The Evening Star THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1914.

Evening Star, Issue 15606, 24 September 1914, Page 4

The Evening Star THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1914.

'Gehjian'Y continues her mission of converting tho world. Sho Germany's is not l>y any means a -Mission. pioneer in her selfassumed task. Theio have been many and great missions throughout the 20 centuries that have elapeed since the disciples or' the Man of Nazareth were called on to preach the Gospel to every creature. There have been the missions of St. Paul and St. Patrick and St. Augustine, of Francis Xavier and William Carey, and' yet others from all branches of tho Christian Church. Each of these proclaimed, as Germany has done, a doctrine of ethical culture, and they represented, as well the militant and aggressive Orders of their faith. Nor were their victories inconspicuous, nor their converts nru.Tnerica.lly {insignificant. On the contrary, their teachings and methods took hold of the hearts of their hearers, and persisted and grew long after they were "dxifit and wraith.'' Of those who went to the Mother Laud it may be said :

They passed, they passed, but cannot pass

away. For England feels them in her blood like

"wine. What 'hot-h the. Old and Xew World alike were, up tt>less than two months ago, they were largely as the outcome of the influence of missions. Therefore, the term is in no sense a new one, nor can its objects bo misunderstood. When a man, or a nation, sets oat on a minion, or proclaims an intention "to give tho world for ever "those things for which it. has never "ceased, to strive,"' it may rely at least tipon a respectful hearing Why the world has turned upon Germany, and has announced its intention not to cease in its endeavors until "it has burned out tho cancer with red-hot irons." is not because) she claims to have- a mission for the betterment and upliftment of mankind, but because, she has sought to propagate it not as did tho great missionaries of the past, but by means and -weapons that are an outrage upon and the inevitable destruction of that civilisation she in anxious to improve. Our daily meed of cable news is one of almost unredeemed horror. Kven the acts of gallantry, chivalry, generosity, and self-sacrifice* with which it is now and asiair. illuminated hardly lightens its unspeakable infamy. Carlyle., in the long ago, said that " the ultimate question be- '• tween every two 'human beings is : ' Can "I kill thee or canst thou till me?' " But Carlyle was, and is, utterly and wholly wrong. There is not a thoughtful man of any nationality, outside the German War Party, who would emlorsohisdichim. There are, happily for the race a.nd all that makes life worth living, those who would unhesitatingly say: "If this life of mine "is only to bo saved by the -taking of "yours, then I shall net save it.'' The mere .retention of physical life is not, tho solo aim of our gelf-conscience existence/. It doubtless was, at one stage in the process of out- development. But at least we may claim to have got beyond this primitive savage, stage, and why there is so universal and intense a. hatred of Germany and her mission is because that once-great Power has deliberately and in cold blood revived in newer and more terrible form the long--disearded and detested doctrine that utidarlies the verdict of Carlyle. Tho individual life cannot bo separated from the national life, and the faith of the one must bo reflected in that of the other. Hence it is true of nations as o'f individuals that death or extinction is preferable to existence on terms of dishonor. There is, as tho Governor of Victoria (.Sir Arthur Stanley) has eloquently reminded us, -a greater calamity

"even than war, and that is to lose one's "life as a nation." What would it profit a single man or woman in the Empire to have avoided war at the cost of honor? Would lite to a, lUvUmy be worth tho having if it weie to Iva- lived only as the price of acquiescence in tho violation of treaties to which tho nation had pledged itself, and the dragooning of Belgium and France? We cannot conceive that it would be. Were there any reasonable doubt on the subject, then Curlyle would be right and our conclusions would bo wrong. Had the Imperial Government listened to the pleadings of a handful of their own followers, arid declared for neutrality and safety and profit, they won lid simuiltaneoualy have sounded tho death knell of the Empire, j and tho new German gospel, wh"iesi is Carlyle's dictum translated into action, as the only one worth having. The basis of national existence is not force, but morals, and it is because Germany has flouted and disregarded this most simple truth that she is doomed beyond hope. Germany cannot Germanise the world, nor stand before it, as her people boast that she will, as its mightiest nation, with no other weapons to help her than armies and navies.

Before now men have waded through blooH to a throne, and temporarily retained it; but it is not possible for one Power to attain world-wide dictatorship by the methods of the German War Party. There are those who, wiser than their cotemporaxies, deny the truth of the outrages charged against Germany. The denial is superfluous. The broad fact remains that Germany and none other deliberately plunged Europe and the world into war, and in doing this ehe committed the snpreme. outrageiof ,all 4 Of what use is it Ja

contend that this and that crime arc inevitable during war, and that sacked cities, ruined cathedrals, lines of blazing villages, mutilated bodies, and piles of dead arc. part o£ the. Why was the game ever /started? This and this alone constitute the supremest outrage; and therefore: it is both right and necessary that the war should go on until tho chief criminals have answered for their crimes.