All for a Scrap of Paper Part 38

"How? I do not understand. Tell me."

"Since you command me to speak plainly, sir, I will, and perhaps I can best tell you what I mean by recounting my own history. My father belonged to a Community in England who believe that all war is sinful, and I was brought up to accept his doctrine; he took the teaching of our Lord literally."

"What teaching of our Lord?"

"What we call the Sermon on the Mount: 'Ye have heard it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; but I say unto you, that if a man strike thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. Ye have heard it hath been said, thou shalt love thy neighbour and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, love your enemies'; I was taught to believe that, sir, and to regard all war as a crime.

"For some time after this war was declared I refused to volunteer. I was trying to be a Christian, and I did not see how a man who wanted to be a Christian could be a soldier."

His interrogator looked at him, evidently in surprise: "You believe that?"

"In a deep vital sense I believe it still, sir."

"Well, go on."

"That was why I refused to volunteer for the Army, when Lord Kitchener sent out his appeal that he wanted half a million men immediately."

"Why have you changed your mind? It might be interesting to hear," and again there was the suggestion of a sneer in the voice.

"I read some German books, and got to know what the Germans actually thought; I realised the ideas which lay at the heart of Germany, and then I knew that if Germany won this war, all liberty would be gone, all our free inst.i.tutions would be destroyed, and that the spirit of war would reign more and more throughout the world. I saw that what to the Germans was right, was to us wrong; that the Germans' Gospel was different from ours."

"Different! How?"

"I saw that the Germans gloried in war; that they regarded it as necessary; that to them those who asked for peace committed a crime. I heard one of our Members of Parliament say that he had been in Berlin at a Peace Conference, but that Conference was broken up by the order of the German Government. I read the works of authors whose words are accepted as gospel by the dominant party in Germany, I realised the Germans' aim and ambitions, and I knew that if they succeeded, peace would for ever be impossible in the world. Then I knew I had a call from G.o.d, and then I no longer hesitated."

"Ah, you are a dreamer, I see. So you joined the Army; but are your beliefs common in England, may I ask?"

"Throughout the major portion of England they are common," replied Bob.

"The great feeling in the hearts of the English throughout the whole country is--we must destroy this War G.o.d of Germany. Against Germans as individuals we feel nothing but kindness, but this War G.o.d, before which the people fall down and wors.h.i.+p, is a devil."

"And you say that is the belief throughout England?"

"That is so, especially among thoughtful people."

"Then why is it you have so few volunteers?"

"Few volunteers, sir! I do not understand."

"Why is it, in spite of Lord Kitchener's call, only a few thousands of the offscouring of the country have joined his Army in spite of huge bribes?"

"Your question shows that you are misinformed, sir. Instead of a few thousands of the off-scouring, as you call them, there has simply been a rush to the English recruiting stations; not only of the poorer cla.s.ses, but of every cla.s.s--from our public schools, from the Universities, from our middle-cla.s.s families, the flower of our young manhood have come."

"Do you mean that your well-born people have been willing to join as privates?"

"I mean, sir, that there are tens of thousands of the sons of our best families, who have joined, side by side with privates with labourers and colliers. In three weeks after the call, half a million volunteered."

"Half a million!" this with a contemptuous shrug, "and what then?"

"The call for the second half-million came," was Bob's reply; "and that second half-million has responded."

"From England alone?"

"From the British Isles."

"But the Empire as a whole has not responded."

"The Germans thought our Empire was a rope of sand--that it would fall to pieces at the first touch of war; instead of that, from Canada, from Africa, from India, from Australia, men volunteered by thousands--by hundreds of thousands."

"And you believe that these can stand against the Army through which you pa.s.sed?"

"I don't believe--I am sure, sir."

"And that is the feeling of your nation?"

"That is the conviction of our nation, sir."

"But do you realise that Germany has millions of trained soldiers?"

"Yes, sir; but every German is forced to be a soldier. We have in England to-day hundreds upon hundreds of thousands who are soldiers because they long to be at the front. If a man doesn't pa.s.s the doctor's examination, he is disappointed beyond measure, because he is longing to fight. Ours is not a conscript army, sir, but an army which pleads to be at the front."

"You are sure of this?"

"I'm absolutely certain, sir."

Again the lonely man turned to some papers before him and read eagerly.

"And when your first million is killed, what then?" He again spoke suddenly.

"Another million will come forward, sir, and, if need be, another, and another, and another. Rather than that Germany should conquer, the whole nation will come forward--the whole Empire will fight."

"And what have the English thought of the German victories?"

"That they are merely pa.s.sing phases," was Bob's reply; "but this I will tell you: the greatest impetus to volunteers coming forward has been the news of a German victory. Officers have repeatedly told me that our new volunteers, eagerly do more work in a week and learn more of the art of war in a few days than the men learned in six months in time of peace. In England we have no need for conscription, because the best manhood of our nation pleads to be allowed to fight for the country."

"And yet the English hate war?" Again there was a sneer in the voice.

"That is why we are eager to fight," was Bob's reply, "and we shall never rest until German militarism is destroyed root and branch; until this War G.o.d which dominates Germany is thrown down, and crushed to atoms; until this poisonous cancer of war which has thrown its venomous roots into the heart of Europe is cut out for ever. We shall never cease fighting until that is done, and when that is done, we shall have peace."

Bob had almost forgotten where he was by this time--forgotten the circ.u.mstances under which he spoke, and to whom he spoke; he did not seem to realise that he was in the heart of the German camp--that he was speaking to one in high command in the German army; he had got away from the mere material aspect of the question--he was dealing with spiritual things.

"And if you win"--and still there was a sneer in the other's voice--"what do you expect to gain?"

"As a nation, sir?"

"As a nation."

"Nothing, sir; I've never heard of an Englishman speaking of any gain that might be ours when we win."

"Then what do you suppose will happen?"