THE SOLDIER'S MOTIVE IN BATTLE 299 



desire of pure self-realisation, exhibits its force most Book iv 

 signally when it is the motive of military heroism ; 

 and the readiness with which a soldier will risk his 

 life for honour honour which brings with it no- 

 thing besides itself, excepting perhaps a medal and why, the 



r .. . , . 'ii t- socialists ask, 



a scrap of ribbon has been said by socialistic writers should not the 

 to afford a conclusive proof that any practical work, make t 



no matter how laborious, and more particularly the 



work of the great wealth-producer, will be willingly 



undertaken for the sake of the same reward. 



" The soldier s subsistence is certain" writes a 



well-known contemporary enthusiast. "It does not 



depend upon his exertions. At once he becomes 



susceptible to appeals to his patriotism. He will 



dare anything for glory, and value a bit of bronze 



which is ' the reward of valour ' far more than a 



hundred times its weight in gold'' The implication, 



of course, is that what men will do in war they will 



do in peaceful industry ; and the writer adds, in 



order to point this moral, "yet many of the private 



soldiers come from the worst of the population." 



This passage is quoted with rapture by another 



socialistic theorist, who exclaims, " Let those 



especially notice this last point zvho fancy we must 



wait till men are angels before socialism be practical'' 



And even so well-trained a thinker as Mr. Frederic Mr. Frederic 



Harrison has argued, from the readiness with which 



men die in battle for their country, that they will be ar ument - 



equally willing to deny themselves or suffer martyr- 



dom for universal humanity. 



To all these ideas and arguments there is one 



