The Washington times., 1917-04-07
COnScienceS at Front
Untroubled Over War
George Bernard Shaw Writes of Attitude of
Fighters Toward Moral Issues Involved In
Hostilities Between Nations.
ny GEORGE BERNARD SHAW.


I eventually uproot It from human,
morality. But IL Is too late to con
slider 1t when the sword is drawn
You cannot vindicate outraged NOR
ality by surrendering or allowing
yourself to be beaten. On the con.
trary, II you are in the wrong anc
desire to acknowledge it and make
amends you must achieve victory OIL
your amends can have no value.
As An offered Ransom.
Let us suppose for the sake OF
argument that the Kaiser becomes
convinced that his declaration of wal
was a crime; that it is his duty to
restore Lorraine to France and
schleswig to Denmark; that he owes
Belgium an apology and a colossal
indemnity; and that he should make
us present OF his feet aAd confine
German activity to the land. II he
were to do TINS now StassuminR, of
course, that his subjects would not
at once consign him to an fireman
stalt), there would be no grace nor
moral significance in the operation;
II would be interpreted simply as
the ransom offered by a defeated
combatant. Only with his foot on
our necks could he make an admir-
ing and edited world dub him Will
helm the Magnanimous.
1 press this on the consideration of
the British citizens who has qualms
OF conscience about our part in the
war. He has plenty of partisans in
the trenches. 1 can assure him with
some confidence that there is not a
professional soldier at the front, on
either side, who Is imposed on by
the special pleading which was put
up In this country in 1914 to avoid
the disruption of a political party,
ana In Germany to save the credit
OF dynasty. The soldiers all damn
the party politicians and the
courtiers with the greatest hearth
ness. and feel far more strongly
against those who smoothly said
peace when there was no peace, and
left US only half prepared to meet
our engagements. than against the
thorough-going Tolstoyans.
In the trenches there are plenty of
Socialists, internationalists, haters of
war; men who read the Labour Lead
er ana eschew the Morning Post. But
can any sane mans mind be SO con-
fused as to suppose that they raise
allow themselves to be killed, or de-
sire victory for the Hohenzollern? On
the contrary, they are among the best
OF the fighting material. They, too,
wish to dictate the terms of peace;
apd they know that they cannot do
that IL they are conquered.
Must Defend Your NeIghBor.
There is at home a childish sort
OF conceit that imagines it to be pos
sible for a member OF a nation to say,
II don't hold with war;" or. "I don't
hold with Lloyd George or with
Bonar Law or Russia or French re-
or Barabbas, or what
not. and to refuse TO help in the war
accordingly. But that does not sur
vlve a day at the front. When war
overtakes you, you must fight, and
fight to win, whether you are the
aggressor or the aggrieved, whether
you loathe war as the kingdom OF
hell on earth or regard IL as the
nursery Of all the virtues.
1t is not that you must defend
or perish: many a man would
be too proud to fight on those terms.
fou must defend your neighbor or
oetray him; that is what gets you.
You may swear never again to vote
Tor any person or party who had a
hand in bringing about the war, or
you may look forward with exultation |
20 a century OF triumphant khaki
elections, but IL you have an atom o. |
common sense and sympathy with the |
nan in the field, you will help your |
soldiers to victory for all you are |
worth, even II you are longing for the |
peace that will restore them to their |
homes and make the war seem an in |
,redible nightmare from which Eu-
'ope has awakened.
This is why there are no politics |
,r paci6st agitations at the front,
hough there are more earnest poll |
icians and pacifists there than any
where else on earth.
Kaiser As An Angel
The devastatioHs of war are not all
o be deplored. I shall not attempt
o console those mourners for the
Library who have always
'oted against a penny rate for a
ibrary in their own parish; and
will not pretend that Ypres
nd Arras are as pleasant to
ee as they were when saw them in
'eace. But l have been a member of
sanitary authority concerned with
he clearance OF slum areas and the
OF building acts; and
he tragedy OF the Somme district be-
AN for me in some of the villages
which have not been demolished, not
n those which have. A comparison
Z what the Germans have done to
.lbert with what I should like to
o to London or Manchester would
make the Kaiser seem a veritabIe
nigel OF the Passover beside me.
As to your medieval Cloth Halls and
he like, what right had we to sponge
n the Middle Ages for the beauty
re would not produce ourselves? /
ay would not advisedly; those who
ay that we could not may be referred
D the art school OF Birmingham (of
II placesD, where Catterson Smith
as taken the common English boy.
nth no more than a common taste
Or drawing, and ELECTED from him
that have all the medieval
AS soon as we really want
N Ypres of medieval charm we can
ave IL. II we do not want IL, no
ody but a handful of members of
he Art Workers Guild will suffer the
mallest privation by the smashing
{ the Cloth Hall and the cathedral.
I have loved these things and taken
-ouble TO see them as much as any
ian; but know that as good fish are
/ the sea as ever came out OF 1t, and