I suppose patriotism, or love of country--when it comes to its full realization, as in the case of invasion by an enemy, is the most powerful and tremendous of such ideals, sweeping everything before it. It represents something ingrained in the blood. In that case all the other motives for fighting--economic or what not--disappear and are swallowed up. Material life and social conditions under a German government might externally be as comfortable and prosperous as under our own, but for most of us something in the soul would wither and sicken at the thought.
Anyhow, whatever the motives may be which urge _individuals_ into war--whether sheer necessity or patriotism, or the prospect of wages or distinction, or the love of adventure--a nation or a people in order to fight _must_ have a "cause" to fight for, something which its public opinion, its leaders, and its Press can appropriate--some phrase which it can inscribe on its shield: be it "Country" or "God" or "Freedom from Tyranny," or "Culture _versus_ Barbarism." It must have some such cry, else obviously it could not fight with any whole-heartedness or any force.
The thing is a psychological necessity. Every one, when he gets into a quarrel, justifies himself and accuses the other party. He puts his own conduct in an ideal light, and the conduct of his opponent in the reverse! Doubtless if we were all angels and could impartially enter into all the origins of the quarrel, we should not fight, because to "understand" would be to "forgive"; but as we have not reached that stage, and as we cannot even explain why we are quarrelling--the matter being so complex--we are fain to adopt a phrase and fight on the strength of that. It is useless to call this hypocrisy. It is a psychological necessity. It is the same necessity which makes a mistress dismiss her maid on the score of a broken teapot, though really she has no end of secret grievances against her; or which makes the man of science condense the endless complexity of certain physical phenomena into a neat but lying formula which he calls a _Law of Nature_. He could not possibly give all the real facts, and so he uses a phrase.
In war, therefore, each nation adopts a motto as its reason for fighting. Sometimes the two opposing nations both adopt the same motto I England and Germany both inscribe on their banners: "Culture _versus_ Barbarism." Each believes in its own good faith, and each accuses the other of hypocrisy.