128 PROF. D. S. MABGOLIOUTH, D.L1TT., ON THE INFLUENCE OF 



their charge ; but may well have arisen in the mind of an 

 autocrat, dissatisfied with the empire which he had inherited, 

 however large, and intolerant of rival states. So many an 

 autocrat has been led by his ambition to shed rivers of blood 

 and bring ruin on his own and other peoples, that the 

 recurrence of this phenomenon where the environment is 

 favourable need occasion no surprise. Nor, indeed, if the 

 history of Prussia from the time of Frederick the Great be 

 studied, is there anything discordant with its traditional policy 

 in what has occurred. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that 

 those writers who have been sedulously employed in destroying 

 all moral sanctions have been playing with fire and so cannot 

 be freed from all responsibility for the conflagration. 



Discussion. 



Professor Langhorxe Orchard : Our very cordial thanks are 

 due to the Author of this able Paper upon a subject of extraordinary 

 interest and importance. In his helpful company, we have been 

 able to make careful investigation into the cause or the causes of 

 one of the gigantic Wars of History. 



We shall probably conclude that the chief cause has been the 

 false teaching of Nietzsche acting upon the love of dominance 

 fostered by the Crown Prince and the German Military Party. 

 This teaching had its way prepared by the so-called Higher 

 Criticism." which undermined in the belief of many people the 

 spiritual and moral authority of the Bible. Then came the disparage- 

 ment of conscience and the reception of a i; philosophy which is 

 the negation of Christianity, which by its maxim — Do your enemy 

 all the harm you can in every way, for the end justifies the means — 

 enjoins falsehood and atrocities. Where the two writers. Professor 

 Muirhead and Dr. Smith, cited by the Author, are at variance, it 

 appears to me that the former is right. The attack on Kant must 

 fail. The German Plato stood for GOD — the omniscient, almighty, 

 moral Judge — and unswervingly advocated the absolute authority, 

 the " Categorical Imperative,'"' of Conscience. 



Dr. Schofield : I should much like to ask Professor Margoliouth 

 one question. He dismissed Bernhardi as a negligible quantity in 

 this war, and spoke chiefly of Treitschke and Nietzsche. He will 

 agree that the former is the one who outwardlv most fostered the 

 war, and particularly in its extraordinary animus against this 



