6. German practice based on theory.. 7. Is all Germany guilty?..... 2. From the moralizing of war. 3. From the defence of democracy. 4. The moral standards of the soldiers. "No natural instinct, nothing less than a moral obligation, can be an excuse for risking the lives of our citizens, for threatening the lives of other men." -Frederick Denison Maurice. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY As no war has ever been so extensive as this one, it is no less true that never before have so many men and women inquired with agony of soul into the origin and meaning of war. The numbers and the agony are beyond our ken. So much has been already gained since August, 1914. For we may perhaps dare to assume that when a sufficient number of human beings have pursued the inquiry deep enough, with grief and moral indignation, wars will cease. 1. We must make clear to ourselves the correct form in which we are to put the question. At the outset we shall refuse to consider it in this form, "Is war right or wrong?" Later in the discussion we shall have to cite the opinion of those who say that war is necessary for the best development of human nature, and that it is the highest duty of every nation that would be strong and great to be ever perfecting itself in the art of war. Here we must point out that the question is infected with what we may call the disease of abstraction. Against that infection students of |