s most nearly, is none other than that of Prince
Bismarck!_"

But the two moral forces whose weakness this contagious war shows up
most clearly are Christianity and Socialism. These rival apostles of
religious and secular internationalism have suddenly developed into the
most ardent of nationalists. Herve is eager to die for the standard of
Austerlitz. The German socialists, pure trustees of the pure doctrine,
support this bill of credit for the war in the Reichstag. They place
themselves at the disposal of the Prussian minister, who uses their
journals to spread abroad his lies, even into the barracks, and sends
them as secret agents to attempt to pervert Italy. It was believed for
the honor of their cause for a moment that two or three of them had been
shot rather than take arms against their brothers. Indignant, they
protest; they are all marching under arms! Liebknecht, forsooth, did not
die for the cause of socialism;[12] but Frank, the principal champion of
the Franco-German union, fell under French fire, fighting in the cause
of militarism. These men have courage to die for the faith of others;
they have no courage to die for their own.

As for the representatives of the Prince of Peace--priests, pastors,
bishops--they go into battle in their thousands, to carry out, musket in
hand, the Divine commands: _Thou shalt not kill_, and _Love one
another_. Each bulletin of victory, whether it be German, Austrian, or
Russian, gives thanks to the great captain God--_unser alter Gott, notre
Dieu_--as William II or M. Arthur Meyer says. For each has his own God,
and each God, whether old or young, has his Levites to defend him and
destroy the God of the others.

Twenty thousand French priests are marching with the colors; Jesuits
offer their services to the German armies; cardinals issue warlike
mandates; and the Serb bishops of Hungary incite their faithful flocks
to fight against their brothers in Greater Serbia. The newspapers
report, with no expressions of astonishment, the paradoxical scene at
the railway station at Pisa, where the Italian socialists cheered the
young ordinands who were rejoining their regiments, all singing the
Marseillaise together. So strong the cyclone that sweeps them all before
it; so feeble the men it encounters on its career--and I am amongst
them....

Come, friends! Let us make a stand! Can we not resist this contagion,
whatever its nature and virulence be--whether moral epidemic or cosmic