The Soldier’s Place in Civilization
SIR CLAUDE MACDONALD, who was British Minister at Peking during the Chinese troubles, and now fills the like office at the Japanese capital, tells why the Chinese are weak as a military power. “The Chinese soldier,” he says, “is regarded as at the bottom of the social scale. In Japan the soldier, as in Germany, is a social factor, and the merchant, while respected, is not afforded so high a position in the national society. In China the reverse is the case.” And where, we inquire, ought the man whose business is the killing of other men, to be placed in the system which would represent civilization at its best — at the bottom of the scale of respectability? or at the top? What answer must be given from the standpoint of Christianity?