XXIX.
In Great Britain there has been much controversy and some anger over the “disabilities of conscience.” Men have been found willing to fabricate “conscientious scruples.” Of these an official under the Military Service Acts justly speaks with severe reprobation, and he emphasizes “the bitterness with which a man who is required to leave wife, children and livelihood, and does so with a quiet dignity of which I have been a respectful witness in hundreds of cases, regards a conscientious objector, remaining at home and enjoying the fruits of other men’s sacrifices.” He accepts religious objection to combatant service as legitimate ground for exemption, but would require from such objectors the performance of other duties which war creates. Conscientious objections are apt to emerge as the demand for men becomes more searching and opportunities for escape from military service upon other grounds become more remote. And, in order to guard against imposition, since “having in your mind is nothing, for it is common learning that the thought of man is not triable,” conscientious objection has been made a ground of exemption in Canada only for those who belong to some well recognized religious denomination which forbids combatant service by the articles of its faith in effect when the Military Service Act was passed. Those who are able bona fide to place themselves in this category escape upon statutory grounds. It would be unwise and unjust if this were not so. But while religious objection is a lawful ground for exemption, it affects combatant service only, and such objectors who enjoy the privileges, although refusing the duties required of the ordinary citizen, remain liable for any other branch of the national service.