'
I remember I nodded, for further acquaintance with
war inclines me to his opinion.
'Let no one ever,' he continued, 'from henceforth
say a word in any way countenancing war. It is dangerous
even to speak of how here and there the individual
may gain some hardship of soul by it. For war
is hell and those who institute it are criminals. Were
there anything to say for it, it should not be said for
its spiritual disasters far outweigh any of its advantages.'
For myself this is the truth. War doesn't ennoble:
it degrades. The words of Barbusse placed at the beginning
of this book should be engraved over the doors
of every war office of every State in the world.
While war is a possibility man is little better than
a savage and civilisation the mere moments of rest
between a succession of nightmares. It is to help to
end this horror that Siegfried Sassoon and the many
others who feel like him have continued to fight as
after the publication of this book he fought in Palestine
and in France.
You civilized persons who read this book not only as
a poet but as a soldier I beg of you not to turn from it.
Read it again and again till its words become part of
your consciousness. It was written by a man for mankind's
sake, that 'that which is humane' might no more be an
empty phrase, that the words of Blake might blossom
to a new meaning--
Thou art a man, God is no more,
Thine own humanity learn to adore.
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