1 64 



The Review of Reviews. 



CHRISTIANITY AND WAR. 



Ad.miral Mahan's I'i.ea for the Sword. 



Rear-Admiral Mahan coiitrit)utes to the North 

 American Rcvuiv a notable article on the place of 

 force in iiiternatioiial relations, which is an elaborate 

 attack upon the opinion that Christianily is opposed 

 to war, or that Christian men ought to object to the 

 use of force. He ^ays : — 



To right what is amiss, lo convert, to improve, (o ileveIo)i, is 

 of the very essence of Ihe C'hiistinn ideal. Williout man's 

 responsive tlTort God Himself is — not powerless, liul deprived 

 of the instrument through which alone He wills to work. 

 Hence the recognition that,, if force is necessary, force must l)e 

 used for the benetit of the community, of the commonwealth of 

 the world. 



As towards conviction of the intellect, upon which 

 religion depends, force is inoperative, and the use of 

 it therefore wicked, Christianity as a religious system 

 tlierefore rests upon a different power — a spiritual. 

 But to Christianity as a political system, force, the 

 sword, if necessary, is incumbent, when required to 

 remedy environment, to amend external conditions : — ■ 



In the past, in other lands, the Church not infrequently has 

 evoked the s\i'ord of the State. To-day she seeks to shatter it. 

 In either case .=he errs. The present discipline of the sword in 

 international relations keeps alive armament and the organisation 

 of force — the power of the sword which alone centuries ago 

 checked and roUe^l Ijack the Saracenic and Turkish invasions. 

 Upon this depends the ability to use force in the great conflict 

 with the powers of political evil in the external world. In 

 days not long past I have written of this as prospective. To-day 

 it is upon us. In it the disarmament of the States of European 

 civilisation, the al)an(Ioniiient of tlie energies of force, will 

 mean tlie downfall of that civilisation. 



.\dmiral Mahan takes occasion to rejily to Mr. 



Norman Angell's " The Great Illusion." He 



says ; — 



It is, I believe, the cardinal mistake of the author of "The 

 (Ireat Ilh.sion" that nations now go to war, or are preparing 

 for war, under the impression that there is financial profit in 

 injuring a neighbour. His other proposition, that the extension 

 of national territory — that is, the bringing a large amount of 

 property under a single administration — is not to the financial 

 .advantage of a nation, appears to me as illusory .as to maintain 

 that I)Usiness on a small cajiital is as profitable as on a large. 

 Tt is the great amount of unexploited raw material in territories 

 politically backward, and now imperfectly possessed by the 

 nominal owners, which at the present moment constitutes the 

 temptation and the impulse lo war of Kuropean States. 



Admiral Mahan denies that the oljject of recent 

 wars was chiefly commercial advantage, and says 

 that probably no State in Europe at the present time 

 seriously contemplates the acquisition by force of the 

 European territory of a rival, because such acquisition 

 cannot be so valuable industrially as to compensate 

 for the expense of the conquest. The armaments of 

 European States now are not so much for protection 

 against conquest as to secure the utmost possible 

 share of the unexploited. The redemption to man- 

 kind of Algiers, Egypt, India, is the warrant in equity 

 for the forcible suppression of those who occupied and 

 controlled, but failed to justify their possession by 

 results. 



FIVE YEARS MORE FLYING. 



In 'the February Pall Mall Magazine Mr. C. C. 

 Turner, certificated aviator, writes on flight proba- 

 bilities during the next five years. He says : — 



One of the things that aeroplanes will be used for very soon 

 is tile carrying of mails, not as a mere curiosity or for charity, 

 but as part of the regular mail-carrying organisation. For 

 example, late-fee letters will be taken through the air from the 

 shore to liners already on their way outward bound. From 

 500, even 1,000, feet this could be done with precision. For 

 an extra fee of sixpence per letter such a service would be so 

 well patronised that it could I'e run at a profit. 



Further anticipations are : — 



Hydro-aeroplane tours along the coast in the summer time will 

 be most delightful experiences. In picturing the machines of next 

 year and the year after, we may quite safely reckon upon them 

 beingdriven by motors furnished with silencers. Egypt, Australia, 

 Canada, and .South .Africa will have regular aeroplane services 

 between outlying stations and towns not yet served by railways. 

 The British Colonies, indeed, are somewhat behind the times 

 as regards aviation. The Belgian Government is already 

 establishing aeroplane communications in the Congo State ; the 

 French are doing the same thing in Morocco and Senegal. But 

 among the pupils who have learned to fly lately in England 

 have been a large number of officers of the Indian Army and 

 many Australians, so that it is certain that interest is being 

 awakened. 



EI.ECTIONICERING BV AEROPLANE. 



A member of the French Senate, M. Reymond, is a 

 certificated aviator, and has, indeed, taken out the superior 

 military brevet. He travelled to his constituency by aeroplane 

 a few weeks ago, and in an up-to-date progressive country like 

 France it can safely be assumed that he increased his popularity 

 and the number of the votes that will be given to him at tlie 

 next election. Politics in England will have undergone a 

 tremendous intellectual and moral revolution if, in the course 

 of the next five years, many candidates for Parliament do not 

 see that in the aeroplane they have an unequalled means of 

 advertising themselves and exciting the admiration of young 

 voters, more particularly of young lady voters, should they by 

 that time l>e enfranchised. Compared with flying round the 

 constituency, administering the kick-off at the local football 

 match is tame. 



AEROPI.ANliS A f ^150. 



As to cost, the writer ex|)oses the common error 

 that the more powerful and more expensive the 

 engine the better the flight. Just the reverse is the 

 case. We need a series of prizes for slow flying, for 

 flying with low-power motors. He prophesies : — 



Within the next five years we sh.all have aeroplanes flying 

 quite fast enough for all ordinary purposes, very easy machines 

 10 fly with and to land with, and even more stable in gusty 

 weather than the high-speed monoplane of to-day ; and they 

 will do it with motors of eight or ten horse-power. Then 

 aeroplanes, instead of costing as tlipy do now from ;i'7oo to 

 /^i,50O each, and being very expensive to run, will be ;^l5o, 

 and even less ; and they will, indeed, be within the means of 

 middle-class people. 



He anticii)ates that in 191 7 Great Britain will have 

 500 war machines, France 1,200, Germany 1,000, 

 Russia 500, Italy 100, Austria 300. 



