LAND AND \V A T !• R 
XoxTinbcr 6, 19 15. 
THE FORUM. 
A Commentary on Present-day Problems. 
From xceek to week in the jtttiire it is proposed to discuss on these 
pages under the title of " The Forum," the greater problems of govern- 
ment and social order whicli are arising out of the 'u'ar. The manner 
in u'hich the countless ucu' questions have to be conjrontcd boldly 
and courageously is fully set forth in these opening pat'agraphs. 
UNDERNEATH all the tragic suffering 
of the war, the shattering agony of 
wounds, the anguish of irreparable 
bereavements there runs a queer under- 
current of pain, not the less real because 
it is not transfigured by any conviction of 
dutifu' sacrifice — the pain of those who are pre- 
\'ented by circumstance of one or othei; kind frorru 
being directly helpful in this crisis of their country's 
destiny. Strange illuminations have come to men 
and women who a long two years ago were wrapped 
in what now seems an incredible detachment and 
indifference. They nevet guessed how dear to 
them were these little islands and that splendid 
conception of the Greater Commonwealth of the 
Five Nations ; or what kinship there was between 
them and men of a rougher clay whom they had 
ignored, and perhaps a little despised ; or what 
heroes they had entertained unawares in the trivial 
social round. And being of a race that had grown 
strangely self-contained, they dare put so little 
of their feeling into words ot action that they send 
their daily trainfuls of gallant lads back to the 
work that must be death for many, without a 
cheer and scarce a wave of the hand. One hopes 
the lads understand. ... To tell the truth, 
this is not the famous British phlegm, still less the 
callous indifference that our escaped Herr Johannes 
Schmjdt cannot be blamed for thinking it ; but the 
despe rate sense that we others have scarcely a 
decent right to be alive and to take so much from 
these incomparable, sacrificial volunteers. 
But there is plenty work for the forlorn 
and dispirited non-combatants. The end of the 
war will be but the beginning of the beginning 
of that reorganisation of the World Task, to adapt 
a fine phrase of Mazzini's, which faces us, and that 
scarcely less anxious and difficult task of putting 
our own house in order. 
Surely it is not fanciful to suggest that there 
i5 laid upon us who do not fight, an obligation as 
real and as definite, to address ourselves with un- 
remitting fervour to the extreme limit of our 
capacity and influence, as is laid upon men of 
the military age to take up their hard share of the 
fighting. There is here no mere plausible analogy 
but an exact and literal parallel. Let anyone 
analyse his impression of those of his acquaintance 
who have gone to the war. He must conclude 
that while some few set out in a gay spirit of adven- 
ture, and other few for fear of the condemnation 
of their fellows (in itself no mean motive) the most 
put themselves stiffly to a hard and often almost 
intolerable duty. It was nothing less than a 
supreme and resolute dedication of themselves to 
Ihc service of the England they loved- however 
little it may suit our reticent youth to phrase it 
in such high terms. And this being so, it is im- 
pcss^b'e to escape the conclusion that, in that 
other sphere of national reconstruction, which 
faces us as surely, and one almost dare say, as 
formidably as enemy trenches and batteries face 
our armies, anything less than such a dedication 
be expected of us others. After all, a man cannot 
let his splendid fellows die for him and just slip 
back into old ways with a mere much thanks for 
this relief. 
The measure of the combatants' resolution and 
sacrifice is the measure of the non-comb:itants' 
responsibility and duty. And in sober fact better 
work for England can be done by most of us in 
preparing to take a part in the politics of the Great 
Settlement, local, national, imperial, and universal, 
than by petulant arm-chair criticism of harassed 
Ministers based on information that is necessarily 
quite ludicrously inadequate ; or even possibly 
than such praiseworthy manifestations of eager 
citizenship as the wearing of the brassard of the 
Special Constabulary or the National Guard. 
Nor can any excuse himself from the task on 
the score of the small weight of influence which he 
individually carries towards the solution ; just 
precisely as no single reluctant youth can exempt 
himself on the ground that one rifle or Sam Browne 
belt the less will make no difference to the great 
result. It is a common and, because a plausible, 
an unutterably mischievous attitude. It has 
operated among us with disastrous results in the 
past. As a matter of simple fact, cac y citizen 
who will by serious thought, and discussion, that 
best stimulant of thought, enlist his talents of 
whatever character in this high enterprise, becomes 
a radiating centre of helpful activity. Nothing is 
less barren than this kind of energy ; and the sum 
of it laboriously, tentatively, but inevitably inter- 
acting, goes to make up that enlightened public 
opinion which is the first desideratum of free and 
intelligent democracy. 
Doubtless the most common excuse that is 
made for our apathy is our disgust with politics 
and the manceuvres of the politicians. Yet war, 
most surely, no less than politics, is deeply stained. 
Its inevitable horror and cruelty apart, there is the 
whole monstrous background of concealments, 
deceptions, prejudices, calumnies and often 
disreputable intrigue which it presumes. An 
honest soldier might well weary of the unclean 
busiriess and think to wash his hands of it. 
Yet in honour he can not. Whoever does the 
dirty work in this bad business, it is for him 
to do the clean ; and so of politics in relation to 
ourselves. This superior detachment from the 
business of Government as from something too 
muddied for our association, is indeed the " Great 
Refusal" of which too many of us are guilty. It is 
nothing less than the pusillanimous betrayal of 
the liberties for which our fathers fought in field 
and council chamber, and for which we now profess 
ourselves to be lighting. We do, the most of us, 
enjoy an unfettered political liberty. We are 
architects of our own fate, and have the politics 
we deserve. If anything be wrong, it is our task 
to put it right. . . . 
