And the end, the “bitter end,” of this campaign is not yet. There are no more decisive battles fought nowadays, even where one side has overwhelming force. There is nothing now save mutual extermination of the troops in the field, devastation of the land in which the combat takes place, cessation of commerce, danger of further complications and the carrying of infectious diseases into other lands. The reports of Mr. Burdett-Coutts in the House of Commons in reference to the horrible condition of the sick and wounded in South Africa are a confirmation of what the advocates of peace have constantly voiced, namely, that, with our present means of destruction and our present methods of warfare, sanitation is an illusion. And then came the news of the insurrection of the Boxers and the massacres of the missionaries in China. This, too, is the harvest of seed sown in Europe in these latter years. Apart from the fact that hatred of strangers is a barbarism, concerning which we lack the right to grow indignant so long as the story of anti-Semitic riots and expulsion of foreigners has a place upon European annals, everything was done by Europeans in China to arouse a righteous hatred of foreigners there. Dogmas and wares have been thrust upon the Chinese; there has been contemptuous treatment, appropriation of territory, open declarations as to the partition of China, backed by plans for the building of fleets. And running side by side with these things, in constant confirmation of mercenary greed and of militarism, with an inherent, blind tendency to expansion, the peaceable, non-military Empire was supplied with guns and cannons from our own factories and with instructors from our barracks. Well, what matters it? No one cares to bother with the intricately interwoven network of origins and causes back of it all. Here were we faced by facts—a country in wild uproar, the government overthrown or in league with the rebels against foreigners, the legations bombarded, Ketteler murdered—such facts require action. Here the opponents of the peace movement seem to be in the right. Surely, it is impossible to quietly look on while such things are happening; there is no opportunity for arbitration. What is there left but war? Is not that in some cases the only resource, the “_ultima ratio_?” Now, are ye convinced, ye dreamers, that conditions may at any time arise which will force upon men a resort to arms? Therefore there must be no cessation of armaments, no relaxation in the cultivation of a warlike spirit. Confess that you are beaten, that you have no answer.