_Photo by E.O. Hoppe_.) _See Page_
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[Illustration: RUDYARD KIPLING _(Photo by E.O. Hoppe_.) _See Page_ 106]

benefit of the Bradlaugh Affirmation Act of 1888, as the enlisting
soldier said simply "I, So and So, do make Oath, &c." But recruits are
now confronted with another form (E 501, June, 1914) running "I, So and
So, swear by Almighty God, &c." On September 1st, at Lord Kitchener's
call, a civil servant obtained leave to enlist and had the oath put to
him, in this form by the attesting officer. He offered to swear in the
1912 form. This was refused; and we accordingly lost a recruit of just
that sturdily conscientious temper which has made the most formidable
soldiers known to history. I am bound to add, however, that the
attesting officer, on being told that the oath would be a blasphemous
farce to the conscience of the recruit, made no difficulty about that,
and was quite willing to accept him if he, on his part, would oblige by
professing what he did not believe. Thus a Ghoorka's religious
conscience is respected: an Englishman's is insulted and outraged.

But, indeed, all these oaths are obstructive and useless superstitions.
No recruit will hesitate to pledge his word of honour to fight to the
death for his country or for a cause with which he sympathizes; and that
is all we require. There is no need to drag in Almighty God and no need
to drag in the King. Many an Irishman, many a colonial Republican, many
an American volunteer who would fight against the Prussian monarchy
shoulder to shoulder with the French Republicans with a will, would
rather not pretend to do it out of devotion to the British throne. To
vanquish Prussia in this war we need the active aid or the sympathy of
every Republican in the world. America, for instance, sympathizes with
England, but classes the King with the Kaiser as an obsolete
institution. Besides, even from the courtly point of view the situation
is a delicate one. Why emphasize the fact that, formally speaking, the
war is between two grandsons of Albert the Good, that thoroughbred
German whose London monument is so much grander than Cromwell's?

The Labour Party should also set its face firmly against the abandonment
of Red Cross work and finance, or the support of soldiers' families, or
the patrolling of the streets, to amateurs who regard the war as a
wholesome patriotic exercise, or as the latest amusement in the way of
charity bazaars, or as a fountain of self-righte