech and fair play1 in this nation hitherto supposed to excel in political sense1 women should have found it necessary to advocate and advertise by mere sensationalism a political and social movement of more wide-reaching and universal nature than any now before the public2 a movement of such epoch-making character that few people have at present grasped its real significance4 ,surely it is important that the people of this country should be educated in the reason and the rights of a question such as this4 ,but in order that they may be so educated it is necessary that they should read1 not the account of how 8,so-and-so's windows were broken10 or of how 8,such an one was arrested10 but arguments presented in speech and writing for and against suffrage4 ,the extent to which the formation of public opinion on any political measure depends on the publication in the ,press of reason1 pro and con41 can be seen from the growth of the ,tariff ,reform ,party1 which a few years ago was a negligible faction4 ,the imminence and gravity of this issue of woman's suffrage can no longer be denied4 ,it has to be faced4 ,it will have to be decided4 ,does the ,press of this country wish it to be decided by an electorate utterly unversed in its merits and demerits8 ,would the ,press of this country wish any big political or social measure to be so decided8 ,is it just1 generous1 or politic that1 when women try by peaceful and constitutional means to promulgate their cause1 there should be silence8 ,if there had not been this silence1 militant suffragism would never have been born4 ,by the removal of this silence militant suffragism may still be helped towards a natural death4 ,i appeal to all editors 7whether friends or enemies of the movement71 who have already shown themselves alive to what is rapidly becoming the desperate importance of this issue1 to combine and advocate an alteration of the general ,press policy--to advocate the throwing open of all journals to fair and full report1 not of the sensational1 but of the reasonable1 sides1 for and against1 of woman's suffrage4 ,for1 whether consciously or unconsciously1 the general ,press policy has hitherto been most unfortunate1 and is fast contributing to the growth of a bitter feeling between the sexes1 in the last degree noxious to the national life4 ,,on ,,social ,,unrest 7,a ,paper in the ,daily ,mail1 #aiab47 8,this is a psychological question1 a matter of mental states0 7,h4 ,g4 ,wells74 ,it is4 ,and in examining these mental states there are two1 out of many factors1 on which ,i do not think too much emphasis can be laid1 not only because they are in themselves vital to the evil1 but because they both arise from the same prime underlying deficiency in our national life4 ,the first is the influence on society at large produced by the great and rapid growth of the fiduciary element in the conduct of commercial enterprise and landed estates4 ,the agent1 the director1 the manager1 the trustee1 have almost entirely displaced the old-time owner1 merchant1 and manufacturer1 who did business by and for themselves4 ,a class has been created who1 already in a state of professional altruism1 are impervious1 and on the face of it rightly impervious1 to altruism of any other kind4 ,what large business nowadays is not conducted as a limited company by a board of directors appointed and paid by the shareholders as trustees to produce for them a maximum of profit8 ,what large estate is not managed by a paid agent on the same principle8 ,and1 however generous our aspirations1 which of us does not know the deflecting power of trusteeship1 rigidified1 as it is1 by law and by the sense that we are paid for the performance of a job inimical to generosity8 ,true--the rates of wages and of rent come not under rules but under the broad heading of policy2 and1 in deep reality1 ,i suspect it to be equally true that the maximum of generosity ministers in the long run to the maximum of stability and profit2 nevertheless there can be no doubt whatever that the trustee system not only befogs and deadens the human relationship between employer and employed1 but affords an overwhelming support to our natural instinct to take the immediate view and line of least resistance4 ,broadly speaking1 where there is trusteeship1 as trusteeship is now understood1 there is no wide view of the relation of ,capital to ,labour in the light of the good of ,society as a whole2 there is only a faithful1 cold-blooded1 purblind service for the benefit of a cestui que trust1 who is himself freed from a sense of personal responsibility and from all apparent need for a wide and human outlook4 ,the trustee system1 if not already1 will soon be universal1 and ,i see no means of counteracting its secret1 dangerous1 and irritating effect on the mind of ,labour1 save by such process of education as shall soak the spirit of the prosperous classes with an altogether larger and saner feeling of the fundamental unity and interdependence of ,society1 with a good-will so vastly increased that the shareholder and cestui que trust shall no longer require the director or trustee to consider them and them alone1 but bid him instead consider equally the interests of the employed4 ,such a mood of altruism is now1 roughly speaking1 absent from the minds of the prosperous classes2 and to attain to it is a consummation that ,i fear will never come about under our present system of education4 ,the second influence on which ,i would lay great emphasis is the state of mind produced by our system of education in the young of the prosperous classes at our private and public schools1 and1 to a less extent1 at our universities4 ,before dwelling on this let me suggest two truths4 ,in life1 where a fortunate person is brought into contact with one less fortunate1 the first step towards cordial relationship must obviously come from the fortunate4 ,for human nature is happily so constituted that the less fortunate feels ashamed to make advances which1 liable to misconstruction1 are not compatible with self-respect4 ,every man of any worth can test1 indeed is testing1 this truth continually in his own life2 it cannot indeed be doubted4 ,again1 where advances are made by the fortunate from sheer friendliness and without ulterior motive1 they most certainly evoke response in the same friendly spirit from all save exceptional churls4 ,now1 since these primary truths concerning human nature underlie the whole question of ,labour ,unrest1 it becomes of the first importance to consider how far the young of the prosperous classes are made actively familiar with them4 ,how far are the legions at our private and public schools 7those legions from whom the ranks of ,capital are1 in the main1 recruited7 made to understand1 and--more than understand--to feel that they are fortunate1 that ,labour is less fortunate1 that they will have to live their lives in interdependence with ,labour1 and that if they do not make--out of a free and fine heart make--the first advances to good-fellowship with less fortunate ,labour1 those advances can--by a law1 and a good law1 of human nature--never be made8 ,how far are they at present brought up to see this8 ,i would go so far as to say--hardly at all4 ,in my day at a public school--and ,i have no reason at all to hope that1 whatever be the exceptions1 the general rule has greatly changed--the ,universe was divided into ourselves and 8outsiders10 8bounders10 8chaws10 8cads10 or whatever more or less offensive name best seemed to us to characterise those less fortunate than ourselves4 ,it is true that we applied the name mainly to the lower ranks of ,capital rather than to actual ,labour1 but this was only because we lived so far away from industrial workers that we never even thought of them4 ,such working folk as we actually came into personal contact with we never dreamed of associating with any such offensive thought in our minds or speech on our tongues2 but1 generally1 the working man did not exist for us except as a person outside1 remote1 and almost inimical4 ,from our homes1 touched already by this class feeling1 caught up from political talk by chance overheard1 we went to private schools1 where the teaching of manners1 mainly under clerical supervision1 effectually barred us from any contaminating influence2 so that if by chance we encountered the 8lower class0 boy we burned to go for him and correct his 8cheek40 ,thence we were passed into the great 8caste0 factory1 a public school1 where the feeling became1 by mere process of being left to itself1 as set and hard as iron4 ,it is true that a levelling process went on among the boys themselves1 so that a duke's son was no more accounted of than a stockbroker's1 but nevertheless all learned to consider themselves 8the elect40 ,of ten public schoolboys1 seven have come from 8caste-0infected homes and private schools1 and have active prejudice already4 ,the remaining three may still be open-minded or indifferent2 of these1 two will infallibly follow the sway of the herd instinct2 one may perhaps develop a line of his own1 or adhere to the influence of a home inimical to 8caste10 and become a 8smug0 or ,radical4 ,in result1 failing definite sustained effort to break up a narrow 8caste0 feeling1 the public school presents a practically solid phalanx of the fortunate1 insulated against real knowledge of1 or sympathy with1 the less fortunate4 ,this phalanx marches out into the professions1 into business1 into the universities1 where1 it is true1 some awaken to a sense of wider values--but not too many4 ,from the point of view of any one who tries to see things as they are1 and see them as a whole1 there is something terrific about this automatic 8caste0 moulding of the young4 ,and in the present condition of our country it is folly1 and dangerous folly1 to blink it4#f ,for all my love of my old school1 for all my realization of the fact that her training equips her children with certain qualities invaluable to public life and public service1 ,i do feel that she and all her sisters are disserving the national welfare by refraining from really active and resolute attempt to destroy the bad side of 8caste0 feeling4 ,they let it grow of its own momentum through the herd instinct till it blinds the eyes and blunts the feelings of those who1 being fortunate1 must by the laws of human nature make the first advances toward friendship with the less fortunate1 if those advances are to be made at all2 and must make them not because to neglect them is dangerous1 but out of brotherly feeling and a real hearty wish to give all the help they can to such as are not so lucky as themselves4 ,i do not mean that our public schools and universities are consciously refraining4 ,they are not1 and their very unconsciousness in the matter is half the danger4 ,and ,i do not say that there are no masters1 or dons1 conscious of the danger and trying their best to remove it1 but ,i do say there are not nearly enough4 ,a few swallows do not make a summer4 ,since1 in relation to the foregoing1 four objections1 at all events1 are bound to be made1 let me make them myself1 and answer them too4 ,first3 ,it is not the public school and 'varsity man who is lacking in sympathy and good-will towards ,labour2 it is the self-made capitalist1 or the grammar school man4 ,the truth is that1 with exceptions1 they all are lacking4 ,but the defect is more dangerous and insidious within 8the caste0 than without2 for not only is 8the caste0 homogeneous1 and far more influential in every way1 but it veils its lack of sympathy in this very pretension of having sympathy4 ,next it will be said3 8,you accuse us of lack of sympathy6 ,but we would gladly be sympathetic1 if they would only let us60 ,now this in the main is a perfectly genuine belief in members of 8the caste0 when they have once gone out into life and rubbed off the rawness of youthful hostility and prejudice4 ,but it is the genuine belief of people only passively inclined to friendship2 in other words1 the belief of the fortunate not imbued with a spirit sufficiently high and generous to take1 from the best motives1 active steps towards friendship with the less fortunate4 ,further it will be said3 8,but ,labour is not really less fortunate than ourselves--it has freedom from cares1 responsibilities1 and expenses1 such as we can never know2 in fact1 we are not sure that it is not really the more fortunate class40 ,well6 ,apart from the fact that not one in ten thousand of 8the caste0 would change places with an industrial worker1 there is this answer3 8,on your hypothesis1 evolution1 which is #8caste's' main justification1 is absurd and our system is standing on its head4 ,if1 indeed1 you require ,labour to consider itself at least as fortunate as yourselves1 you must set to work at once and revalue everything1 alter every present ideal in your social life1 and annul the importance of property4 ,are you prepared to do this80 ,finally it will be objected3 8,it may be as you say1 but the evil is implicit and inevitable1 for everything possible is already done by our educational authorities to counteract a narrow #8caste' spirit and imbue the children of the fortunate with a brotherly feeling towards the less fortunate40 ,the answer to this is simply3 8,has everything been done8 ,has anything like everything been done8 ,for example1 is the danger of this narrow #8caste' spirit ever taken into account in the appointment of these same educational authorities80 ,besides being 8snobs0 in the best sense of that word1 boys are high-spirited1 generous1 and malleable creatures4 ,let any fair-minded man of 8the caste0 ask himself3 8,what sustained and really #8felt' effort did he encounter from his own teachers in school and college days to turn that high spirit1 and generosity1 and malleability of his into a state of mind that regarded his good fortune as a thing to be held in trust to share to the full with the less fortunate80 ,a few will answer truly3 8,yes1 ,i have met with such effort40 ,but how few6 ,again1 then1 ,i am brought to the point of saying3 ,there is a general absence of active and sustained effort to produce in the young of the prosperous classes this 8good-will0 state of mind2 to change such general absence of effort into a general presence of effort is a consummation that will never1 ,i think1 be reached under our present system of education4 ,both these influences1 then1 contributing to ,social ,unrest--the one produced by the increasing presence of the fiduciary element1 and the other by the unchecked growth of a narrow 8caste0 spirit--lead us to the same prime underlying deficiency in our national life1 the lack of right purpose in our education4 ,they happen to be both incident to ,capital1 but it is probable that influences incident to ,labour1 of which ,i hesitate to speak1 since ,i cannot from personal experience and feeling1 may also in measure be traced to the same underlying deficiency in our education4 ,no national improvement can come from outside4 ,it must come from within1 from gradually improved feeling in the body politic4 ,to hope for growth without this improvement is to hope that a man shall raise himself from the ground by the hair of his own head4 ,but improved feeling has no chance of spreading throughout the body politic without that machinery of infection which we know by the name of education4 ,therefore education is the most sacred concern1 indeed the only hope1 of a nation4 ,how do we now treat our education--this sacred thing1 this only hope8 ,in regard to the classes1 its direction and control are left entirely to the haphazard beck and call of each separate school or college1 without conformity to or guidance from any professed national aim1 principle1 or ideal4 ,in regard to the masses1 it is the concern of a ,department of ,state1 just as are ,trade1 the ,post ,office1 or the ,navy1 and is treated1 not as a spiritual matter underlying all else1 but as a material affair4 ,the spiritual side of education is supposed to be the concern of the religious bodies2 but if we are quite honest we have to confess that the religious bodies have no longer sufficient hold on classes or masses to inspire in either such wide mutual good-will and sense of service as will forward any real improvement in the relations between ,capital and ,labour1 between the fortunate and less fortunate classes4 ,the religious bodies1 let us say1 have tried their best1 but1 since our last state is worse than our first1 they must be considered to have failed4 ,their influence1 indeed1 is too incoherent and dispersed1 pervasive here and there1 but without either the centrality or force to promote in us a great national change towards that essence of ,christianity--mutual good-will and sense of service4 ,there is no longer1 ,i am afraid1 hope in that direction4 ,deep down1 we know all this1 but we have not yet bestirred ourselves to find out what it is that we are trying to do with our civilization1 or indeed whether we are trying to do anything except just keep our heads above water from hour to hour4 ,and we have not yet bestirred ourselves1 partly because we are still breathless and uncertain after that long and tremendous struggle within us between ,science and ,orthodox ,religion1 which has torn the wings off both1 and partly because we are paralysed by the word ,democracy4 ,we dare not move for fear of endowing education with too much authority4 ,there may1 of course1 be another and far more deadly reason why we have not bestirred ourselves4 ,we may be too far gone to devise any improved standard or machinery of education1 too flaccid to impart1 or even to desire to impart1 to our education that spiritual quality1 that devotion to an ideal1 which is our only hope4 ,if so1 we must resign ourselves to a desperate ,class struggle1 as to some bitter1 poisonous tonic1 from which we may perhaps gain strength to deal with our disease1 but of which we may take too much and die4 ,personally--being1 as they say1 a pessimist--,i prefer to think that all is not yet lost2 that we are still capable of expressing in the form of a faith the aspiration towards ,perfection that does1 that must1 lie inarticulate within us2 still capable of finding machinery1 and men to work it1 that shall drive this faith into the very heart of all classes4 ,at all events1 ,i refuse to believe that we cannot do a good deal more with education as a solvent of our troubles than we have done hitherto4 ,the main and obvious difficulty--one might say the only real difficulty--in education1 as in all the affairs of life1 is to find the men2 and to find the men we can only make use of machinery which is acceptable to a democratic age4 ,yes1 we cannot now go outside ,democracy1 and that is something to be profoundly grateful for4 ,the only trouble with ,democracy is that it is slow and inarticulate4 ,and ,i do not feel that the democratic principle--in which ,i believe as much as any man--will ever do itself justice until it discovers some quicker way than it yet has of shaping out of itself its spiritual essence1 some swifter way of extracting from itself and utilizing for its own service the highest aspiration and finest feeling within it4 ,it has succeeded on the whole fairly well in discovering and making use of its best business and administrative minds2 but so far it has regarded spirituality as completely outside its province and deliberately left it to religious bodies that have no longer1 nationally speaking1 a real hold on us1 and are professedly autocratic4 ,in fact1 ,democracy at present--and not only here but in ,america--offers the spectacle of a man running down a road followed at a more and more respectful distance by his own soul4 ,can our education any longer be safely treated in this casual way1 be safely left to ,churches from whose hand it has too far slipped2 be safely left as to the ,classes to chance and to vested interests2 as to the ,masses to mere business management8 ,should we not rather trust it coherently and as a whole to the finest spirits and broadest minds in the country2 to spirits that can be relied on to hold1 and to minds that can be relied on to apply1 a really high ideal2 relied on1 too1 to select and train the best men available for the propagation of that ,ideal8 ,if by some democratic process we could sift out these minds from among us1 and endow them with wholesale powers of selection1 appointment1 and training of teachers1 we should have established a sort of endless band on which might travel a perpetual vitalizing current of the best feeling within us4 ,to find these finest spirits and broadest minds we might conceivably use the existing representative machinery of ,parliament1 or some reformed representative system2 or we might institute a special straining and sifting process1 by means of plebiscite within plebiscite1 till we were reasonably sure of arriving at the men best fitted to be entrusted with a high1 coherent plan of education4 ,we have1 then1 to found and place under their guidance a great training college1 wherein the higher leaders of education may be imbued with the new spirit1 trained in the new standards1 and pass out1 as posts fall vacant1 to the headship of schools and colleges4 ,and if it be objected1 as it certainly will1 that this is to constitute a too rigid spiritual bureaucracy1 the answer is two-fold3 ,this is the plan on which you order all your political1 your material life1 without regarding it as in the least dangerous or undemocratic4 ,and1 secondly1 you have at present exactly the same bureaucratic methods of appointment in education1 only they are exercised in a hole-and-corner manner1 quite incoherently1 and without any democratic check at all4 ,there is no revolution in this idea1 and it will certainly prove no immediate or quack remedy4 ,it is1 in few words1 a suggestion that we should adopt for spiritual things1 for states of mind1 the method that1 roughly speaking1 we have found works best in material matters4 ,democracy will never really flourish till it has taken charge1 and that right heartily1 of its own spirituality4 ,life itself is the best education in spirituality a nation gets4 ,but the plea here is only for better machinery to express and direct the experience and latent good-will which is implicit within the nation1 and is not now brought out into the light for the nation's service4 ,we are living in a parched field under which there is plenty of water1 but we have sunk no well1 put up no pumping gear1 with which to make our pasture green4 ,is the notion that we can still do this a preposterous dream1 a mere presumptuous counsel of perfection8 ,we have at present an air charged with trouble2 if we are not to shut our eyes1 fold our hands1 and drift1 all that we do must be in the direction of improving our state of mind4 ,but there is no way of improving a state of mind save by fertilizing it with the faith and good-will of a higher mind4 ,our machinery for doing this has failed us4 ,indeed1 nationally speaking1 we no longer have any such machinery4 ,what more useful efforts1 then1 can we make than efforts in the direction of discovering a new machinery8 ,and the finer the spirits1 the broader the minds1 we place in charge thereof1 the greater power we give them1 always subject to the safeguard of election1 the more we may hope to emerge gradually from our sinister situation4 ----- #f ,many think the war will alter all this4 ,i only wish ,i did4--,j4 ,g4 ,,on ,,peace ,i ,,the ,,will ,,to ,,peace 7,from the ,daily ,mail1 #aiji47 ,i was walking in the district known as ,notting ,dale looking for signs of the ,millennium1 when ,i saw on a poster these words3 8,why ,england and ,germany must go to war40 ,i stood gazing at them in the company of a woman the worse for drink1 a brutal-looking man1 a consumptive boy1 and a half-starved horse harnessed to a cart4 ,with the exception of the horse1 these persons were soon replaced by a little labourer with a very sad face1 and a sick-looking woman1 in a ragged shawl4 ,when they1 in turn1 passed on1 ,i was joined in front of the poster by three girls going home from work--the sound of whose laughter was like the snapping of dried sticks--and by a whisky-perfumed man with that peculiar1 brazen look in the eye which is liable to sudden eclipse4 ,these1 too1 stayed but a short time1 and their places before the poster were filled by two youths in ragged clothes1 with dun-coloured faces1 and the stumps of cigarettes between pale lips4 ,their foot-steps and obscenity having died away1 ,i was left alone with the poster and the horse4 ,this horse's ribs were conspicuous1 and from the size of eggcup-shaped hollows above eyes covered with a bluish film1 he had evidently laboured to the limit of his capacity4 ,he was resting one thin leg--too hairless at the knee1 too hairy at the heel4 ,two very young children came now1 and1 holding each other's hands1 flattened their noses against the poster in the shop window4 ,one of them moved her feet continually as if her boots hurt her1 while on the feet of the other were the wrecks of boots4 ,and ,i said to myself3 ,in hundreds of towns all over the country1 people like this are standing before that poster1 or passing by it4 ,one third of the population are below the line of reasonable subsistence1 another third are able by the constant employment of every energy to keep their heads just on that line4 ,we are the richest country in the world1 so that even in organised ,germany conditions little better may very well be prevalent4 ,this poster declares that ,england and ,germany must go to war4 ,and this poster is no joke1 but the indication of a frame of mind4 ,moreover1 ,i mused1 credit for sincerity being due to all men until the opposite is proved against them1 this frame of mind must be honest and founded on genuine fear--must be1 in fact1 the conviction of many1 not only in this country1 but in ,germany4 ,they contemplate a war between two nations1 two thirds of whose respective populations are as yet barely able to make a living2 a war that means wasting many hundred million pounds and the earning power of many hundred thousand lives2 a war that will in six months cast on to the dust heap twenty years of social progress2 a war that may well have no semblance of nobility1 no great motto1 no inspiring cause1 but be a mere sordid struggle between two business communities1 for so-called commercial ends2 a war that may be unparalleled for cold-blooded horror and myopic puerility4 ,and the poster speaks of this war as if it were inevitable6 ,where1 ,i asked myself1 can the people who thus think and speak have lived8 ,where have they kept their hearts1 and brains1 and eyes1 and noses8 ,can they not see these millions of ghosts in their midst8 ,or do they think to fatten them by war8 ,do they think by war to cheapen the price of bread and coals1 to spread education1 to foster the growth of science and of the arts8 ,will they by war preserve the strongest males for the improvement of the human stock8 ,will they by war advance in any single way the slow process of humanizing a civilization which still produces in millions the beings who have been standing with me here before that poster8 ,no--,i thought--they will certainly reply3 8,war is an evil1 but it is necessary2 for the human race is divided into breeds1 distinct from one another1 and plunged into struggle from their births up4 ,only in each country's jealous preservation of itself can we look for the welfare of the whole4 ,there is no avail in dreams of peace2 no use in preparation for it2 men have always killed each other for their own advantage and always will2 if they did not so kill their neighbours they could not themselves survive4 ,life is so conditioned2 there is not enough for all4 ,we know1 therefore1 that this war must come4 ,we see it coming4 ,we have fastened our eyes on it4 ,we cannot get out of its way4 ,we must offer ourselves up in holy sacrifice before this bloody1 predestined monster40 ,well6--,i thought--if it is sacrifice you want1 look at that horse6 ,look at all the people who have stood before this poster6 ,they will take all your powers of sacrifice before you have done with them6 ,and ,i1 myself1 looked at the horse2 with his bleared eyes and the curves at the corners of his mouth1 ,i thought ,i had never seen such a cynical-looking creature4 8,what are you1 after all10 he seemed to be saying to me1 8but a set of sanguinary tailless animals80 ,but suddenly the eyes of my mind travelled beyond sight of that poster1 and as in a vision ,i seemed to see all the great lives men have lived1 all the high thoughts they have conceived1 all their wonderful ingenuity and perseverance and strength of will2 how they have always found a way to fulfil that on which they have set their hearts4 ,and as background to that vision there seemed disclosed to me the untold1 unexploited wealth of the fields1 woods1 and waters under the sun4 ,and ,i thought3 8,what that poster says is only true of such as will it to be true4 ,where there is a will to peace there is a way4#g ,war between two such countries1 two trustees of civilization need not be inevitable4 ,to believe that is to blaspheme2 to belittle human nature1 to deny the ,earth40 ----- #g ,i recollect that the journal which this poster served to sell contained an article proposing to prove that war between ,england and ,germany was inevitable1 because of the rivalry between their trades4 ,i thought then1 and think now1 that such a reason was revolting4 ,in spite of all the bitter cry for commercial war that has now arisen1 we did not begin1 we never should have begun a war with ,germany for such a reason alone4 ,the war that--alas6--has come1 has for us a better cause4 ,none the less1 ,i freely admit not gauging rightly the state of mind of ,germany's ruling classes4 ,i always thought the question of war or no war was a great 8toss-up0 between the craze for armament and the growth of international feeling through social democracy4 ,i thought the latter would win if people would set their wills on peace1 and we could tide over the next few years4 ,i was wrong4--,j4 ,g4 ,,ii ,,peace ,,of ,,the ,,air 7,a ,letter to ,the ,times1 #aiaa47 ,beyond all the varying symptoms of madness in the life of modern nations the most dreadful is this prostitution of the conquest of the air to the ends of warfare4 ,if ever men presented a spectacle of sheer inanity it is now--when1 having at last triumphed in their struggle to subordinate to their welfare the unconquered element1 they have straightway commenced to defile that element1 so heroically mastered1 by filling it with engines of destruction4 ,if ever the gods were justified of their ironic smile--by the gods1 it is now6 ,is there any thinker alive watching this still utterly preventable calamity without horror and despair8 ,horror of what must come of it if not promptly stopped2 despair that men can be so blind1 so hopelessly and childishly the slaves of their own marvellous inventive powers4 ,was there ever so patent a case for scotching at birth a hideous development of the black arts of warfare2 ever such an occasion for the ,powers in conference to ban once and for all a new and ghastly menace8 ,a little reason1 a grain of common sense1 a gleam of sanity before it is too late2 before vested interests and the chains of a new habit have enslaved us too hopelessly4 ,if this fresh devilry be not quenched within the next few years1 it will be too late4 ,water and earth are wide enough for men to kill each other on4 ,for the love of the sun1 and stars1 and the blue sky1 that have given us all our aspirations since the beginning of time1 let us leave the air to innocence6 ,will not those who have eyes to see1 good-will1 and the power to put that good-will into practice1 bestir themselves while there is yet time1 and save mankind from this last and worst of all its follies8 ,,the ,,war ,,valley ,,of ,,the ,,shadow 7,from the ,nation1 #aiae47 ,god1 ,i am travelling out to death's sea1 ,i1 who exulted in sunshine and laughter1 ,thought not of dying--death is such waste of me6-- ,grant me one comfort3 ,leave not the hereafter ,of mankind to war1 as though ,i had died not-- ,i1 who in battle1 my comrade's arm linking1 ,shouted and sang--life in my pulses hot ,throbbing and dancing6 ,let not my sinking ,in dark be for naught1 my death a vain thing6 ,god1 let me know it the end of man's fever6 ,make my last breath a bugle call1 carrying ,peace o'er the valleys and cold hills1 for ever6 ,,credo 7,from the ,neutral ,press1 #aiad47 ,to love peace with all one's heart4 ,to feel that war is a black stain on the humanity and fame of man4 ,to hate militarism4 ,to go any length to avoid war for material interests1 war that involves no great principle1 distrusting profoundly the common meaning of the phrase 8national honour0--all this is my belief4 ,but there is a national honour charged with the future happiness of man2 loyalty is due from those living to those that will come after2 civilization can only wax and flourish in a world where faith is kept2 for nations1 as for individuals1 there are laws of duty1 whose violation harms the whole human race2 in sum1 stars of conduct shine for peoples1 as for private men4 ,and so ,i hold that without tarnishing true honour1 endangering civilization present and to come1 and ruining all hope of future tranquillity1 my ,country could not have refused to take up arms for the defence of her little neighbour ,belgium's outraged neutrality1 which she had solemnly guaranteed4 ,i claim from the trend of events1 and of national character1 during the last century that in democracy alone lies any coherent hope of progressive civilization or any chance of lasting peace in ,europe1 or the world4 ,i believe that this democratic principle1 however imperfectly developed1 has so worked in ,france1 in ,britain1 in the ,united ,states1 that these countries are already nearly safe from inclination to aggress1 or to subdue other nationalities that have reached approximately their stage of development4 ,and ,i believe that while there remain autocratic ,governments basing themselves on militarism1 hostile at heart to the democratic principle1 ,europe will never be free of the surcharge of swollen armaments1 the nightmare menace of wars like this--the paralysis that creeps on civilizations which adore the god of force4 ,and so ,i hold that without betrayal of trusteeship1 without shirking the elementary defence of beliefs coiled within its fibre1 or beliefs vital to the future welfare of all men1 my ,country could not stand by and see the ruin of ,france1 that very cradle of democracy4 ,i believe that democratic culture spreads from ,west to ,east1 that only by maintenance of consolidate democracy in ,western ,europe can democracy ever hope to push on and prevail till the ,eastern ,powers have also that ideal under which alone humanity can flourish4 ,and so ,i hold that my ,country is justified at this juncture in its alliance with the autocratic power of ,russia1 whose people will never know freedom till her borders are joined to the borders of a true democracy in ,central ,europe4 ,i do not believe that jealous1 frightened jingoism has been more than the dirty fringe of ,britain's peace-loving temper1 and ,i profess my sacred faith that my ,country has gone to war1 against her will1 because she must--for honour1 for democracy1 and for the future of mankind4 ,,france 7,from the ,westminster ,gazette1 #aiad47 ,france6 ,beautiful word6 ,beautiful land6 ,what a proud soul lives in that ,france1 now racked and tortured6 ,what chimes will ring when the last invader is pushed back over the edge of the lost provinces6 ,land for whom1 when you are hard driven1 the heart most aches6 ,is it that you are ,woman1 with a caress in your eyes1 and your floating robe2 with mystery in your clear1 woman's smile1 and that promise of eternal constancy which ,man never offers8 ,is it that in you we feel1 as in no other ,land1 a ,presence1 such as in some houses makes life assured1 and lovely2 a ,presence inhabiting the air of every room1 more precious than its garniture8 ,take away the trappings1 make desolate that place of all material things1 and there will yet be the loved one1 there will yet be the gracious ardent spirit4 ,france6 ,you1 of all ,countries1 have the gift of ,living ,form1 of a coherent grace1 like that of your own flower of light1 or such as haunts ,la ,gioconda1 listening to life4 ,when ,i think of you there comes into my mind the image of a lime-tree1 in her spring garb of buds delicate1 breaking to little gay leaves ecstatic in each wind2 in her summer dress so full1 so perfumed with honey-coloured blossoms2 in her autumn robe of few golden leaves1 flat on the clear air1 and trembling1 trembling with each breath of the day2 and in her pale winter nakedness--ever the same essential goddess of a tree1 perfect in form4 ,france6 ,it is your power to see that 8soul in things0 which we call ,ideals1 to bring to life the truth you have seen1 and so to concrete and shape your vision that it becomes the rock spiritual on which nations stand4 ,because you are the living incarnation of your clear1 unflinching spirit1 we others love you4 ,you stand before the world1 true embodiment of your three immortal words2 as your immortal tune is the true voice of a ,land's ardour and devotion4 ,you have sloughed off the gross and the vainglorious flesh of nations6 ,you are the flame in the night6 ,in this hour we see1 and know you6 ,great and touching comrade6 ,clear1 invincible ,france6 ,to-day1 in your grave chivalry1 you were never so high1 so desirable1 so true to yourself and to ,humanity6 ,,reveille 7,from ,king ,albert's ,book1 #aiad47 ,in my dream ,i saw a fertile plain1 rich with the hues of autumn4 ,tranquil it was and warm4 ,men1 women1 children1 and the beasts1 worked and played and wandered there in peace4 ,under the blue sky and the white clouds low-hanging1 great trees shaded the fields2 and from all the land rose a murmur as from bees clustering on the rose-coloured blossoms of tall clover4 ,in my dream ,i roamed1 looking into faces--prosperous and well-favoured--of people living in a land of plenty1 drinking the joy of life1 caring nothing for the morrow4 ,but ,i could not see their eyes1 which seemed ever cast down1 watching the progress of their feet over the rich grass and the golden leaves already fallen from the trees4 ,the longer ,i walked among them the more ,i wondered that ,i could see the eyes of none1 not even of the little children1 not even of the beasts4 ,and1 while ,i mused on this1 the sky began to darken4 ,a mutter as of distant waters came travelling4 ,the children stopped their play1 the beasts raised their heads2 men and women halted and cried to each other3 8,the ,river is rising6 ,if it floods1 we are lost6 ,our beasts will drown2 we1 even we1 shall drown6 ,the ,river60 ,and women stood like images of stone1 listening2 men shook their fists at the black sky2 the beasts sniffed the darkening air4 ,then ,i heard a clear voice call3 8,brothers6 ,the dyke is breaking6 ,link arms2 with the dyke of our bodies we will save our homes6 ,link arms behind us1 ,sisters6 ,children close in6 ,the ,river60 ,and all that multitude1 whom ,i had seen treading quietly the grass1 came hurrying1 their eyes no longer fixed on the rich plain1 but lifted in trouble and defiance4 ,and the ,voice called3 8,hasten6 ,the dyke is broken40 ,by thousands and thousands they pressed1 shoulder to shoulder--men1 women1 children1 and the beasts lying down behind1 till the living dyke was formed4 ,and the black flood came travelling till its wave crests glinted like the whites of glaring eyes1 and the harsh clamour of the waters was as a roar from a million mouths4 ,but the ,voice called3 8,hold1 brothers60 ,and from the living dyke came answer3 8,we hold60 ,then the dark water broke2 and from all the wall of bodies rose the cry of struggle4 ,but above it ever the ,voice called3 8,hold60 ,and the answer still came from the mouths of drowning men and women1 of the very children3 8,we hold60 ,but the water rolled over and on4 ,down in its black tumult1 beneath its cruel rush1 ,i saw men still with arms linked2 women on their knees1 clinging to earth2 little children drifting--all dead4 ,but the shades of the dead with arms yet linked were fronting the edge of the savage waters4 ,none had turned away 4 4 4 ,once more ,i dreamed4 ,the plain was free of darkness1 free of waters4 ,the ,river1 shrunk and muddied1 flowed again within its banks4 ,and ,dawn was breaking4 ,at first it seemed to me that only trees stood on that plain2 then1 in the ground mist fast clearing1 ,i saw the forms of men and women1 children1 beasts2 and ,i moved among them1 looking at their faces--not broad and prosperous1 but grave from suffering1 carved and strong4 ,and their eyes were shining4 ,while ,i stood thus watching1 the sun rose1 and1 above the plain clad in the hues of spring1 the heaven brightened to full morning4 ,amazed1 ,i saw that the stars had not gone in1 but shone there in the blue4 ,and clear ,i heard the same ,voice call3 8,brothers6 ,behold6 ,the ,stars are lit for ever60 ,,first ,,thoughts ,,on ,,this ,,war 7,from ,scribner's ,magazine1 #aiad47 #a4 ,three hundred thousand church spires raised to the glory of ,christ6 ,three hundred million human creatures baptized into ,his service6 ,and--,war to the death of them all6 8,i trust the ,almighty to give the victory to my arms60 8,let your hearts beat to ,god1 and your fists in the face of the enemy60 8,in prayer we call ,god's blessing on our valiant troops60 ,god on the lips of each potentate1 and under a hundred thousand spires prayer that twenty-two million servants of ,christ may receive from ,god the blessed strength to tear and blow each other to pieces1 to ravage and burn1 to wrench husbands from wives1 fathers from their children1 to starve the poor1 and everywhere destroy the works of the spirit6 ,prayer under the hundred thousand spires for the blessed strength of ,god1 to use the noblest1 most loyal instincts of the human race to the ends of carnage6 8,god be with us to the death and dishonour of our foes0--whose ,god ,he is no less than ours6 ,the ,god who gave ,his only begotten ,son to bring on earth peace and good-will toward men6 ,no supernatural creed--in these days when two and two are put together--can stand against such reeling subversion4 ,after this monstrous mockery1 beneath this grinning skull of irony1 how shall there remain faith in this personal outside ,god1 whom we can thus divide1 appropriate1 and invoke2 how remain faith in the articles1 the formal structure of a religion preached and practised to such ends8 ,when this war is over and reason resumes its sway1 our dogmas will be found to have been scored through for ever4 ,whatever else be the outcome of this business1 let us at least realize the truth3 ,it is the death of dogmatic ,christianity6 ,let us will that it be the birth of a ,god within us1 and an ethic ,christianity that men really practise6 #b4 ,yes6 ,dogmatic ,christianity was dying before this war began4 ,when it is over1 or as soon as men's reason comes back to them1 it will be dead4 ,in ,france1 ,england1 ,germany1 in ,belgium1 and the other small countries1 dead2 and only kept wonderingly alive in ,russia and some parts of ,austria through peasant simplicity4 8,tell me1 brother1 what have the ,japanese done to us that we should kill them80 ,so said the ,russian peasant in the ,japanese war4 ,so they may say in this war4 ,and at the end go back and resume praise of the tribal ,god who fought for ,holy ,russia against the tribal ,god who fought for valiant ,austria and the mailed fists of ,germany4 ,this superstitional ,christianity will not die in the open and be buried with pomp and ceremony2 it will merely be dead--a very different thing2 like the nerve in a tooth1 that1 to the outward eye1 is just as it was4 ,that which will take its place has already been a long time preparing to come forward4 ,it will be too much in earnest to care for forms and ceremonies4 ,and one thing is certain--it will be far more ,christian than the so-called ,christianity which has brought us to these present ends4 ,its creed will be a noiseless and passionate conviction that man can be saved1 not by a far-away1 despotic ,god who can be enlisted by each combatant for the destruction of his foes1 but by the ,divine element in man1 the ,god within the human soul4 ,that1 in proportion as man is high1 so will the life of man be high1 safe from shames like this1 and devoid of his old misery4 ,the creed will be a fervent1 almost secret application of the saying3 8,love thy neighbour as thyself60 ,it will be ashamed of appeal to ,god to put right that which man has bungled2 of supplications to the deity to fight against the deity4 ,it will have the pride of the artist and the artizan4 ,and it will have its own mysticism1 its own wonder1 and reverence for the mystery of the all-embracing ,principle which has produced such a creature as this man1 with such marvellous potentiality for the making of fine things1 and the living of fine lives2 such heroism1 such savagery2 such wisdom and such black stupidity2 such a queer insuperable instinct for going on and on and ever on6 #c4 ,the ,western world has had its lesson now--the lesson indelibly writ in death3 ,there is no longer room in civilization for despotic ,governments4 ,in ,germany1 in ,austria1 in the country where despotism most reigns supreme--our ally1 ,russia--they are doomed in theory1 if not as yet in fact4 ,the ,slav is no more by nature the enemy of the ,teuton than is the ,briton of the ,frank4 ,that enmity is a fostered thing of imperial and bureaucratic dreams4 ,what stands out from all this welter8 ,the ambitious diplomacy of the despotic ,powers1 in pursuit of so-called 8national ideals10 a diplomacy begotten of vicious traditions and the misconceptions of egomania1 removed by a ring fence from the people of the nations for whom it professes to speak4 ,an ambitious and cynical diplomacy1 battening on the knowledge that it can at almost any time raise for its ends a whirlwind of feeling out of the love men ever have for the land wherein they are born4 ,it is the divorce of executive power from popular sanction that has made possible this greatest of all the disasters in history4 ,in democratic countries the aggressive faculty is imperceptibly yet continually weakened by the obscure but real link between ministers elect and the people4 ,only in those countries where1 under a cloak perhaps of democratic forms1 the administrative force is responsible to none save an imperial director1 is a ruthless and unchecked pursuit of so-called national dreams1 an aggressive parade of so-called national honour1 possible4 ,if only autocracies--masquerading or naked--go down in the wreckage of this war6 #d4 ,the superstition that unmilitarized nations suffer from fatty degeneration of the heart has perished in the forty-fourth year of its age1 at the siege of ,lige1 blown away by the heroism of a little unmilitary nation6 ,democracy and citizen armies6 ,if this war brings that in its train its horror will not have been all hateful4 ,but so surely as ,states remain autocratic at heart will the dire spirit that animates almighty bureaucracy rear its head again and demand revenge4 ,so surely will this war bring another1 and yet another6 ,in these last twenty years civilization has not even marked time2 it has gone backward under the curb and pressure of professional armaments masquerading under the words 8,si vis pacem1 para bellum40 ,the principle of universal service by men not professionally soldiers1 the principle that no man shall be called to fight one step outside his native land--save as part of an international ,police to enforce the authority of a ,league for ,peace--these are the only principles that will in the future still the gnawings of anxiety and gradually guarantee the peace of the ,west4 ,they are principles that1 ,i fear1 will never obtain while ,states are subject to military bureaucracy and dynastic ambitions4 ,if they cannot be purged of these we are 8doomed to something great0 every generation--the greatness of the shambles6 ,it is enough to make heart stand still and brain reel for ever if one must believe that man is never to find better means of keeping his spirit from rust1 his body from decay1 than these sporadic outbursts of 8greatness40 8,war is the only cleanser60 ,ah6--because the word 8patriotism0 has so limited a meaning4 ,but--to believe that this must always be 4 4 4 6 ,when men have ceased to look on war as the proper vehicle for self-sacrifice1 will they not turn to a greatness that is not soaked with blood and black with the crows of death1 to save their souls alive8 ,will there not1 can there not1 arise an emotion as strong as this present patriotism--a sentiment as passionate and sweeping1 bearing men on to the use of every faculty and the forgetfulness of self1 for the salvation1 instead of the destruction1 of their fellow-man8 ,or is this a dream1 and are we forever doomed1 each generation1 to the greatness of tearing each other limb from limb8 #e4 ,three weeks before this war began ,i was in one of those ,east ,end ,london parishes whose inhabitants exist from hand to mouth on casual employment and sweated labour2 where the women1 poor1 thin1 overworked souls1 have neither time nor strength nor inclination for cleanliness and comeliness in person or house2 where the men are undersized and underfed1 with the faces of those without a future2 where pale and stunted children playing in the gutters have a monopoly of any mirthless gaiety there is4 ,in one household of two rooms they were 8free of debt1 thank ,gawd60 having just come back from fruit-picking1 and were preparing to take up family existence again on the wife's making of matchboxes at a maximum of six shillings a week1 the husband not having found a job as yet4 ,in another household1 of one room swarming with flies and foul with a sickly acrid odour1 a baby was half-asleep on the few rags of a bed bereft of bedclothes1 its lips pressed to something rubbery1 and flies about its eyes2 dirty bowls of messes stood about2 an offal heap lay in the empty grate2 and at a table in the little window a pallid woman of forty with a running cold was desperately sewing the soles on to tiny babies' shoes4 ,beside her was a small dirty boy1 who had just been lost and brought home by a policeman1 because he had remembered the name of the street he lived in4 ,the woman looked up at us wistfully1 and said3 8,i thought ,i'd lost 'im too1 ,i did2 like the one that fell in the canal40 ,though she still had seven1 though her husband was out of work1 though she only made five to six shillings a week1 she could not spare any of the children she had borne4 ,prices have gone up4 ,what is happening to such as these8 ,they exist in all countries4 ,you military bureaucrats1 who safeguard and pursue 8national aspirations10 who open the gates of the kennel and let loose these mad dogs of war2 who rive husbands from their wives1 sons from their mothers1 and send them out by the hundred thousand to become lumps of bloody clay--spare a fraction of time to see the peoples for 8whose good0 you launch this glorious murder2 come and sniff for one moment that sickly1 acrid smell in the homes of the poor6 ,and then talk of national aspirations and necessities6 ,there is only one national aspiration worth the name1 only one national necessity--to have from roof to basement a clean1 healthy1 happy national house4 8,war the cleanser6 ,without war--no sacrifice1 no nobility60 ,i refer you to that mother1 slaving without hope and without glory1 starved and ill1 and slaving in a war with death that lasts all her life1 for the children she has borne4 #f4 ,the ,russian people is not ,russia1 unless it should become so in this war4 ,there has hitherto been an almost absolute divorce between the essentially democratic nature of the ,russian and the despotic methods by which ,russia is governed4 ,we ,english and ,french1 fighting not only for our lives1 but for democracy1 for the decent preservation of treaty rights1 and a humanity that we believe can only flourish under democratic rule1 find it somewhat ironical that we have with us a despotism4 ,and there is a profound reason why it has been and will be difficult for ,russia to change its form of government4 ,the emotional1 uncalculating ,russian has little sense of money1 space1 or time2 he falls an easy prey to those sterner1 more matter-of-fact than himself4 ,bureaucracy attracts the hard and practical elements of a population2 there are1 or were1 many of ,teutonic origin manning ,russian officialdom4 ,and ,russia is so huge2 democratic rule will find it difficult to be swift enough2 in decentralization there is danger of disruption4 ,nevertheless1 we welcome the help of ,russia1 for1 if ,france and we were beaten1 it would not only be our own deaths1 but the death of democracy and humanism in ,europe--perhaps in the world4 ,the tide of democracy sets from the ,west4 ,it must permeate ,germany before it reaches ,russia4 ,out of this war many things may come4 ,if ,fate grant that military despotisms fall in any country1 they may well fall in all1 and our ally1 ,russia1 gain at last a ,constitution and some real measure of democratic freedom1 some real coherence between the ,russian people and ,russian policy4 #g4 ,when the conscript souls disembodied by this war meet1 if they meet at all1 how will they talk of this last madness8 ,perhaps one in each hundred will be able to say from his heart3 8,i was happy with a rifle or sword and some of you to be killed in front of me60 ,the remaining ninety-nine will say3 8,like you ,i loved the sun1 and a woman1 and the good things of life2 like you ,i meant well by others2 ,i had no wish to kill any man2 no wish to die4 ,but ,i was told that it was necessary4 ,i was told that1 unless ,i killed as many of you as ,i could1 my country would suffer4 ,i don't know whether in my heart ,i believed what ,i was told1 but ,i did know that ,i should feel disgraced if ,i did not take rifle and sword and try to kill some of you2 ,i knew1 too1 that unless ,i did1 they would shoot me for a deserter4 ,so ,i went4 ,nearly all the time that ,i was marching1 or resting dead-tired1 or lying in the trenches1 ,i thought2 #8,shall ,i ever see home again8 ,let me see home again6' ,but ,i knew that my first duty was to kill you1 so that you should never see home again4 ,i did not want to kill you1 but ,i knew ,i had to4 ,when ,i was under fire or tired or hungry1 it is true ,i hated you so that ,i had only a savage wish to kill you4 ,but when it was over ,i had an ache in my heart4 ,we used to sing while marching1 make jokes1 enjoy the feel of our comrades' shoulders touching our own1 say to ourselves3 #8,we're fine fellows1 serving our country1 doing our duty6' ,but still the ache went on underneath1 very deep1 as if one were asleep and could not come to the end of a bad dream4 ,we seldom knew what our bullets were doing1 but sometimes we came to fighting hand to hand4 ,the first time1 ,i remember1 we had advanced through a wood under shell-fire1 and were lying down at the edge4 ,i had that ache all the time ,i was coming through the wood2 it was fine weather1 and the larches smelled sweet4 ,but when ,i saw you charging down on us with the sun gleaming on your bayonets1 it left me2 ,i felt weak and queer down the backs of my legs1 wondering which of you1 yelling and running towards me1 would plunge his steel into my stomach4 ,then my officer shouted2 ,i fired once1 twice1 three times1 and began to run forward4 ,if ,i had not1 ,i should have turned and fled4 ,i did not feel savage1 but ,i knew ,i must move every bit of me as quick as ,i could1 and defend myself and stab4 ,then our supports came through the wood1 and you were beaten4 ,my bayonet was bloody4 ,one or more of you ,i must have killed2 ,i had been brave1 we had won2 ,i felt excited and yet sick4 ,in the evening when ,i lay down my ache was worse than ever4 ,all my life ,i had been taught that to kill a fellow-man was the worst thing man can do2 it did not come natural to me to kill4 ,it was having to risk my life so dear to me1 in order that ,i might kill1 that gave me that ache4 ,if ,i had been risking it trying to save you1 it would have been more natural2 ,i should not have ached then60 #h4 8,the glories of war60 ,courage1 devotion1 endurance1 contempt of death6 ,these are glories that the unmartial may not deride4 ,even the humblest of brave soldiers is a hero1 for all that his heroism coins the misery of others2 but what does the soldier know1 see1 feel1 of the real 8glories of war08 ,that knowledge is confined to the readers of newspapers and books6 ,the ,pressman1 the romancer1 the historian can with glowing pen call up in the reader a feeling that war is glorious2 that there is something in itself desirable and to be admired in that licensed murder1 arson1 robbery that we call war4 ,glorious war6 ,every penny thrill of each reader of the newspaper1 every spasm of each one who sees armed men passing1 or hears the fifes and drums1 is manufactured out of blood and groans1 wrung out of the torments of the human heart and the torture of human flesh4 ,when ,i read in the paper of some glorious charge and the great slaughter of the enemy1 ,i feel a thrill through every fibre4 ,it is grand1 it is splendid6 ,i take a deep breath of joy1 almost of rapture4 ,grand1 splendid6 ,that there should be lying1 with their faces haggard to the stars1 hundreds1 thousands of men like myself1 better men than myself6 ,hundreds1 thousands1 who loved life as much as ,i2 whose women loved them as much as mine love me6 ,grand1 splendid6 ,that the blood should be oozing from them into grass that once smelled as sweet to them as it does to me6 ,that their eyes which delighted in sunlight and beauty as much as mine1 should be glazing fast with death2 that their mouths1 which mothers and wives and children are aching to kiss again1 should be twisted into gaps of horror6 ,grand1 splendid6 ,that other men1 no more savage than myself1 should have strown them1 there6 ,grand1 splendid6 ,that in thousands of far-off houses women1 children1 and old men will soon lie quivering with anguished memories of those lying there dead4 4 4 ,pressmen1 romancers1 historians--you have given me a noble thrill in recounting these glories of war6 #i4 ,this is the grand defeat of all ,utopians1 dreamers1 poets1 philosophers1 idealists1 humanitarians1 lovers of peace and the arts2 bag and baggage they are thrown out of a world that has for a time no use for them4 ,to the despot1 the bureaucrat1 the militarist1 the man of affairs1 they have always been hateful4 ,they are soft1 yet dangerous1 because they venture to hold up another flag in the face of the big flag of force2 venture to distract men's attention from dwelling on the beauty of its size4 ,i believe solemnly that we ,english have had to join this carnival of force to guard democracy1 honour1 and the sanctity of treaty rights4 ,it was a sacred necessity2 let us keep it sacred1 without the loathsome reek of a satisfaction that peace1 humanism1 and the arts are down1 and the country once more showing the stuff of which it is made1 a tusky lover of a fight1 as jealous and afraid of a rival as ever4 ,the idealist said in his heart3 ,the god of force is dead1 or dying4 ,he has been proven the fool that the man of affairs and the militarist always said he was4 ,but the fools of this world--generally after they are gone--have a way of moving men which the wise and practical believers in force have not4 ,if they had not this power man would still be1 year in year out1 the savage that the believers in force have for the moment once more made him4 ,the battle between the god of love and the god of force endures for ever4 ,fools of the former camp1 drummed out and beaten to their knees1 in due time will get up again and plant their poor flag a little farther on4 8,all men shall be brothers10 said the ,german fool1 ,schiller2 so shall the fools say again when the time comes2 and again1 and again1 after every beating6 #aj4 ,last night1 when the half-moon was golden and the white stars very high1 ,i saw the souls of the killed passing4 ,they came riding through the dark--some on grey horses1 some on black2 they came marching1 white-faced--hundreds1 thousands1 tens of thousands4 ,the night smelled sweet1 the breeze rustled1 the stream murmured2 and past me on the air the souls of the killed came marching4 ,they seemed of one great company1 no longer enemies4 ,all had the same fixed stare1 braving something strange that they were trying terribly to push away4 ,all had their eyes narrowed yet fixed open in their grey-white1 smoke-grimed faces4 ,they made no sound as they passed4 ,whence were they coming1 where going1 trailing the ghosts of guns1 riding the ghosts of horses2 into what river of oblivion--far from horror1 and the savagery of man6 ,they passed4 ,the golden half-moon shone1 and the high white stars4 ,the fields smelled sweet2 the wind gently stirred the trees4 ,the moon and stars would be shining over the battlefields1 the wind rustling the trees there1 the earth sleeping in dark beauty4 ,so would it be all over the ,western world4 ,the peace of ,god doth indeed pass our understanding6 ,,the ,,hope ,,of ,,lasting ,,peace 7,from a ,symposium on 8,nationality10 #aiae47 ,in these times one dread lies heavy on heart and brain--the thought that after all the unimaginable suffering1 waste1 and sacrifice of this war nothing may come of it1 no real relief1 no permanent benefit to ,europe1 no improvement to the future of mankind4 ,the pronouncements of publicists3 8,this must never happen again10 8,conditions for abiding peace must be secured10 8,the ,united ,states of ,europe must be founded10 8,militarism must cease0--all such are the natural outcome of this dread4 ,they are proclamations admirable in sentiment and intention4 ,but1 human nature being what it has been and is likely to remain1 we must face the possibility that nothing will come of the war1 save the restoration of ,belgium 7that1 at least1 is certain72 some alterations of boundaries2 a long period of economic and social trouble more bitter than before2 a sweeping moral reaction after too great effort4 ,cosmically regarded1 this war is a debauch rather than a purge1 and debauches have always to be paid for4 ,confronting the situation in this spirit1 we shall be the more rejoiced if any of our wider hopes should by good fortune be attained4 ,leaving aside the restoration of ,belgium--for what do we continue to fight8 ,we go on1 as we began1 because we all believe in our own countries and what they stand for4 ,and in considering how far the principle of nationality should be exalted1 one must remember that it is in the main responsible for the present state of things4 ,in truth1 the principle of nationality of itself and by itself is a quite insufficient ideal4 ,it is a mere glorification of self in a world full of other selves2 and only of value in so far as it forms part of that larger ideal1 an international ethic1 which admits the claims and respects the aspirations of all nations4 ,without that ethic little nations are 7as at the present moment7 the prey--and1 according to the naked principle of nationality1 the legitimate prey--of bigger nations4 ,germany absorbed ,schleswig1 ,alsace-,lorraine1 and now ,belgium1 by virtue of nationalism1 of an overweening belief in the perfection of its national self4 ,austria would subdue ,serbia from much the same feeling4 ,france does not wish to absorb or subdue any ,european people of another race1 because ,france1 as ever1 a little in advance of her age1 is already grounded in this international ethic of solid respect for the rights of all nations which belong1 broadly speaking1 to the same stage of development4 ,the same may now be said of the other ,western democratic ,powers1 ,britain and ,america1 8,to live and let live10 8,to dwell together in unity10 are the guiding maxims of the international ethic1 by virtue of which alone have the smaller communities of men--the ,belgiums1 ,bohemias1 ,polands1 ,serbias1 ,denmarks1 ,irelands1 ,switzerlands of ,europe--any chance of security in the maintenance of their national existence4 ,in short1 the principle of nationality1 unless it is prepared to serve this international ethic1 is but a frank abettor of the devilish maxim3 8,might is right40 ,all this is truism2 but truisms are often the first things we forget4 ,the whole question of nationality in ,europe bristles with difficulties4 ,it cannot be solved by theory and rule of thumb4 ,what is a nation8 ,shall it be determined by speech1 by blood1 by geographical boundary1 by historic tradition8 ,the freedom and independence of a country can and ever should be assured when with one voice it demands the same4 ,it is seldom so simple as that4 ,belgium1 no doubt1 is as one man4 ,poland is one man in so far as the ,poles are concerned1 but what of the ,austrians1 ,russians1 ,germans settled among them8 ,what of ,ireland split into two camps8 ,what of the ,germans in ,bohemia2 in ,alsace2 in ,schleswig8 ,compromise alone is possible in many cases1 going by favour of majority4 ,and there will always remain the very poignant question of the rights and aspirations of the minorities4 ,let us by all means clear the air by righting glaring wrongs1 removing palpable anomalies1 redressing obvious injustices1 securing so far as possible the independent national life of homogeneous groups2 but let us not1 dazzled by the glamour of a word1 dream that by restoring a few landmarks1 altering a few boundaries1 and raising a pan to the word 8nationality0 we can banish all clouds from the sky of ,europe and muzzle the ambitions of the stronger nations4 ,in my belief the best hope for lasting peace1 the chief promise of security for the rights and freedom of little countries1 the most reasonable guarantee of international justice and general humanity1 lies in the gradual growth of democracy1 of rule by consent of the governed4 ,when ,europe is all democratic1 and its civilization on one plane--instead of as now on two--then and then only we shall begin to draw the breath of real assurance4 ,then only will the little countries sleep quietly in their beds4 ,it is conceivable1 nay probable1 that an ideal autocracy could achieve more good for its country and for the world at large in a given time than the rule of the most enlightened democracy4 ,it is certain that ideal autocracies hold sway but once in a blue moon4 ,if proof be needed that the prevalence of democracy will end aggression among nations that belong to the same stage of development1 secure the rights of small peoples1 foster justice and humaneness in man1 let the history of this last century and a half be well examined1 and let the human probabilities be weighed4 ,which is the more likely to advocate wars of aggression8 ,they who1 by age1 position1 wealth1 are secure against the daily pressure of life1 they who have passed their time out of touch with the struggle for existence1 in an atmosphere of dreams1 ambitions1 and power over other men8 ,or they who every hour are reminded how hard life is1 even at its most prosperous moments1 who have nothing to gain by war1 and all1 even life1 to lose2 who by virtue of their own struggles have a deep knowledge of the struggles of their fellow-creatures2 an instinctive repugnance to making those struggles harder2 who have heard little and dreamed less of those so-called 8national interests0 that are so often mere chimeras2 who love1 no doubt1 in their inarticulate way1 the country where they were born and the modes of life and thought to which they are accustomed1 but know of no traditional and artificial reasons why the men of other countries should not be allowed to love their own lands and modes of thought and life in equal peace and security8 ,assuredly1 the latter of these two kinds of men are the less likely to favour ambitious projects and aggressive wars4 ,according as 8the people10 through their representatives1 have or have not the final decision in such matters1 the future of ,europe shall be made of war or peace1 of respect or of disregard for the rights of little nations4 ,it is advanced against democracies that the workers of a country1 ignorant and provincial in outlook1 have no grasp of international politics4 ,true--in a ,europe where national ambitions and dreams are still for the most part hatched and nurtured in nests perched high above the real needs and sentiments of the simple working folk who form nine-tenths of the population in each country4 ,but once those nests of aggressive nationalism have fallen from their high trees1 so soon as all ,europe conforms to the principle of rule by consent of the governed1 it will be found--as it has already been found in ,france and in this country--that the general sense of the community informed by growing publicity 7through means of communication ever speeding-up7 is quite sufficient trustee of national safety2 quite able1 even enthusiastically able1 to defend its country from attack4 ,it is said that democracies are liable to be swept by gusts of passion1 in danger of yielding to ,press or mob sentiment4 ,but are not the peoples of democratic countries as firmly counselled and held in check by their responsible ministers and elected representatives as are the peoples of autocratically governed countries8 ,what power of initiative have 8the people0 in either case8 ,they act only through their leaders4 ,but their leaders are elected--that is the point4 ,representative ,governments must answer for their actions to their fellow-men4 ,autocratic ,governments need only answer to their gods4 ,the eyes of representative ,governments are turned habitually inwards towards the condition of the people whom they represent4 ,the eyes of autocratic ,governments may indeed be turned inwards1 but what they usually see of the people whom they do not represent is liable to make them turn outwards4 ,in other words1 they find in successful foreign adventure and imperialism a potent safeguard against internal troubles4 ,the problem before the world at the end of this war is how to eliminate the virus of an aggressive nationalism that will lead to fresh outbursts of death4 ,it is a problem that ,i1 for one1 fear will beat the powers and good-will of all1 unless there should come a radical change of ,governments in ,central ,europe2 unless the real power in ,germany and ,austria-,hungary passes into the hands of the people of those countries1 through their elected representatives1 as already it has passed in ,france and ,britain4 ,this is in my belief the only chance for the defeat of militarism1 of that raw nationalism1 which1 even if beaten down at first1 will ever be lying in wait1 preparing secret revenge and fresh attacks4 ,how this democratization of ,central ,europe can be brought about ,i cannot tell4 ,it is far off as yet4 ,but if this be not at long last the outcome of the war1 we may still1 ,i fear1 talk in vain of the rights of little nations1 of peace1 disarmament1 of chivalry1 justice1 and humanity4 ,we may whistle for a changed ,europe4 ,,diagnosis ,,of ,,the ,,englishman 7,from the ,amsterdamer ,revue1 #aiae47 ,after many months of war1 search for the cause thereof borders on the academic4 ,comment on the physical facts of the situation does not come within the scope of one who by disposition and training is concerned with states of mind4 ,but as to the result3 ,the period of surprise is over2 the forces known2 the issue fully joined4 ,it is now a case of 8,pull devil1 pull baker60 and a question of the fibre of the combatants4 ,for this reason it may not be amiss to try to present to any whom it may concern as detached a picture as one can of the real nature of that combatant who is called the ,englishman4 ,ignorance in ,central ,europe of his character tipped the balance in favour of war1 and speculation as to the future is useless without right comprehension of his nature4 ,the ,englishman is taken advisedly1 because he represents four-fifths of the population of the ,british ,isles4 ,and first let it be said that there is no more unconsciously deceptive person on the face of the globe4 ,the ,englishman does not know himself2 outside ,england he is but guessed at4 ,racially the ,englishman is so complex and so old a blend that no one can say what he is4 ,in character he is just as complex4 ,physically1 there are two main types3 one inclining to length of limb1 narrowness of face and head 7you will see nowhere such long and narrow heads as in our islands71 and bony jaws2 the other approximating more to the ordinary 8,john ,bull40 ,the first type is gaining on the second4 ,there is little or no difference in the main character behind4 ,in attempting to understand the real nature of the ,englishman1 certain salient facts must be borne in mind4 ,,the ,,sea4--,to be surrounded generation after generation by the sea has developed in him a suppressed idealism1 a peculiar impermeability1 a turn for adventure1 a faculty for wandering1 and for being sufficient unto himself in far and awkward surroundings4 ,,the ,,climate4--,whoso weathers for centuries a climate that1 though healthy and never extreme1 is1 perhaps1 the least reliable and one of the wettest in the world1 must needs grow in himself a counter-balance of dry philosophy1 a defiant humour1 an enforced medium temperature of soul4 ,the ,englishman is no more given to extremes than is his climate2 against its damp and perpetual changes he has become coated with a sort of bluntness4 ,,the ,,political ,,age ,,of ,,his ,,country4--,this is by far the oldest settled ,western ,power1 politically speaking4 ,for eight hundred and fifty years ,england has known no serious military disturbance from without2 for nearly two hundred she has known no serious political turmoil within4 ,this is partly the outcome of her isolation1 partly the happy accident of her political constitution1 partly the result of the ,englishman's habit of looking before he leaps1 which comes1 no doubt1 from the climate and the mixture of his blood4 ,this political stability has been a tremendous factor in the formation of ,english character1 has given the ,englishman of all ranks a certain deep slow sense of form and order1 an engrained culture--if one may pirate the word--that makes no show1 being in the bones of the man1 as it were4 ,the ,great ,preponderance for ,several ,generations of ,town over ,country ,life4--,taken in conjunction with centuries of political stability1 this is the main cause of a growing inarticulate humaneness1 of which--speaking generally--the ,englishman appears to be rather ashamed4 ,,the ,,public ,,schools4--,this potent element in the formation of the modern ,englishman1 not only in the upper but of all classes1 is something that one rather despairs of making understood--in countries which have no similar institution4 ,but6 ,imagine one hundred thousand youths of the wealthiest1 healthiest1 and most influential classes1 passed1 during each generation1 at the most impressionable age1 into a sort of ethical mould1 emerging therefrom stamped to the core with the impress of a uniform morality1 uniform manners1 uniform way of looking at life2 remembering always that these youths fill seven-eighths of the important positions in the professional administration of their country and the conduct of its commercial enterprise2 remembering too1 that1 through perpetual contact with every other class1 their standard of morality and way of looking at life filters down into the very toes of the land4 ,this great character-forming machine is remarkable for an unself-consciousness which gives it enormous strength and elasticity4 ,not inspired by the ,state1 it inspires the ,state4 ,the characteristics of the philosophy it enjoins are mainly negative1 and1 for that1 the stronger4 8,never show your feelings--to do so is not manly1 and bores your fellows4 ,don't cry out when you're hurt1 making yourself a nuisance to other people4 ,tell no tales about your companions and no lies about yourself4 ,avoid all #8swank1' #8side1' #8swagger1' braggadocio of speech or manner1 on pain of being laughed at40 7,this maxim is carried to such a pitch that the ,englishman1 except in his ,press1 habitually understates everything47 8,think little of money1 and speak less of it4 ,play games hard1 and keep the rules of them1 even when your blood is hot and you are tempted to disregard them4 ,in three words3 ,,play ,,the ,,game0--a little phrase which may be taken as the characteristic understatement of the modern ,englishman's creed of honour1 in all classes4 ,this great1 unconscious machine has great defects4 ,it tends to the formation of 8caste02 it is a poor teacher of sheer learning2 and1 sthetically1 with its universal suppression of all interesting and queer individual traits of personality--it is almost horrid4 ,yet it imparts a remarkable incorruptibility to ,english life2 it conserves vitality1 by suppressing all extremes2 and it implants everywhere a kind of unassuming stoicism and respect for the rules of the great game--,life4 ,through its unconscious example1 and through its cult of games1 it has vastly influenced even the classes not directly under its control4 ,three more main facts must be borne in mind3-- ,,essential ,,democracy ,,of ,,government4 ,,freedom ,,of ,,speech ,,and ,,the ,,press4 ,,absence ,,hitherto ,,of ,,compulsory ,,military ,,service4 ,these1 the outcome of the quiet and stable home life of an island people1 have done more than anything to make the ,englishman a deceptive personality to the outside eye4 ,he has for centuries been licensed to grumble4 ,there is no such confirmed grumbler--until he really has something to grumble at2 and then1 no one perhaps who grumbles less4 ,there is no such confirmed carper at the condition of his country1 yet no one really so profoundly convinced that it is the best in the world4 ,a stranger might well think from his utterances that he was spoiled by the freedom of his life1 unprepared to sacrifice anything for a land in such a condition4 ,threaten that country1 and with it his liberty1 and you will find that his grumbles have meant less than nothing4 ,you will find1 too1 that behind the apparent slackness of every arrangement and every individual are powers of adaptability to facts1 elasticity1 practical genius1 a spirit of competition amounting almost to disease1 and a determination1 that are staggering4 ,before this war began1 it was the fashion amongst a number of ,english to lament the decadence of the race4 ,these very grumblers are now foremost in praising the spirit shown in every part of their country4 ,their lamentations1 which plentifully deceived the outside ear1 were just ,english grumbles2 for if1 in truth1 ,england had been decadent1 there could have been no such universal display for them to be praising now4 ,all this democratic grumbling1 and habit of 8going as you please10 serve a deep purpose4 ,autocracy1 ,censorship1 ,compulsion1 destroy humour in a nation's blood and elasticity in its fibre2 they cut at the very mainsprings of national vitality4 ,only if reasonably free from control can a man really arrive at what is or is not national necessity1 and truly identify himself with a national ideal by simple conviction from within4 ,two words of caution to strangers trying to form an estimate of the ,englishman3 ,he must not be judged from his ,press1 which1 manned 7with certain exceptions7 by those who are not typically ,english1 is much too-highly-coloured to illustrate the true ,english spirit2 nor can he be judged from his literature4 ,the ,englishman is essentially inexpressive1 unexpressed4 ,further1 he must not be judged by the evidence of his wealth4 ,england may be the richest country in the world per head of population1 but not #e per cent4 of that population have any wealth to speak of1 certainly not enough to have affected their hardihood2 and1 with inconsiderable exceptions1 those who have enough are brought up to worship hardihood4 ,for the vast proportion of ,englishmen1 active military service is merely a change from work as hard1 and even more monotonous4 ,from these main premises1 then1 we come to what the ,englishman really is4 ,when1 after months of travel1 one returns to ,england1 he can taste1 smell1 and feel the difference in the atmosphere1 physical and moral--the curious damp1 blunt1 good-humoured1 happy-go-lucky1 old-established1 slow-seeming formlessness of everything4 ,you hail a porter2 if you tell him you have plenty of time1 he muddles your things amiably with an air of1 8,it'll be all right10 till you have only just time4 ,but if you tell him you have no time--he will set himself to catch that train for you1 and catch it faster than a porter of any other country4 ,let no foreigner1 however1 experiment to prove the truth of this1 for a porter--like any other ,englishman--is incapable of taking a foreigner seriously 7after a year of war he is not even yet taking the ,germans seriously72 and1 quite friendly1 but a little pitying1 will lose him the train1 assuring the unfortunate that he can't possibly know what train he wants to catch4 ,the ,englishman must have a thing brought under his nose before he will act2 bring it there and he will go on acting after everybody else has stopped4 ,he lives very much in the moment because he is essentially a man of facts and not a man of imagination4 ,want of imagination makes him1 philosophically speaking1 rather ludicrous2 in practical affairs it handicaps him at the start2 but once he has 8got going0--as we say--it is of incalculable assistance to his stamina4 ,the ,englishman1 partly through this lack of imagination and nervous sensibility1 partly through his inbred dislike of extremes and habit of minimising the expression of everything1 is a perfect example of the conservation of energy4 ,it is very difficult to come to the end of him4 ,add to this his unimaginative practicality1 and tenacious moderation1 his inherent spirit of competition--not to say pugnacity--a spirit of competition so extreme that it makes him1 as it were1 patronize ,fate2 add the sort of vulgarity that grows like fungus on people who despise ideas and analysis1 and make a cult of unintellectuality2 add a peculiar1 ironic1 8don't care0 sort of humour2 an underground humaneness1 and an ashamed idealism--and you get some notion of the pudding of ,english character4 ,it has a kind of terrible coolness1 a rather awful level-headedness--by no means reflected in his ,press4 ,the ,englishman makes constant small blunders2 but few1 almost no1 deep mistakes4 ,he is a slow starter1 but there is no stronger finisher1 because he has by temperament and training the faculty of getting through any job he gives his mind to with a minimum expenditure of vital energy2 nothing is wasted in expression1 style1 spread-eagleism2 everything is instinctively kept as near to the practical heart of the matter as possible4 ,he is--to the eyes of an artist--distressingly matter-of-fact2 a tempting mark for satire4 ,and yet he is at bottom an idealist1 though it is his nature to snub1 disguise1 and mock his own inherent optimism4 ,to admit enthusiasm is 8bad form0 if he is a 8gentleman02 and 8swank10 or mere waste of good heat1 if he is not a 8gentleman40 ,england produces more than its proper percentage of cranks and poets2 this is ,nature's way of redressing the balance in a country where feelings are not shown1 sentiments not expressed1 and extremes laughed at4 ,not that the ,englishman is cold1 as is generally supposed in foreign countries--on the contrary1 he is warm-hearted and feels strongly2 but just as peasants1 for lack of words to express their feelings1 become stolid1 so does the ,englishman1 from sheer lack of the habit of self-expression4 ,the ,englishman's proverbial 8hypocrisy0--that which ,i myself have dubbed his 8island ,pharisaism0--comes chiefly1 ,i think1 from his latent but fearfully strong instinct for competition which will not let him admit himself beaten1 or in the wrong1 even to himself2 and from an ingrained sense of form that impels him always to 8save his face02 but partly it comes from his powerlessness to explain his feelings4 ,he has not the clear and fluent cynicism of expansive natures1 wherewith to confess exactly how he stands4 ,it is the habit of men of all nations to want to have things both ways2 the ,englishman wants it both ways1 ,i think1 more strongly than any2 and he is unfortunately so unable to express himself1 even to himself1 that he has never realized this truth1 much less confessed it--hence his 8hypocrisy40 ,he is sometimes abused for being over-attached to money4 ,his island position1 his early discoveries of coal1 iron1 and processes of manufacture have made him1 of course1 a confirmed industrialist and trader2 but he is more of an adventurer in wealth than a heaper-up of it4 ,he is far from sitting on his money-bags--has no vein of proper avarice 7the humble ,englishman is probably the least provident man in the world7--and for national ends he will spill out his money like water1 if convinced of the necessity4 ,in everything it comes to that with the ,englishman--he must be convinced2 and he takes a lot of convincing4 ,he absorbs ideas slowly2 would rather not imagine anything decidedly till he is obliged2 but in proportion to the slowness with which he can be moved1 is the slowness with which he can be removed6 ,hence the symbol of the bulldog4 ,when he does see and seize a thing1 he holds fast4 ,for the particular situation which the ,englishman has now to face1 he is terribly well adapted4 ,because he has so little imagination1 so little power of expression1 he is saving nerve all the time4 ,because he never goes to extremes he is saving energy of body and spirit4 ,that the men of all nations are about equally endowed with courage and self-sacrifice1 has been proved in these last six months2 it is to other qualities that one must look for final victory in a war of exhaustion4 ,the ,englishman does not look into himself2 he does not brood2 he sees no further forward than is necessary2 and he must have his joke4 ,these are fearful and wonderful advantages4 ,examine the letters and diaries of the various combatants1 and you will see how far less imaginative and reflecting 7though often shrewd1 practical1 and humorous7 the ,english are than any others2 you will gain1 too1 a deep1 a deadly conviction that behind them is a fibre like rubber1 that may be frayed and bent a little this way and that1 but can neither be permeated nor broken4 ,when this war began1 the ,englishman rubbed his eyes steeped in peace1 he is still rubbing them just a little1 but less and less every day4 ,a profound lover of peace by habit and tradition1 he has actually realized by now that he is 8in for it0 up to the neck4 ,to any one who really knows him--that is a portent6 ,let it be freely confessed that from an sthetic point of view the ,englishman1 devoid of high lights and shadows1 coated with drab1 and superhumanly steady on his feet1 is not too attractive4 ,but for the wearing1 tearing1 slow1 and dreadful business of this war1 the ,englishman--fighting of his own free will1 unimaginative1 humorous1 competitive1 practical1 never in extremes1 a dumb1 inveterate optimist1 and terribly tenacious--is equipped with victory4 ,,our ,,literature ,,and ,,the ,,war 7,from ,the ,times ,literary ,supplement1 #aiae47 ,for the purpose of the following speculations the word ,literature is used to describe the imaginative work of artists and thinkers--that is1 of writers who have had1 and will have1 something to say of more or less lasting value2 it leaves out the work of those who1 for various reasons1 such as patriotic sentiment1 or the supplying of the ,public with what it may be supposed to want1 will1 no doubt1 dish up the war as a matter of necessity1 whether serving it wholesale in eight courses1 or merely using it as sauce to the customary meat and fish4 ,how will our literature1 thus defined1 be affected by the war8 ,will it be affected at all8 ,one must first remember that to practically all imaginative writers of any quality war is an excrescence on human life1 a monstrous calamity and evil4 ,the fact that they recognize the gruesome inevitability of this war1 in so far as the intervention of our country is concerned1 does not in any way lessen their temperamental horror of war in itself1 of the waste and the misery1 and the sheer stupid brutality thereof4 ,the nature of the imaginative artist is sensitive1 impressionable2 impatient of anything superimposed2 thinking and feeling for itself2 recoiling from conglomerate views and sentiment4 ,it regards the whole affair as a dreadful though sacred necessity1 to be got through somehow1 lest there be lost that humane freedom which is the life-blood of any world where the creative imagination and other even more precious things can flourish4 ,the point is that there is no glamour about the business--none whatever1 for this particular sort of human being4 ,writers to whom war is glamorous 7with the few exceptions that prove the rule7 are not those who produce literature4 ,we must therefore discount at once prophecies that the war will lift literature on to an epic plane1 cause it to glow and blow with heroic deeds1 and figures eight feet high4 ,they come from those who do not know the temperament of the imaginative artist1 his fundamental independence1 and habit of revolting against what is expected of him4 ,but the whole thing is much deeper than that4 ,it seems to be forgotten by some who write on this matter that the producer of literature has been giving of his best in the past1 and will be able to do no more in the future4 ,the first thing that has mattered to him has been 7in the words of de ,maupassant1 but which might have been those of any other first-rate writer7 8to make something fine1 in the form that shall best suit him according to his temperament40 ,no amount of wars can vary for the artist that ideal--as it was for him1 so it will be4 ,it seems also to be thought that the war has been a startling revelation to the imaginative writer of the heroism in human nature4 ,this is giving him credit for very little imagination4 ,the constant tragedies of peace--miners entombed1 sinking liners1 volcanic eruptions1 outbreaks of pestilence1 together with the long endurances of daily life1 are always bringing home to any sensitive mind the inherent heroism of men and women4 ,the very glut of heroism in this war is likely1 as it were1 to put an artist's nature off1 to blunt the edge of perceptions that are always groping after fresh sensation1 that must be always groping1 in order that expression may be of something really felt--for novelty is1 of all1 the greatest spur to sharp feeling4 ,the top notes of human life and conduct can be but sparingly sung1 or they grate on the nerves1 and jar the hearing of the singer1 no less than of his listener4 ,by some mysterious law frontal attacks to capture heroism and imprison it in art are almost always failures4 ,few of the great imagined figures of literature are heroic4 ,another thing is forgotten4 ,the real artist does not anticipate and certainly cannot regulate the impulses that shall move his brain and heart and hand4 ,what exactly starts him off1 even he cannot tell4 ,he will never write heroics to the order of the ,public4 ,ah6 but he will now be influenced unconsciously in the choice of subjects by sympathy with the fine deeds of the day1 a lift will come into his work1 his eyes will be raised to the stars6 ,true1 perhaps1 for the moment2 but1 then1 such times as these are in many ways unfavourable to the creative instinct2 moreover they will leave in restless1 sensitive natures lassitude1 recoil1 a sense of surfeit4 ,quite probably the war may produce a real masterpiece or two1 formed out of its very stuff1 by some eager mind innocent hitherto of creative powers1 for whom actual experience of the sights and feelings of war may be a baptism into art4 ,almost certainly there will come of it a masterpiece or two of satire4 ,but1 generally speaking1 this welter of sacrifice and suffering1 the sublimity and horror of these days1 their courage and their cruelty1 are enveloping the writer like the breath of a sirocco1 whirling his brain and heart around at the moment1 but likely to leave him with an intense longing for a deep draught of peace1 and quiet scented winds4 ,on one whose whole natural life is woven1 not of deeds1 but of thoughts and visions1 moods and dreams1 all this intensely actual violence1 product of utterly different natures from his own1 offspring of men of action and affairs1 cannot have the permanent1 deepening1 clarifying influence that long personal experience or suffering have had on some of the world's greatest writers--on ,milton in his blindness2 on ,dostoevsky1 reprieved at the very moment of death1 then long imprisoned2 on de ,maupassant in his fear of coming madness2 on ,tolstoi in the life-struggle of his dual nature2 on ,beethoven in his deafness1 and ,nietzsche in his deadly sickness4 ,it is from the stuff of his own life that the creative writer moulds out for the world something fine1 in the form that best suits him1 following his own temperament4 ,his momentary and1 perhaps1 intense identification with the struggle of this war has in it something spasmodic1 feverish1 and almost false2 a kind of deep and tragic inconsistency4 ,it is too foreign to the real self within him4 ,at one time it was said of certain new troops3 8,they're first-rate1 except for one thing--they will not bayonet the ,germans40 ,it is like that in the artist writer's soul--with the work of his hands1 the words of his lips1 his thoughts and the feelings of his heart1 he identifies himself with this war drama1 yet in the very depths of him he recoils4 ,what would you have8 ,the artist-man has but one nature4 ,for all these reasons the war is likely to have little deep or lasting influence on literature4 ,but one immediate effect it may surely have4 ,let who will snatch a moment in these days to be with ,nature--let him go into a wood1 or walk down the ,flower ,walk in ,kensington ,gardens1 of a fine afternoon4 ,on the still birch trees a pigeon will be sitting motionless among the grey twig tracery2 the cedar-branches are dark and flat on the air2 the sun warms the cheek1 and brightens the cream and pink chestnut and maple buds just opening2 the waxy hyacinths deepen in hue1 and the little green shoots everywhere swell as he gazes4 ,a sensation of delight begins to lift his heart1 he takes a deep breath2 and suddenly1 from a bench he hears3 8,one of 'em's alive an' two's dead40 ,or3 8,the ,germans are movin' 'em60 ,gone is the beginning of delight4 ,the heavy hand comes down again4 ,no good6 ,there is no ,spring6 ,the sky is not bright4 ,the heart cannot rejoice4 ,as with any man1 so1 and even more1 with the artist-writer4 ,when the war is over and the heavy hand lifted1 his heart and brain will rush to that of which he has been deprived too long--will rush to the beauty which1 for sheer pity and horror1 he cannot now enjoy1 will rush as a starved and thirsting creature4 ,there may well be an instant outburst of joyful and sensuous imaginings2 a painting of beauty1 not faked but really felt1 by brushes at once more searching and yet softer4 ,and very likely1 too1 there will be a spurt of zest and frankness1 as from men who have been too long constrained to a single emotion under the spell of a powerful drug4 ,one more thought may be jotted down4 ,unless the national unity now prevailing lasts on into the years of peace that follow1 the country will certainly pass through great internal stress4 ,that stress will most likely have a more intimate and powerful influence upon literature than the war itself4 ,if there is to come any startling change1 it should be five or ten years after the war rather than at once4 ,,art ,,and ,,the ,,war 7,from the ,atlantic ,monthly and ,fortnightly ,review1 #aiae47 ,monsieur ,rodin--perhaps the greatest living artist--has lately defined art as the pursuit of beauty1 and beauty as 8the expression of what there is best in man40 8,man10 he says1 8needs to express in a perfect form of art all his intuitive longings towards the ,unknowable40 ,his words may serve as warning to those who imagine that the war will loosen one root of the tree of art--a tree which has been growing slowly since first soul came into men's eyes4 ,this world 7as all will admit7 is one of the innumerable expressions of an ,unknowable ,creative ,purpose1 which colloquially we call ,god2 that which not every one will admit is that this ,creative ,purpose works in its fashioning not only of matter but of what we call spirit1 through friction1 through the rubbing together of the noses1 the thoughts1 and the hearts of men4 ,while the material condition of our planet--the heat or friction within it--remains favourable to human life1 there will1 there must needs be1 a continual crescendo in the stature of ,humanity1 through the ever-increasing friction of human spirits one with the other2 friction supplied by life itself1 and1 next after life1 by those transcripts of life1 those expressions of human longing1 which we know as art4 ,art for art's sake--if it meant what it said1 which is doubtful--was always a vain and silly cry4 ,as well contend that an artist is not a man4 ,art was ever the servant as well as the mistress of men1 and ever will be4 ,civilization1 which after all is but the gradual conversion of animal man into human man1 has come about through art even more than through religion1 law1 and science4 ,for the achieved 8expression of man's intuitive longing towards the ,unknowable1 in more or less perfect forms of art0 has ever--after life itself--been the chief influence in broadening men's hearts4 ,the aim of human life no doubt is happiness4 ,but1 after all1 what is happiness8 ,efficiency1 wealth1 material comfort8 ,many by their lives do so affirm2 few are cynical enough to say so2 and on their death-beds none will feel that they are4 ,not even freedom in itself brings happiness4 ,happiness lies in breadth of heart4 ,and breadth of heart is that inward freedom1 which has the power to understand1 feel with1 and1 if need be1 help others4 ,in breadth of heart are founded justice1 love1 sacrifice2 without it there would seem no special meaning to any of our efforts1 and the tale of all human life would still be no more than that of very gifted animals1 many of whom1 indeed1 are highly efficient1 and have unity partly instinctive1 partly founded on experiences of the utility thereof2 but none of whom have that conscious altruism which is without perception of benefit to self1 and works from sheer recognition of its own beauty4 ,in sum1 human civilization is the growth of conscious altruism2 and the directive moral purpose in the world nothing but our dim perception1 ever growing through spiritual friction1 that we are all bound more and more towards the understanding of ourselves and each other1 and all that this carries with it4 ,to imagine1 then1 that a conflagration like this war1 however vast and hellish1 will do aught but momentarily retard the crescendo of that understanding1 is to miss perception of the whole slow process by which man has become less and less an animal throughout the ages2 and to fear that the war will scorch and wither art1 that chief agent of understanding1 is either to identify oneself with the petty and eclectic views which merely produce sthetic excrescences1 or to be frankly ignorant of what art means4 ,recognition of the relativity of art is constantly neglected by those who talk and write about it4 ,for one school the audience does not exist2 for another nothing but the audience4 ,obviously neither view is right4 ,art may be very nave and still be art--still be the expression of a childish vision appealing to childish visions1 making childish hearts beat4 ,thus3 8,mary had a little lamb1 ,its wool was white as snow1 ,and everywhere that ,mary went ,the lamb was sure to go10 is art to the child of five1 whose heart and fancy it affects4 ,and3 8,tiger1 tiger1 burning bright ,through the forests of the night-- ,what immortal hand and eye ,framed thy fearful symmetry80 is art to the writer and the reader of these words4 ,on the other hand1 ,tolstoi1 in limiting art to such of it as might be understanded of simple folk1 served his purpose of attacking the extravagant dandyisms of stheticism1 but fell lugubriously short of the wide truth4 ,the essence of art is the power of communication between heart and heart4 ,yes6 ,but since no one shall say to human nature3 8,be of this or that pattern10 or to the waves of human understanding3 8,thus far and no further10 so no man shall say these things to art4 ,anybody can draw a tree1 but few can draw a tree that others can see is like a tree1 and not one in a million can convey the essential spirit of ,tree4 ,the power of getting over the footlights to some audience or other is clearly necessary before a man can be called an artist by any but himself4 ,but so soon as he has established genuine connection between his creation and the gratified perception of others1 he is making art1 though it may be1 and usually is1 very childish art4 ,the point to grasp is this1 and again this3 ,art is rooted in life for its inspiration1 and dependent for its existence as art on affecting other human beings1 sooner or later4 ,the statue1 the picture1 or the book which1 having been given a proper chance1 has failed to move any but its creator1 is certainly not art4 ,it does not follow that the artist should consider his public1 or try to please others than his own best self2 but if1 in pleasing his best self1 he does not succeed in pleasing others1 in the past1 the present1 or the future1 he will certainly not have produced art4 ,not1 of course1 that the size of his public is proof of an artist's merit4 ,the public of all time is generally but a small public at any given moment4 ,tolstoi seems to have forgotten that1 and to have neglected the significance attaching to the quality of a public4 ,for1 if the essence of art be its power of bridging between heart and heart 7as he admitted71 its value may well be greater if at first it only reaches and fertilizes the hearts of other artists rather than those of the public1 for through these other artists it sweeps out again in further circles and ripples of expression4 ,art is the universal traveller1 essentially international in influence4 ,revealing the spirit of things lying behind parochial surfaces and circumstance1 delving down into the common stuff of nature and human nature1 and recreating therefrom1 it passes ten thousand miles of space1 ten thousand years of time1 and yet appeals to the men it finds on those far shores4 ,it is the one possession of a country which that country's enemies usually still respect and take delight in4 ,war--destructive outcome of the side of man's nature which is hostile to all breadth of heart--can for the moment paralyse the outward activities of art1 but can it ever chain its spirit1 or arrest the inner ferment of the creative instinct8 ,for thousands of generations war has been the normal state of man's existence1 yet alongside war has flourished art1 reflecting man's myriad aspirations and longings1 and1 by innumerable expressions of individual vision and sentiment1 ever unifying human life1 through the common factor of impersonal emotion passing from heart to heart by ways more invisible than the winds travel1 carrying the seeds and pollen of herb life4 ,if one could only see those countless tenuous bridges spun by art1 a dewy web over the whole lawn of life6 ,if for a moment we could see them1 discouragement would cease its uneasy buzzing4 ,what can this war do that a million wars have not8 ,it is bigger1 and more bloody--the reaction from it will but be the greater4 ,if every work of art existing in the ,western world were obliterated1 and every artist killed1 would human nature return to the animalism from which art has in a measure raised it8 ,not so4 ,art makes good in the human soul all the positions that it conquers4 ,when the war is over1 the world will find that the thing which has changed least is art4 ,there will be less money to spend on it2 some artists will have been killed2 certain withered leaves1 warts1 and dead branches will have sloughed off from the tree2 and that is all4 ,the wind of war reeking with death will neither have warped nor poisoned it4 ,the utility of art1 which in these days of blood and agony is mocked at1 will be rising again into the view even of the mockers1 almost before the thunder of the last shell has died away4 8,beauty is useful10 says ,monsieur ,rodin4 ,aye6 it is useful6 ,who knows whether1 even in the full whirlwind of this most gigantic struggle1 art work may not be produced which1 in sum of its ultimate effect on mankind1 will outlive and outweigh the total net result of that struggle1 just as the work of ,euripides1 ,shakespeare1 ,leonardo1 ,beethoven1 and ,tolstoi outweighed the net result of the ,peloponnesian1 sixteenth century1 ,napoleonic1 and ,crimean wars8 ,war is so unutterably tragic1 because--without it--,nature1 given time1 would have attained the same ends in other ways4 ,a war is the spasmodic uprising of old savage instincts against the slow and gradual humanizing of the animal called man4 ,it emanates from restless and so-called virile natures fundamentally intolerant of men's progress towards the understanding of each other--natures that often profess a blasphemous belief in art1 a blasphemous alliance with ,god4 ,it still apparently suffices for a knot of such natures to get together1 and play on mass fears and loyalties1 to set a continent on fire4 ,and at the end8 ,those of us who are able to look back from thirty years hence on this tornado of death will conclude with a dreadful laugh that if it had never come the state of the world would be very much the same4 ,it is not the intention of these words to deny the desperate importance of this conflict now that it has been joined4 ,humanism and ,democracy have been forced into a sudden and spasmodic death-grapple with their arch-enemies2 and the end of that struggle must be brought into conformity with the slow1 sure1 general progress of mankind4 ,but if1 by better fortune1 this fearful conflict had not been forced upon civilization1 the same victory would have made good1 in course of time1 by other processes4 ,that is the irony4 ,for1 of a surety1 wars or no wars--the future is to ,humanism4 ,but art has no cause to droop its head1 nor artists to be discouraged4 ,they are the servants of the future every bit as much as1 and more than1 they have been the servants of the past2 they are even the faithful servants of the present1 for they must keep their powers in training1 and their vision keen against the time when they are once more accounted of4 ,a true picture is a joy that will move hearts some day1 though it may not sell now1 nor even for some years after the war2 beauty none the less 8the expression of what there is best in man0 because the earth is being soaked with blood4 ,monsieur ,sologub1 the ,russian poet1 speaking recently on the future of art1 seems to have indicated his view that after the war art will move away from the paths of naturalism2 and he defines the naturalists as 8people who describe life from the standpoint of material satisfaction40 ,with that definition ,i do not at all agree1 but it is never good to argue about words4 ,confusion in regard to the meaning of terms describing art activity is so profound that it is well to sweep them out of our minds1 and1 in considering what forms art ought to take1 go deep down to the criterion of communication between heart and heart4 ,the only essential is1 that vision1 fancy1 feeling should be given the concrete clothing that shall best make them perceptible by the hearts of others2 the simpler1 the more direct and clear and elemental the form1 the better2 and that is all you can say about it4 ,to seek remote1 intricate1 and 8precious0 clothings for the imagination is but to handicap vision and imperil communication and appeal2 the artists who seek them are not usually of much account4 ,the greatness of ,blake is the greatness of his simpler work4 ,though1 in this connection1 it is as much affectation to pretend that men are more childish than they are1 as to pretend that they all have the subtlety of a ,robert ,browning4 ,if the range of an artist's vision1 the essential truth of his fancy1 and the heat of his feeling be great1 then1 obviously1 the simpler1 the more accessible the form he takes1 the wider will be his reach1 the deeper the emotion he stirs1 the greater the value of his art4 8,what is wanted10 says ,monsieur ,sologub1 8is true art40 ,quite so6 ,what is wanted in a work of art is an unforced natural and adequate correspondence between fancy and form1 matter and spirit1 so that one shall not be distracted by its naturalism1 mysticism1 cubism1 whatnotism1 but shall simply be moved in a deep impersonal way by perception of another's vision4 ,two instances come into the mind3 ,a picture of ,spring1 by ,jean ,franois ,millet1 in the ,louvre4 ,therein1 by simple selection1 without any departure whatever from the normal representation of life1 the very essence of ,spring1 the brooding and the white flash of it1 the suspense and stir1 the sense of gathered torrents1 all the special emotion1 which1 every ,spring of the year1 is sooner or later felt by every heart1 has been stored by the painter's vision and feeling1 and projected from his eyes and heart to other eyes and hearts4 ,and3 ,those chapters in a novel of ,monsieur ,sologub's compatriot1 ,turgenev--8,fathers and ,children0--which describe with the simplest naturalism the death of ,bazarov4 ,there1 too1 is the heart-beat of emotion as universal as it well can be1 rendered so vividly that one is not conscious at all of how it is rendered4 ,these are two cases of that complete welding of form and spirit which is all one need or should demand of art2 the rest is a mere question of the artist's emotional quality and stature4 ,art1 in fact1 will take all paths after the war just as before2 and now and then the artist will fashion that true blend of form and fancy which is the achievement of beauty4 ,for ,monsieur ,rodin1 beauty is the adoration of all that man perceives with his spiritual senses4 ,yes4 ,and the task of artists is to kneel before life till they rive the heart from it and with that heart twine their own2 out of such marriages come precious offspring1 winged messengers4 ,there is a picture of ,francesca's in the ,louvre1 too much restored--some say it is not a ,francesca1 but if not1 then neither are they ,francescas in the ,english ,national ,gallery1 and those1 so far as ,i know1 are not disputed--a picture of the ,virgin1 with hands pressed together1 before her naked ,babe1 in a landscape of hills and waters4 ,her kneeling figure has in it ,i cannot tell what of devotion and beauty1 which makes the heart turn over within one4 ,with his spiritual senses the painter has perceived1 and in adoration set down what he has seen1 mingling with it the longings of his own heart4 ,and they who look on that picture know for evermore what devotion and beauty are4 ,and if they be artists1 they go away fortified again to the taking up of a long quest4 ,this is the utility of art4 ,it plays between men like light1 showing the heights and depths of nature1 beckoning on1 or warning of destruction1 and ever through emotion revealing heart to heart4 ,it is the priestess of ,humanism1 confirming to us our future1 reassuring our faltering faith in our own approach to the ,unknowable1 till the tides of the ,creative ,purpose turn1 and our world gets cold2 and ,man1 having lived his day to the uttermost1 finds gradual sleep4 ,,tre ,,cime ,,di ,,lavaredo 7,from the ,book of ,italy1 #aiaf47 ,most of us who have lived a good long time have found some part of the world to look on as the happy hunting-ground of our spirits1 the place most blessed by memory4 ,and within that sacred circle there will be some spot1 above all others1 enchanted4 ,tre ,cime di ,lavaredo6 ,drei ,zinnen6 ,you three rock mountains above ,misurina of the ,italian ,tyrol--how many times have we not climbed up1 to lie on your high stony slopes1 steeping our eyes in wild form and colour1 wherefrom even a dull spirit must take wings and soar a little6 ,width of thought is surely born1 in some sort1 of majestic sights--cloud forms1 and a burning sky1 rock pinnacles1 and wandering1 deep-down valleys1 the gray-violet shadows on the hills1 the frozen serenity of far snows4 ,all the outspread miracle there lies fan-shaped to the south1 south-east1 south-west1 having that warmth which so makes the heart rejoice the moment one passes over and looks southward from any mountain4 ,what traveller does not feel strange loveliness steal up into his soul from southern slopes8 ,domodossola below the ,simplon2 ,val d',aosta beyond the ,matterhorn2 ,bormio beneath the ,stelvio2 and many another holy place4 ,it is not merely charm and mellowness--the ,south can be savage as the ,north--it is some added poignancy of form and colour1 and a look of being blessed4 ,tre ,cime di ,lavaredo6 ,music comes drifting up your slopes1 from pasture far down enough to give magic to cow-bells4 ,but now1 where but three years ago we watched a little white cow licking its herd's sprained hand1 men are fighting to the death4 ,batteries must be adorning that steep forcella running from the refuge hut4 ,a new kind of thunder reverberates1 in whose roar the stones that were for ever falling will have lost their voices4 ,and the beasts1 the gray1 the dun1 the white1 mild-eyed--their pasture below must be a desert6 ,even the goats surely have gone4 ,or do they and their young masters attend placidly on these new mysteries1 just pricking their ears now and again at some too raucous clap and clatter of guns8 ,let those who are killed up there be buried in their tracks6 ,out of their bodies on the lower slopes a few more flowers will spring--gentian1 mountain-dandelion1 alpen-rose2 and higher1 nearer those peaks1 they will be grateful food for root of edelweiss4 ,and may their spirits--if men have such after death--stay up on those wild heights6 ,nowhere else could they have such free flitting space6 ,friend-spirit1 foe-spirit1 they will fight no more1 but on the winter nights in comradeship haunt the frozen hills1 where no shred of man or beast or bird or plant is left1 till ,spring comes again4 ,to fight up here1 where ,nature has designed one vast demonstration of her own fierce untameness1 of all the stubborn face she opposes to the crafts of man6 ,what irony6 ,up in this wild stony citadel1 among these rock minarets and red-and-gold-stained bastions1 above ravines remote from man--up here1 where in winter all is ice1 and even in summer no green thing grows2 on these invincible outposts of an earth not yet subdued by incalculable human toil throughout a million years2 among these sublime unconquered monuments1 reminding us of labour and peril infinite in our long death-grip with ,nature--up here man has fellow-man by the throat4 ,yea6 ,irony complete6 ,nor the less perfect in that each soldier on these heights who in duty clubs his fellow-,christian's brains out1 or sends forth the shell that shall mingle his body with the rock rubble and the edelweiss1 and sets up a little cross1 perhaps1 to the departed soul1 is a true hero1 holding his life in his hand1 throwing it down grandly for his country's honour4 ,verily we are strange animals1 we men--little walking magazines of too great vitality6 ,out of our sheer rampancy comes war2 as though superfluity of vital fluid were for ever accumulating1 to free ourselves of which we have found as yet no better way than this4 ,shall we never learn to spend the surplus of our vital force in efforts of salvation rather than destruction8 ,if the mountains cannot teach us1 and the wide night skies above them1 sparkling with other worlds1 then nothing will4 ,for on mountains and beneath such skies man feels at his greatest1 flies far in fancy1 dreams of nobility2 yet does he perceive what a puny midget of a creature walks on his two feet1 glad of any little help he can get or give1 glad of good-will from any living thing4 ,in loneliness up here he would soon be frozen and starved1 or slip to death4 ,his tiny strength1 his feeble cunning1 would avail him but short span4 ,unroped to other men1 he is but a sigh in the night1 a cross of bleaching lime in to-morrow's sunlight4 4 4 4 ,tre ,cime di ,lavaredo6 ,golden sounds of a golden speech6 ,when1 if ever1 we see your beloved rocks again1 that may be your only name2 no longer perhaps will the words ,drei ,zinnen compete for you 4 4 4 ,but will you know the difference8 ,as of old1 gigantic1 silent1 or1 clamorously1 in the loosening rains and heat1 casting down your stones--you will lift up your black defiance in the clear mountain nights1 your grandeur to the sun by day4 ,once we saw you with the young moon flying toward1 like a white swallow1 like an arrow aimed at your hearts1 as it might be in duel between bright swiftness and dark strength4 ,the moon was vanquished--for she flew into you that stood unmoved4 ,tre ,cime di ,lavaredo6 ,you will outlast the race of men upon this earth4 ,when we1 quarrelsome midget heroes that we be1 are all frozen from this planet1 you will be there1 whitened for ever from head to foot4 ,you will have no name1 then--neither of ,north nor ,south6 ,,second ,,thoughts ,,on ,,this ,,war 7,from ,scribner's ,magazine1 #aiae47 #a4 ,i went out into the wind--the first south-west wind after many days of easterly drought4 ,all the morning it had rained1 but now the gray sky was torn2 the sun shone1 and long white clouds were driven over pools of blue1 or piled up into heavenly mountains4 ,the land of moor and valley1 the hills and fields and woods gleamed in the sunlight1 or were shadowed dark by the drifting clouds4 ,moss on the top of the old gray walls was wet1 but warm to the touch2 the birds--daws1 pigeons1 hawks--flung themselves at the wind4 ,and the scent6 ,every frond of the bracken1 each sprig of the gorse and the heather1 all the soughing boughs of young pine-tree and oak1 and the grass1 gray-powdered with rain1 were exhaling their fragrance so that each breath drawn was a draught of wild perfume4 ,and in one's heart rose an ecstasy of love for this wind-sweetened earth1 for the sun1 and the clouds1 the rain1 and the wind1 the trees and the flowering plants1 for the streams and the rocks--for this earth which breeds us all1 and into which we reabsorb1 a passion as untutored1 wild1 and natural as the love of life in the merest dumb thing that knows nothing of ideals1 of country1 realms and policies1 nothing of war4 ,germany calls the war 8this ,english war20 we ,english as fervently believe it a ,prussian war1 having deep root in ,prussian will1 and history4 ,one thing is certain3 ,at the last moment the world1 desperately balancing1 was thrust over the edge of the abyss by a sudden swoop of the ,prussian war party4 8,pourtales 7,german ,ambassador to ,russia7 called ,sazonoff's attention in the most serious manner to the fact that nowadays measures of mobilization would be a highly dangerous form of diplomatic pressure2 for in that event the purely military consideration of the question by the ,general ,staffs would find expression1 and that if that button were once touched in ,germany the situation would get out of control40 7,count ,szapary1 ,austrian ,ambassador to ,russia4 ,austrian ,book1 ,no4 #bh47h ,in a ,europe teeming with mutual fears a few men1 perhaps not a score in all1 have had the power to strip from millions their meed of life on this wind-sweetened earth6 ,for myths conceived in a few ambitious brains1 and the 8strike-first0 theory of a knot of strategists1 the whole world must pay with grief and agony6 ,what can we do1 when this war is over1 to insure that we shall not again be stampeded by professional soldiers1 and those--in whatever country--who dream paper dreams of territory1 trade1 and glory1 caring nothing for the lives of the simple1 knowing nothing of the beauty of the earth which is their heritage4 ----- #h ,since this was written ,maximilian ,harden in his paper ,zukunft has used these words3 8,germany is calumniated when it is said that she wanted war1 not to defend herself1 but in order to conquer4 ,but it is equally false to suppose that ,england1 ,france1 or ,russia1 who were either not armed at all1 or only half ready 4 4 4 deliberately planned an attack4 ,the outbreak of the war could not be arrested2 because at the decisive moment the ,will of the ,strategists was stronger than the ,will of the ,statesmen40 #b4 8,no corn planted1 more men wanted60--words of the ,old ,dalmatian song6 ,it is no use crying over spilt milk1 and no good throwing down the instruments in the middle of an operation4 ,but there is every use in keeping before oneself perpetually the thought that this war is an operation to excise the trampling instinct2 for there are many among us willing to speak of an operation while it serves their purpose1 who unconsciously believe in that which they profess to be cutting out4 ,human nature is much the same all the world over4 ,the ,prussian ,junker is but a specially favoured variety of a well-marked type that grows in every land4 ,and the business of other men is to keep circumstances from being favourable to its development and ascendancy4 ,when we talk of safeguarding democracy1 liberty1 and the rights of small nations1 we really only mean the muzzling of the ,junkerism in human nature--the restraint of this trampling instinct4 ,who would give a rush for the immunity of any nation from the resurgence within itself of that instinct1 unless it watches with lynx eyes8 ,i cannot but think that1 when peace comes and ,prussian ,junkerism is held harmless for a span1 ,junkerism in general will have a better chance of pushing up its hydra heads than it had before this war4 ,times will be very hard--the 8have nots0 and 8they who have0 will be very nakedly set over against each other4 ,circumstances will be favourable to civil strife2 and civil strife1 whichever side wins1 fosters despotic leaderships and the trampling instinct4 ,those not merely hoping and meaning to try for a better world1 after the war1 but expecting one almost as a matter of course1 forget that the devotion and unity1 which men display under the shadow of a great fear and the stimulus of that most powerful and universal emotion1 patriotism1 will slip away from them when the fear and the emotion are removed4 ,if before the war men were incapable of rising to great and united effort for their own betterment out of sheer desire for perfection1 are they even as likely to be able when1 after the war1 economic stress puts a greater strain on each individual's good-will8 ,the words of a certain prophet1 8,literature1 ,art1 ,industry1 ,commerce1 ,politics1 ,statesmanship will1 when this fighting day is over1 come into a new and better era10 are soothing syrup4 ,let us by all means hope for and intend the best1 but let us set ourselves to face the worst4 #c4 ,because pens lie unused1 or are but feebly wielded over the war1 they would have us believe that modern literature has been found wanting4 8,look10 they say1 8how nobly the ,greek and the ,elizabethan pens rhymed the epic struggles of their ages4 ,what a degenerate1 nerveless creature is this modern pen6 ,see how it fails when put to the touchstone of great events and the thrilling realities of war60 ,i think this is nonsense4 ,the greatest pens of the past were strangers to the glamour of war4 ,euripides made it the subject of a dirge2 ,shakespeare of casual treatment2 ,cervantes of his irony4 ,they were in advance of the feeling of their day about war2 but now their feeling has become that of mankind at large2 and the modern pen1 good1 bad1 or indifferent1 follows--longo intervallo--their prevision of war's downfalling glory4 ,in the words of a certain officer1 war is now 8damn dull1 damn dirty1 and damn dangerous40 ,the people of ,britain1 and no doubt of the other countries--however bravely they may fight--are fighting not because they love it1 not because it is natural to them1 but because--alas6--they must4 ,this makes them the more heroic since the romance of war for them is past1 belonging to cruder stages of the world's journey4 ,in our consciousness to-day there is a violent divorce between our admiration for the fine deeds1 the sacrifices1 and heroisms of this war1 and our feeling about war itself4 ,a shadowy sense of awful waste hangs over it all in the mind of the simplest soldier as in that of the subtlest penman4 ,it may be real that we fight for our conceptions of liberty and justice2 but we feel all the time that we ought not to have had to fight1 that these things should be respected of the nations2 that we have grown out of such savagery2 that the whole business is a kind of monstrous madness suddenly let loose on the world4 ,such feelings were never in the souls of ordinary men1 whether soldiers or civilians1 in the days of ,elizabeth or ,themistocles4 ,they fought1 then1 as a matter of course4 ,in those so-called heroic ages 8the thrilling realities of war0 were truly the realities of life and feeling4 ,to-day they are but a long nightmare4 ,we have discovered that man is a creature slowly1 by means of thought and life and art1 evolving from the animal he was into the human being he will be some day1 and in that desperately slow progression sloughing off the craving for physical combat and the destruction of his fellow-man4 ,this process does not apparently mean the loss of stoicism and courage1 but rather the increase thereof1 as millions in this war1 after the most peaceful century in the world's history1 have proved4 ,but we are a few paces farther on toward the fully evolved human being than were the compatriots of ,themistocles or ,elizabeth4 ,the true realities of to-day lie in peace4 ,the great epic of our time is the expression of man's slow emergence from the blood-loving animal he was4 ,to that great epic the modern pen has long been consecrate1 and is not likely to betray its trust4 #d4 ,one day we read in our journals how an enemy ,socialist or ,pacifist has raised his voice against the mob passions and war spite of his country1 and we think3 8,what an enlightened man60 ,and the next day1 in the same journals1 we read that ,so-and-so has done the same thing in our own country1 and we think3 8,my ,god6 ,he ought to be hung60 ,to-day we listen with enthusiasm to orations of our statesmen about the last drop of our blood1 and the last pennies in our purses1 and we think3 8,that is patriotism60 ,to-morrow we read utterance by enemy notables about arming the cats and dogs1 and exclaim3 8,what truculent insanity60 ,we learn on ,monday that some disguised fellow-countryman has risked his life to secure information from the heart of the enemy's country1 and we think3 8,that was real courage60 ,and on ,tuesday our bile rises at discovering that an enemy has been arrested in our midst for espionage1 and we think3 8,the dirty spy60 ,our blood boils on ,wednesday at hearing of the scurvy treatment of one of ourselves resident in the enemy's country4 ,and on ,thursday we read of the wrecking by our mob of aliens' shops1 and think3 8,well1 what could they expect1 belonging to that nation60 ,when one of our regiments has defended itself with exceptional bravery1 and inflicted great loss on the enemy1 we justly call it heroism4 ,when some enemy regiment has done the same1 we use the word ferocity4 ,the comic papers of the enemy guy us1 and we think3 8,how childish60 ,ours guy the enemy1 and we cry3 8,ah6 that's good60 ,our enemies use a hymn of hate1 and we despise them for it4 ,we do our hate in silence1 and feel ourselves the better for the practice4 ,shall we not rather fight our fight1 and win it1 without these little ironies8 #e4 ,the first thing he does when he comes down each morning is to read his paper1 and the moment he has finished breakfast he sticks the necessary flags into his big map4 ,he began to do that very soon after the war broke out1 and has never missed a day4 ,it would seem to him almost as if peace had been declared1 and the universe were suddenly unbottomed1 if any morning he omitted to alter slightly three flags at least4 ,what will he do when the end at last is reached1 and he can no longer tear the paper open with a kind of trembling avidity2 no longer debate within himself the questions of strategy1 and the absorbing chances of the field1 when he has1 in fact1 to sweep his flags into a drawer and forget they ever were8 ,it would haunt him1 if he thought of it4 ,but sufficient unto his day is the good thereof4 ,yes6 ,it has almost come to that with him2 though he will still talk to you of 8this dreadful war10 and never alludes to the days as 8great0 or to the times as 8stirring0 as some folk do4 ,no1 he sincerely believes that he is distressed beyond measure by the continuance of 8the abominable business10 and would not confess for worlds that he would miss it1 that it has become for him a daily 8cocktail0 to his appetite for life4 ,it is not he1 after all1 who is being skinned2 to the skinning of other eels the individual eel is soon accustomed4 ,by proxy to be 8making history10 to be witnessing the 8greatest drama0 known to man since the beginning of the world--after all it is something6 ,he will never have such a chance again4 ,he still remembers with a shudder how he felt the first weeks after war was declared2 and the mere fact that he shudders shows that his present feelings are by no means what they were4 ,after all1 one cannot remain for ever prepossessed with suffering that is not one's own1 or with fears of invasion indefinitely postponed4 ,true1 he has lost a nephew1 a second cousin1 the sons of several friends4 ,he has been duly sorry1 duly sympathetic1 but then1 he was not dangerously fond of any of them4 ,his own son is playing his part1 and he is proud of it4 ,if the boy should be killed he will feel poignant grief1 but even then there is revenge to be considered4 ,his pocket is suffering1 but it is for the ,country2 and that almost makes it a pleasure4 ,and he goes on sticking in his flags in spots where the earth is a mush of mangled flesh1 and the air shrill with the whir of shells1 the moans of dying men1 and the screams of horses4 ,is this pure fantasy1 or does it hold a grain of truth8 #f4 ,the war brings up with ever greater insistence the two antagonistic feelings of which one was always conscious3 ,that men are radically alike4 ,and that there are two kinds of men1 subtly but hopelessly divided from each other4 ,men are radically alike in the way they meet danger and death1 in their sentiment and in their laughter1 in their endurance1 their passions1 their self-sacrifice1 their selfishness1 their superstitions1 and their gratitude4 ,they are radically divided by possession1 or not1 of that extra sensitiveness to proportion1 form1 colour1 sound1 which we call the sense of beauty4 ,would there still be war in a world the most of whose dwellers had the sense of beauty8 ,i think not4 ,and they who have it1 so few by comparison1 are tragically compelled to live and bear their part in this hell1 created by a world of which they are not4 ,these two kinds of men shade subtly the one into the other2 but the division is real1 for all that--the bristles on the backs of each true specimen on either side of the line rise at sight of the other sort4 ,and the war with its toil and hardships1 its common humanity1 deaths and dangers and sacrifices shared1 will not bring them one jot nearer one to the other4 ,is there evidence for thinking that a sense of beauty is more common than it was8 ,i am not sure4 ,but there is certainly no chance that the sense of beauty can increase within measurable time1 so as to give its possessors a majority4 ,no chance that wars will cease from that reason4 ,the little world of beauty-lovers will for many ages yet1 perhaps always1 be pitifully in tow1 half-drowned by the following surge of the big insensitive world when it loses for a time what little feeling for harmony it has1 and goes full speed ahead4 #g4 ,some argue earnestly that what really restrains and regulates the conduct of individuals is not force1 but the general sense of decency1 the public opinion of the community2 and that the same rule applies to nations4 ,in other words1 that there is no reason why inter-,state morality should be different from that prevailing amongst the individuals within a ,state4 ,this argument neglects to perceive1 first3 ,that the public opinion of a community is1 in reality1 latent force2 that in a real community 8,right is ,might10 up to a certain point4 ,and1 secondly3 ,that there is as yet no community within which the nations dwell4 ,an individual cannot pursue rank egotism to the complete overriding of his neighbours without knowing that those neighbours can and will give concrete expression to their resentment and suppress him4 ,this latent force is at the back of all ,state-law1 and of all public opinion1 which is but ,state-law unwritten4 ,the essence of its efficacy is the fact that individuals do live in community1 each one perceiving with the non-rampant part of him that the rest are right in squashing his rampancy1 since life in community would soon be impossible if they did not4 ,he consents1 subconsciously1 to being squashed when he is rampant1 because he recognizes himself to be part of a whole4 ,until nations have come to be parts of communities1 or group-,states1 there will be no really effective analogy between individual morality and ,state morality4 ,there is1 of course1 a growing international decency1 a reaching out toward co-operation1 a recognition that certain things are 8not done02 but it is liable to be violated1 as we have seen1 at any moment by any ,state which is1 or thinks itself1 strong enough to override laws which have no adequate latent force behind them4 ,to create this latent controlling force we have paramount need of a system of group-,states1 leading on by slow degrees1 through the linking of one group with another1 to a ,united ,states of the world4 ,the necessary line of progression is sufficiently disclosed by the violation of ,belgian neutrality and other matters in this war4 ,public opinion not backed by latent force has been proved useless4 ,there is no such thing1 ,i fear1 as public opinion worth the name except within a definite community4 ,the task of statesmen when peace comes is the formation of a ,united ,states of ,europe--linked if possible with the countries of ,america--the creation of a real public opinion backed by a real1 if latent1 force4 #h4 ,nietzsche was an individualist1 a hater of the ,state and of the ,prussians1 a sick man1 a great artist in words to be read with delight and--your tongue in your cheek4 ,by quaint irony his central idea1 8the ego-rampant10 was temperamentally suited to those ,prussians whom he hated4 ,the ,neo-,german conception of the ,state1 7if one may fairly judge it out of the mouths of certain ,germans7 as a law unto itself1 demanding all from the individuals who compose it1 and taking all it can get from the world at large1 may be inverted ,nietzscheism1 but it is the creature of ,prussian history1 and of very different men4 ,it is based on what we others1 and ,i should imagine many ,germans1 think is a transient and false notion of what ,states should be4 ,we say they should not roam the earth considering only their own strength4 ,true that1 in the absence as yet of the system of group-,states1 ,states still can seize here or seize there1 if they be strong enough1 but we emphatically deny that they should do so on principle1 as the new ,german philosophy seems to teach1 and set the robber's ideal1 the robber's fashion of morality1 for the individuals who compose those ,states4 ,the philosophy1 not only of the rest of ,europe1 but of ,germany1 before all1 in the days of ,kant and ,hegel1 presumed that the hard-won morality of individuals amongst themselves would ultimately become the morality of ,states4 8,the fact that the sense of community among the peoples of the earth has gone so far that the violation of right in one place is felt everywhere1 has made the idea of a ,citizenship of the world no fantastic dream1 but a necessary extension of the unwritten ,code of ,states and ,peoples40 7,kant47 8,the binding cord is not force1 but the deep-seated feeling of order that is possessed by us all40 7,hegel47 ,the new ,german philosophy has anointed the present immorality of ,states and thereby fixed it as the morality for individuals4 ,i think these philosophers in their characteristic ,german exuberance1 with its habit of over-statement1 have been hard on ,germany4 ,for the ,german people at large have presumably been acquiring throughout the ages some such instincts toward altruism as the peoples of other countries4 ,the new ,german philosophy has succeeded to a dismal extent in its inoculation of the ,german people1 but it cannot in the long run impose its logical ideal of the wild man in the forest1 though never so gorgeously decked out1 on the ,germans1 any more than the old ,german philosophy made the ,germans replicas of ,christ4 ,man never attains to his philosophical ideal2 but it is just as well that he should see clearly its apotheosis before he tries too hard to reach it4 #i4 ,our enemy now proclaims that his objective is the crushing of ,britain's world-power in the interests of mankind4 ,are we justified in retaining if we can what1 in a by no means unstained past1 we have acquired1 or should we hand over our position1 well and ill-gotten1 to this new claimant1 with his new culture1 for the benefit of the world8 ,man has a somewhat incurable belief that he can manage his own affairs1 and we ,britons hold the faith that our character1 ideals1 and experience fit us to control our own lives and property for the general good of mankind1 side by side with other nations of like mind4 ,the fortunate possessors of the greater ,empire and the greater trade are not perhaps the most convincing advocates of the principle 8,live and let live40 ,for all that1 we find it impossible to admit the right of any nation to an aggressive policy toward us4 ,germany1 after being petrified with surprise at our intervention1 now accuses us of having planned the war and deliberately attacked her4 ,it is divinely easy to claim things both ways when you are at war4 ,we all see just now rather as in a glass darkly4 ,and yet1 with an immense ,empire1 an immense trade1 and nothing that we wanted anywhere1 with a crop of serious social and political troubles on hand1 8a contemptible little army10 a tradition of abstention from ,european quarrels1 a ,free ,trade policy1 a democratic system of government1 a ,foreign ,minister remarkable up to then for his services to peace1 and a 8degenerate1 wealth-rotted1 huckstering0 population1 it still seems to us 7always excepting our handful of pre-war ,jingoes7 as improbable as it once seemed to ,germany that we hatched and set on foot such a wildcat enterprise4 #aj4 8,a war of exhaustion40 ,how often we use those words6 ,they are current in all the belligerent countries1 and in all they are unreally used1 as yet4 ,but they are1 ,i fear1 literally true4 ,it is a war which--save for some happy chance--can hardly end till one group or the other have no longer the men to hold their lines4 ,the sway of the fighting is of no great moment2 it does not seem to matter where precisely the killing1 maiming1 and capturing go on1 so long as they do go on with a certain mathematical regularity4 ,a year or so hence1 when the total disablement is nearer twenty than ten millions1 the meaning of the words will be a little clearer1 and they will probably only then be used by the side whose united population is still more than twice that of the other side4 ,two years hence they will be seen to have meant exactly what they said4 ,all the swinging from optimism to pessimism and back again1 the cock-a-hoop of the ,press one day1 the dirge of the ,press the next2 the alarms and excursions about the failure of this or that--they are all storms in teacups4 ,the wills of the nations fighting are equally engaged1 and will not break2 the energies will not break2 the food will probably not quite fail2 the money will be found somehow2 but the human flesh will give out1 in time--that is all2 on which side it will give out first may be left to the child who can count up to two4 ,no glory about this business--just ding-dong shambles6 ,if one believed1 with a certain ,englishman1 that there was no real struggle of ideals involved1 these words 8a war of exhaustion10 meaning what they really do1 would be too intolerable even to think of4 ,he who denies this to be a struggle of ideals may have a brilliant intellect1 but he can surely have none of that instinctive perception of the essence and atmosphere of things1 which is a so much surer guide than reason4 ,he has perceived doubtless that autocratists and force-worshippers in ,england1 in ,russia1 in ,italy 7there are but few in ,france7 are fighting against the ,central ,empires as furiously as if they were the most ardent lovers of liberty2 and that the democrats and humanists in ,central ,europe are fighting for their countries as devotedly as their force-worshipping rulers1 and he has thought3 8,this is a mere blind game of #8kill your neighbour1' with nothing real at stake save the aggrandizement of one group of countries or the other40 ,but behind all this is the psychological heart of the matter--the states of mind in the belligerent countries before they began to fight4 ,there are racial temperaments to which certain ideals are fatal4 ,the ,teuton of all men requires the ,christian1 or shall we say the humanistic1 ethic1 to modify something science-ridden1 overbearing1 and heady in his soul4 ,the ,teuton1 before the new philosophy of self-expansion at all costs laid hold on him1 was welcome1 from his many great qualities1 in a world of other men4 ,but his was the last nature that could afford to succumb wholesale to the faith that his race was the only race that mattered4 ,if he could see himself he would realize that the very thoroughness and over-exaltation of his nature made it ruinous for him to tamper with this particular ideal1 for he was bound sooner or later to run it to death1 to the danger and alarm of all other races4 ,no one outside ,germany1 unless his mind was warped1 could miss this latter-day ,teutonic absorption in self2 the ,teuton has dinned it into every ear1 and forgotten1 in so doing1 that we should not take off discount for temperamental extravagance of diction4 ,the ,german imperialistic patriot has done an incalculable1 perhaps fatal1 harm to the country he loves so passionately4 ,but even discounting for rhodomontade1 no observer who has feelers1 can fail to be aware of the spiritual change in ,germany4 ,i remember one tiny instance out of many--a mere straw showing the direction of the wind4 ,the winter before the war there were in a certain hotel in ,egypt four ,teutons4 ,a quiet1 dignified old man1 his tiny1 quiet1 dignified wife1 and their two big sons4 ,the difference between the two generations was distressing4 ,in the older1 such an air of unassuming goodness1 in the younger a demeanour so intolerant1 and domineering2 those two sons were respectful and good to their father and mother2 but toward the rest of the world--to natives1 ,english1 ,americans1 and other small fry--they displayed an astounding contempt4 ,the ,berlin ,concordia has just issued maxims of conduct to the ,german people1 in a little book called 8,let ,germany ,learn40 ,i cull two of them3 8,the soft corner in your heart for the foreigner will never give you his affection1 but only his contempt60 ,and3 8,everything depends on your own strength40 ,it would be easy to make out some sort of case against any of the belligerent nations4 ,it would not be easy to show that any nation save ,germany was in that peculiar state of full-blooded self-confidence which upholds the ,will to ,power1 and denies the ,will to ,equity4 #aa4 ,it seems certain that the practice of doping soldiers with ether or other spirit before an attack has been largely resorted to by certain nations in this war4 ,nothing that is happening so illuminates the nature of modern warfare2 illustrates more utterly the absorption of human bodies and souls into the ,machines that are crashing into each other4 ,men have become mere lumps of coal to be converted into driving power4 ,and in supreme moments1 lest the bewildered spirit1 brought up to peace1 should move hand or foot in protest or recoil1 that spirit is first stolen away4 ,the usage is not prompted by motives of mercy1 yet has in it a kind of awful humanity4 ,granted the premises1 who dare grudge this anodyne to the doomed8 ,verily on every man who in time of peace speaks or writes one word to foster bad spirit between nations a curse should rest2 he is part and parcel of that malevolence which at last sets these great ,engines1 fed by lumps of human coal1 to crash along1 and pile up against each other1 in splintered wreckage4 ,only too well he plays the game of those grim schemers to whose account lie the death1 the dehumanization1 the despair of millions of their brother men4 #ab4 ,a wonderful night to-night1 so that the spirit goes forth a little1 enters the harmony of things1 drinks the magic of the world4 ,how beauty moves the heart6 ,and war cannot destroy it1 cannot take from us the feeling that--living or dead--we belong to such perfection4 ,it cannot take the voice from the streams1 remove the flight of small wings in the darkness1 the gleam of moonlight1 the whisper of night about us1 nor that bright star4 ,it cannot take from within us the soul that vibrates to loveliness1 to the universal rhythm round us4 ,if in this war the figures of cruelty and death have surpassed themselves in darkness1 the figure of ,humanity has never been so radiant and so lovely4 ,perhaps we do not know enough what man was really like in past ages to compare him with man to-day4 ,but it does seem as if he had grown in power for evil1 and even more in power for good4 ,or perhaps it is only that1 being more sensitive and highly strung1 the story of his doings is altogether more poignant4 ,from the letters of a young ,french painter1 who1 after months in the trenches1 disappeared in an engagement on ,april #gth1 #aiae1 ,i quote these sayings3 8,you know what ,i call religion--that which binds together in man all his thoughts of the universal and of the eternal1 those two forms of ,god6 4 4 4 ,don't let's lose hope2 the trials of hope are many1 but all beauty lives for ever4 4 4 4 ,the dead won't hurt the ,spring6 4 4 4 ,did you see yesterday's sun8 ,how noble the country is1 and how good ,nature6 ,she seems to say to him who listens that nothing will be lost4 4 4 4 ,we know not whether all this violence and disorder may not be leading us toward a crowning good4 4 4 4 ,out of this torment we shall be left with one great aspiration toward pity1 fraternity1 and goodness4 4 4 4 ,never has life brought me such abundance of noble feelings2--never1 perhaps1 have ,i had such freshness of sensibility for their recording2 such a sensation of safety in my spirit4 4 4 4 ,we spend the days like children4 4 4 4 ,and the good from this war will be the making young again the hearts of those who have been through it40 ,and his last written words3 8,beloved mother1 ,i send you all my love4 ,whatever happens1 life will have been beautiful40 ,not to many is given so clear a soul as this1 so fine a spirit4 ,peace and loveliness be with him1 and with all who die like him before their time1 following the light within them4 ,and with all who live on in this world of beauty1 where the ,dead harm not the ,spring1 may there be--in his words--the longing for pity1 fraternity1 and goodness6 ,,totally ,,disabled 7,from ,the ,observer1 #aiaf47 ,if ,i were that6 ,not as one getting into the yellow leaf1 but with all the ,spring-running in me4 ,if ,i lay1 just turning my eyes here and there6 ,how should ,i feel8 ,how do they feel--those helpless soldiers and sailors already lying in the old ball-room of the 8,star and ,garter08 ,in that hospital ward1 a ghostly officer is ever crying3 8,stick it1 men6 ,stick it6 ,only for life6 ,stick it60 ,only for life--how many years6 ,in the year only three hundred and sixty-five awakenings2 only all those returns from merciful sleep6 8,stick it1 men6 ,stick it60 ,totally disabled--incurably helpless6 ,no6 ,one can't realize what it feels like to be caught young and strong in such a net2 to be caught--not for your own folly and excesses1 not through accident or heredity1 but as reward for giving yourself body and soul to your country4 ,better so1 more easily borne2 and yet how much more ironically tragic6 ,who knows what the freedom of limbs means1 till he has lost it8 ,who can measure the ecstasy of vigour1 till every power of movement has been cut off8 ,who really grasps what it's like to lie like a log dependent for everything on others1 save those who have to8 ,think of the trout in the streams1 of the birds of the air1 the winged creatures innumerable1 think of each beast and creeping thing--can one even imagine them without movement8 ,men1 also1 are meant to be free of their world1 masters of their limbs and senses4 ,they who lie helpless are no longer quite bodies1 for the essence of body is movement2 already they are almost spirits4 ,it is as if1 in passing1 one looked at minds1 nearly all in the heyday of consciousness and will4 ,sometimes ,i vaguely fancy that after violent death a man's spirit may go on clinging above the earth just so long as his normal life would have run2 that a spirit rived before its time wanders till such date as consciousness would have worn itself out in the body's natural death4 ,if that random fancy were true1 we to-day would all be passing among unseen crowds of these rived spirits1 watching us1 without envy perhaps1 being freer than ourselves4 ,but those who lie hopelessly disabled1 having just missed that enfranchisement1 are tied to what still exists1 and yet in truth has died already4 ,of all men they have the chance to prove the mettle of the human soul--that mysterious consciousness capable of such heights and depths2 no1 not a greater chance than men tortured by long solitary confinement1 or even than those who through excess or through heredity lie for ever helpless--but yet so great a chance that they are haloed for all of us happier ones1 who are free of our limbs and our lives4 ,some among those prisoned spirits must needs shrink and droop1 and become atrophied in the long helplessness of a broken body4 ,but many will grow finer2 according to their natures--some pursuing the ideal of recompense in another world2 some1 in the stoic belief that serenity and fortitude are the fine flowers of life1 unconsciously following the artist's creed--that to make a perfect thing1 even if it be only of his own spirit1 is in itself all the reward4 ,whichever it be1 slow decay or slow perfecting1 we others approach them with heads bowed1 in as great reverence as we give to the green graves of our brave dead4 ,and if pity--that pity which to some1 it seems1 is but ignoble weakness--be not driven from this earth1 then with pity we shall nerve our resolve that never shall anything be lacking to support or comfort those who gave all for us and are so broken by their sacrifice4 ,as ,i write the sun is hot for the first time this year1 and above the snow spring is in the air4 ,under ,richmond ,hill the river will be very bright1 winding among trees not yet green4 ,and the helpless who are lying there already will be thinking 8,i shall never walk under trees again--nor by a riverside40 ,if one dwells too much on the miseries this world contains1 there must come a moment when one will say3 8,life's not worth living2 ,i will end it60 ,but by some dispensation few of us reach that point--too sanely selfish1 or saved by the thought that we must work to reduce the sum of misery4 ,for these greatest of all sufferers--these helpless and incurable--can we do too much1 ever reach the word3 ,enough8 ,to you1 women of ,great and ,greater ,britain1 it has fallen to raise on ,richmond ,hill this refuge and home for our soldiers and sailors totally disabled4 ,where thirty-two are now lying there will soon be two hundred more4 ,nearly all my life ,i have known the spot on which this home will stand2 and truly1 no happier choice could have been made4 ,if beauty consoles--and it can1 a little--it is there in all the seasons2 a benign ,english beauty of fields and trees and water spread below1 under a wide sky4 ,one hundred thousand pounds you need to raise this monument of mercy in tribute to the brave4 ,if it were five hundred thousand you would give it2 for is not this monument to be the record and token of your gratitude1 your love1 and your pity8 ,each one of you1 ,i think1 however poor1 must wish to lay one brick or stone of the house that is to prove your ministering4 ,if the misery through this war could be balanced in scales1 ,i do not think men's suffering would pull down that of wives1 and mothers1 sisters1 daughters2 but this special suffering of incurable disablement--this has been spared you1 who yet by nature are better at enduring than men4 ,it has been spared you2 and in return you have vowed this home for the helpless2 a more sacred place than any church1 for within it every hour of day and night pain will be assuaged1 despair be overcome1 actual living tenderness be lavished4 ,when you have built this refuge for the prisoners of ,fate--when you have led them there to make out the rest of their lives as best they can--remember this3 ,men who are cut off in their youth from life and love will prize beyond all things woman's sympathy1 and the sight of woman's beauty4 ,give--your money to build1 your hands to lead them home2 and1 when they are there1 take them your sympathy1 take them your beauty6 ,,cartoon 7,from ,the ,nation1 #aiaf47 4 4 4 ,i cannot describe the street ,i turned into1 then1 like no street ,i have ever been in2 so long1 so narrow1 so regular1 yet somehow so unsubstantial2 one had continually a feeling that1 walking at the gray houses on either side1 one would pass through them4 ,i must have gone miles down it without meeting even the shadow of a human being2 till1 just as it was growing dusk1 ,i saw a young man come silently out1 as ,i suppose1 from a door1 though none was opened4 ,i can depict neither his dress nor figure2 like the street he looked unsubstantial1 and the expression on his shadowy face haunted me1 it was so like that of a starving man before whom one has set a meal1 then snatched it away4 ,and now1 in the deepening dusk1 out of every house1 young men like him were starting forth in the same mysterious manner1 all with that hungry look on their almost invisible faces4 ,peering at one of them1 ,i said3 8,what is it--whom do you want80 ,but he gave me no answer4 ,it was too dark now to see any face2 and ,i had only the feeling of passing between presences as ,i went along1 without getting to any turning out of that endless street4 ,presently1 in desperation1 ,i doubled in my tracks4 ,a lamplighter must have been following me1 for every lamp was lighted1 giving a faint flickering greenish glare1 as might lumps of phosphorescent matter hung out in the dark4 ,the hungry1 phantom-like young men had all vanished1 and ,i was wondering where they could have gone1 when ,i saw--some distance ahead--a sort of grayish whirlpool stretching across the street1 under one of those flickering marsh-light looking lamps4 ,a noise was coming from that swirl1 which seemed to be raised above the ground--a ghostly swishing1 as of feet among dry leaves1 broken by the gruntings of some deep sense gratified4 ,i went on till ,i could see that it was formed of human figures slowly whirling round the lamp4 ,and suddenly ,i stood still in horror4 ,every other figure was a skeleton1 and between danced a young girl in white--the whole swirling ring was formed alternately of skeletons and gray-white girls4 ,creeping a little nearer still1 ,i could tell that these skeletons were the young men ,i had seen starting out of the houses as ,i passed1 having the same look of awful hunger on their faces4 ,and the girls who danced between them had a wan1 wistful beauty1 turning their eyes to their partners whose bony hands grasped theirs1 as though begging them to return to the flesh4 ,not one noticed me1 so deeply were they all absorbed in their mystic revel4 ,and then ,i saw what it was they were dancing round4 ,above their heads1 below the greenish lamp1 a dark thing was dangling4 ,it swung and turned there1 never still1 like a joint of meat roasting before a fire--the clothed body of an elderly man4 ,the greenish lamp-light glinted on his gray hair1 and on his features1 every time the face came athwart the light4 ,he swung slowly from right to left1 and the dancers whirled from left to right1 always meeting that revolving face1 as though to enjoy the sight of it4 ,what did it mean--these sad shapes rustling round the obscene thing suspended there6 ,what strange and awful rite was ,i watching by the lamp's ghostly phosphorescence8 ,more haunting even than those hungry skeletons and wan gray girls1 more haunting and gruesome1 was that dead face up there with the impress still on it of bloated life2 how it gripped and horrified me1 with its pale1 fishy eyes1 and its neck thick-rolled with flabby flesh1 turning and turning on its invisible spit1 to the sound of that weird swishing of dead leaves1 and those grunting sighs6 ,who was it they had caught and swung up there1 like some dead crow1 to sway in the winds8 ,this gibbeted figure1 which yet had a look of cold and fattened power--what awful crime towards these skeleton youths and bereaved gray-wan maidens could it be expiating8 ,then with a shudder ,i seemed to recognize that grisly thing--suddenly ,i knew3 ,i was watching the execution of the ,past6 ,there it swung6 ,gibbeted by the ,future1 whom1 through its manifold lusts it had done to death6 ,and seized with panic ,i ran forward through the fabric of my dream1 that swayed and rustled to left and right of me4 4 4 4 ,,harvest 7,from the ,book of the ,homeless1 #aiaf47 ,the sky to-night looks as if a million bright angels were passing--a gleaming cloud-mesh drawn across the heaven4 ,one star1 very clear1 shines beside a full moon white as the globe-campion flower4 ,the hills and valleys1 the corn-stooks1 casting each its shadow1 the grey boles of the beeches--all have the remoteness of an ineffable peace4 ,and the past day was so soft1 so glamorous2 such a hum1 such brightness1 and the harvest going on4 4 4 4 ,these last years millions have died with energy but one third spent2 millions more unripe for death will yet herald us into the long shades before these shambles cease--boys born just to be the meat of war1 spitted on each other's reddened bayonets1 without inkling of guilt or knowledge4 ,to what shall we turn that we may keep sane1 watching this green1 unripe corn1 field on field1 being scythed by ,death for none to eat8 ,there is no solace in the thought that death is nothing6--save for those who still believe they go straight to ,paradise4 ,to us who dare not know the workings of the ,unknowable1 and in our heart of hearts cannot tell what1 if anything1 becomes of us--to us1 the great majority of the modern world--life is valuable1 good1 a thing worth living out for its natural span4 ,for1 if it were not1 long ere this we should have sat with folded arms1 lifting no hand till the last sighing breath of the human race had whispered itself out into the wind1 and a final darkness come2 sat1 like the ,hindu ,yogi1 watching the sun and moon a little1 and expired4 ,the moon would be as white1 and the sun as golden1 if we were gone1 the hills and valleys as mysterious1 the beech-trees just as they are1 only the stooks of corn would vanish with those who garner them4 ,if life were not good we should make of ourselves dust indifferently--we human beings2 quietly1 peacefully2 not in murderous horror reaped by the curving volleys1 mown off by rains of shrapnel1 and the long yellow scythe of the foul gases4 ,but life is good1 and no living thing wishes to die2 even they who kill themselves1 despairing1 resign out of sheer love of life1 out of craving for what they have found too mutilated and starved1 out of yearning for their meed of joy cruelly frustrated4 ,and they who die that others may live are but those in whom the life-flame burns so hot and bright that they can feel the life and the longing to live in others as if it were their own--more than their own4 ,yes1 life carries with it a very passion for existence4 ,to what1 then1 shall we turn that we may keep sane1 watching this harvest of too young deaths1 the harvest of the brave1 whose stooks are raised before us1 casting each its shadow in the ironic moonlight8 ,green corn6 ,if1 having watched those unripe blades reaped off and stacked so pitifully1 watched the great dark ,wagoner clear those unmellowed fields1 we let their sacrifice be vain2 if we sow not1 hereafter1 in a peaceful ,earth that which shall become harvest more golden than the world has seen--then ,shame on us1 unending1 in whatever land we dwell4 4 4 4 ,this harvest night is still4 ,and yet1 up there1 the bright angels are passing4 ,one ,star6 ,,and--,,after8 ,,and--,,after8 7,from ,the ,observer1 #aiaf47 ,i--,,prelude ,peace6 ,the thought of it has become almost strange4 ,yet we must face that thought1 or we shall be as unprepared for it as we were for war4 ,practical men are fighting this war1 practical men will make the peace that comes some day4 ,and this unpractical pen ventures no speculation on how it will be brought about2 it jots down merely some of the wider thoughts that throng1 when for a moment the vision of ,peace starts up before the mind6 ,statesmen have said that the sequel of this war must be a ,league for ,peace--a ,league for the enforcement by international action of international right4 ,whether that can be brought about at a ,round ,table ,conference of the belligerents1 or whether the ,league must be formed by the victorious ,allies with the adherence of the neutral countries1 and the ,central ,empires invited to fall in with their conclusions1 on pain of ostracism1 ,i hazard here no opinion4 ,but1 by whichever means the ,league for ,peace is formed1 it will be valueless unless three elements of security are present4 ,due machinery to secure time for the arbitration of dispute2 due force to secure submission to such arbitration2 due intention on the part of individual nations to serve the ,league loyally for the good of all4 ,and the greatest of these three is the last4 ,the strength of a ,league for ,peace will depend before all on the conduct of each separate nation4 ,we in this country cannot control the faith1 conduct1 or stability of the other members of the ,league2 we can control our own4 ,however it ends1 this war must leave the bitterest feelings4 ,league for ,peace or none1 there will remain for this country a menace from without4 ,if ,germany were what is called 8crushed0--a queer notion in connection with sixty-five millions of people--she would smoulder with such a fire of vengeance that a victorious ,british nation1 slumbering in dreams of security1 waxing fat and swollen-headed1 would in a few years time be in as great danger as ever4 ,if ,germany be merely shorn of her pretensions and forced back within her former boundaries1 then1 unless good fortune bring her a social revolution and the comparative blessings of ,democracy1 ,germany may be much the same as she has been1 a soldier-ridden ,state1 quickly or slowly gathering force1 to reforge the iron machinery of the ,prussian soul1 and lead the armoured dance again4 ,stung to the quick by memory of mistake1 knowing that she misjudged our nature and our power1 she will not make mistake a second time4 ,however ardently the successful may desire to forget--it takes two to bury the hatchet4 ,let no one think that ,germany will forget4 ,should we1 if we were beaten1 or even badly thwarted8 ,the writer is as great a lover of ,peace as any who will resent his suggestion that enmity will not readily be changed4 ,but it is well to remember that the menace from without is only increased by forgetting that human nature is fundamentally the same all the world over2 and still more increased by not remembering that what we dream and desire is not as a rule what we can obtain4 ,granted1 that all must hope and strive for the constitution of a ,league for ,peace1 and aim at making its conditions permanent1 it will still be folly to blink the contingency of further war for years to come4 ,the validity of such a ,league will hang on the first years4 ,keep it intact1 enforce respect for its decisions1 get men's minds used to it1 and after a short span nothing is more unlikely than that they will forego its blessings4 ,but militarism will automatically and proportionately decrease only as men gain confidence in the ,league's authority1 recognizing at last that an impartial justice may apply to nations every bit as well as to individuals1 when there is the force of general consent behind it4 ,given a generation of its rule1 and the nations will no longer carry daggers to stab each other in the back1 or swords to avenge their 8honour40 ,there is no need for premature disarmament4 ,recognition of the menace from without will not harm a ,league for ,peace during its first years1 so long as we shy at all spirit of aggression1 and are loyal to its first principle of 8,all for one1 and ,one for all40 ,but ,peace will also bring to us in this country the menace from within which was with us before the war began1 as it is with every nation at whatever time of life--the menace of its individual failings1 of its rankness and its uncompleted justice1 its riot after riches at the expense of national health1 its exaggerated party strife1 its penny wisdom and pound folly1 its lack of an ideal1 and perpetual drifting it knows not whither4 ,if when the war ends we remain a nation1 masters of our own lives--and there is no ,briton who is not convinced that we shall--the menace from within must again be faced2 faced with a stouter heart and a quicker brain2 faced at last with some sort of corporate will to that victory over ourselves1 so much more difficult to win than over hostile fleets and fortresses4 ,to win the war1 and thereafter lose to our own weakness1 would cap the event with irony indeed6 ,it is the fashion with some to talk glibly of this war as if it were a purge that will drain from our ,state innumerable ills4 ,the war's honourable necessity none of us dispute1 but for us it has in truth only the one advantage--of having revealed to ourselves our quality1 re-established our faith4 ,that quality1 that faith1 to be of any lasting use1 will have to stand not only the dreadful spasm of war1 but the long exhaustion1 the manifold increase of economic stress and social trouble that will infallibly begin when the war ends4 ,unless we are resolved to carry on our effort of sacrifice1 good-will1 and courage long into the future1 the last state of this land will be worse than the first4 ,the purge that we like to speak of will be proven nothing but a debauch1 paid for1 like all debauches1 by lassitude and spleen4 ,all national energy at the moment is inevitably bent to the ending of a state of things dreadful to every man and woman living2 but1 while doing this with all our might1 we need to keep alive in our minds the feeling that the fight is not for mere gratification of the passion to down our foes1 not just a spurt of military heroism1 to be drowned in the drink and applause of victory2 but a fight for something abiding in ourselves and in the world--for spiritual1 not material1 ends4 ,if1 even while we are at war1 we cannot keep the feeling that what we are fighting for is a permanent and steady advance in the just and reasonable life of nations1 beginning with ourselves1 we had better never have fought1 for at the end we shall but have added to our vanity1 and taken from the stock of our patience1 our humanity1 and our sense of justice4 ,and so the feelings of the present are linked with the feelings and necessities that will arrive with peace4 ,if the fine phrases we have used1 and are still using1 about ,liberty1 ,humanity1 ,democracy1 and ,peace are not genuinely felt1 they will come home to us and roost most vilely4 ,by the outside world we shall be judged according to the measure of actuality we give hereafter to the claim we now make of being champion of ,freedom and ,humanity2 and only according to our inward habit of thought during the war shall we be able to act when it is over4 ,we can do nothing now perhaps1 save prosecute the fight to its appointed end2 but1 if we are not to turn out fraudulent after the event1 it is already time to feel ahead--to accustom our minds to the thought of the future efforts1 ,imperial and social1 needful to meet future dangers1 and to fulfil the trusts we shall have taken up4 ,from facile imaginings and ,utopian dreams of a purged social life and a fortified morale to the real conditions that this war will leave is likely to be the farthest cry any of us will ever hear4 ,we cannot have it both ways4 ,if war1 as most of us believe1 is a terrible calamity1 it will not leave an improved world4 ,a sloppy optimism is not the slightest good1 no more than a deliberate pessimism4 8,it will be all right after the war60 is1 no doubt1 the attitude of many minds just now4 ,it will only be all right after the war if1 with all the might of a sustained national will1 we take care that it is4 ,a great and solemn opportunity1 the greatest our country has ever known1 will be there1 to be made or marred4 ,the records of history are not too cheering1 and experience of human nature in the past brings no very happy augury--for after too great effort comes reaction4 ,but this age has higher aspirations1 more self-consciousness than any that has gone before4 ,to turn the possible calamity of this war to blessing we shall have to set our foot on ,fatalism4 ,there is no real antagonism between the doctrines of ,determinism and ,free ,will4 ,when things have happened1 we see that they must have happened as they did2 but how does this affect the freedom of our will before they happen--before we know which way they will turn out8 ,men and nations are what they make themselves4 ,what are we going to make ourselves--after8 ,,ii--,,freedom ,,and ,,privilege ,what is this thing called the ,british ,empire8 ,a family of children1 ruled by a ,mother1 or a gathering of kinsfolk under the roof of one ideal8 ,is it in reality an ,empire or a ,confederacy8 ,it has been the first1 it is fast becoming the second4 ,imperialism is governed for good or ill by the principle that underlies it4 ,at the time of the ,american ,war of ,independence ,british government stood for the principle of ,domination2 even so late as the ,boer ,war there is much doubt whether1 for the moment at least1 it stood for anything very different4 ,a great change has come4 ,the ,british ,empire stands now1 as it never yet stood1 for the principle 8,live and let live02 for coherence through common ideals and affections1 rather than for coherence through force4 ,in this war we have not ceased to assert that1 besides the preservation of our own safety1 we fight for the independence of little countries1 and the rights of nations to settle their own affairs4 ,by this declared championship1 unless we wish to bring down poetic justice on our heads1 we have consecrated the principle of ,freedom within the confederacy of the ,british ,empire2 we have abrogated the right of coercion4 ,whether we realize it or no1 we have fixed our national attitude4 ,when the war is over1 the feeling of ,britain towards her kindred will be warmer and more generous than it has ever been2 they have stood side by side with us like men and brothers1 in touching loyalty4 ,and the feeling in the kindred countries will be warmer and fuller of respect2 they have seen the ,old ,country on her trial1 have seen that she did not fail of what the world expected from her2 seen that she had stuff in her beyond their hopes--for a new country is ever inclined to impatience1 even to a certain contempt1 for an old country4 ,it was just as well for ,britain's reputation with her kinsfolk that this war came4 ,yes1 we shall be a true ,confederacy1 a great ,democratic ,confederacy1 bound in honour to observe towards the world the principles that it observes towards itself2 to keep its hands clean of narrow and provincial patriotism1 of that raw overriding of the rights and interests of others1 the ugliness of which we have just seen in the violation of ,belgium1 the ,nemesis of which we are about to see4 ,and1 looking first at home1 we have got to get used now1 at once1 while we are still fighting1 before we have the leisure and the energy to revive old animosities and party cries1 to the idea that civil strife in ,ireland after this war is over would be criminal lunacy1 making us the playboy of the world1 and destroying the prestige we shall have gained4 ,it seems that our statesmen now recognize this4 ,but whatever seems to settle the ,irish question in time of war may not survive the strain of the peace that follows4 ,if the lamentable cleavage in ,ireland reappears--as it well may1 for it is based on such real differences of temperament--let us in ,england be resolute not to be re-involved in partizanship4 ,let us resolve to force neither one party nor the other2 confine ourselves to insisting that those who object so strenuously to inclusion in an opposite camp shall be as loth to include their opponents as they are to be included4 ,only of its own free will can ,ireland ever be made one4 ,if the halves be not forced1 they will become one the faster4 ,time is the healer2 time and forbearance1 given an elastic machinery to encourage and ripen reconciliation4 ,of a surety1 renewed trouble over ,ireland would be the very worst augury for the future of an ,empire that stands1 and is to stand1 for ,freedom4 ,to be trustee for the principle 8,live and let live02 watchdog against aggression by herself or any other2 cornerstone of a world so built that all peoples1 however small and weak1 may know that they can safely work out their own destinies--that would be for ,britain the grand ideal4 ,but the ,british ,empire can only hope to stand for it by keeping the form of a ,free ,confederacy1 by the most rigid scrutiny of its own conduct1 and by developing the feeling that it is beneath ,imperial dignity to wrest material benefit from the losses of others4 ,when the war began we were in what is commonly called 8a tidy mess40 ,if we really want to extract from the furnace of this fearful conflagration some gold of comfort1 we shall see to it that we do not go back to the deadlock of futile and bitter strife that was then paralyzing the country's soul4 ,we shall see to it over ,ireland2 and over the woman's question4 ,strife is the very condition of life and human progress1 but in the name of reason let us have it over real live issues1 not over those on which the national conscience has already in secret given judgment4 ,will not the first act of justice be the giving of the vote to women on the same terms as to men--with1 perhaps1 some limitation of age to equalize numbers1 since the preponderance of women is brought about mainly by the less dangerous nature of their lives8 ,a more humiliating or poisonous relation than that which prevailed between the sexes in this country before the war over the question of the vote can hardly be conceived4 ,in the supreme appeal to our patriotism1 that grievous trouble1 that mischievous irritation1 has vanished4 ,the war has exorcised mutual exasperation1 refounded mutual faith1 healed many wounds1 laid the ghosts of many doubts and arguments4 ,the old bogeys are gone--that women are more bellicose than men2 that they are less bellicose than men2 that national safety would be imperilled one way or the other4 ,the old plea is gone--that1 since women do not fight and suffer for the ,state1 they are not worthy to vote for her--gone1 dispersed by service1 sacrifice1 and suffering4 ,every man has had to ask his heart which he would rather do3 ,go1 as a man goes1 to the trenches1 or sit at home1 as a woman has had to do1 waiting for news of his life or death4 ,and every man knows the answer4 ,the women of ,britain have put themselves and their claims aside1 to work and suffer for the country of which they are not yet citizens4 ,it will be too black altogether if1 after all they have gone through1 they are again refused admittance to that citizenship4 ,women who do not want the vote need never exercise it2 women who think the vote bad for their sex will still be free as air1 when the vote has been given1 to organise their sex against use of the deadly thing4 ,but to continue after this war to debar from being citizens1 if they so wish1 the hundreds of thousands of women who have served as loyally as men1 and suffered more2 to hang up again in hopeless chancery a measure of common justice that has long commended itself to nearly all the best minds in the country1 a measure that1 but for political accidents1 would have already been granted1 would be an unspeakable piece of national folly and ingratitude4 ,there is surely now a general will to give the vote4 ,what our minds must be turned to is the need1 at the conclusion of the war1 to have ready some means by which that general desire may be carried into effect1 and women welcomed into the body politic1 before the old deadlock difficulties and heart-burnings can begin again4 ,it is not my part to suggest to superior wisdom what those means should be2 but perhaps one may express the personal conviction that a measure of universal suffrage1 granting one vote to every man above a certain age 7not necessarily so young as twenty-one71 and one vote to every woman--possibly over such higher age as would equalize the voting power of the sexes1 though ,i myself do not fear that inequality--that such a measure would not affect to any appreciable extent the balance between the great parties in the ,state1 and would ensure that those parties in future sprang from the main cleavages of human nature rather than from the accidents of privilege4 ,is it too much to hope that1 in heroic times1 such a measure might be passed by consent8 ,too much to expect that after this struggle1 where all stand shoulder to shoulder1 we shall feel that a man1 however poor1 and a woman1 however humble1 has a stake in the country which has done so little for him or her1 yet for which he or she is suffering perhaps more than the rest of us1 and1 extending the hand of fellowship1 say3 8,it is time you stood shoulder to shoulder with us in peace as well as war40 ,the voteless man6 ,the woman6 ,how many of the first will have given their lives2 how many of the second their hearts6 ,have heroism1 death1 sacrifice1 gone by privilege of property or sex1 in this war8 ,shall we really take the lives1 the wounds1 the sufferings of the many men debarred from citizenship by mere lack of property1 the services and sacrifice of innumerable women1 and just say3 8,thank you1 helots60 ,for in a real democracy what is he or she who has no vote1 save a helot1 at the absolute disposal of the enfranchised community8 ,it is as the symbol of freedom that the vote is so precious6 ,granted6 ,but if from the infancy of this country we had not been sticklers for symbols1 should we now be the free people that we are--as peoples go8 ,if there is not to emerge from this community of suffering some community of fellowship and gladness1 some sweeping out of old rancours from our hearts and of prejudices from our brains1 and a resolve to fight the contests of the future with a greater generosity--then ,peace will be a sorry festival4 ,there is so much work to be done1 so great a fight for the nation's health1 ahead4 ,it is time the decks were cleared of lumber6 ,,iii--,,the ,,nation ,,and ,,training ,we have adopted ,compulsion1 become a militarist ,power6 ,melancholy consummation2 but for the period of the war it was always1 ,i think1 a foregone conclusion4 ,what is to happen after8 ,how is national security to be guaranteed without permanent surrender to militarism8 ,assuming that attention will be paid to retaining due command at sea and in the air1 what further will be necessary to fit us for our part in a ,league for ,peace if it comes1 or1 if it does not come1 to make us safe8 ,there will here be put forward in roughest outline a notion--long in the writer's mind1 but for which there has seemed hitherto little chance of serious consideration--with the plea that there is really no alternative solution commensurate with the need for being thoroughly prepared1 no other adequate way1 in fact1 out of a dilemma1 short of retaining a measure of ,continental militarism1 repugnant to our traditions1 and ruinously costly to a people in our position4 ,put with the utmost brevity it is this3 ,that all boys between the ages of fourteen and eighteen1 not then at school1 shall pass four months yearly in camps1 which shall give them continuation schooling so far as practicable1 technical education in the craft1 trade1 or occupation for which the boy is most suited or intends to adopt1 together with training in all the essentials of a soldier's life4 ,at the close of their fourth training the boys should be affiliated to ,territorial regiments1 and pass at once to one definite period of military service1 from three to six months1 as may be necessary to convert them into potential soldiers2 and that1 from that point on1 we should rely1 as hitherto1 on purely voluntary service4 ,from such a nucleus a really efficient ,territorial force of at least a million could probably be enrolled1 and the skeleton of a much larger force kept in being4 ,the scheme is admittedly heroic1 but it could be as gingerly introduced as seemed good to more practical men than is this writer4 ,there are in ,england1 ,scotland1 and ,wales some #a1ejj1jjj boys between the ages of fourteen and eighteen2 there are eight months in the year when such education and training could be carried on4 ,there will be an infinity of camps in being before the war is over4 ,and however unsuited these camps may be at the moment for combining technical instruction with military training1 many of them could undoubtedly be adapted4 ,the chance of so much suitable material at hand1 so much organizing capacity1 and so much sense of awakened public spirit and necessity1 will never come again4 ,some plan more or less heroic has got to be adopted1 and it is submitted that no other could possibly kill so many birds with one stone4 ,for1 to the writer this proposal is even more important in relation to the menace from within than in relation to the menace from without4 ,the worst feature of our social scheme at present--the most dangerous flaw in the machine--is the waste1 the absolute throwing away of the years between fourteen and eighteen1 the most important period of the male life 7and1 for that matter1 of the female life71 the years when physique and character are forming when the instrument is malleable2 years for the most part now left to chance and to blind-alley occupations4 ,if we want to be a strong and healthy nation1 this is the weakness of all others to overcome4 ,the following is taken from the introduction to ,mr4 ,arnold ,freeman's intimate and careful book3 8,boy ,life and ,labour03-- 8,what we need to consider is not the sacrifice of a certain number of youths through faulty industrial arrangements1 but the lack of training and the manufacture of inefficiency in the majority of boys between school and manhood4 8,at the present time it would seem to be the consensus of opinion of school teachers1 employers1 and all those who are intimate with the problem that great masses of boys are growing up to manhood inefficient for adult work1 and incapable of performing the elementary duties of home life and citizenship4 ,the truer mode of regarding the problem may be illustrated by the following quotation3 8#8,according to the main statistical sources of information the very serious fact emerges that between #gj and #hj per cent4 of the boys leaving elementary schools enter unskilled occupations4 ,thus1 even when the boy ultimately becomes apprenticed or enters a skilled trade1 those intervening years from the national point of view are entirely wasted4 ,indeed the boy1 naturally reacting from the discipline to which school accustomed him1 usually with abundance of spare time not sufficiently utilized1 and without educative work1 is shaped during these years directly towards evil4' 7,majority ,report of the ,poor ,law ,commission1 ,part ,,vi41 ,chap4 ,,vii470 ,now1 if the richer classes of this country could be brought face to face with a sight of their own boys from fourteen to eighteen planted in this morass that boys of the poorer classes have as a matter of course to struggle through1 they would marvel that the poorer classes have not long ago demanded that it be drained4 ,working-class parents have not demanded this chiefly because the boy from fourteen to eighteen has meant so many scanty shillings in the family pocket4 ,when shillings are scarce one more or less seems vital4 ,but1 economically as well as nationally speaking1 such rotting-down of the boys is grievously short-sighted4 ,by this scheme1 ,i believe1 the working classes would be the first to benefit1 and1 after a few years1 the last to wish it given up4 ,their ultimate gain would be incalculable1 and1 collectively speaking1 their immediate loss even would be small4 ,one million five hundred thousand boys training four months in the year means a seeming withdrawal of one boy in three1 or half a million boys annually1 from labour4 ,but the number of boys between fourteen and eighteen actually employed before the war was only #a1bfd1jjj1 so that there would be available some unemployed towards filling the places of the half million withdrawn4 ,in the withdrawal too1 of so large a number of boys from the labour market lies some chance of solving a problem that will begin to loom as soon as ,peace comes3 ,how to find places for the women whom the war has accustomed to work and wages8 ,by this withdrawal1 also1 old and unemployed men would benefit2 we shall want all the help we can get to minimize the unemployment that will sooner or later follow the war4 ,so far as the labour market is concerned1 the problem1 in fact1 would be mainly one of adjustment1 but boys could be paired for their four years of training1 one taking the other's job--boy ,a4 working it eight months the first and third years and four months the second and fourth year2 vice vers with boy ,b4 ,a nation which has achieved in these last few months such miracles of organization is surely equal to a task of adjustment no harder of accomplishment than that which has long confronted every militarist country in time of peace1 and which may at any moment confront this country1 if it neglects adequate preparation for home defence on some such lines4 ,consider the life of the working man at present4 ,the ,state provides him as a boy with education up to the age of fourteen2 provides him as a man with labour exchanges1 insurance1 and old-age pensions4 ,the one period1 which in the more fortunate ranks of ,society is regarded as above all preparatory for life1 is the one period of which the ,state takes no account4 ,it is a fatal hole in the ballot4 ,why should not the workers have the privilege for their sons that belongs by mere good fortune to the wealthier classes--the privilege of a training that will give them greater health1 greater knowledge and technical skill1 better habits1 more self-respect1 and the power as well as the inclination to defend their country if need be8 ,after this war the national readjustments that take place to meet the menace from without and the menace from within must surely have relation to fundamental necessities1 and not merely be the top-dressing and timorous expedients that accompany the piping times of a long-unshaken peace4 ,in the expenditure of large sums to achieve its ends the ,state need not look for its money back this year or next1 so long as there is a certainty of the money back manifold ten and twenty years hence4 ,the expense of a national scheme for the training and technical education of all boys from fourteen to eighteen would have been looked on before the war as an insuperable objection4 ,but the truly wonderful example of faith shown by the ,russian ,government in cutting off their own colossal revenue from drink at the outbreak of the war1 and the immediate incalculable advantage to the strength of the ,russian nation that accrued thereby1 has knocked penny-wisdom off its perch4 ,this is not the time or place1 nor am ,i qualified to examine the cost in detail4 ,but1 whatever that cost1 can there be any doubt that the increased physical and industrial efficiency1 coupled with the national security guaranteed by such training1 would bring the outlay back tenfold within a generation8 ,and can there be any question that it would conserve wealth1 which adult training would but dissipate8 ,when the war is over there will be great numbers of men whose lives have been hopelessly jolted1 who have to find new occupations--men qualified1 and probably only too willing1 to take positions of technical instruction and military training under such a scheme4 ,and the boys of the nation1 already infected with desire to stand for something in the national security1 would fall in with good spirit4 ,apart from the question of expense1 opposition would come1 no doubt1 from the employers of boy labour1 and from the working-class parents of boys who are contributing to the family purse4 ,both these objections can surely be met in the main by careful organization and dovetailing of employment4 ,only half the boys would be training at once2 and for the winter months1 of greatest stress for the poorer classes1 none would be training2 boy-labour is not highly-skilled labour1 it is rarely of a nature that cannot equally well be supplied by another boy1 and1 failing that1 by women1 or men past the prime of work4 ,with good-will and co-operation it should not surpass the wit either of employers or of the officials of special ,boy-,labour ,exchanges to cope with the dislocation4 ,a boy's earnings are not vast2 when his own keep has been paid there remain but few shillings for the family exchequer4 ,the value of these few shillings is in many cases1 however1 enormous2 the loss might be made good by some system of insurance4 ,nor is it inconceivable that camp work would produce a small wage that could go to the assistance of the boys' families4 ,omelettes cannot be made without breaking eggs2 and1 even if distress were caused at the start1 can it be seriously weighed against the great ultimate benefit to the working classes1 and the overwhelming advantages of rejuvenation in the blood and brain of a whole nation8 ,the war has shown what those who have had to do with camp life for boys knew well before--the vast change that can be made in the physique and bearing of young fellows by a few months of fresh air and training4 ,if those months are repeated yearly for four years1 the training combined with civil instruction1 and followed by a short spell of full military service1 the country will have not only potential soldiers1 but real men and citizens1 at the end4 ,this is interference with the liberty of the subject4 ,yes2 but a boy is only a boy4 ,in the richer classes he is sent to school till he is eighteen without any say whatever in his fate4 ,and as to interference with the liberty of the parents3 ,are they not now completely interfered with1 in reference to their children up to the age of fourteen2 and is there any sane reason why that interference should not be continued partially1 for the good of the boys1 and of us all1 up to the age of eighteen8 ,the scheme is nothing but a form of militarism6 ,yes1 but facts must be faced4 ,after the lesson of this war1 its appalling suddenness1 its complete disregard of the law of nations1 after the hatred it has evoked and the burning for revenge it will leave1 are we prepared to trust our country and all that it stands for1 to old-time methods and--luck8 ,if not what form of training can we have that will be less militarist than this8 ,to relapse into our unpreparedness is but to court the chances of an attack1 to shirk our share perhaps of duty under a ,league for ,peace2 and to risk being forced into rank militarism1 in one of those panics certain to come freely after such a war4 ,if ,i thought such a scheme of boy-training would bolster up privilege1 foster a dangerous docility1 put power into the hands of our ,junkers1 and generally convert our country into a kind of ,germany1 ,i would shun it like the devil4 ,to keep boys of that age at it all the time would be dangerous2 to train them for civil and military life four months in the year1 with one short final period of military service--harmless4 ,after the war--perhaps not at once1 but within a few years--there will almost certainly be serious civil troubles1 and any such scheme of boy training would need to be inaugurated under the most solemn engagements not to employ the youth of the nation in the quelling of strikes1 civil riot1 or what-not4 ,it would be for ,labour to fix those guarantees before they gave adherence to the plan4 ,having secured themselves1 ,i believe they might look forward to nothing but benefit1 after the first rubs and jolts4 ,consider1 too1 that except under some such scheme there is practically no chance of putting into practice another national dream--the resettlement of the land4 ,by attaching farm lands to those camps1 town boys could be instructed in the difficult work of modern agriculture4 ,farm workers do not grow on thorn-trees1 or even spring full-fledged from the brains of ardent reformers4 ,they are made1 not born1 and made in youth4 ,it is time to begin making them1 if indeed it is not already too late4 ,no adequate land scheme will flourish without machinery on a large scale for educating boys in modern farm work4 ,but there is another aspect of this matter worth more than passing attention4 ,if the war ends victoriously1 ,great ,britain will bulk very large1 dangerously large1 in the eyes of the world4 ,the ,german cry is3 8,great ,britain is the tyrant2 the ,fleet of ,england is the menace1 threatening every country60 ,no effort will be left untried to din that whisper into every ear1 to implant that suspicion in every mind4 ,to escape the world's jealousy will not be possible4 ,and1 if in addition to a dominant ,fleet1 and possibly a dominant air service1 we preserve militarism on the present ,continental lines1 we shall excite--whatever the peaceful nature of our conduct and intentions--the most profound uneasiness and envy in quarters where we most wish to be regarded with perfect equanimity4 ,on the one hand1 then1 we have the danger of relapsing into a state of unpreparedness that may provoke another war2 on the other1 the danger of rousing too great fear and envy by an ostentatious strength1 and of increasing a burden of armament already too heavy on our shoulders4 ,between these dangers lies a path of safety in the training of our boys4 ,but there lies much more than that4 ,there lies the grander social future of our country--an incalculable physical1 moral and economic uplifting1 a nation more self-reliant and more eager1 purged of that don't-care look1 of the town blight which was settling on it fast--there is no nation suffering from town life to anything like the extent to which we suffer from it4 ,just now the war has lifted that blight2 but with peace it will come down again1 unless we fight it4 ,is this lamely outlined plan a mere dream1 or is it a possible1 nay1 a probable1 measure1 in times big with chances--in times such as we may never have again1 for tuning up our life1 for equalizing fortune1 removing foul places1 and essential weakness8 ,with the suggestion that it is worth thinking over1 at any rate1 the writer leaves the answer to those less fatuous than himself4 ,,iv--,,health1 ,,humanity ,,and ,,procedure ,what were already glaring national ills before the war will1 afterwards1 be ills demanding the most immediate1 sustained1 and resolute attention4 ,there exists in ,america a vehicle called the 8rubber-neck0 car1 in which the tourist is taken and shown the interesting features of the neighbourhood4 ,before the political machine settles down again to work1 legislators1 editors1 business men1 writers--we might all with profit take a round trip and see again evils that our country has never really faced in the past1 but will have to face1 and grievously swollen at that1 in the future4 ,at the back of all lack of effort is lack of realization4 ,statistics of national problems may foster an impersonal and scientific attitude1 but they do nothing to supply the feeling from which alone comes driving force4 ,take our slums6 ,the powers vested in the ,state or in local bodies for dealing with slum areas are obviously either not sufficient or not sufficiently put to use4 ,not1 of course1 that any quick or light-hearted transformation can be expected2 the roots of this evil are too tortuously coiled in economies and natural selfishness4 ,still1 just as realization of our country's danger at the hands of ,germany has produced a marvellous crop of effort and sacrifice1 so realization of the equally distressing menace to the country from within should produce something similar1 when patriotic attention is once more free1 and time and strength at liberty1 for fighting dangers at home4 ,the housing problem desperately needs attention2 but1 though much can be done1 good gamblers cut their losses1 and the adult generation of the slums has got more or less to be cut1 that greater effort may be concentrated on the children4 ,the war has focussed attention on the need for arresting infant mortality4 ,good6 ,but there is little use in saving babies if you are not going to feed them decently when they are out of swaddling clothes4 ,a big step forward has been taken of late years towards the feeding of necessitous children1 both at school and in crches but many more steps need to be taken4 ,if this is not a ,state matter1 then nothing is4 ,to neglect the nourishment of its children is at once the paltriest economy1 the least sagacious policy1 and the worst inhumanity of which a nation can be guilty4 ,the old-fashioned idea that children must go hungry or be fed so as to grow up rickety because their parents 7being 8rotters0 already7 must not be rotted further is a doctrine devoid both of common sense and compassion4 ,a nation either has a will towards a future1 or it has none4 ,if it has none1 for what are we fighting this most bloody war8 ,what does our honour matter1 or our independence either8 ,but the future of a nation is its children4 ,as they grow up1 healthy1 clean1 hopeful1 efficient1 so will our future be4 ,as they grow up--half-fed1 dirty1 don't care1 and ignorant--so will ,britain6 ,if to look after the children makes worse paupers of the parents1 well--let it6 ,have some courage4 ,do not be hypnotized by a word1 and1 grasping the shadow1 lose the substance4 ,give the children blood in their little bodies1 and hope in their little brains4 ,any decent parent will be the better for that2 the indecent parent is a loss already1 and must be cut4 ,working-class mothers who neglect to feed their children better than themselves are but exceptions1 nor will a sounder system of ,state-help seriously alter the deepest instinct of human nature4 ,the heroism of ,british soldiers in the trenches is no greater than the lifelong heroism of ,british mothers in the slums struggling against want4 ,this is a matter that should not be left to the discretion of local bodies4 ,once the principle has been admitted--and who can honestly deny that it has8--the rest should be simply a question of fact medically certified not here and there1 but all over the country4 ,either it is justice and wisdom to feed the children1 or it is not1 and the scruples1 however philosophical1 of gentlemen prepared to watch other people's children go hungry should not any longer be indulged4 ,the estimated number of school children in ,england and ,wales being fed by the ,state in #aiaa-aiab was #bcj1jjj out of a school population of #e1ceg1cfg4 ,the estimated number of this school population showing signs of malnutrition is variously given at from #aj to #bj per cent4 ,taking it at #ae per cent41 or #hjj1jjj children1 we have more than half a million school children wanting meals and not getting them4 ,this is appalling4 ,there is no other word for it4 ,but when the children under school age who need food and are not getting it1 are added to this number1 the proportions of this national folly and inhumanity stagger the brain4 ,it does not yet seem to be grasped that these children1 who are fighting not only against insufficiency of proper food1 but against bad air and bad housing1 grow up with so much per cent4 knocked off their national value4 ,a stitch in time is supposed to save nine4 ,a pound spent on the age of growth brings back many pounds from the age of stability4 ,to those few who ride the doctrine of ,liberty to the death of national health it may simply be said3 ,so long as you have no hope of repealing compulsory education1 you have no right to let children receive it in an unfit condition4 ,education and decent nourishment are inseparable2 and decent nourishment is as necessary in the years that come before as in the years of schooling4 ,no6 ,in reality the principle is now rooted1 and1 like other things1 it's all a question of money4 ,but a country with a capital of #af1jjj1jjj1jjj and an income of #b1ajj1jjj1jjj cannot really afford to allow this state of affairs to continue--especially after the gold-letting of this war4 ,the state our national finances will be in makes it all the more imperative that we should have a well-nourished and efficient population1 or we shall never get out of the slough4 ,during this war our heroism has jibbed at ,liquor4 ,that jovial monster looms nearly as large as ever4 ,we shall have a ,national ,debt after the war of three or four thousand millions1 perhaps more4 ,and yet the cheapest thing that could possibly be done1 in the long run1 would be to increase it and buy up the ,liquor ,trade2 achieve that dream of ,joseph ,chamberlain1 8the total and absolute elimination of any idea of private gain in the retail sale of liquor02 convert drink into food to the tune of some eighty millions a year2 and vastly diminish the number of children that require ,state nourishment1 and the number of underfed men and women4 ,in #aiaa1 #afb1gig1bbi was the drink bill of the nation2 of which it is estimated that about #aaj1jjj1jjj was spent by the working class4 ,the working classes are no more inclined to liquor than the rest of the population1 but they have obviously less to spare for the indulgence of their inclination4 ,with proper control of the liquor traffic they will perhaps spend half what they spend now1 extracting therefrom just as much enjoyment1 and most of the other half will go into the bodies of themselves and their children in the form of food4 ,before the war one-tenth of our people were getting too little food2 two-tenths more just balanced on a knife-edge of bare sufficiency4 ,and the great majority of this third of our population were too closely or too badly housed for health4 ,what is it going to be--after--unless our measures in regard to food1 to housing1 and to drink1 are heroic8 ,for heroic measures we shall need a keener sense of justice1 a larger humanity1 than we have ever had4 ,though the war may conceivably not diminish humane feeling in those who fight1 it blunts the sensibilities of those who do not see its horrors at first-hand4 ,tales of others' sufferings have become the daily fodder of the brain2 narratives of death and misery the companions of every hour4 ,alongside the brutalities and agonies of the war1 the injustice and cruelties of normal civil live seem pale and tame4 ,man has only a certain capacity for feeling2 one expects callousness now towards civil inhumanities4 ,but must that callousness last after peace has come8 ,if so1 we are in a bad way4 ,what is it that our modern ,state is reaching after8 ,presumably health1 and balance4 ,and what are these qualities built on1 if not on ,justice8 ,at the back of all social inhumanities will be found a lack of reasonable freedom and opportunity for some people1 and the possession in other people of too much freedom and opportunity4 ,and for the swift redress of social cruelties1 the thorough attainment of social justice1 we have at present not only to contend with human nature1 but with an admitted deficiency in our legislative machinery4 ,when the chief obstacle to laws is not the callousness of public opinion1 but a mere block on the lines of procedure1 some drastic change is due1 a new departure wanted4 ,before the war many measures of reform hung in the wind year after year1 not because there was no public feeling behind them1 not even because there were the usual political cleavages concerning them1 but simply because time could not be found in which to pass them4 ,of such were3 ,measures for the feeding and education of children2 the control of drink2 rural housing2 improvement of slum areas2 furtherance of the minimum wage2 reform of the ,poor ,law2 of the ,divorce ,law2 of the disability that attends the needy in their access to civil justice2 of the imprisonment of poor persons for debt2 of the procedure in regard to pauper lunatics2 of the prison system2 of provision for the blind2 measures for the better treatment of animals4 ,all these and others hung in the wind2 are they to go on hanging those when the war is over8 ,wanted before1 they will be wanted still more badly then1 because the general conditions of life will for some years1 perhaps many years1 be harder2 and economic pressure fosters rough and unjust treatment4 ,is it too early for a united effort1 to think out1 in readiness for peace1 a scheme of parliamentary procedure which shall afford time for the serious and uninterrupted consideration of non-party measures1 and the furtherance of needed reforms8 ,party no longer exists1 but they who think it has gone for good dwell in a fools' paradise4 ,as sure as fate it will spring up again1 because it is rooted in temperamental difference4 ,but must it come back with all its old cat-and-dog propensities1 and waste of national time8 ,it will1 unless some method be devised that will remove some of party's unhandsome opportunities and save it from itself4 ,politicians alone know the difficulties1 many and great1 in the way of a better procedure4 ,surely1 while faction is in abeyance1 ,parliament will set its wits to overcoming those difficulties1 so that when the war ends we may not witness again the tedious and distressful blocking of so many needed measures that prevailed aforetime4 ,party was made for the ,country1 not the ,country for ,party2 and what was tolerated with ,job-like patience before this vast upheaval is not by any means likely to be tolerated after4 ,needs will be more insistent2 the sense of reality much greater2 the aspiration towards ,national ,health a live thing1 because it will be so desperately necessary4 ,reform of parliamentary procedure is obviously the prime precedent for national reform4 ,shall not then the question be even now given all the attention that can be spared to it8 ,what better moment--when men of all parties are filled with the one great thought--,our ,country6 ,v--,a ,,last ,,word ,one more word before these vapourings cease4 ,the national task in this war is still mighty enough to absorb all action1 but not quite all thought1 for it is no spasmodic effort1 meaning nothing to the future4 ,to carry the spirit of to-day into a long to-morrow1 making of our patriotism not a mere torrent soon spent and leaving an arid plain1 but a life-giving1 even-flowing river--for that one must not lose the sense of continuity2 one must think ahead4 ,more6 ,one must resolve--resolve that this new unity shall stand not only the strain of war1 but the greater strain of the coming ,peace4 ,after--will come the test4 ,having guaranteed our country for the moment from destructive powers without1 shall we at once redeliver it to the destructive powers within--go back to strife over ,ireland1 the ,suffrage1 the ,welsh ,church1 and the ,second ,chamber8 ,or1 preserving our new-found unity1 settle generously and in a large spirit those distressful matters1 and pass on to the real work--to a wider and freer view of ,empire1 to the right training of the nation1 the right feeding of the nation1 to securing for each man1 woman1 and child a solid foundation of health and hope2 to the restoration of the land and of our food supply2 to clearance of mutual suspicions1 and the stablishing of a new trustfulness between ,labour and ,capital2 to the banishment of inhumanity2 the freeing of the eyes of ,justice2 and interment of the privileges of class8 ,shall we go back to rolling in the troughs of a dirty sea or set new sail and steer out with a true faith in our destiny as the ,ship of ,freedom and ,justice8 8,when the devil was sick1 the devil a saint would be1 ,but when the devil got well1 the devil a saint was he60 ,is that to be our case8 ,let us not underrate the danger4 ,at this moment and until the war is over1 we are full of patriotism and good-will4 ,we have to be4 ,there's the trouble4 ,once ,peace comes1 and the unifying force of our common peril is over1 what then8 ,is the old raw party spirit to ramp among us again8 ,if a man would discover what danger there is of a return to every kind of disunity1 let him take a definite national question and see how much of his private interest or conviction he is prepared to abate for the sake of the public good4 ,mighty little6 ,are we to dissolve again into those 8rascally ,radicals0 and those 8infernal ,tories02 into 8grinders of the poor0 and 8discontented devils02 into 8brutal men0 and 8hysterical females0 with all the other warring tribes of the ,armageddon of ,peace8 ,are we to lose utterly the inspiring vision of our ,country1 in the squabbles of domestic life8 ,some of that intense vision must go1 alas6 ,but surely not all4 ,and yet all will go unless we keep in mind the thought that this war is not an end1 but the means to an end1 which none of us will see1 but all of us can further in time of peace as well as in time of war--an end for whose attainment the blood and treasure now spilled is but as a preliminary4 ,it will be heart-breaking if from this stupendous cataclysm no lasting good to the world and to ,britain can be brought forth4 ,its horror1 even now1 few realize who are not at the front4 ,one who was many months on ambulance duty in the ,french lines wrote these words3 8,they talk of the war6 ,let them come close in6 ,let them see lying around emaciated heads with no bodies within a couple of hundred yards2 let them see the bloody confusion of heads and entrails and limbs which is showered around when a trench is mined2 let them see the heads with ears and noses bitten off as if by mad dogs2 let them see the men driven insane by the sights and sounds of the battlefield1 who turn and rend their comrades and have to be shot down by them2 let them come where hundreds of wounded men are lying on contested ground screaming the whole night through 7and not one in a million has ever heard a man scream67 and then talk of the war60 ,if from this horror1 fought through and endured1 as we believe1 for the future of our ,land and the future of mankind1 there is to come no blessing1 no advance to freedom and health and justice4 4 4 4 ,what then8 ,nothing will be easier than to take up again the peace life of ,britain as it was1 and worse than it was1 because coarsened by the passions of war1 and embittered by the strain of a greater economic stress4 ,nothing will be easier than to give rein to the instincts of greed1 pugnacity1 and rancour1 now hard held in by sentiment and the common peril2 to step back and walk blindly in a country where all is faction2 where class shuns class1 and men and women are bitterly opposed2 where the youth of the nation is all the time running to seed2 where children go hungry and millions throughout the land are miserably housed and fed2 where the access to justice is often still beyond the reach of the poor2 where helplessness is not yet a guarantee against ill-usage4 ,once the war effort is over1 nothing will be easier than--from a resolved and united nation--to become a crowd pressing this way and that1 without view and without vision1 seeking purse and place1 or1 at the best1 fulfilment of small factious policies4 ,no one can tell yet what will be the world-sequel of this war--whether it will bring a long peace or other wars2 the enlargement of democracy or the hardening of autocratic rule2 the ,united ,states of ,europe or a congery of distrustful ,powers working for another 8,day40 ,only one thing we know1 that in our charge will be our own national life1 to make or to mar2 to prepare against whatever fortune the outer world shall brew1 to prepare against the subtle march of inward dissolution4 ,our future does not lie on the knees of the gods2 it lies in our own hands1 and hearts1 and brains1 and the use that we shall make of them4 ,swift is the descent to hell1 and no wings fly so fast thither as the wings of material success4 ,shall we go that way8 ,or shall we1 having fixed our eyes on a goal far beyond the finish of this war1 quietly1 resolutely in our conduct to the outer world and in our national life1 begin at once transmuting into deeds those words3 ,freedom1 ,health1 ,justice for ,all8 ,as a man thinks and dreams1 so does he act4 ,it is time to think and dream a little of the future1 while the spirit of unity is on us1 the vision of our ,country with us2 so that1 when we see again the face of ,peace1 we may continue to act in unity1 having in our hearts the good of our ,land1 and in our eyes the vision of her1 growing ever to truer greatness and beauty4 ,,the ,,islands ,,of ,,the ,,blessed 7,read at a ,conference on the ,national ,life of the ,allied ,countries1 ,stratford-on-,avon1 ,august1 #aiaf47 ,i suppose there are ,britons who have never seen the sea2 thousands1 perhaps--unfortunate4 ,but is there a ,briton who has not in some sort the feeling that he is a member of a great ship's crew8 ,is there one who never rejoices that his ,land sails in space1 unboarded1 untouched by other lands8 ,it must be strange to be native of a country where1 strolling forth1 one may pass into the fields or woods of another race4 ,in all that we are1 have been1 and shall be1 the sea comes first--the sea1 sighing up quiet beaches1 thundering off headlands1 the sea blue and smiling under our white cliffs1 or lashing the long sands1 the sea out beyond foreshore and green fields1 or rolling in on wind-blown rocks and wastes4 ,the sea with its smile1 and its frown1 and its restless music2 the grim1 loyal1 protecting sea--our mother and our comrade1 our mysterious friend6 ,the ancients dreamed of 8the islands of the blessed02 we of these green and misty isles almost1 ,i think1 believe that we inhabit them4 ,a strange and abiding sense is love of ,country6 ,though reason may revolt1 and life here be hard1 ugly1 thankless1 though one may even say1 8,i care no more for my own countrymen than for those of other lands2 ,i am a citizen of the world60 ,no use6 ,a stealing love has us fast bound2 a web of who knows what memories of misty fields1 and scents of clover and turned earth2 of summer evenings1 when sounds are far and clear2 of long streets half-lighted1 and town sights1 not beautiful but homely2 of the skies we were born beneath1 and the roads we have trodden all our lives4 ,what memories1 too1 of names and tales1 small visions all upside down perhaps1 yet true and warm to us because we listened and saw when we were no older than foals at their dams' heels4 ,it is not our actual ,country1 but its halo1 that we love--the halo each one of us has made for it4 ,there are evenings under the moon1 dewy mornings1 late afternoons1 when over field and wood1 over moor or park or town1 unearthliness hovers2 so1 over our native land hovers a glamour that burns brighter when we are absent1 and flames up in glory above her when we see her driven or hard pressed4 ,no man yet knows the depths of our love for these islands of the blessed4 ,may no man ever know it6 ,and to each of us there will be some ingle-nook where the spirit of our country most inhabits1 where the fire of hearth and home glows best1 and draws us with its warmth from wanderings bodily or spiritual4 ,to know that in these isles no native-born but has a quiet shrine1 be it lovely1 or devoid of earthly beauty1 where he or she in fancy worships the whole land1 gives reality to the word ,patriotism4 ,this love of country is so deep and sacred that we cannot utter it2 let us not forget that it is as deep and sacred to the natives of other lands6 ,looking back into the dark of history1 how quaint is our origin--offspring of invading robbers1 wave after wave1 for some two thousand years before the ,norman ,conquest6 ,if these be not in truth the blessed islands that the ancients dreamed of1 they seem to have been sufficiently attractive4 ,who our ,neolithic forerunners were1 whence they came1 or whether they were here before our isles cut loose from the mainland and set out on an endless voyage1 we shall never1 ,i suppose1 know4 ,a strain of their blood1 more than we think perhaps1 must still be alive within us2 the rest of it is freebooting fluid--,celts and ,romans1 ,anglo-,saxons1 ,danes1 ,normans1 all robbers2 blent at last--and in ,ireland not yet quite blent--to the observance of honour among thieves4 ,ever since the sea brought us here--all but the ,neolithic few--in the long-ships of the past1 what a slow1 ceaseless fusing has gone to the making of the modern ,briton--that most singular among men6 ,i hold the theory--how far scientifically tenable ,i know not--that the continued vitality of a race depends on two main conditions3 the presence of many strains of blood not too violently differing one from the other1 and the absence of too much sun4 ,i hold that nations may become too inbred2 or may have the sap dried out of them by heat4 ,in ,britain we cannot yet have reached the point of perfect fusion--are not in danger for a long time of becoming too inbred4 ,nor can the sun be called a desperate peril4 ,we are 8game10 as they say1 for centuries yet2 unless----6 ,for our besetting danger is another4 ,how many of us realize that far beyond all other nations we are town dwellers1 subject to town blight8 ,that is a new1 an insidious1 malady1 whose virulence we have hardly yet appreciated or had time to study4 ,can it be arrested by homopathy--or must sweeping allopathic remedies be applied8 ,will town blight be cured by better town conditions1 and our gradual adaptation--or by going back to the land8 ,by both4 ,but1 if not by both within the next half-century1 then--,i fear--by neither4 ,town blight has had as yet but two full generations to lay its grip on us4 ,we have time for its defeat if we have courage and sense4 ,but it is an enemy more deadly than the ,germans2 not so easy to see and to fight against6 ,when children first discover gooseberries or other kindly fruits of the earth1 they eat too quickly and too much4 ,we were the first people to discover the means to 8happiness0 known as modern industrialism4 ,with huge appetite we set upon it1 and are caught by surfeit4 ,i have heard this view of our case seriously countered--the ,cockney and the northern townsman are thought to be our most vital types4 ,verily they have a pretty courage2 but to such as are light-hearted on this matter ,i would say3 8,go1 in summer1 to some seaside place where humble townsfolk have come to make holiday1 as healthy and little pallid as they ever are1 and--watch4 ,then wing off to some remote fishing village1 or countryside where such peasants as are left are not too badly off1 and--watch4 ,then summon your candour1 and tell in which of your two fields of observation you have seen more vigour of limb1 beauty of face1 or at all events more freedom from petty distortions and a look of dwindling40 ,i cannot explain exactly what ,i mean by town blight4 ,it is not mere pallor or weakliness1 but rather a loss of balance--a tendency to jut here and be squashed in there2 an over-narrowness of head2 an over-development of this feature at the expense of that2 with a look of living too fast1 of giving out more than is taken in4 ,the modifications of the ,briton through town life are countless1 and all the time subtly going on4 ,i do not deny that there is much good1 too1 in the transformation--the quickening of a temperament by no means quick2 a widening of sympathies in a character not too sympathetic2 the deepening of humaneness and the love of justice in a nature with an old ,adam in it of brutality4 ,a frank humanitarian and humanist1 like myself1 dwells cheerfully on that1 for it does seem1 while other changes in human life are always arguable--such as the increase of efficiency purchased by loss of breadth and kindliness2 economic gain by loss of health and balance2 greater will-power by loss of understanding and tolerance--that the increase of humane instinct1 with which is bound up the love of justice1 is alone sheer gain4 ,some1 ,i know1 think it bought at the expense of what is called 8virility40 ,to those ,i recommend a steady glimpse at the modern ,british sailor4 ,of late years ,i have been reading accounts of ,arctic and ,antarctic exploration4 ,there is no better study for those who doubt whether men can be brave and hard and at the same time chivalrous and gentle4 ,one returns from mental travel with those heroes convinced that true humanity and gentleness and justice actually depend on bravery and stoicism4 ,picked men1 you say6 ,well1 go to the ,british ,fleet1 or the ,british ,army--in a word1 to the ,british male population of robust age--and you will come back1 ,i believe1 with the same general conviction--that where the truest bravery is there also is humaneness--that these qualities grow naturally twined together4 ,all evidence from the war proves that the ,briton is as hard a fighter1 and far better behaved1 than he ever was4 ,better behaviour under war conditions means nothing but increase in each individual fighter1 of just and humane instinct1 and that sense of personal responsibility which is the other main advantage coming to us from town life4 ,in towns a man finds his level1 acquires the corporate sense1 sees himself as part of the civic whole1 learns that his own ills are shared by too many1 to bear thinking of save with a touch of humour and contempt4 ,the ,british sailor whose shattered arm was being dressed in the battle of ,jutland well summed up what ,i mean3 8,to hell with my arm1 doctor2 ,i want to get up there again and give the boys a hand60 ,that would seem very much the spirit of the modern town-bred ,british4 ,now1 is there anything which in some sort differentiates this ,britain of ours from other lands8 ,a country is such a huge conglomeration of types and qualities2 such a seething mass of energies6 ,it seems sometimes as impossible to thread one's way to the heart of that maze as to fix the pattern of a thousand gnats dancing in a sunlit lane6 ,one turns eyes here1 there1 follows this movement and that1 thinks one has the clue1 falls back gaping4 ,is there any essence which sets the ,british soul apart1 as an oak is set apart from beech or lime tree8 ,can there1 indeed1 be any single essence in a land where ,iberian and ,celt1 ,saxon and ,norseman1 still quarrel in the blood8 ,i think there is1 and will hazard an attempt to throw on the screen some faint shadow of the elusive thing4 ,take certain salient ,british characteristics3 ,our peculiar national under-emphasis and stolidity2 our want of imagination2 that desire to have things both ways--which is generally called our 8hypocrisy02 our turn of ironic humour2 our bulldog grip2 our lack of joie de vivre2 our snobbishness--dying1 but dying very hard2 our perpetual desire for the moral in action or art2 our regard for 8good form02 our slow dumb idealism1 hand in hand with our profound distrust of ideas2 our propensity for grumbling under prosperity1 and our cheeriness under hardship2 our passion for games1 and our creed of 8playing the game02 our love of individual liberty--even our perversity and crankiness4 4 4 4 ,take them all1 and consider whether there is not some fundamental underlying instinct4 ,i believe that the mainspring of the ,british soul1 concealed by a layer of mental laziness from superficial scrutiny1 is nothing but an inveterate instinct for competition4 ,the ,briton is the most competitive creature on the face of the earth--save possibly the ,american of ,british descent4 ,true--we would1 as they phrase it on the turf1 make a race with a donkey1 for our climate has certainly sluggarded the circulation of our blood4 ,none the less1 we have a perpetual secret itch for competition1 so bone deep that most of us do not even know of it4 ,all through our lives we are playing a match4 ,when the ,briton is not secretly pitting himself against somebody or something1 he can hardly be said to be alive4 ,i do not think1 speaking racially1 that he cares so much for what he gets by the game as for the game itself and victory in it4 ,he sets little store by the perfection of his handiwork so long as it beats the handiwork of others2 or--and this is the saving grace--so long as in the accomplishment he has defeated the slackness or cowardice in his own nature--won the match within himself4 ,let us turn them over one by one1 those salient ,british characteristics3 ,stolidity6 ,under-emphasis6 ,it is surely nothing but contempt of fuss2 and what is fuss but allowing too much importance to the task or person you are up against8 ,the instinct of competition forbids that in the ,briton2 he is so competitive that he does not deign to let people see that he is stretching himself4 ,want of imagination6 ,that is partly the mental laziness1 no doubt1 engendered by our thick climate2 but much of it1 ,i think1 is only the subconscious refusal by our competitive natures to see too quickly and clearly what we have before us1 lest we be discouraged4 ,a great help--to have muddled through most of the battle before you are aware of the size and length of it6 ,our rather grim turn of humour6 ,is it not generally a jest at the expense of a fate which thought it could set us down8 ,our hypocrisy6 ,one would not admit a physical defeat1 but clench the teeth and have at it again2 then1 how admit moral defeat8 ,impossible6 ,face must be saved--instinctively again1 unconsciously--for the last thing we plead guilty to is our 8hypocrisy40 ,the bulldog grip--speaks for itself4 ,our lack of joie de vivre6 ,we are playing a match--we have no chance or time to relax1 to lie on our backs and let the sunlight warm our faces4 ,we have not time to give ourselves up to life2 there is so much to beat--we are playing a match4 ,our veneration for rank of every kind6 ,snobbishness6 ,this is surely nothing but our recognition of the value of attainment2 acknowledgment of victories won1 if not in the present1 in the past2 tacit confession that we1 too1 want to win such victories4 ,our craving for a moral6 ,well1 what is a moral1 if not the triumph of what we call 8good0 over what we call 8evil08 ,we crave that triumph--not only in action1 but also1 ,i fear1 in art4 ,art must not merely excite within us impersonal emotion2 it must be useful to us in our match with life--a pity6 ,our worship of 8good form0 is partly dread of that ridicule which would be a proof of our having fallen short1 and partly recognition by a people who have long lived an exceptionally stable social life1 that this competitive instinct of ours1 unchecked by rules1 becomes a nuisance to ourselves and others4 ,in the same way1 8playing the game0 is but the necessary check on our passion for a match4 ,our inveterate dumb idealism is of course a primary constituent element in the fighting nature2 and our distrust of ideas a natural lazy dread of being pushed on too fast by that idealism4 ,our grumbling habits1 when there is little or nothing to grumble at1 show1 ,i think1 that in slackness and prosperity we are really out of our element2 while our ironic cheerfulness under hardship--the cry 8,are we down-hearted8 ,no-o60 proves that times of stress suit our competitive temperament4 ,our love of individual liberty6 ,a man1 the joy of whose life is winning an event over himself or others1 naturally desires the utmost latitude for these perpetual contests4 ,and so the ,briton becomes 8a crank0 more often than members of any other race4 ,one should never drive theory too far1 but ,i seriously believe that the foundation of the ,briton's soul is this dumb and utter refusal to admit that he ever can be beaten1 either by himself or any other4 ,he is concerned to win1 rather than to understand or to enjoy4 ,i do not know whether this is admirable1 but ,i am pretty sure that it is true4 ,and behind and beyond all the better reasons for pursuing this war to a victorious end1 there is always the inarticulate1 intense1 instinctive feeling1 that we must win the match1 since to fail would mean not only defeat by the ,germans1 but the defeat within us of our will and of our own nature4 ,if ,i am right as to this essence of the ,british soul1 what does it signify to the world of our friends and enemies8 ,it means1 of course1 a rock on which our friends may build--it assures the fulfilment of all pledges1 and endurance till the day of victory2 but it carries with it a certain element of danger4 ,vice treads on the heels of ,virtue in the competitive soul4 ,how far may our nature become a peril1 not only to ourselves1 but to our ,allies and the whole world8 ,underneath all our resolution not to fall short of such measure of victory as shall free the invaded lands1 and prove to all that the over-riding of a little harmless neutral country has not paid2 underneath this absolute resolve1 which of us does not long for a real peace1 an end of a world that is like a powder magazine which malevolent or foolish hands can fire at any moment8 ,the difficulties that lie between us and such a peace are very great2 far be it from me to minimize them1 or blink the seeming impasse of the situation ahead4 ,when the end draws near1 in every warring land the great dumb mass-of-the-people's only thought will be3 8,for ,god's sake1 have done with it1 and let us get back to life60 ,but1 jutting out of this mass1 in each country1 and especially in our own1 there will be1 on the one hand1 idealists and dreamers1 a little band1 seeing a vision too visionary1 telling of it to the wind2 on the other1 a far larger1 louder band of men of affairs1 judging of matters with the immediate eye1 for immediate profit1 or1 as they will rather phrase it1 for permanent profit1 under the waving flags of patriotism2 of men talking of a lasting peace and genuinely wishing for it--so long as it does not mean foregoing anything1 so long as they may let go no advantage so dearly bought4 ,already the cry on both sides is for a commercial war starting from the final battle4 ,all that is stupendously natural6 ,but in this medley of demand1 how will statesmen steer8 ,will they1 who have to remake the world1 have a large vision1 and see that1 vital before all else1 is the seizing of a chance--that has never come before and may never come again--to establish and set going a ,court of ,nations1 backed this time by real force8 ,will they grasp the wisdom implicit in the feeling of the great dumb multitudes3 8,for ,god's sake have done with it1 and let us live60 ,we have not yet got to the moment on which the whole future will hang4 ,when we do1 ,i fancy that this competitive soul of ours may want too much to have things both ways4 ,whatever the terms of the peace that comes1 that peace will not last without a ,league of ,nations to guarantee it2 and such a ,league we cannot have unless impartiality be its backbone2 unless we mean that it shall judge justly1 and enforce judgment without fear or favour2 unless we are willing to accept its judgments in all matters1 and not merely when it suits us4 ,a man does not guarantee the health of his body just by holding his neighbour down2 and the true path to security and a great future lies in the efforts we make to improve ourselves1 rather than in those we make to injure others4 ,the freedom and fair opportunity which are vital to a lasting peace need not bar us from national preparedness1 from intelligent effort to save ourselves and our ,allies from unfair commercial competition1 need not prevent us from assuring our safety and improving our corporate life4 ,but they do mean that we must keep free of a militarist and tyrannical spirit4 ,how far will our competitive ,british soul1 when peace comes1 be proof against that virus8 ,are we1 in the winning of military victory1 going quietly to accept moral defeat1 letting our ideals turn turtle and float with their keels to the stars8 ,i wonder4 ,this ,league for ,peace we talk of--that even statesmen talk of--will not be born of violent minds1 but out of level and long-headedness1 and the desire to benefit not only our own country1 but the world4 ,it is an undertaking fraught with the most poignant difficulty4 ,if you imagine it fledged from birth1 with wings full grown--if you imagine a world disarmed1 immediately responsive to law--it is but an ,utopian dream4 ,the world will assuredly remain armed2 at a single stride one cannot step from hell to heaven4 ,but armedness need not prevent the nations from establishing procedure for the delay of warlike action--a tribunal to which all disputes must be referred2 need not prevent them from pledging themselves to forcible support of its decisions1 from declaring commerce sacro-sanct between members of the ,league1 and punishing by blockade and ostracism any nation that betrays its membership1 or flouts a decision1 so that the sanctity of a nation's commerce may in future depend on that nation's loyalty to other nations2 nor need it prevent ,states from taking the manufacture of war material out of private hands4 ,only on the proved efficacy of such measures as these will the disarmament of nations follow1 slowly1 surely1 equally2 for man will then be acting1 as he loves to act1 not by rote and theory1 but on the evidence of facts4 ,is all this a wild-cat notion1 or a mere natural growth out of what went before the war1 and out of the terrific tragedy of the war itself--a plan tentative and experimental1 that may gradually force its way to confidence1 till the ,court of ,nations reaches the unquestioned authority and permanence of each individual nation's courts of justice8 ,we of the ,allied countries must surely long for such a plan2 nor1 ,i think can any neutral nation which has watched and trembled at this war be other than well-disposed towards it2 and1 whatever their rulers and journalists may desire1 the peoples of the ,central ,empires will not wish to be left out4 ,yet when the time comes for peace discussions one sees only too well the deadlock4 ,the ,allied nations1 if victorious1 will not want a round table sance with their enemies and a cosy settlement4 ,the ,central ,empires will not wish to accept forced membership of a ,league for ,peace founded by their enemies1 in which--however mistakenly--they believe they will always be outvoted4 ,this vicious deadlock1 however1 is less real1 ,i think1 than it seems4 ,there are new forces at work2 and if a ,league for ,peace can make even a lame and partial start1 it may by these new forces soon be fortified4 ,after this war1 deep-planted in the heart of every people1 whether fighting or looking on1 will be the loathing of national aggressiveness6 ,such a feeling has never existed before because men have never before been so stirred1 so injured1 and so frightened4 ,we soon forget1 of course1 all save that of which we are constantly reminded2 but the aftermath of this war will be full of startling revelations of the ruin it has caused2 the world will reek with reminder that so-called national aspirations cannot with impunity be aggressively pursued2 that so-called defensive wars cannot be light-heartedly incepted4 ,during the march of a war1 however terrible1 the fascination of strife colours and subdues its horror2 its heroisms hypnotize1 its rancours drug all reason1 blur all vision4 ,but in the cold thinned blood of a maimed future1 how different it will all seem1 how terrifically disproportionate6 ,love of country has never before had such calls made on it2 men have never so suffered for their patriotism4 ,that1 too1 must bring a sweeping reaction1 which will gradually force the hands of reluctant ,governments into adhesion to any scheme which promises relief from a repetition of such agonies4 ,and so1 in spite of all the difficulties1 ,i believe some sort of ,league for ,peace will come1 imperfect and experimental at first1 but which1 once founded1 will wax and grow strong1 in the real--not merely pious--horror of war which will follow this fearful carnival4 ,let it but hold together for a few years1 survive one or two serious trials1 and ,i think no sane nation will ever desire its dissolution4 ,such a scheme will not come down to us from ,heaven4 ,from our own brains and wills it must spring2 from our sense of--shall we say--the inconvenience of wars like this4 ,if the killing and disablement of some ten million men1 the waste of some ten to twenty thousand million pounds1 persuades us to nothing but the leaving of the world exactly as it was1 as liable to these irruptions of death and misery--then1 better say with the ,spanish poet1 8,of all the misfortunes of man1 the greatest is to have been born40 ,even before the guns cease roaring1 shall not our nine ,allied peoples agree informally among themselves upon the structure of a ,league for ,peace1 and secure the sympathetic understanding of ,america1 and the other neutral countries1 on whose wisdom and good-will so much depends8 ,i1 for one1 would wish my ,country foremost in pursuing this great chance--wish that she might place all her power in the favouring scale2 ,i would wish to see her as ready to submit to the decisions of an ,international ,tribunal1 as each one of us is ready as a matter of course to submit to the decisions of our judges4 ,we in this green ,britain of ours1 still free of the invader's foot1 can measure the value of freedom now1 looking across to lands waiting for deliverance4 ,no country of ,europe but has suffered1 during long centuries1 outrage and trampling1 siege and slaughter1 that we have been spared--saved by our sea4 ,it is not irony that calls these the islands of the blessed4 ,but ,fortune is a jealous goddess2 and offerings are due to her who has given us an inviolate soil4 ,i seem to see ,fortune standing apart1 watching--wondering4 8,what have they made--what are they going to make of their ,land80 ,i seem to see ,fortune thinking3 8,if ,i grant them success once more1 these islanders1 are they great enough to survive it8 ,under my smile the empires of the past one by one went down--,assyria1 ,egypt1 ,persia1 ,rome1 others of long1 long ago4 ,will this empire live1 or will it too rot away1 and sink80 ,those empires of the past fell through prosperity1 through inordinate pride1 through luxury and slavery hand in hand4 ,may ,fortune hold up a mirror to us1 that we see ourselves as we are6 ,freedom and ,humanity are not mere words2 nor is a people's greatness measured in acres or in pounds1 in the number of its ships on the sea1 or of the rifles it can muster4 ,a people's greatness is in the breadth and quality of its soul1 in its fortitude1 alertness1 justice1 gentleness1 within itself and to the world without2 and in its faith that man has his fate in his own hands4 ,as the individual1 so the ,state2 the aggregate of individual virtue decides and shapes the lot of nations4 ,may there be no slaves among us and none who fatten upon slavery2 no brutes among us and none who cower under brutality6 ,let us not hold ourselves as the elect in a blind patriotism1 but have some vision of the world beyond our shores1 of its hopes and dreads and natural ambitions4 ,a narrow national spirit never served mankind6 ,let the sea be our inspiration and our reminder6 ,for1 if it is our fortification1 the sea is also our link with all the world1 and the greatest force of untamed ,nature4 ,it seems to me that they who live dependent on the sea should never be puffed up4 ,its changing moods and salt winds1 its wildness1 beauty1 desolation1 the sudden fates that lurk within it1 that leap and clutch and draw away from us our best2 the great spaces of it beneath sun and stars--these are constant1 and to our souls should surely carry breadth1 sweep out of us the littleness of ,imperial complacency4 ,the sea is never chained1 and the eyes of sailors have in them a look that any man might covet--a steady fronting of something inscrutable1 shifting1 dangerous4 ,they know the little worth of human strength1 the need of unity2 they know that when a man slackens his watch1 ,fate leaps upon him4 ,the ship of each nation sails a sea of incalculable currents and uncharted channels4 ,sailing that sea1 may we have the eyes of sailors1 lest our ,fate leap upon us6 ,who would not desire1 rushing through the thick dark of the future1 to stand on the cliffs of vision--two hundred years1 say1 hence--and view this world8 ,will there then be this ,league for ,war1 this cauldron where1 beneath the thin crust1 a boiling lava bubbles1 and at any minute may break through and leap up1 as now1 jet high8 ,will there still be reek and desolation1 and man at the mercy of the machines he has made2 still be narrow national policies and rancours1 and such mutual fear1 that no country dare be generous8 ,or will there be over the whole world something of the glamour that each one of us now sees hovering above his own country2 and men and women--all--feel they are natives of one land8 ,who dare say8 ,when the guns cease fire and all is still1 from the woods and fields and seas1 from the skeleton towns of ravaged countries1 the wistful dead will rise1 and with their eyes accuse us4 ,in that hour we shall have for answer only this3 ,we fought for a better ,future for ,mankind6 ,did we8 ,do we8 ,that is the great question4 ,is our gaze really fixed on the far horizon8 ,or do we only dream it2 and have the slain no comfort in their untimely darkness2 the maimed1 the ruined1 the bereaved1 no shred of consolation8 ,is it all to be for nothing but the salving of national prides8 ,and shall the ,ironic ,spirit fill the whole world with his laughter8 ,or shall the nations take the first step in that grand march of real deliverance which will make the whole earth--at last--the islands of the blessed8 ,,the ,,whitefriars ,,press1 ,,ltd41 ,,london ,,and ,,tonbridge4 ,,by ,,the ,,same ,,author4 ,issued by ,william ,heinemann4 ,,the ,,island ,,pharisees4 ,,the ,,man ,,of ,,property4 ,,the ,,country ,,house4 ,,fraternity4 ,,the ,,patrician4 ,,the ,,dark ,,flower4 ,,the ,,freelands4 99 99 99 99 99 ,a ,,motley4 ,,the ,,inn ,,of ,,tranquillity4 ,,the ,,little ,,man ,,and ,,other ,,satires4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,moods1 ,,songs1 ,,and ,,doggerels4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,memories4 ,illustrated by ,,maud ,,earl4 99 99 99 99 99 ,issued by other ,publishers4 ,,villa ,,rubein ,,and ,,other ,,stories4 ,,plays3 #c vols4 ,a ,,commentary4 99 99 99 99 99 ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,the list of other works by the author has been moved from the front of the book to the end4 ,spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original4 ,a few obvious typesetting punctuation errors have been corrected without note4 ,the end of ,a ,sheaf by ,john ,galsworthy