CHURCH AND WAR

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3000, 10 February 1917, Page 6

CHURCH AND WAR

LETTER TO A SWEDISH CLERGYMAN

FROM PROFESSOR GWATKIN

Professor H. M. Gwatkin,- Dixie Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Cambridge, whose death is announced in recent English papers, was a great scholar and teacher. ' "To his work he gave himself without stint for over a quarter af a century, says the 'Times.' Gwatkin's almost unique powers as a teacher were attained in the face of great physical disadvantages. Nor should his keenness as a scientific observer lie forgotten ; for he was a trained morphologist, and would sometimes say that lie hat! his reward when he went to the Black Forest in search of some rare snail, and found a wife." Just before his death Professor Gwatkin wrote a/valuable letter to a Swedish clergyman, which was printed in full in the "Cambridge Review." This letter was evidently in answer to another in which the Swedish clergyman defined his attitude to England and Germany witli regard to the war. Here are some of the sentences from Professor Gwatkin's vigorous reply:

A Mere Christian Europe. "By tho perplexity and distress of nations wo know that some glorious mystery is now revealinp;. God keep you, sir, and guide us alt and cleanse our hearts to see and to receive it. My own work must now be nearly done; but I believe and verily trust that our' children and our children's children will see a better, a nobler, and , a more Christian Europe rising from tho ashes of the old. "i claim no special virtue for my own country. I say only that we never sought the war. that we could not honourably avoid it, and that, to the best, of my judgment, we have little to be ashamed of in our conduct of it. When we assured Germany in 1912 that we were not, and never would be, parties to any hostile tlksign against her, we were officially told that this was not enough—that we must promise '; to bo neutral 'ill any case,' tf war ' i broke out. The only jase our assur- • wicb did not cover was that of a wanton attack on France or Russia. As to our I v.ir.it of preparation, wo simply refused ; to' believe tliat a professedly civilised i and friendly nation could be guilty jof this infamy. At all events, the more I severely you blame us for it, the more you are bound to grant that we had I'no aggressive designs.

A Few Facts. "Now look at-Germany. Take a few facts out of many: ' "May, ISJl4.—Reservists called up from tne Far Fast. "Early June. —Arms for cruisers sent out to Buenos Aires. "June 15.—Contracts in Amcrica for coaling cruisers at soa at specified places and dates in August and September. "June, late.—Reservists called up from Natal. l (On niy personal knowledge.) "Last instalment due of the great War Loan. "July.—Bills on London far in excess of trade requirements drawn by Germans, such bills falling due after August 1. "July 31. —Tho ( Kronprinzessin Cecilie in mid-Atlantic receives message in special cipher, 'War has broken out with England, France, .'and Russia. Return to New. York.' [Now (a) the cipher was delivered sealed to tho captain two years before; (b) war had not broken) out. The English ultimatum was not sent till August. 4. Germany was still 'negotiating.'] "Is all this innocent precaution? Do riot all the items converge on the certainty of war early in August? A month earlier nothing would have been ready: a month later t!v- reservists would have been idle, and' the bills would have had to be paid. Now, how could the.v have known that date before May if they were not themselves planning the attack?

What Thoy Havo Done, "It seems as well established as facts can be, and that not simply by French or Belgian evidence, or tnat of neu- • trals, but by the avowals or admissions of Uermans, that they nave plundered the country, burned towns,- committed wanton massacres, dishonoured women, slaughtered 'hostages,' and reduced tho population to practical slavery, enforced by deportations and .barbarous,punishments, and that these ' outrages are not due to the passions of undisciplined soldiers, or even to the connivance of brutal officers, but to the direct commands .'and systematic policy of the highest authorities. "No doubt there.has been some exaggeration, as there always is when devilish deeds are done; but a very large discount will still leave the Germans below the level ol' savages, for savages are not in the same way sinners against light. Now let all this go for nothing. Let no more mention b3 made of outrages, from' the deliberately repeated massacres of Louvain to tile hellish jeering of the German crowd at the bodies of English officers done to death in their starvation camp at Wittenberg. Let silence cover abominations, that cry to heaven like the cry of Sodom. Let the Kaiser's' hands be pure as snow, his preachings of hate and {rightfulness forgotten. Let his lying ministers pass for men of honour, his ferocious officers for refined and courteous gentlemen, his brutal soldiers for chivalrous enemies, his reptile press, his spies, his incendiarios, for generous and high-minded patriots. What then? "Do not some broad facts come out above the chatter of lies that bewilder you in Sweden ? It is not disputed that the Germans have systematically used floating mines, poisonous gases, aircraft ion undefended towns, torpedoed even neutral merchant .ships at sight, and forced Belgians to work for them in munition factories—all whi(;h things they promised by The Hague Convention not to do.,f Are these methuds of civilised .warfare?

The Difference. "But, say you, there is nothing to choose between German and English methods. I am not so sure of that. I think you will find that most of our alleged offences which give so much annoyance to neutrals are only natural and necessary adaptations of old laws to the days of great ships and parcel post. If a ship is too large to be searched at sea, our plan of bringing it to port is, perhaps, as humane as the German plan of sinking it at sight, and if thoy send rubber in parcels, there may well be some delay over your innocent Christmas presents from America. Vexatious as these things are, you cannot fairly compare them with what the Germans have done. "Coming,, however, to cases where we have had to follow the enemy's example, we never defended our towns by aircraft till they had been attacked while undefended, and our own raids have been aimed at military positions | only. Gas we never used till the enemy had used it against ns, and we havo not maliciously chosen a gas which permanently ruins health. Nor can they decently complain of tho starvation plan. They used it on Paris, and tried to use it o'u us at the beginning of thn war; and we did not limit imports of food by neutrals till they Jiad threatened again (February, 1915) to starve us out by submarines. after all, the blockade of a country differs only in scale from the blockade of a town, which is confessedly lawful. "The most- horrible feature of this war is not the destruction of property,

or even of .life, but the utter impossibility of trusting a nation which will not be bound by treaties. Tsio Futuro- , "The future is very dark. These men hate us like hell, slid will only despise us in addition if we fail to crush their power for evil, and thoy are teaching their children in all their schools to hate us, too. They will not easily foigive us the wrong they have done us, and tho echoes of the* 'Hymn of Hate' will not be. soon forgotten. Yet we never hated tbera before the war; and even now there is far more among us of anger than of settled hatred.

"England makes no war upon the dead. There will be friendship as well as peace with Germany whenever Germany is dead to the crimes of the past —but not till then."

SIR DOUGLAS HAIG. "A GOD-FTCARTNG MAN." A writer in tho 'Daily Mail," who has known Sir Douglas Haig for a great number of years, states; —Never has the British Army of all ranks had such a sublime—l had almost said blindfaith and confidence in its Commander-in-Chief. It is the leaven of faith of the First Army which has permeated the whole. For days and nights, which ran into weeks, during these awful days of the first battle of Ypres, when every batman and the last cook from the field kitchens had been flung into tho trcnches, his contact with ail ranks was of so close and intimate, a nature that his presence among them has left an indelible impression. Officers at his side say they will never forget those days along tho Menin Road, shelled incessantly day and night, with General Haig. One officer states ■ that, while he can recall fearless- horsemanship in the huntingfield arid countless episodes during a long friendship' of an iron self-control, it was on the Monin Road he learned untold things of his General's priceless nerve.- As I. well''believe, it is tho nerve of a super-man who, maybe, has some intuitive, sub-conscious knowledge, of things well done, founded upon a supreme and abiding faith in a God above. Without doubt he is a Godfearing man. Not far from advanced General Head-; quarters there is a little French church, and every Sunday morning is held there a simplo servico of the Church of Scotland. Sir Douglas Haig never missos that simple Sunday service. In domestic life Sir Douglas Haig "i a devoted father. Tho mutual affection that exists between him and his two children -.is idealistic. It is that human element in him that makes him so jealous of the lives of the soldiers ho commands. I think the power of .seeing through the uniform to the father who wears it is always with him.

A CHAPLAIN IN THE TRENCHES. "ALL KNF.W HIM. AND HE HAD A WORD FOR EACH." 'In a letter to liis parents, a young French soldier, Robert 15 , gives the following striking account of a chaplain's visit the trenches:— "Last night the divisional chaplain came to sup with us in a dug-out—an admirable priest, adored by the men, who all came to shake hands with him. .Ho was on his way back from the thick of the fight, for ho cannot keep far away from the combatants. He asked questions about the men I had brought, and whom lit-, did not know, and then said, 'I will go with you to vour tiiench.' He took niy arm. and we went ill together. He walked the whole length of tho trench in th>\' darkness. The men were disging.' 'Give me ynur pick.' he snitl; 'I want to be able to say that I have worked at making a trench.' And he'set to work. Further , down the trench lie stooped; thev all know him, and he. jhad a. word for each. Aft he came to each of my youngsters, 'be look bis lwul between his hands, nskiiifr: 'Where are you froni, ifion petit?' He knelt down end put his arms round bis neck, and the two heads close together. One heard nothing for a rmnUiiO or two hut a whisper. . . . The priest listened, and then spoke to the man, strengthened and enconrn,grd him, and then, when the man' was readier than ever for any sacrifice, he cni- • braced him." Commenting unon tin's leftor i'l the "Echo dc Paris," M. Maurice Barres says:— "Tile priest's work i= to brinu nesce, pud t-o raise him who listens to hi"' to the height of accepting anr sacrifice. What, role! In the r»W.r.iet. the priest is a. conqueror. Nothing can resist him: he has a tried and potent 'lict.r'ne and heaven'v sacraments. But here, on th n field, ho is fnne to fare with living beings in terrible circumstances : sacrifice is an act of verifor «ach.to nerl'orm in himself, and has r-U the pains that accompany c'"ntion.'.'

KINEMA 0 PET! ATO US' NOVEL EXPERIENCE. Mr. C. R. Bosworth and Mr. Joseph de Erenes, photographers of the Lyma'n H. Howe Films Company, had many new and novel experiences in making the new picture, "Tim Manufacture of a sTotorCar," just filmed at the Willys-Overland factory, Toledo, Ohio, U.S.A. Working with a company of nearly £0,0(lf) "actors," each one about his daily tasks without posing, they found a new experience, one that proved full of possibilities. "My companion and I spent nearly three months at Toledo," said Mr. Bosworth. "We joined the army of workers at 7 a.m. each day, and did our full eight hours' work. In the studios and in the open where travel subjects are generally made the sun plays so big a part that it has many 'off' days. Neither Mr. de Frenes nor myself knew the' meaning of the early morning idiistle until we made our plans for tlfef new story. We soon were facing the new experience of getting; up at a and taking early morning trolley 'trips' with Overland employees. "The big factory has a grim appearance in the early morning. It reminded me of the. big dredges in Culebra Cut at the Panama Canal. Quiet until you give them steam, and then! Ti» neatest mechanical units of those drert!;rt work surely and smoothly, and they keep going. So with this motor-ear giant. With the sounding of a bell, an army of human and mechanical forces, cleverly united, brings Willys-Overland cars into being—one-thousand of them each single day. "To move our nicture-taking apnara111= through the niilei of factory area required the services of five electricians and the use of ten specially constructed trucks, operated by twenty men. Tho wire for supplying the electric: current to our lighting system was a single item remiiri"-? more than n month of prpparaton. The move of a 'switch' illuminated anv corner to a brightness that nermitted every form of nhologranhy. When everything was in place we had before «= &y far the greatest kinema studio in tl\e world. "Without interrupting any operations in the manufacturing processes we flrmes our storv .of the motor-car in'the making. needing no rel'eavsuls bpcausc "very scene was portrayed before us as it oocurs every day at the great WillysOverlnnd factory."