All law, all justice, rests on authority and force. A judge could not inflict a penalty unless there were force to carry it out.
Creeds, after all, are tried in the fires of necessity. "They that take the sword shall perish by the sword." Well, the Kaiser had grasped the sword. By whose sword should he perish except by that of the defender?
Christ's teachings are characterised by sanity and strength. He speaks of His angels as ready to fight for Him; He flogged the moneychangers from the temple: He said that no greater love can be shown than by a man's laying down his life for his friend; and the Allies fighting bravely to protect the oppressed, were manifesting to the full this great love. Germany's attack on a weaker nation, which she had signed to protect, called for punishment from other nations who had also pledged their honor.
Unhappy Belgium called to the civilised world to check the German outrages on its territory and people.
My peace doctrines went out like straw before a flame. I was a "peace-dove" winged by grim circumstance; and that is how I became a man of war.
HOW HISTORY REPEATED ITSELF.
England to Belgium, in 1870: "Let us hope they (Germany) will not trouble you, but if they do—"
(Tenniel, in "London Punch," at the time of the Franco-Prussian War.)
CHAPTER II.
The First Three Months of War.