The Pacifist Lie. By Captain E. J. Solano. (J. Murray.
ls. 6d. net.)—Captain Solano, who enlisted as a volunteer at the outset of war and has done good service in more ways than one, puts the case for the soldiers and sailors against the conscientious objectors in this trenchant pamphlet. He says that " a man's conscience is
not always a sure guide to what is right with regard to his religious convictions." Conscience, as St. Paul told Titus, is sometimes " defiled." Moreover, men of different religions, and even different sects of Christians, hold conscientious views that 1:4;3 very dissimilar in regard to many questions. The State must decide in these conflicts of conscience, for " the divine commandments are not meant to be interpreted literally under all circumstances to the practical problems of life." Captain Solaro pertinently asks the Pacifieists whether they obey all the divine commandments literally —giving all they possess to the poor, and so forth—and, if not, why they single out one commandment for literal acceptance to salve their skins, and to shirk their plain duty in a great world-crisis. We fear that it is as idle to appeal to the reason as to the humanity of the conscientious objector, but Captain Solano's indictment should give him some uneasy moments.
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