BENEFITS OF WAR

Evening Star, Issue 15914, 21 September 1915, Page 7

BENEFITS OF WAR

[By J.T.P.] The horrors of war, with their attendant sufferings and bereavements, are apt to make men feel that war is only a curse that has nothing to compensate for its presence and ill-effects. Yet such a view is far from -the truth. No one will surely say that war is always hurtful, arid never results in good to the human race. In the upward development of man the clash of arms has been and will probably continue to be one of the forces which help collective humanity to make right triumph over wrong. Hence, in the midstof our present troubles, we should take heart of grace. One of the London daily papers recently published Barrie’s little war _ play, ‘ Der Tag,’ in full. Li one moving passage the British dead of Crecv and Agincourt and Waterloo cry from the earth in which they lie to the British soldiers that march above them: “Is it well with England?” And the reply comes quickly and confidently: “It is well.” War often saves- a nation from moral weakness, and is thus a benefit to her people. Ideals are not always the highest and best, either of individuals or communities. Raskin says: “We talk of peace and learning, and of peace and plenty, and of peace and civilisation; but I found that these were not the words which the Muse of History coupled together; that on her lips the words were peace and sensuality, peace and selfishness, peace and death.” Even our own Empire had not the noblest ideals before her when the war started ; and we are perfectly certain that Germany, in her self-glory andl unholy ambition—the doctrines of Nietzsche, Iroitschke, and Bernhardi—needed that of which she boasted most, intellectual illumination. In her we have a splendid _ illustration of the vaunting ambition that _ o’erleaps itself. Germany is now learning the lesson she taught Franco in 1871—that national aggrandisement is not true greatness, and that there is no divine right in force. If the trenches only * teach England that righteousness is nobler than comfort, then this war will not have been waged in vain. We need hardly • refer to the fact that war is beneficial in the cultivation of patriotism, for this is patent to ail, as we see one after another voluntarily enlisting in our Expeditionary Forces. We believe, however, that in this connection the war is leading men to think as they never olid before. Hereafter many things will be regarded as unpatriotic, and therefore to be. eschewed as treasonable to the body politic, which before were ignored or winked at. • War develops true manliness in an empire, and is therefore- not an unmixed evil. It is the foundation of all the high virtues and faculties of men. No nation is truly great- unless it has first learnt to be brave. Florence Nightingale once said that “ the Anglo-Saxon on the Crimean heights has won for himself a greater' name than the Spartan at Thermopylae, as the six' months’ struggle to endure was a greater proof of what man can do than the six" hours’ struggle to tight.” And her. dictum concerning the Crimean War is perfectly true of the titanic struggle in which we and our Allies are engaged to-day. War is also a. benefit because it draws together nations in a union that makes for the common welfare. On the Heights of Abraham, situated in the Governor’s garden and overlooking the fc't a . wrenoe Rwer, there is a monument ® “‘ghj on which are just two names— W olio and Montcalm* the conqueror and the conquered. But it, , s eloquent also of the fusing of the nations. In more recent times we have the case or General Botha. He fought against us in the Boer War; but now, seeing the value and benefit of British rule, he has fought, and that with marked, success, on our side and against the Germans.

. -hhis war in which we are now engaged is drawing closer together our Allies and ourselves. It will result in a mutual and increased sympathy, understanding, and commerce In one of the tine' cartoons that the Daily News’ has recently issued the shades ox Wellington and Napoleon are regarded as from an elevated position looking down on the battlefield where they formerly tought. The former *is rep-re-sented as saying “The same fields as those we fought on; the same splendid spirit as in the men wo led,” to which words the latter significantly replies • les; and this time united”.” Community of interests lead to international friendship; and this war, in drawing so many peoples together, will in the days to come not be regarded as a positive and absolute curse, but as a lever in human progress, by moans of which man received many benefits, even though at the time thex were but blessings in disguise. Wo are sad when we think of those who have suffered, either by wounds or bereave ments, through this terrible conflict now going on, but wo sorrow nob as those without hope, lor we believe that our Empire will emerge from the tumult and strile witn a clearer vision, nobler ideals and a-grander faith in her own destiny as one of the World Powers amongst men.