THE KAISER AND THE OLD TESTAMENT. [To THE EDITOR. OF
THE " SPECTATO:t."1 SIR,—No doubt the Kaiser draws some of his warlike inspira- tions from the Old Testament, witness the phrase, "my glittering sword," and others, but even in those ruthless days the claims of man were sometimes considered. In Deuteronomy, chap. xx., verses 19-20 (Revised Version), there is this command :-
" When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by wielding an axe against them; for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down; for is the tree of the field man, that it should be besieged of thee? Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city • that maketh war with thee, until it fall."
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