The Kingdom of God is Within You

ife; in this Way they Degrade Society below Paganism to a State of Primeval Barbarism-Undefined Attitude of Modern Leaders of Thought to War, to Universal Militarism, and to Compulsory Service in Army

d What they Do-Another Section Regards War as Cruel, but Inevitable-Maupassant-Rod-A Third

two ways: by a change of life or by a change of conscience. And

t far from being able to change, it cannot even retard for a time the continual growth of a clearer recognition of what is wrong and therefore ought not to be. And therefore it wo

e, so truly expressed in the words of the Gospel, "They have loved darkness better than light because their deeds were evil." This principle shows itself in men not tryi

, yet neither of them saw that, because to renounce slavery would have meant the

ment and war, are opposed to every moral principle professed by our modern

selves and others its insufficiency, and above all the necessity of adopting the Christian conception of life, which will mean the break up of the whole existing social order. T

dition, what art, but what a lack of serious matter, what dread of any exactitude of thought or expression! Subtleties, allegories, humoro

ality, of arguments which would lead men back in the most refined way to primeval barbarism, to the principl

d aristocratic principles just as they were advocated two thousand years ago, but even the coarsest epicureanism and animalism, only with this difference, that the men who then professed those views believed in them, while nowadays even the advocates of such views do not believe in them, for they have no meaning for the prese

he phenomenon in which all the insufficiency of the social conception of life is presented in the most concentrat

cal situation of Europe, and consider that this state of things can be reformed without a revolution in the whole internal social order of nations, by external measures of international diplomacy. Another section regard it as

And consequently they do not even admit the natural question which presents itself to every simple man: "How about me-ought I to take any part in it?" In their view no questi

the articles and letters upon war that appeared in No. 8 of the Revue des Revues, 1891. The congress after gathering together from various quarters the verbal and written opinion of learned

the brotherhood of man involves as a nece

nkind, and earnestly urges upon ministers of the Gospel and other religious teachers the duty of setting forth the princi

the attention of the young to the grave evils inflicted on mankind in all ages

of brigades for saving life rather than of a quasi-military character; and urges the desirability of impressing on the Board of

shall be shielded against the vices so prevalent among the so-called advanced races of men. It further expresses its conviction that there should be concert of action among the nations for the accomplishm

ion in legislative assemblies or through the press, are often indirect causes of war, and that these evils should be counteracted by the publication of accurate information ten

every project for unification of weights and measures, coinage, tariff, postage, and telegraphic arrangemen

es upon every woman to sustain the things that make for peace, as otherwise sh

ion of import duties. The congress feels that it can affirm that the whole of Europe desires peace, and awaits with impatience the suppression of armaments, which, under the plea of defense, become in their turn a danger by keeping ali

lution of the questions which now most divide states, expresses the wish that a congress of representatives of all the

vernment which should first dismiss any considerable number of soldiers would confer a signal benefit on Europe and mankind, because it would, by public opinion, oblige o

ce societies, as well as all friends of peace, to be active in its propaganda, especially at the time of parliamentary elections,

nce, held at Washington in April last, by which it was recommended that arbitration should be obligatory in all cont

pean statesmen, and expresses the ardent desire that similar treaties

t to negotiate general or special treaties of arbitration for the settlement of all disputes except those relating to the independence or intern

ial, and labor and peace organizations, requesting them to send petitions to the governmental authorities praying that measures b

ress recommends a larger extension of the rule of neutralization, and expresses the wish, (1) that all treaties which at present assure to certain states the benefit of neutrality remain in force, or if necessary be amended in a manner to render the neutrality more effective, either by extendin

he meeting of the annual Sub-parliamentary Conference, or immediately after it in the same town; (2) that the

States addressed to the highest representatives of each church organization in Christendom to

for the memory of Aurelio Saffi, the great Italian jurist, a membe

president to the heads of the civilized states should, as far as p

ollowing resolu

o the presidents of the vari

hairman, the secretaries, and the m

o the conveners and members

for their pulpit addresses before the congress, and also to the authorities of St. Paul's Cathedral, th

her Majesty for permissi

y Mayoress, to Mr. Passmore Edwards, and other friends who ha

of the assembly, in which so many men and women of varied nations, creeds, tongues, and races have gathered in closest co-operation, and for the conclusion of the

y of international arbitration over war and of the consequent advisability and necessity of disarmament. To attain the first aim the congress has recourse to teachers of history, to women, and to the clergy, with the advice to the latter

eace is so well known to men that, ever since there have been men at all, their best

the blessing of peace. So that the recommendation to ministers of the Gospel to preach on th

ts to disband their armies and replace them by international boards of arbitration. Governments, too, know very well the difficulty and the burdensomeness of raising and maintaining forces, and if in spite of that knowledge they do, at the cost of terrible strain and effort, raise and mainta

o break out in Europe, its consequences would be like those of the great inroads of barbarians. The exist

d maintains the present temporary situation, which might continue for an indefinite period, except for the fearful cost of maintaining arm

d to find means for preventing, or at least for softening, the

eace Congress shortly to be held in Rome, and th

her and guided by distinct interests, the absolute suppression of war is an illusion with which it would be dangerous to ch

ers. [This probably means that France cannot disband its army before taking its revenge.] Public opinion is not prepared to accept them, and moreover, the international relations between differ

ispensable to any negotiations, and would render possible a considerable reduction of the military expenditure which is crushing the nations of Europe and gr

anized as it is at present with a view to the power of invasion within twen

make the attack suddenly and invade each ot

put forth by Maxime du Camp, an

s of M. du Camp

congress to be

uld be to decide precisely what incident did provoke the war, since whenever war is declared there are

been submitted to a plebiscitum of th

enced till a month after the

operations for a certain fixed time? All the other states. But all these others are also states which want holding in check and keeping within limits, and forcing, too. Who is to force them, and h

ad states to hold back of their own accord. Well, that has been tried and is being tried even now. The H

ed. If all were agreed there would be no more w

bama question was decided by a court of arbitration, and the question of the Caroline Islands was submitted to the de

how men can deceive themselves when they find it necessary! Governments consent to decide their disagreements by arbitration and to disband their armies! The differences between Russi

r a greater price than they gave for it, should undertake the distribution of wealt

suppress themselves. It is the same in regard to governments. To suggest to governments that they should not have recourse to violence, but should dec

rnals, and prove by every means possible that the nations forced to support millions of troops are strained to the furthest limits of their endurance, that the maintenance of these huge armed forces is in opposition to all the aims, the interests, and t

ail. I ran after the birds with the salt in my hand, but I soon convinced myself that if

act when they read books and artic

tail, because the specialty of a bird is to fly. In precisely the same way the specialty of government is not to obey, but to enforce obedience. And a government is only a government so long as it can make itself obe

e of this that at last they have persuaded themselves of it; and thus they often seriously suppose that government can be bound by considerations of justice. But history shows that from C?sar to Napoleon, and from Napoleon to Bismarck, government is in its essence always a force acting in violation of justice, and that it cannot

ill shrug their shoulders and not condescend to listen or to answer you. The solution of the question in their idea is to be found in reading addresses, writing books, electing presidents, vice-presidents, and secretaries, and meeting and speaking first in one town and then in another. From all this speechifying and writing it will come to pass, according to their notions, that governments will cease to levy the soldiers,

d to support temperance societies, while they are living principally on the drunkenness of the people; and pretend to encourage education, when their whole strength is based on ignorance; and to support constitutional freedom, when their stre

only fail to prevent ignorance, but even increase it; methods of aiming at freedom and constitutionalism, which are no hindrance to despotism; methods of protec

ne whether the butchery of millions is to be begun this year or next. They know very well that all these discourses upon peace will not hinder them from se

ing people's attention from the most important and pressing question: Ought or o

on your uniform, and prepare to cause suffering and to endure it for our benefit," is the government's line of

e it is that most beneficial to governments, it is al

e and realize all the horror and imbecility and cruelty of war, but through some strange perversion of mind neither see nor seek to find any way out of this position, and seem to take pleasure in teasing the wound by dwelling on the desperate posi

me, as though I were listening to some tale of sorcery, of the Inq

rity to these savages. Which are the savages, the real savages? Those who fi

tive and useful. Their fathers are old and poor. Their mothers, who have loved them for twenty years, worshiped them as none but mothers can, will learn in six months' time, or a year perhaps, that their son, their boy, the big boy reared with so much labor, so much expense,

, and the degree of philosophy which the genius of man is supposed to have attained, schools for training to kill, to kill very

nments. For what difference is there between monarchies and republics? The most

xiled for that mighty cry of deliverance and truth? 'To-day force is called violence, and is being brought to judgment; war has been put on its trial. At the plea of the human race, civilization arraigns warfare, and draws up the great list of crimes laid at the charge of conquerors and generals

t, "a poet's indignation. War is

rer of genius, Von Moltke, in reply to the pea

. It maintains among men all the great and noble sentiments-honor, devotion, virtue,

continual state of stupefaction, sacking towns, burning villages, ruining whole populations, then meeting another mass of human flesh, falling upon them, making pools of blood, and plains of flesh mixed with trodden mire and red with heaps of corpses, having

n working, in seeking what can aid, what be of use, what can alleviate the lot of their fellows. They devote themselves unsparingly to their task of usefulness, making one discovery after another

als have destroyed the work of twenty ye

y not falling into the m

ry notion of justice has disappeared. We have seen men shoot innocent creatures found on the road, and suspected because they were afraid. We have seen them kill dogs chai

y not falling into the m

burning the dwellings of wretched beings who have nothing to eat, breaking furniture and stealing goods, drinking the wine found in the

y not falling into the m

es the least intelligence? Nothing. What have t

ooks and statues. Is Greece great

ans which saved Greece from fallin

the barbarians what sav

e great intellectual movement started by t

ting peoples thus, there is nothing surprising in the fact t

ught only to be done for the benefit of those who are governed. And it is as much the duty o

in, he is judged and condemned, if he is fo

es passed judgment on murderous governments, if they refused to let themselves be killed for nothing, if they would only turn thei

he men who make up the armies could turn their arms against the governments and bring them to judgment. But he thinks that that will never come to pass, and that there is, therefore, no escape from the

is the essence of the poetic faculty. He brings before us all the cruelty of the inconsistency between men's moral sense and their a

cruelty and madness of the present state of things. He too only aims at presenting

nace of danger?... All we have begun, the plans we are developing, our schemes of work, the little good we may have been able to do, will it not all be swept away b

o suffer from the change, I should be consoled by thinking that the executioners of that day were the victims of the previous time, and the hope of something better would help us to endure the worst. But it is not that remote peril which frightens

of massacre, their hatred is kindled by persuading them that they are hated. And peaceable men let themselves be played on thus and go and fall on one another with the ferocity of wild beasts; furious troops of peaceful citizens taking up arms at an empty word of command, for some ridiculous question of frontiers or colonial trade interests-Heaven only knows what.... They will go like sheep to the slaughter, knowing all the while where they are going, knowing that they are leaving their wives, knowing that their children will want for food, full of misgivings, yet intoxicated by the fine-sounding lies that are dinned into their ears. They will

tremble with rage, but we can do nothing. We are held fast in the toils of officialdom and red tape, and too rude a shock would be needed to set us free. We are enslaved by the laws we set up for our protection, which have become our

that must be sacrificed! But the

in the war of the morrow. One of the elements that constitute the modern world is threatened, the conquered people will be wiped out of existence, and whichever it may be, we shall see a moral force annihilated, as if there were too many for

o is offered his choice of dainties a quarter of an hour before his execution. Thought is paralyzed by anguish, and the most it is capable of is to calculate-interpreting the vague phrases of ministers, spelling out the sense of the speeches of sovereigns, and ruminating on the words attr

ake up the masses; it is pointed out that the source of the evil is the government. It would seem evident that the contradiction betwee

uman life, and after depicting all the horror of the position he c

of those who regard it as someth

ve lost all conscience and, consequently,

educated in this cruel superstition, live by it, and consequently are often in all simplicity convinced that war is not only an inev

writes in reply to the editor of the Revue des Revues

e of academicians whether he is a partis

the pacific ideal inspiring your

st against this frightful custom of international butchery,

ancy that seemed an easy task: but not at all! All that has been done

l arbitrations, conventions, and legislations there will always be the personal honor of individual

hat the Congress of Universal Peace may succeed at

dear si

lle D

he interests of nations require them to ruin and exterminate each othe

-known academician, Jules C

f sense there can be but one opini

rest of all dreams. Man is always looking toward the Promised Land, and there the harvests are to ripen with no fear of their being torn up by shells or crushed by cannon wheels.... But! Ah! but-since philosop

y granted to the str

dear si

s Cla

n talking about what no one intends or feels obliged

expressed by the most popular

go to war. I am considering it at this moment from the standpoint of universal humanity, and making no reference to our misunderstanding with Germany-a most trivial incident in the history of mankind. I say that war is necessary and beneficial, since it seems one of the conditions of

hinder the progressive advancement of humanity. A warlike nation has always been strong and flourishing. The art of war has led to the development of all the other arts. History bears witness to it. So in Athens and in Rome, commerce, manufactures, and literature never attained so high a point of development as when th

a benefi

of the writers of this school, the academician de Vogüé. This is what he

e and labor will overcome the instinct of war. Let us leave them to cherish the chimera of a golden age, which would soon become, if it could be realized, an age of mud. All history teaches us that the one is created for the other, that blood is needed to hasten and cement the union of the nations. Natural science has ratified in our day the mysterious law revealed to Joseph de Maistre by the intuition of his genius and by meditation on fundamental truths; he saw the world redeeming itself from hereditary degenerations by sacrif

well expressed by the two great writers, Joseph de Maistre and Da

let us suppose-were to succeed in suspending the action of this law, some races of stronger instincts would undertake the task of putting it into action against us: those races would vindicate nature's reasoning against human reason; they would be successful, because the certainty of peace-I do not say peace, I say the certainty of peace-would, in half a century, engender a corruption and a decadence more destructive

d prove me in error. But I doubt if it can p

dear si

. de

and a woman-there will be war. That is to say that no progress will lead men to rise above the savage conception of l

en not doing what is needful, right, and beneficial for them to do; who lament over the tragedy of life, and do not see that the whole tragedy is at an end directly men, ceasing to take account of any unnecessary considerations, refuse to do what is hateful and disastrous to them. They are amazing people truly, but those

evil way. "Entrons au palais de la guerre." There is the law of evolution, and therefore there is neither good nor evil, and one must live for the sake of one's personal existence, leaving the rest to the action of the law of evolution. This is the last word of refined culture, and with it, of that overshadowing of conscience

they try by every means to stifle its voice. But it is in darkness th