That is the fundamental distinction being ignored on all sides. When the
time demands and the occasion offers, it is imperative to have recourse
to arms, but in that terrible crisis we must preserve our balance. If we
leap forward for our enemies' blood, glorifying brute force, we set up
the standard of the tyrant and heap up infamy for ourselves; on the
other hand, if we hesitate to take the stern action demanded, we fail in
strength of soul, and let slip the dogs of war to every extreme of
weakness and wildness, to create depravity and horror that will
ultimately destroy us. A true soldier of freedom will not hesitate to
strike vigorously and strike home, knowing that on his resolution will
depend the restoration and defence of liberty. But he will always
remember that restraint is the great attribute that separates man from
beast, that retaliation is the vicious resource of the tyrant and the
slave; that magnanimity is the splendour of manhood; and he will
remember that he strikes not at his enemy's life, but at his misdeed,
that in destroying the misdeed, he makes not only for his own freedom,
but even for his enemy's regeneration. This may be for most of us
perhaps too great a dream. But for him who reads into the heart of the
question and for the true shaping of his course it will stand; he will
never forget, even in the thickest fight, that the enemy of to-day and
yesterday may be the genuine comrade of to-morrow.


V


If it is imperative that we should fix unalterably our guiding
principles before we are plunged unprepared into the fight, it is even
more urgent we should clear the mind to the truth now, for we have
fallen into the dangerous habit of deferring important questions on the