No, I have not made up my mind upon the issues of this war. If it were
possible to determine what is best for Europe, I should of course desire
it, but this I do not know, and so I am uncertain. I am preoccupied by
the consequences which may follow the war in Spain. Some believe that
there will be an increase of militarism, but I doubt it.
Many suppose that the crash of the present war will cause the prestige
of the soldier to mount upward like the spray, so that we shall have
nothing but uniforms and clanking of spurs throughout the world very
shortly, while the sole topics of conversation will be mortars,
batteries and guns.
In my judgment those who take this standpoint are mistaken. The present
conflict will not establish war in higher favour.
Perhaps its glories may not be diminished utterly. It may be that man
must of necessity kill, burn, and trample under foot, and that these
excesses of brutality are symptoms of collective health.
Even if this be so, we may be sure that military glory is upon the eve
of an eclipse.
Its decline began when the professional armies became nothing more than
armed militia, and from the moment that it became apparent that a
soldier might be improvised from a countryman with marvellous rapidity.