22 JANUARY 1916, Page 2

We have the greatest respect for Quakers, but we are

bound to say that this does seem to be pushing the tenderness of con- science very far indeed. During his speech, in which he described the extreme Quaker position, and while he was declaring that he would not resist the conscription of all his worldly possessions, Mr. Harvey was met with the interjection : " What would you do if a German took your wife 1 " That probably seemed to Mr. Harvey a rude and irrelevant question, but after all it is a substantial one. If no wrong, however great, is to be resisted, are you not actually tempting men to indulge their vilest passions ? If the Quaker argument were pushed as far as Mr. Harvey pushes it, you would very soon reach the point that you must not punish wrongdoing, or at any rate must only preach against it.