Christian Nations and Heathen Barbarity
"Household words" of the present day include such expressions as these: "Christian nations," "Christian civilization," "civilized nations," etc. Here is what the head of one of the "Christian nations" has to say to his soldiers on the eve of their departure to China:— "If you meet the enemy and you defeat him, give no quarter, make no prisoners. Whoever falls into your hands will be doomed. Just as a thousand years ago the Huns, under their King Etzel, made for themselves a name, which to this day is a mighty one in tradition, so may your appearance make the name Germany be feared for a thousand years in China, so that never again a Chinaman may dare look askance at any German." If such an edict were to go forth from the emperor of China, or the sultan of Turkey, or the shah of Persia, or the ameer of Afghanistan, or the chief of some African tribe, words could hardly be found in the "civilized" vocabulary to express the terrible barbarity of the heathen.