Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1917-07-31
From the Soul of England.

land the BaptistS or the Onlted states Oh
lea Merely as the utterance of a great and mil
liant church. this message would appeal to millions
of people; but it is more than that. 1t is voice
from the soul Of democratic England interpreting
the ideals in whose defense she took up the sword
and for whose triumphs she is draining her treas
urs and blood
Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the
incidents leading up to the war knows that Eng
lands influence exerted for peace to the last
minute OF the last fateful hour. The English peo-
pIe like the American people, earnestly desired to
keep out of the conflict if they could do so without
sacrifice of honor Like you, British Baptists,
the message runs hate and Ioathe all We
are and have always been advocates OF peace. Many
of us at great cost opposed the Boer war. Indeed,
we have never unsheathed the sword whilst 1t was
possible to keep it in the scabbard and II any
other way had been possible for we would not
have taken il out in August, 1914" This in sub
stance has been said many times over in official
announcements and its truth is borne out ire
futaby in the records of that catastrophe summer
But there is a particularly fine, straightforward
LONELINESS in the Baptist Unions statement of the
case. Il says of the invasion of Belgium:
That action swept the barriers
between peace and var. II a fragrant vio-
lation Of law. It was a wrong done to the soul
and to the homes of a small nation, scOrnful
and contemptuOus tearing up of a solemn COM
pact in the face of Europe, cyncally described
by the German Chancellor "a scrap Of pa
per- Like the shot that rang around the world
and reused the farmers OF New England to the
defense of their rights, so this calculated and
deliberate defiance of an international compact
stirred the spirit of Britain to rise and defend
the Belgian people. wave of moral indigna-
ton spread through the land. We were COM
PEELED to act and to act in one way. 1t was the
one duty. It was the will of God. We dared not
hold back England would have lost its soul
il il had allowed brave Belgium TO be crushed
out of existence by the perfidious Kaiser and
his military lords
We are well aware that this version of Eng
lands attitude draws cheap cynicsm from those
persons and newspapers that are so blindly anti
British as TO be virtually pro-German. But Ameri-
can opinion that counts recognizes in England S
course stanch devotion TO international right as
we'll as a wholly natural concern for her own i'm
periIed interests. Here and there amongst us are
AnglophoOes-and some OF them have method in
their madness-who take peculiar delight in echo
ing the Kaiser's comment British allies. But
the vast majority OF Americans still feel that blood
is thicker than water. and find glorious significance
in the fact that in this, the worlds supreme strug
gle for freedom, there is unity OF heart and
strength amongst all the peoples
Who speak the tongue that Shakespeare spake,
The faith and morals hold that Milton held.
Particularly interesting is the Baptist Unions
treatment of Germanys studied effort to provoke
war and of her claim that she looking only
for "a place in the SUM-:
The story of the provocation OF France
is one OF the most pathetic chapters in the
history Of that brave people. The more pa
cifc they became, the more Germany thrust
in its -goads the more abundant were her
traps and snares; and whilst sabatier and
SaiIIens were rejoicing the spiritual
generation of France and commencing her
unwonted seIf-restraint and patience, Ger
many was goading the Government of France
to begin the attack. For over forty years the
policy of provocation carried Bis
marck began 1t. The Kaiser followed
The triple Alliance formed to complete
the isolation OF France. In 1896 the Kaiser
formed his alliance with Abdul Hamid the
cruel murderer of the Armenians. arranged
for the Bagdad railroad and took the Moslem
World under his protection. In defense
of her action, Germany complained that she
wanted "a place in the sun and that the
Powers setting up barriers against
her advance. Yet from 1884 she had
duired 100000 square miles of territory,
IN area larger than Germany and France,
Austria and Hungary, Italy and Serbia, Por-
tugad and Bulgaria; and she had done with
the consent of the Powers alleged TO be
thwarting her.
OF all the fabrications with which Germany
has tried to conceal her ruthless ambition, none
is more preposterous than the claim that she was
merely seeking her rightful place in the sun, "
against a conspiracy OF hostile Powers. What she
really has sought and really now seeks is domino
ton OF Europe and domination of the world. Bis
marck shortly before his dismissal by the Kaiser.
described Germany as "a satiated Power" She
had emerged from three wars. victorious and
laden with spoils. She had but inveterate
enemy-France, whom she had overwhelmed and
isolated. She had gone her conquerIng way with
out so much a gesture of opposition from Eng
land. Indeed, Bismarck himself said in the Reich