"A thousand touching traits testify to the sacred power of the love which a righteous war awakes in noble nations." [G] [Footnote G: Treitschke, "Deutsche Geschichte," i., p.

482.] Frederick the Great recognized the ennobling effect of war.

"War," he said, "opens the most fruitful field to all virtues, for at every moment constancy, pity, magnanimity, heroism, and mercy, shine forth in it; every moment offers an opportunity to exercise one of these virtues." "At the moment when the State cries out that its very life is at stake, social selfishness must cease and party hatred be hushed.

The individual must forget his egoism, and feel that he is a member of the whole body.
He should recognize how his own life is nothing worth in comparison with the welfare of the community.

War is elevating, because the individual disappears before the great conception of the State.