diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2990.txt | 932 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 2990.zip | bin | 0 -> 17482 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 948 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2990.txt b/2990.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..93d575c --- /dev/null +++ b/2990.txt @@ -0,0 +1,932 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of NEVER AGAIN! by Edward Carpenter + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. The words +are carefully chosen to provide users with the information they +need about what they can legally do with the texts. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. We need your donations. + +Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Texas, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, +Iowa, Indiana, and Vermont. As the requirements for other states +are met, additions to this list will be made and fund raising will +begin in the additional states. These donations should be made to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655 + + +Title: NEVER AGAIN + +Author: Edward Carpenter + +Release Date: December, 2001 [Etext #2990] +[Yes, we are about one year ahead of schedule] + +Edition: 10 + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of NEVER AGAIN! by Edward Carpenter +*****This file should be named 2990.txt or 2990.zip****** + +Scanned by Edward.W.Badger +e-mail psittacus@bigfoot.com OR +e-mail ted@worksop.worldonline.co.uk + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. Therefore, we usually do NOT keep any +of these books in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our books one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to send us error messages even years after +the official publication date. + +Please note: neither this list nor its contents are final till +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg Etexts is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our sites at: +https://gutenberg.org +http://promo.net/pg + + +Those of you who want to download any Etext before announcement +can surf to them as follows, and just download by date; this is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext01 +or +ftp://metalab.unc.edu/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext01 + +Or /etext00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any etext selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. This +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If our value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour this year as we release fifty new Etext +files per month, or 500 more Etexts in 2000 for a total of 3000+ +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +should reach over 300 billion Etexts given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away One Trillion Etext +Files by December 31, 2001. [10,000 x 100,000,000 = 1 Trillion] +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +At our revised rates of production, we will reach only one-third +of that goal by the end of 2001, or about 3,333 Etexts unless we +manage to get some real funding. + +Something is needed to create a future for Project Gutenberg for +the next 100 years. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +Presently, contributions are only being solicited from people in: +Texas, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, +Iowa, Indiana, and Vermont. As the requirements for other states +are met, additions to this list will be made and fund raising will +begin in the additional states. + +All donations should be made to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation and will be tax deductible to the extent +permitted by law. + +Mail to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Avenue +Oxford, MS 38655 [USA] + +We are working with the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation to build more stable support and ensure the +future of Project Gutenberg. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +You can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +hart@pobox.com forwards to hart@prairienet.org and archive.org +if your mail bounces from archive.org, I will still see it, if +it bounces from prairienet.org, better resend later on. . . . + +We would prefer to send you this information by email. + + +Example command-line FTP session: + +ftp metalab.unc.edu +login: anonymous +password: your@login +cd pub/docs/books/gutenberg +cd etext90 through etext99 or etext00 through etext01, etc. +dir [to see files] +get or mget [to get files. . .set bin for zip files] +GET GUTINDEX.?? [to get a year's listing of books, e.g., GUTINDEX.99] +GET GUTINDEX.ALL [to get a listing of ALL books] + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this etext, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you can distribute copies of this etext if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS ETEXT +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +etext, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this etext by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this etext on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM ETEXTS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etexts, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this etext +under the Project's "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these etexts, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's etexts and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other etext medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] the Project (and any other party you may receive this +etext from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm etext) disclaims all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this etext within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS ETEXT IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, +officers, members and agents harmless from all liability, cost +and expense, including legal fees, that arise directly or +indirectly from any of the following that you do or cause: +[1] distribution of this etext, [2] alteration, modification, +or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + etext or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this etext in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the etext (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + etext in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain etexts, and royalty free copyright licenses. +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + + + + + +Scanned by Edward.W.Badger +e-mail psittacus@bigfoot.com OR +e-mail ted@worksop.worldonline.co.uk + + + + + +NEVER AGAIN! + +(A protest and a warning addressed to the peoples of Europe) + +by Edward Carpenter + + + + +Never again must this Thing happen. The time has come -- if the human +race does not wish to destroy itself in its own madness -- for men +to make up their minds as to what they will do in the future; for +now indeed is it true that we are come to the cross-roads, we stand +at the Parting of the Ways. + +The rapid and enormous growth of scientific invention makes it obvious +that Violence ten times more potent and sinister than that which +we are witnessing to-day may very shortly be available for our use -- or +abuse -- in War. On the other hand who can doubt that the rapid growth +of interchange and understanding among the peoples of the world is +daily making Warfare itself, and the barbarities inevitably connected +with it, more abhorrent to our common humanity? + +Which of these lines are we to follow? Along which path are we to go? +This is a question which the mass -- peoples of Europe in the future -- and +not merely the Governments --- will have seriously to ponder and decide. + +That bodies of men -- as has happened a hundred times in the trenches +in Northern France and even on the Eastern Front -- should exchange +morning salutations and songs in humorous amity, and then at a word +of command should fall to shooting each other; + +That peasants and artisans, and shopkeepers and students and +schoolmasters, who have no quarrel whatever, who on the whole rather +respect and honour each other, should with explosive bombs deliberately +blow one another to bits so that even their own mothers could not +recognize them; +That human beings should use every devilish invention of science +with the one purpose of maiming, blinding, destroying those against +whom they have no personal grudge or grievance; +All this is sheer madness. + +Only a short time ago a private soldier said to me: "Yes, we had +got to be such friends with those Bavarians in the trenches over +against us that if we had returned there again I believe nothing +could have made us fight with each other; but of course that point +was perceived and we were moved to another part of the Line." +What a criticism in a few words on the whole War! +A hundred times this or something similar has happened, and a hundred +and a thousand times these 'enemies' who have madly mutilated each +other have -- a few minutes later -- been only too glad to dress each +other's wounds and share the last contents of their water-bottles. + + +By all the heart-rending experiences which have now become so common +and familiar to us; + +By the fact that to-day there is hardly a family over the greater +part of Europe that is not grieving bitterly over the loss of some +dearest member of its circle; + +By the white faces of the women clad in black, whom one sees everywhere +in the streets of Berlin and Brussels and Paris and Vienna, of London +and Milan and Belgrade and Petrograd; + +By the sufferings of famine-stricken Poland, ravaged already three +or four times in the last two years by opposing and alternate armies; + +By the awful sufferings of the six or seven million Jews of the +Russian Pale, hounded homeless in winter to and, fro over the frozen +earth the old men and women and children perishing of exposure, +fatigue, and starvation; +By the agony of Serbia, and the despair of Belgium; + +This must not be again! + +By the five or six million actual combatants already slain; and, +the strange spectacle of millions of Women (over half a million +in Britain, more in France, multitudes in Germany and America) +manufacturing man-destroying explosive shells in ceaseless stream +by day and night; +(And it is estimated that on the average some fifty shells are expended +for every one man slain) +By the terrified faces -- as of drowning men -- of those suffering in +countless hospitals from shell-shock; by their trembling hands and, +limbs and horrible dreams at night -- pursued by an ever-living horror; + +By the curses of the tender-hearted friend who collects in No-man's-land +between the lines the scattered fragments of his comrade's +body -- the dabs of flesh, the hand, the head he knows so well, a boot +with a foot still in it -- and puts them all together in a sack for +burial; + +By the silent stupefaction of wives and mothers trying vainly to +picture to themselves a death which cannot be pictured; by the insane +laughter of those who having witnessed these things can no longer +weep; + +This must not be again! + + +By the beach at Gallipoli covered with the prostrate and writhing +forms of men exhausted and emaciated with dysentery, who have crawled +down from the hills only to lie out there in the terrible sun tormented +with flies and thirst, or to shiver through the frosty night, waiting +for the tardy arrival of the Hospital Ship; + +By the hundreds of bodies thrown at the last into the sea at sunrise, +for their unceremonious end; + +And each poor body for all its loathsome state so loved, so loved +by some one far away; + +By the dear Lord who in the beautiful legend descended for three +days into Hell that he might redeem mankind; but these have lived +in an actual Hell for weeks and months together -- + +This must not be again! + + +By the growth and expansion of Science (God forgive the word!) which +will inevitably make each future war more devilish and inhuman than +the last; + + +By the cry of the black and coloured peoples of the Earth who have +for long enough already said how hard and cruel the faces of the +white men seemed to them, and who now think how black their souls are; + + +By the hardness of heart, the insensitiveness of a certain kind, +which during a century or more now has been bred by the institutions +of Commercialism; + + +By the habitual betrayal, through long periods of 'prosperity' and +`peace,' of men by their fellows -- of the weak by the powerful, of +the generous by the mean, of the simple and thoughtless by the crafty +and selfish; + + +By the huge dividends declared by Armament Firms; by the +international agreements of these firms with one another, even to +cozen their own respective Governments; + +By the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of innocent folk trampled +underfoot in the ditch of competition, the mad, race in which the +devil takes the hindmost; + +By the treacherous internal warfare of the ordinary industrial life +of every country, the secret betrayal and murder of bodies and souls +for profit -- at last written out in letters of blood and fire across +the continents, for all to behold -- + +This must not be again ! + +Let the Allies by all means accuse Germany of world-ambition and +world-plunder, and let the German people accuse their Prussian lords +but let every nation also search its own heart and accuse itself. + +For have not the lords of every nation set before themselves the +same goal, the goal of world-ambition and glory and 'empire' and +plunder? And have not the mass-peoples of every nation stood meanly +by and acclaimed the fraud, nor spoken out against it, silently +consenting to these things in the prospect of some advantage also +to themselves? + +Have not all the nations without exception acted meanly and dastardly +towards the out lying black races, and even towards those more +civilized peoples whom they thought weaker than themselves -- and now +in the stress of war are they not finding that their own rights +and liberties are being slowly filched from them? + +Yes, that is, the end of Glory and of Greed. + +But the day of glory is departed. The newspapers, it is true, +still keep up the phrase. They talk of a battalion "covering itself +with glory." But the men themselves do not talk so. They know +too well what it all means. They see no glory in covering themselves +with the blood of their brothers of the opposing trenches; with +whom a few moments before they were joining in songs and jokes. + +They only say: Now that we have begun, we will see it through -- but +it must not be Again. + + + +Never I think in all the history of the world has there been a thing +so great in its way as the present British Army and Navy. This enormous +force, raised -- except for a small remnant -- by Voluntary enlistment +from all classes of the nation, and inspired more by a general and +protective sense towards the Motherland than by anything else, has +fulfilled what it considered to be its duty and its honour with a +devotion and a heroism unsurpassed. It were impossible to stay +and recount its many wonderful deeds. + +A young officer said to me one day -- "Horrible as the whole thing +is, yet it almost seems worth while, when you think of the splendid +things done -- and done too in such a simple matter-of-fact way: when +you think of all the love and devotion poured out, and the lives +our men have given one for the sake of another." + +Great indeed is the spirit of such an army, great its magnanimity, +its simplicity of mind, its unself-consciousness, its single +concentration on its purpose. + +Yet perhaps the most surprising thing about our men is that they +have done all this with so little hatred in their hearts for the enemy. + +Whatever the Germans may have felt, and whatever the French, the +Britishers have just done their fighting in their own nonchalant +way "because they had to" -- with scarcely a shadow of malice or +revenge -- rather with that respect for a doughty opponent which +always distinguishes the true fighter. + +Think of that quaint story (Between The Lines, by Boyd Cable, pp 188 ff) +of the German Burschen in their trenches, singing with pious enthusiasm +the Song of Hate (probably commanded and compelled, poor devils, to sing it) +and our men for days secretly listening, learning the words, practicing +the tune on their muffled, mouth-organs; till having got it all +complete they one morning, burst it forth in full chorus on the +astonished Teutons, nor failed at the end to blaze out +"Gott strafe England" at the top of, their voices as if they really +meant it -- and then subsided into a roar of laughter. They simply would +not take the German "Hate" seriously. + +Well, what can an enemy do with such an army? It would seem indeed +to be invincible. + + +The other surprising thing about this Army is (but it is also in +part true of the Russians and others) that the members of it not +only bear so little malice in their heart of hearts against the +enemy, but that all the time they (or nine-tenths of them) are giving +their life-blood, for a Country which in hardly any available or +adequate sense can really be said to belong to them. + +Not one man of ours in ten, probably not one in a hundred, has any +direct rights or interest in his native soil; and the Motherland +has too often (at any rate in the past) turned out a stepmother +who disowned him later when crippled in her service. + +He is told that he is fighting for his country, but he finds that +his real privilege is to die at the foot of a Trespass-board on some +rich man's estate, singing bravely to the last that "Britons never, +never shall be slaves!" He is told that he is defending his hearth +and his home, and to prove that that is so, he is sent out on a +far campaign to further some dubious scheme -- in Mesopotamia! I think +we cannot refuse to say that the good temper and they single-heartedness +and the single mindedness of the British soldier are beyond all +praise. + + +But, in another way, how admirable and how great has the French +soldier proved himself to be! + +The passion of Patriotism, the sheer love of their own country +(in the case of the French, more truly "their own" than in the +case of the British) has swept through France in a wave of devotion +which consumed in its flame, one may almost say, the energies and +the treasures of every household. To protect their beautiful land, +their divine mistress, from violation by the German hordes was a +thing for which all men -- artists, literary men and all -- were glad +to die. + +When at Meaux the French army (reorganized and reinforced) broke +through the German centre and fell upon Von Kluck's left flank +(his right being already threatened by the French Sixth Army), +they were surely not men who fought, but spirits rather -- many of +them almost ghosts, white with the fatigues and privations of a +long retreat; but to save their beloved Paris they faced the enemy +with a fury that nothing could resist. + +A miracle was wrought (talk of Angels at Mons, it was Devils at Meaux), +and Germany in that moment was defeated -- even though it took two +years more to make her acknowledge her defeat. + +Think of Lieutenant Pericard who in a trench full of corpses at +Bois-brule cried, suddenly entranced, in a loud voice, "Debout les morts!" +and in a moment, as it were, the souls of their dead comrades were +around his men, inspiring them to victory. + +When again at Verdun week after week and month after month the French +army endured tine almost hourly mass-attacks of the enemy battalions +and the deluge of their shells (eight million shells, it is estimated +the Germans threw in ten weeks), it still, though heavily punished, +stood solid, and the whole of France stood solid behind it. France +never doubted the conclusion; and the conclusion was never doubtful. + + +We have spoken of `glory,' but the day of ` la gloire ' has departed. +France herself has ceased to speak of it -- and there can be no better +proof than that, of the change that has come over the minds of men . + +France has emerged from the War a changed nation. The people who +in 1870 made ribald verses and sang cynical songs over the plight +of their country are now no more, and France emerges serious, resolute, +to the great work which she has before her -- of building the great +first Democratic State of Europe and becoming the corner-stone of +the future European Confederation. + + +And what shall we say of the German army? (In the moment and merely +for the sake of brevity I leave the Belgians, Russians, Italians +and Serbians aside.) + +When I think of the great German army now scattered over Europe, +fighting along that immense line (including the Austrian portion) +of some 1,400 miles in extent; when I think of this on the whole so +wonderfully goodhearted, genial, sociable people, these regiments +of Westphalians, Wurtemburgers, Saxons, Bavarians, Hungarians, these +men and boys from the fields and farms of Posen and Pomerania, the +forests of Thuringia, the vineyards of the Rhine or the vegetable +gardens of the Palatinate, these students from the Universities +and scholars from the Technical Schools; plunged in this insane War, +fighting in very truth for they know not what, and pouring out their +life-blood, like water in obedience to the long-prepared schemes +of their rulers -- I am seized with an immense pity. + +They have been told they are fighting to save their Fatherland. +And as far as our argument is concerned it does not matter how +falsely they have been instructed or what grain of actual truth +there may be in the contention. + +The point is that the vast majority of them believe this to be +true; and they too, dear children, are giving their lives for their +hearths and homes -- they too are leading this hateful existence in +trenches and mines, called to it by what seems to them a good +conscience, and carried onward (in company with those they have +left at home) in the mad millrace of public opinion. + + +However we may, blame the German High Command -- and certainly we must +blame those in power, who over such a long period deliberately +prepared this war, and at the last so suddenly launched it upon +Europe. + +However we may blame the German High Command, we cannot refuse +to acknowledge the really great qualities of their general Army: +its extraordinary courage and devotion, its versatility and resource. + +As to its goodheartedness, that is proved by the endless stories +of spontaneous friendliness shown by the German troops even to +their enemies, the individual rapprochements on occasions, the +succour to the wounded, the Christmas songs and celebrations, and +by the fact of advances of this kind so often coming first from +the German side. + +As to its good sense, that element certainly has not been wanting. +Among the stories' above-mentioned as coming from the Front is one +which I have every reason to believe is true. The Saxons one day, +in their trenches thirty or forty yards away, put up a blackboard +on which was written: "The English are fools!" The board was +of course peppered with bullets, and went drown. Presently it +reappeared with "The French are fools!" written on it. Being +duly peppered again it went down, and came up with "The Russians +are fools!" Same treatment. But when it, or a similar board, +appeared for the fourth time, lo! the inscription was "The Austrians +are fools!"; and when it appeared for the fifth time, "The +Germans are fools!"; and the sixth time, "We are all fools!" + +I don't think there could be much better sense than that. + + +And to think that the insane policy of a Government or Governments +should bring about the wholesale slaughter of such mien as all +these that I have described. + +To think that the longer such a war goes on, the less heroic and +generous it becomes, and the more dominated by hatred and revenge -- by +the wish to score a military victory or the desire to secure mere +political and commercial advantages. + +To think that nations who consider themselves civilized should be +thus acting: so contrary to the natural laws and instincts of +humanity that often in order for a bayonet charge men must be primed +with liquor to the verge of intoxication . + +We need not go further. + +Of the three great nations primarily involved those indeed of +which we can speak most confidently, knowing them best -- it is +intolerable to think they should thus mutilate and destroy each other. + +All we can say is: Never again must this thing happen! + + +When one thinks of the whole dread Coil and Entanglement, and, +what it is for, the mind reels in despair. + +When one thinks of the marvellous scientific ingenuity and skill, +directed in a kind of diabolic concentration on the one purpose +of slaughter. + +Of the huge guns, the 12.5's, weighing 40 tons apiece, and boxed +and rifled to the nicety of the thousandth part of an inch (I have +watched them being made at Sheffield). + +Of the larger 15 in. guns, with range of 13 or 14 miles, so accurate +that the shells thrown at that distance will deviate hardly a couple +of yards to the right hand or the left of their line of fire (and in +the Jutland battle the firing opened at nearly 11 miles). + +Of the still larger guns even now being constructed. + +Of the shells themselves varying from a few pounds to nearly, a ton +in weight, and so delicately fashioned that the moment of their +explosion can be positively timed to the tenth part of a second: + +When one thinks of the ingenuity put into aeroplanes and airships, +and almost entirely with a view to the destruction of life; + +Of the automatic steering of submarine torpedoes by means of gyroscopes, +so that when deviated by any obstacle or accident from their set +course they will actually return of themselves to that course again; + +Of the everlasting duel going on in any one country between armour +plates and projectiles but of course always between the armour +plates of one firm and the projectiles of another (since obviously +for any one firm to prove its own inferiority in either line would +be bad business)! + +Of the competition even now in progress between the Russian +universities for the invention of a new explosive or a new gas +more devastating than any hitherto produced; + +Of the weighty Advisory Committee of scientific Experts sitting +permanently in Britain for the discussion and handling of the +technical problems of the War; + +When one thinks of what a Paradise all this ingenuity, all this +expenditure of labour and treasure, might make of our mortal Earth -- if +it were only decently employed; + +That Great Britain alone has already spent on the War enough to +provide every family in the whole kingdom with a comfortable cottage +and an acre of land; + +When further one thinks of all the mass of human material there +is, such as we have already described -- of the very finest quality, +and fit to build the most splendid races and cities "the sun +ever shone upon" -- and then that it is being used for these utterly +senseless purposes; + +How heart-rending the waste and the folly! How disgusting the sin +of those who are responsible! + +But to-day surely the armies themselves of these three countries +are beginning to see through the illusions which have been dangled +before then so long by those in power -- the "My-country -- right-or-wrong" +kind of Patriotism which has so often been evoked only in order +to serve the plots of private schemers; + +They are surely beginning to see that the directing of State-policy +and foreign relations must no longer be left in the hands of a +few highborn diplomats (mostly ignorant of the actual modern world +amid which they live), but must be subject to the severest scrutiny +and surveillance by the people at large and their representatives; + +They are beginning to see that if courage, devotion to an Idea, +love of the Father- or Mother-land, Fidelity of comrade to comrade, +Efficiency, daring in Adventure, exactness in Organization, and +so forth, are the qualities which in the past have made the profession +of arms great and glorious, it is these very qualities which will +be demanded and evoked for all future time in the great free +armies of Industry. + +For with the cessation of Militarism as the leading principle +of national life must inevitably come the liberation of Industry -- else +the last state of our societies will indeed be worse than the first. + +Truly there is nothing very exhilarating about Industry as it has +in modern times been conceived, and one does not altogether wonder +that all down the centuries the man with the sword has despised +the man with the hoe, since the latter has generally been little +better than a slave. + +But when once Labour is freed -- or rather when once it frees itself -- from +the thraldom, of the old Feudal system, and finally from the fearful +burden of modern Capitalism -- when once it can lift its head and +see the great constructive vision of the new society which awaits +it -- then surely it will perceive that all the great qualities we +have named as exhibited in the past in the old destructive Warfare, +and now become the splendid heritage of the peoples of Europe, +will be necessary and will have a field for their exercise in the +beneficent constructive conquests of Nature and the building up +on Earth of that great City of the Sun which for so many ages has +been the dream and inspiration of Man. + +And of the old mad Warfare it will then say This odious and inhuman +Thing must never be again! + + +In conclusion, and to look to the future: + +I think we may see that the new conception of life will only come +through the peeling off in the various nations of the old husks +of the diplomatic, military, legal, and commercial classes, with +their antiquated, narrow-minded and profoundly. irreligious and +inhuman standards -- those husks which have so long restricted and +strangulated the growing life within. + +It will only come with the determination of the workers +(that is, of everybody) to produce things useful, profitable, and +beautiful, in free and rational co-operation -- things useful because +deliberately made for use, things profitable for all because not +made for the gain of the few, and things beautiful because of the +joy and gladness wrought into their very production. + +Simultaneously with this peeling off, of the Old, and disclosure +of the New, will of necessity appear -- indeed it is taking shape +already the blossom of international solidarity and federation -- the +common cause of Humanity and of Labour liberated over the world. + +Naturally such process will not mature all at once. It may, bit +that the four Western nations, England, France, Italy and Belgium, +combining with some of the neutral States, will constitute the first +European Federationor at any rate the nucleus of a Federation +destined, as it expands to absorb within its borders Germany herself +(of course when she shall have taken on her true republican form) +and the other States in due succession. + +Such Federation when firmly consolidated might, it is not unlikely, +still retain for a long period a military system, of some kind, +if only for its own protection against outlying and non European +dangers; but that military system would be small and secondary. +It right reasonably be no more dominant or meddlesome than the +military system of China has been during the last thousand years +in comparison with the massive imperturbability of the great +Chinese Empire itself. + +Meanwhile let us remember how important it is for the future of +the world that each nation and people should be free to contribute +its special quality and character to the whole; nor be ridden-over +roughshod by the others; + +That each should contribute, in Trade or otherwise, its special +gifts or facilities; and that the Internationalism which already +rules in labour affairs and in Commerce and Science and Fashion +and Finance and Philanthropy and Literature and Art and Music, +should at last be recognized in Politics. + +Let us further remember how important it is that every man and woman +should insist on the rights of Personality to preserve sacred his +or her most intimate sense of selfness and duty the very, +essence of Freedom. + +Though I do not, for instance, think that a refusal to fight +under any condition or circumstance can reasonably be maintained +to its logical conclusion, and though I certainly would not engage +myself to refuse to fight in any and every case. Still, I do +honour and respect the genuine conscientious objectors (of whom +there are great numbers) very sincerely. + +Some of them may, be narrow-minded and faddist (as conscience often is), +but let us remember that the great things of History have been +initiated by such folk. + +It was they who barred and broke the gladiatorial games at Rome; +it was they, who, steered the "Mayflower" across the Atlantic, +and started the great Republic of the United States; + +And it is they, who are possibly sowing the seed a great Movement +which will spread all over Europe, and ultimately by opposing +compulsory military service inaugurate a world-era of Peace. +(For certainly, without Conscription the Continental Powers would +never have become involved in the present war) + +Let us recognize the right and the duty of each man to ponder these +world-problems for himself: to play his part and to make his own +voice heard in the solution of them. + +Let us recognize the falsity of Science divorced from the Heart, +and begin to-day to create a political, an economic, and a material +world which shall be the true and satisfying expression of the real +human soul; + +Let us acknowledge even at the last that the War may have been +a, necessary evil to show us by contrast the way, of deliverance; + +Let us render, homage to those who have given their lives in it; +let us vow that their great sacrifice shall not be in vain, but +shall consecrate for us a new purpose and a new ideal; + +Let us believe that Love, not Hatred, is the power by which in the +end the World will be saved; + +And let us pray that a Heroism equal to that, shown to-day in the +cause of Destruction may urge us in the future towards a great +and glorious Constructive era in social life -- and inspire us +with a new hope: + +Out of purgatory to build a paradise, in which the ugliness, +vulgarity, sordidness and cruelty of the present scheme of things +will be repeated. + +August 1916 + + + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of NEVER AGAIN! by Edward Carpenter + diff --git a/2990.zip b/2990.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0b98f98 --- /dev/null +++ b/2990.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae0cb87 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #2990 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2990) |