In the same paper Carlyle said of the French Revolution, of which he was himself the great portrayer:  “I often call that a celestial infernal phenomenon, the most memorable in our world for a thousand years; on the whole, a transcendent revolt against the devil and his works, (since shams are all and sundry of the devil, and poisonous and unendurable to man.)” Now, the French Revolution was an extraordinary outbreak of passionate feeling and physical violence on the part of the French Nation, both at home and abroad; and it led on to the Napoleonic wars, which were tremendous physical struggles for mastery in Europe.

In a recent public statement two leading philosophical writers of modern Germany, Profs.  Eucken and Haeckel, denounce the “brutal national egoism” of England, which they say “recognizes no rights on the part of others, and, unconcerned about morality or unmorality, pursues only its own advantage”; and they attribute to England the purpose to hinder at any cost the further growth of German greatness.  But what are the elements of that German greatness which England is determined to arrest by joining France and Russia in war against Germany and Austria-Hungary?  The three elements of recent German greatness are the extension of her territory; contiguous territories in Europe and in other continents colonial possessions; the enlargement of German commerce and wealth, and to these ends the firm establishment of her military supremacy in Europe.  These are the ideas on the true greatness of nations which have prevailed in the ruling oligarchy of Germany for at least sixty years, and now seem to have been accepted, or acquiesced in, by the whole German people.  In this view, the foundation of national greatness is fighting power.

This conception of national greatness has prevailed at many different epochs—­Macedonian, Roman, Saracen, Spanish, English, and French—­and, indeed, has appeared from time to time in almost all the nations and tribes of the earth; but the civilized world is now looking for better foundations of national greatness than force and fighting.

The partial successes of democracy in Europe have much increased the evils of war.  Sir Francis Bacon looked for a fighting class; under the feudal system when a Baron went to war he took with him his vassals, or that portion of them that could be spared from the fields at home.  Universal conscription is a modern invention, the horrors of which, as now exhibited in Germany, Austria-Hungary, and France, much exceed those of earlier martial methods.  There has never been such an interruption of agricultural and industrial production, or such a rending of family ties in consequence of war as is now taking place in the greater part of Europe.  Moreover, mankind has never before had the use of such destructive implements as the machine gun, the torpedo, and the dynamite bomb.  The progress of science has much increased the potential destructiveness of warfare.