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Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14110, 1 August 1911, Page 8

TO THE KDITblt Or "THE PRESS." Sir.—l was much interested in HrC It. N. Mackie's letter in last Frfcth morning's.paper, though I fear he d<2 loss than justice to his opponent's c*wl ! In one placo ho says: "Wo hare rer* J strong Christian grounds for refusal to talc© up arms, ,T and while we fcrtfi recognise that a great number will con. cur in this, we yet believe tbat thorn » still room within the Christian fold fo*. others, who believe that a certain aul sago' in tho Sermon on tho Mount w« not meant to disarm and paraljee * J ustico rightly using force, buttocWt a purely personal indignation at bn£ sonal affront, vv Of course, it goes without savine tW organised murder is to be abhorred bnt' Buroly desire to murder and fear ot being murdered are not tho only motiw* that may impel a nation to mcreta. jV armaments! When the Greeks resu&ri' their Persian invaders and for the fiaT and perhaps only, timo tossed their petty bickerings to present a ta& front to the foe, the purity of tK" motives was novor less in question -tad' the more winning of a few victoria wsT perhaps the least of the fruite tWgathered from that sowiug. Or if the* transactions are too far away I ntteji ask. "Did Abraham Lincoln* an<H£ k rellow-emancipators fall from £»* when they took up arms aKainsvHtr slave States and completed, a "'-ii* which would otherwise dismally, fcm failed?" Certainly tho greatest?,* American thinkers, Emerson, Thonia Longfellow, had no doubts on ifarSject. And emergencies such as jjjSj may very easily ariso again. :■■£??■ Or turning from historical allßskfefe' %ho abstract question itself, itnsttfqfc would be both unwise and WTetiptir allow armed injustice to have aul&s. instruments it wished for tho doißjrrf. mischief, while Justice sheathed-V&fe. sword and wielded only words an&W? suasions when the timo for thoarnjM' passed. ' "t?S?3j No, just as we allow our speak for the social conscience, ¥a<f enrol for them a special tody ofjattft that their verdicts may not pronounced, but executed, so enduMS# arm our legislators with the oollfittije* might of our nation, tbat they mu2jfat: their larger field, bo ablo boti iaj£l fend themselves when also to attack in their ,turn, ill&| cause of justice con no longer b«Pa§| vancod by arguments and pereooMp alone. —Yours, etc., : 4W