soldier could do what he liked with impunity in civil life, was
not the law of the land, and that a Victoria Cross did not carry
with it a perpetual plenary indulgence. Unfortunately the
insanity of the juries and magistrates did not always manifest
itself in indulgence. No person unlucky enough to be charged with
any sort of conduct, however reasonable and salutary, that did
not smack of war delirium, had the slightest chance of acquittal.
There were in the country, too, a certain number of people who
had conscientious objections to war as criminal or unchristian.
The Act of Parliament introducing Compulsory Military Service
thoughtlessly exempted these persons, merely requiring them to
prove the genuineness of their convictions. Those who did so were
very ill-advised from the point of view of their own personal
interest; for they were persecuted with savage logicality in
spite of the law; whilst those who made no pretence of having any
objection to war at all, and had not only had military training
in Officers' Training Corps, but had proclaimed on public
occasions that they were perfectly ready to engage in civil war
on behalf of their political opinions, were allowed the benefit
of the Act on the ground that they did not approve of this
particular war. For the Christians there was no mercy. In cases
where the evidence as to their being killed by ill treatment was
so unequivocal that the verdict would certainly have been one of
wilful murder had the prejudice of the coroner's jury been on the
other side, their tormentors were gratuitously declared to be
blameless. There was only one virtue, pugnacity: only one vice,
pacifism. That is an essential condition of war; but the
Government had not the courage to legislate accordingly; and its
law was set aside for Lynch law.