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CONTENTS.
PAGE
L’ Entente Oordiale.............. ....................... 523
The Inefficiency of Capital Punishment... 525
The Peace of God............v........................... 527
A Cow trying it on..............................
529
The Freedmen’s Association .................... 529
PAGE
The Re-action of Great Wrongs................
A Relic of Slavery .....................................
The Victory of Defeat.....................
“ Wayside Warhles” ..................................
The African Boy .........................................
530
533
534
535
537
L’ Entente Cordiale.
The French Invasion Panic has long been in a moribund state. The
funeral obsequies were performed at Cherbourg a few days ago, England
and France uniting to bury the dead monster with every possible de
monstration, not of sorrow, but of joy and exultation over its early and
gratefully welcome death. Its funeral oration was pronounced by the
French Minister of Marine, M. Chasseloup Laubat, who at the banquet
given to the Lords of the English Admiralty proposed the toast of
“Her Majesty, Queen .Victoria, and the ‘entente cordiale' between
England and France.” He said that the time of hostile rivalry between
the two countries had passed away. There now only remained emula
tion in doing everything that could advance the cause of civilisation
and liberty. “Freedom of the seas, pacific contests in labour,
beneficent conquests achieved by commerce,” said the French minister.
“ Such is the signification of the union of the noble flags of England
and France.”
The Duke of Somerset, the English First Lord of the Admiralty,
replying to the toast, thanked M. Laubat for the sentiments he had
expressed, and continued: “ We accept the toast as a proof of the
cordial friendship of the Emperor and the French nation for our Queen
and country. We also entertain, on our part, the same sentiments of
esteem for the Emperor of the French. In proposing the health of the
London: JOB CAUDWELL, 335, Strand. W.C.
Simpkin, Marshall & Co., and Kent & Co,
�524
THE BOND OP BROTHERHOOD.
[September 1, 1865.
Emperor, I wish to speak not only in the name of the government of
any political party, but in the name of every enlightened Englishman.”
These noble words were uttered respectively by the representatives of
the French and English Governments at Cherbourg, under the guns,
as it were, of the allied fleets, and under the shadow of those gigantic
fortresses which were so dexterously used by the alarmists in this
country, a very few years since, as a bugbear with which to frighten
the English nation into a belief in the imminent danger of a French
invasion and the necessity of a vast increase in our English armaments,
and the erection of costly new coast fortifications with which to
menace and dishearten our French neighbours.
It must be re-assuring, we think, to every “enlightened Englishman”
—as the Duke of Somerset expresses it—to find the invasion panic so
suddenly displaced, and so happily succeeded by an entente cordiale,
ratified by the friendly union of the two fleets at Cherbourg and Brest,
at Plymouth and Portsmouth, and confirmed by the most enthusiastic
demonstrations of popular approval and sympathy in both countries.
Det us adopt the words of the French Minister of Marine as a suitable
inscription to be graven on the tombstone of the departed “Panic” !
Can anything be more appropriate ? “ The time of hostile rivalry
between the two countries has passed away : there now only remains
emulation in everything that can advance the cause of civilisation and
liberty ! ” Is it possible that idle prejudices of the past can avail to
deter the English and French people from turning to practical account
these wise words which offer a new standard by which to regulate the
future international policy of Europe. The friendly confidence of the
two governments will surely inspire mutual confidence between the two
peoples, and we shall cease to deem it necessary to squander millions
upon millions of the hard earnings of industry upon those gigantic
standing armaments, which, now that “ the time of hostile rivalry has
passed away,” can only be regarded as burlesques upon our own pro
fession of mutual confidence and goodwill, and as scandals upon the
civilisation of the age in which we live. It will not do to rest satisfied
with fetes on either side of the channel, and fraternisation speeches
made by great naval authorities. These must be followed up by joint
endeavours to realise some of the practical fruits which the people have
a right to expect from demonstrations so happily suggestive of a good
time coming; a time when
War shall be
A monster of iniquity,
In the good time coming,
and when the burdens of the poor shall be lightened by a simultaneous
reduction of the armaments of Europe, and by the impetus which will be
given to the trade aDd commerce of all countries by the universal
feeling of confidence and stability which a policy of disarmament will
inspire. The advocates of “ Peace, Retrenchment, and Reform ” will
surely take heart, and seek every opportunity to impress upon the new
House of Commons the necessity of early and vigorous effort to give
substantial effect to the hopes and expectations raised by the recent
fraternisation at the great French and English naval ports. No pains
�September 1, 1865.]
THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD.
525
will be spared by those interested in maintaining things as they are to
prevent any practical issue in the shape of greater economy in the war
like expenditure of the nation. The patronage and pay of the military
and naval services have been too long and too extensively enjoyed to
be lightly relinquished or even diminished, but the new currents of
public thought and feeling which have been set in motion at Plymouth
and Cherbourg, at Brest and Portsmouh, can never again be lulled
absolutely to rest. They cannot, they will not rest, but will bear us on
to yet higher and greater and more comprehensive ideas of the privileges
and duties of international relationship; the mistakes of the past will
be rectified as they come to be looked at from the new stand-point, and
it will be discovered that national security, national prosperity, and
national honour can be established upon a far sounder and more satis
factory basis through the agencies of Christian civilisation than through
a fatuous dependence upon the insane rivalry which has been so long
pursued in the maintenance of armed force. May the “ noble flags of
Prance and England” continue to float peacefully side by side through
all future time, and may the peaceful alliance of England and France
be at once an incentive and an example to all other states to aim at the
final abolition of all war, and the establishment of permanent and
universal peace throughout the world !
_____________ _____
E. P.
The Inefficiency of Capital Punishment.
To the Editor of the “Bond”
Sin,—Notwithstanding “the great moral lesson” of deterrence just
afforded hy the execution of Dr. Pritchard and others, five murders
at London and Ramsgate, and three at Bankside, have been perpetrated
almost before the termination of the summer assizes, which have
resulted in the solemn display of the gallows.
Thus we have another striking instance of the frequently illustrated
fact that the occurence of an execution, or of a notorious capital trial
for murder constitutes a strong presumptive probability of the speedy
repetition of further similar crime.
It was so in the metropolis last autumn. Muller was executed
November 14th, and on the evening of the very same day William
Bessemer, an engineer, stabbed Leonard Blackburn, in Berwick Street,
exclaiming, presently afterwards, “ I will be hung for him, as Muller
was for Briggs.” The same week Elizabeth Burns cut the throat of
her son, in Southwark, and stated to the magistrate (Mr. Woolrych)
“ Yes, I intended to murder them all, as I wish to die—I want to be
ihung.” A few days previously, Wm. Greenwood, a soldier, attempted
to murder Margaret Sullivan, in Gray’s-Inn-Road, and, on his appre
hension, said to a policeman: “ I will be hung for her, I don’t mind
swinging with Muller for such as her.” Again, just after Muller’s
sentence, another foreigner (Kohl) committed the horrible murder at
Plaistow for which he was shortly afterwards hanged. And nine days
after Muller’s execution Alfred Jackson .murdered Thomas Roberts at
Clerkenwell, almost under the shadow of the gallows of the Old Bailey.
�526
THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD.
[September 1,1865.
Yet another murder also took place at Hatcham, near London, in the
interval between Muller’s sentence and execution. Such an extra
ordinary outbreak of homicidal crimes in the metropolitan district is,
I believe, utterly unprecedented, and if capital sentences are efficient
to deter, the period of their occurence should have been the very last
one where they might have been looked for.
The notorious quadruple execution at Liverpool two years ago,
instead of deterring from murder in that place, for some considerable
subsequent period at least, was followed in a few weeks by five murders
and one attempt to murder; all the crimes being committed in the
same town.
In like manner a recent execution for the murder of a child at
Chatham, by Burton (who had expressed a wish to be hanged), was
followed in a few weeks by another murder of a child in the same town
by Alfred Holden, who also repeatedly uttered a desire to be hanged,
a wish which was not refused • and a third murder was perpetrated at
Chatham shortly after these two executions.
Space would fail for the number and details of similar illustrations
which might be adduced evincing the tendency of capital sentences
and executions to foster a morbid desire for notoriety or murderous
imitation.
Recent events strongly exhibit the anomalous and very irregular
treatment of murderers which is inevitably necessitated by the enact
ment of death penalties. Juries will persist in acquitting murderers
even in peculiarly atrocious cases. The Home Office is again and
again importuned by deputations and individuals ; and necesarily so.
Pleas of insanity are raised on murder trials, both rightly and wrongly
in various cases according to the respective circumstances, but equally
bewildering and undesirable, whether such pleas are well founded or not.
The result of all this is confusion, wide-spread dissatisfaction, and
encouragement to the most violent persons. Thus two men have just
been sentenced to death at Winchester. One (Hughes) was hung
whilst the mob outside the gallows were calling loudly for the authori
ties to bring out the other (Broomfield), whose sentence had been
commuted. At the last Lent Assizes at Exeter, when the atrocious
child murderess, Charlotte Winsor, was first put on her trial, the jury
could not agree, eight being for an acquittal and four for a verdict of
guilty. A second jury have now found her guilty on the same charge,
but the irregularity has necessitated her reprieve. At the recent
Maidstone Summer Assizes, 1865, the bystanders were astounded at
the extraordinary and most unexpected acquittals of Thomas Jones
and Elizabeth Inglis, both charged with murder on evidence apparently
clear and strong. By a like special uncertainty in the enforcement
of capital penalties, a Dr. Smethurst was acquitted, and a Dr. Pritchard
hanged. At the execution of the latter, the mob loudly cheered
Calcraft, whilst at Wright’s execution in Southwark, yells and groans
evinced the general sense of an inconsistent departure from the recent
precedents of the Hall and Townley commutations.
But if capital punishment were abolished, there would then be
removed the chief cause of nearly all this irregularity, this sympathy
�September 1, 1865.]
THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD.
527
for the criminal rather than for the victim, this unwillingness of juries
to convict, this inevitable danger of sometimes visiting inherent mental
affliction or disease with a fatal punishment, and this widespread
popular apprehension of administrative partiality or inequitable dis
tinction.
May the repeated experiences of these evils more and more awaken
and direct public attention to the superior efficacy of severe secondary
punishments for murder, with certainty of infliction, rather than capital
penalties necessarilly and inevitably encompassed with uncertainty,
and with many chances of partial or total escape for the most atrocious
and dangerous of criminals !
I remain, Sir, yours truly,
William Tallack,
Secretary to the Society for the Abolition
of Capital Punishment.
63, Southampton Street, Strand.
The *’ Peace of God.”
The grievous famines, the consequent diseases which prevailed in
some parts of France at the close of the tenth century, and the general
belief that the end of the world was at hand induced the great feudal
lords and the people to promise to abstain from private warfare. The
Ecclesiastics continued to preach this Peace of God, as it was called,
after men, recovering from these calamities, had began to violate it.
Some years afterwards, says a contemporary, Glaubius, all Europe
suffered again from a terrible famine, in fact for more than sixty years
famine and its attendant mortality came upon them as terrible scourges,
and awakened religious zeal which held the wars prevailing in every
province of France as violation of the laws of Christianity. In 1035,
a bishop announced that he had received from heaven the command to
preach peace on the earth. “Soon,” said Glaubius, “the bishops, first
in Aguitamo, soon after in the province of Arles and in the Lyonnese,
then in Burgundy, and at last in all France assembled councils at
which the clergy and all the people assembled. As it had been
proclaimed that it was the object of these councils to renew or renovate
the peace of the sacred institutions of the faith, the people assembled
with joy ready to obey the orders of the pastors cf the church. In
those councils a description was drawn out in chapters, containing a
list on one hand of all that was forbidden, and on the other of all that
the subscribers engaged not to do by a devout promise to God. The
most important of these engagements was that to preserve an inviolable
peace, so that men of all ranks might thereafter go without arms and
without fear, notwithstanding any pretence whatever for attacking them
which might have been previously made.”
When a provincial council had established this “Peace of God,”
public notice was given by a deacon mounting the pulpit and pro
nouncing a curse on those who should break the peace,—“We
�528
THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD.
[September 1, 1865.
excommunicate all the knights of this bishopric who will not pledge
themselves to maintain peace and. justice; may they and all those
who help them to do evil be accursed; may they be found with Cain
the fratricide, with the traitor Judas, with Dathan and Abiram, who
descended alive into Hell.”* The bishops and the priests who held
lighted tapers extinguished them on the ground whilst the people
exclaimed, as one man, “ May God thus extinguish the happiness of
those who will not accept peace and justice.”
This “ Peace of God ” was so opposed to national manners that soon
after it was but little observed. But those who had sworn to do so agreed
to re-assemble at the end of five years, to give it greater stability.
With this object, says Sismundi, several provincial councils met in
1041, in Aguitamo, at which the term “Truce of God” was substituted
for “Peace of God,” and it was sought rather to limit than to abolish
war.
“We have,” says Sismundi, “ the acts of the Council of Tuluges, in
Roussillon, of Ansome, of St. Giles, and of some others, for the estab
lishment of the “ Truce of God.” These acts are not entirely uniform,
but the principle which all maintained was always to limit the right to
carry on war, and to forbid, under the severest ecclesiastical penalties
(even at the moment when all laws seemed abrogated by war) those
actions which were contrary to humanity and to the rights of men.
Notwithstanding the diversity of these enactments of council, a general
law on war and on the Truce of God, was adopted in Europe. Hosti
lities, even between soldiers, were restricted to certain days of the
week, and certain classes of persons were shielded from these hostilities.
Every warlike act, every attack, all rapine, all shedding of blood, was
forbidden between the setting of the sun on Wednesday evening and
its rising on Monday morning, so that only three days and nights in
the week were allowed for the violence of war and of vengeance.
During Lent no one could commence new fortifications, nor work on
the old.
The clergy if not armed, and churches not fortified were to be always
safe from violence. Agriculture, also, was protected. It was no longer
permitted at any time to wound or to injure peasants, whether men or
women, nor to arrest them except according to law for individual
breaches of it. The instruments of tillage, the stack-yard, cattle, &c.,
were placed under the protection of the “ Truce of God.” Some of
these things could not be taken as plunder, and others which might be
taken to be used were not to be burnt or otherwise destroyed.
In several provinces of Erance, peace officers and an armed police,
supported by a “ pacata” or “ peace-rate” were appointed to repress
infractions of this law. But in the little territory of Henry I. this
Truce was not permitted; that weak king deemed it an infraction of
his right, although himself unable to protect his subjects.
*
* Concilium Lemovicense Secundum, t. ix., p. 891.
f Concilium Tulugreuse, t. xi.,p. 510, &c., Hist, of Languedoc, lib. xiv., ch. 9.
As quoted by Sismundi, vol. iv., p. 250.
J Sismundi Historic des Francois, vol. 1‘”
�Septemper 1, 1865.]
THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD.
529
Sismundi says : “ This legislation was often violated, and ultimately
became a dead letter, and yet we must consider it as the most glorious
of the efforts of the clergy one which contributed most to the develop
ment of feelings of commiseration amongst men, to their sufferings and
to their enjoyments, of as much peace and happiness as seemed possible
with their state of society.
A Cow Trying it on.
An illicit distiller in America recently run the machine” in a small
way for private consumption and for his neighbours’ use. He had
turned out seventeen gallons of the fieriest kind of whiskey, and poured
it in a tub to cool outside his domestic distillery. A poor honest
cow, parched with thirst, coming up, thrust her head into it, and
drank it off to the last drop. She staggered home, literally “ beastly
drunk,” and for weeks was the most miserable wretch that ever tried
to walk on four legs in vain. Day after day she was raised up and
assisted to stand by several moderate drinkers of less physical under
standing, but as soon as they withdrew their hands she would collapse
just like a human drunkard, and show all the symptoms of his drivelling
misery. It was a sad and striking parody on his condition.
The Freedmen’s Association.
This Association, with its working centre in Birmingham, is sending
munificent gifts of clothing to the freedmen in America. It is truly a
noble enterprise, blessing all who take part in it, as well as the beneficaries of such large benevolence. It is fitting that the two great
families of the Anglo-Saxon race should be united in the effort to help
these suddenly emancipated millions through the wilderness they must
cross before they can reach the Canaan of freedom, and enjoy its rights
and privileges. There is a strong determination in the Northern mind
that they shall not fall back into bondage. The most desperate efforts
will be made by the old slaveocracy to reduce them to that condition as
nearly as possible. But the North is on guard to defeat this purpose.
General Howard, at the head of the Freedmen’s Bureau at Washington,
is the very man to watch over the rights and interests of the emanci
pated negroes. The old West Indian combination will be resorted
to by their former masters to fix the tariff of their wages so low that
they shall have as little pecuniary interest in freedom as possible.
But this policy will not be allowed by the government. They are
determined that the freedman’s labour shall be placed on the same
footing as that of the whites, to be paid for, not according to colour but
quality.
The education of the negroes is progressing very favourably, showing
an eagerness on their part to be taught. In the city of New Orleans
there are 200 teachers, 15,000 children in the day schools, and 5,000
adults in the evening schools. Thus a vast number of negroes of both
sexes and all ages are learning to read and write. We hope that if
any qualification be required to entitle them to vote, it will not be
property, but the ability to read. The right of suffrage thus acquired
will be the reward and evidence of merit.
�530
THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD.
[September1, 1865.
“ Walk from London to Land’s End and Back.”
This volume has been delayed a few weeks in the press, but will probably appear
by the 1st of October, if not before.
Subscriptions to the Gratuitous circulation fund of the “ Bond of Brotherhood :”
P. C., Plymouth.......................... ,........................................ ,......... 10 0
SEPTEMBER, 1865.
The Re-action of Great Wrongs.
We have glanced at the peculiar aggravations of the great wrong
inflicted upon the Negro. We have seen wherein his lot of servitude
and suffering has been embittered beyond the experience of any other
subject class in Christendom. We have noticed how Religion, Science,
Commerce and Political Economy were brought into the general con
spiracy against him, to' degrade his being as well as his condition.
How could he arise under the burden put upon him? With his
oppressors there was pffwer—seemingly all power to press him down
to the dust for ever. What could he do ? What could he say, when
even the one among a million of the ic superior race ” who essayed to
speak for him, a thousand miles from the house of his bondage, was
gagged, mobbed and threatened with the halter ? He had no tongue,
no speech nor power. Never was a lamb led more dumb to the
slaughter than he to the auction-block as a chattel. Could a human
being be more utterly helpless and hopeless ? He is not a shorn or
bound Samson grinding in his prison-house. He never had any
strength of his own. He never saw an hour of free play for his sinews
as a free man. What can he do for himself ? With what or whose
strength shall he break off this bondage and stand upright in the bold
stature of a man among men ?
He shall ‘‘learn to suffer and be strong ’’—stronger than Samson a
thousand-fold. He shall stand still and see the salvation of Grod
wrought in his behalf. He shall show this to the world, that the
mightiest human being on earth is the man who bends under the
greatest wrong. His wrong shall work for him by night and day with
the strength of Grod’s archangels. It shall work right and left. It
shall make the highest places and strongest places of human power
tremble. It shall make a continent quake and smite distant nations
with its retribution. All this has come. It is not a prophecy; it is
the most vivid reality before the world at this moment.
The very science of common schools tries to make children under
stand what physical forces are concealed in little things ;—what a drop
of water, a particle of air, or a grain of powder may be made to do if
�September 1, 1865.]
THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD.
531
pent up and set in action in a certain way. The moral force of a tear
of sympathy, or of a sigh of convicted conscience is an agency that does
not act with a sudden explosive or expansive power like these elements
of nature. It may seem at first the merest trifle in the world; but it
shall work itself to a strength that shall rive the fabric of a nation and
change the condition of a race. This it has done, and the doing is
marvellous in our eyes. Fifty years ago, the wrong put upon the
Negro had hardly begun to act upon the mind of Christendom. The
moral force that was to rend the structure of his oppression had hardly
as yet worked itself to the measure of a single tear of sympathy in his
behalf. Little by little the public conscience on both sides of the
Atlantic began to show a faint sensibility to his condition. The pent
up force was working. The little drop of sympathy for the Slave
produced small explosions of human nature here and there. The still
small voice in favour of his freedom called out a thousand strong voices
in favour of his bondage. Then the still small voice grew louder and
stronger at every utterance. It would not down. The tempest of
denunciation could not stifle it. The Power that made and moves the
world was in it, small as it was, as in the day of Elijah. Doctors of
Divinity cried “infidelity!” at it from the pulpit. Statesmen cried
“fire!” from the platform. Journalists re-echoed the cry and stirred
up mobs to club down the preachers of the new doctrine. The
merchants on’Change shouted “Great is Diana of the Ephesians!”
The battle was joined at every point of issue between the friends of the
Slave and the abettors of his bondage. The latter threw down the
gauntlet upon the opened Bible and challenged a discussion of the
subject between its leaves. Theologians, Physiologists, Social Econo
mists, Political Philosophers, College Professors and writers of all
grades of talent and position elaborated arguments of every texture to
prove that the Negro was in his right place. Why break up the
foundation of society and seek to set aside the ordinance of Providence,
to overthrow a divine institution, all out of a fanatic and useless
sympathy for him ? Then the Great Wrong began to show its power.
“ There was a dreadful sound in the ears ” of its perpetrators. The
restless pulse of an evil conscience threw up mire and dirt. They and
their abettors grew more and more desperate. South cried to North,
“Stop that voice ! Smite the Abolitionists on the mouth ! Stay this
fanatical agitation! ”
But the voice went on; for it was not the earthquake or the windy
tempest, otherwise it would have ceased. It was not loud, and it was
the breath of a June breeze compared with the voices that essayed to
drown it. It was still and strong, for it was the utterance of the moral
conscience of a constantly increasing host against the iniquity. Per
haps it may become the earthquake in the end. We shall see. The
struggle thickens and widens. The Negro is bending in silence to his
bondage. He hardly hears a distant murmur of the din of the battle
oyer him. His ears are stopped by his master ■ his lips are sealed ;
his hands are bound. Who so helpless and hopeless as he ? Indeed !
What one human being on the face of the earth is so strong ? Who
ever had more voices to plead for him, or hands to work for him, or
�532
THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD.
[September 1,1865.
hearts to hope for him ? He has learned in silent waiting “ to suffer
and be strong.
How that strength makes the capitol at AVashington
tremble from door stone to dome! How it sways back and forth all
the millions of the nation from ocean to ocean! It moves every politi
cal and ecclesiastical assembly convened in the country. The national
Congress, the State Legislatures, Missionary Societies of every name
and denomination, are stirred to deep emotion by its action on them.
It deepens and widens over the silent Negro. The Continent is cleared
for action; it is cleared of all other questions of discussion. There is
not room for them; they are too small and temporary compared with
the principle involved in the Slave’s condition and rights. The nation
cannot talk of the routine details of political economy, of Bank, Tarifs,
Internal Improvements and the like, over him. He is still and meek,
and makes no movement towards righting himself. He does not even
consciously aid those who are labouring to right him. Ho simply
suffers, quietly and tongueless. But his Great Wrong has come to its
hour. Poor, reviled, oppressed and degraded being, the world has
called him. The world shall now see what his Wrong shall do. It has
come to its hour and to its full strength. The God of the oppressed
has nerved it with the sinews of His omnipotence. How puny were
Samson’s in comparison I It takes hold of the central pillars of a
mighty republic flushed with its growth and greatness. See how the
deep foundations quiver! See how the fabric reels, with all its
treasured histories, hopes and ambitions ! What a crash! What a
crash! What a rending and shivering of goodly timbers and stones
framed and carved by the old and venerated builders of the boasted
temple of freedom!
The Gbeat Whong- came to Judgment.
It spread its retributions with even-handed justice over all who had
participated in the guilt of the oppression, far and near. Every cotton
spindle in Europe felt the benumbing thrill of the shock. The pulse of
the weaver’s beam fell to a weak, slow beat; his shuttle lagged on its
way. Every man, woman and child in Christendom who had touched,
tasted and handled the produce of the Slave’s toil was reached in the
great inquisition. The burden of the judgment was heavy upon distant
nations. At one time it seemed as if the whole of Christendom would
be ignited into a blaze by the flying fire-brands from the burning house
of bondage. Thus the earthquake was in the still small voice. If the
Almighty ever walked over the world in a still small voice, He did in
that. Vox populi vox Dei. That was an axiom of the heathen world.
How much truer it is in this ! The voice of the people does not mean
a temporary and impulsive utterance, a sudden explosion of a fitful
thought or temper. It means the steadily-growing conscience, a deep,
earnest, active sentiment which grows to an irresistible power, mighty
through God to the pulling down of the strongest hold that Satan
can build on earth. The heathen maxim falls far short of the truth.
This public sentiment is not only the voice but the right arm of
Omnipotence among men. He works through no other agency in
overthrowing the great iniquities of the world. Before it Slavery falls
with the crash of a tremendous ruin. All the cupidities and sophistries,
�September 1,1865.]
THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD.
533
all the stays and girders of Scriptural argument, all the beams and
Ibuttresses of Science, bribed by self-interest or prejudice, that were
(brought to compact and strengthen the great structure of oppression,
are flying hither and thither like straws on the wind. Before it War’s
turn to fall shall come in like manner. Before it the Great Red Curse
shall be drummed out of the world, as a disgrace to the ranks of
Humanity. Its butchering-irons shall rust in one everlasting grave'
with the broken fetters of Slavery; and the leech shall no more slake
its thirst at the veins of the human race.
Before it Intemperance, with its wider reign of moral ruin, shall beat
a retreat and call off its marauding furies, to prey no more upon the
homes of mankind.
Before it, Oppression, Idolatry, Superstition, and every other great
Organism of Sin or Ignorance, shall fall one by one. For the tide and
the strength of this mighty sentiment are arising. It gathers force
from every new grapple with Moral Evil.
We have dwelt upon the retributive re-action of Great Wrongs,—
upon the sure and inevitable judgment they bring upon their perpe
trators and abettors, punishing them in every interest they thought to
advance by their iniquity. In fact, we have confined our remarks
chiefly to the penal department of their issues. We have not yet
considered their Moral Mission proper. This we may make the subject
of another article.
E. B. -v
A Relic of Slavery.
■*
The Tower of London has its block of bloody history, on which many
a noble neck was severed by the axe. The Museum of the Natural
History Society, Boston, has recently had a block added to its relics
which in times coming may be looked at with the same feeling. It is
the Charleston auction-block, on which thousands of slaves have been
knocked down to new masters under the hammer. At the capture of
that southern city—the very seat and citadel of slavery—this block was
found at the deserted shambles, and conveyed to Boston. It was placed
for public view in the great Music Hall, and a meeting was held to
celebrate the triumph. When William Lloyd Garrison entered the hall,
and stood upon the block to address the audience, a scene ensued of
thrilling interest. Many were present who could remember when he
faced such persecution and obloquy in Boston as no other American ever
confronted, in his attempts to plead for the slave. Some may have
remembered the very words of that impassioned utterance in face of a
tempest of opposition: “lam in earnest, and will be heard!” He was
heard, and here he was at last, standing upon the central auction-block of
the South, a relic of the system against which he had laboured with such
heart and hope from his youth up. The whole assembly arose to their
feet and greeted him with a reception worthy of the man and of the
occasion. Charles Sumner, also, and other old champions of freedom
spoke from the same platform.
<
E. B.
�584
THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD.
[September 1,1865.
The Victory of Defeat.
No defeat of the two great allies, Science and Art, ever carried away
so many of the best laurels of victory as the breakage of the electric
bond that was to connect the two hemispheres. It was a grand dis
comfiture, which brought out such latent and invincible energies or
human faith, hope, and courage on one hand, and such resources of
hitherto unfathomed science and art on the other, as a complete victory
could never have revealed to the world. All hail, say we, to that
sublime defeat, with its heroic antecedents and glorious subsequents !
It was grievous to the athletes of Anglo-Saxon pluck, who wrestled
with the elements of misfortune. It was a sore and heavy battle for
them. Never men before stood the strain of such a struggle. Tennyson
ought to celebrate it in verse of as lasting a memory as the Atlantic
itself. It would be a grander subject for his genius than the “ Charge
of the Six Hundred” at Balaclava. England and -America should pass
a joint resolution of thanks to the heroes, that they did not despair of
the cable when it fell back into its mid-ocean bed the last time, and
all their fishing lines and rods were broken. It was a loss heavy to be
borne by the stockholders: but who else would sell that experience
out of the history of the world for a million sterling ! The morale itself
is worth to mankind the value of a hundred of those ostentatious events
generally called victories. But the science that unmasked, in the battle
with the ocean, ingenuities that startle the imagination with their
subtlety and power will have for-ever a working value among men “that
cannot be meted out in words nor weighed with language.” Jason and
his companions did something in their day with a vessel which may
have been called a “ Great Eastern ” by the multitude. How small
its exploits, with all the help of the heathen gods to boot, compared
with the mighty sea-walker that trailed this electric cable across the
ocean’s bed to almost within sight of the other shore! If the victory
had been complete, if no little iron bodkin, no headless pin, concealed
in the coating of the lightning-courser, had pierced the cuticle and
punctured the vital vein, how small would have been the success,
brilliant as it would have been, compared with the results won for the
world in this actual issue of the expedition ? Who can measure, from
the standpoint of the present hour, those results, either in number or
importance ? Hundreds of hardy enterprises the world would not else
have thought of may grow out of one of the consequences of the great
experiment. Science, in the sublime crisis, changed its base. To use
the subtle phrase of a distinguished politician, it extended its forces
“ vertically" as well as laterally and magnificently in both directions,
which was a great improvement on his axiom. The Great Eastern did
not go out with any such idea in its head or at its stern; and if the
cable had not parted, the banks of Newfoundland would not have become
the grounds of a fishery never before dreamed of. The vast ship,
sidling backward and forward like a stealthy angler, trailing hook and
line to catch with its barbs a small electric eel buried in the mud at
the depth of two miles and more, and raising the slimy reptile half way
to the surface at the first trial—this is a picture, this is a power, worthy
�SeptemBCTisss.]
THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD.
535
painter’s pencil and the poet’s pen. It is no fault of science that
the line broke once, twice, or thrice, and the hook went to the bottom
of the deep sea, with the heavy reptile in its clasp. Art will “ cut and
try” again. Art will make tackle that will fish up from the depths of
ocean heavier things than electric cables. Who can tell where and
■ft what this “ vertical extension of the suffrage” of science will end ?
What new fisheries will be opened, what hooks will be barbed and
baited for broken ships, and for treasure buried in seas never fathomed
before ? How Science will walk the ocean wild and wide, and trail her
dark lanterns along its undulating floor, peering into its caverned
mysteries, and exploring all its hidden biocracies ?
Then, putting aside these grander results of the defeat, it was worth
the breakage that the men of the Great Eastern were able to stick a
pin right over the place where the splintered end of the cable went
down—a pin with a great hollow head to it, called a buoy, and then to
sail all the way back to England with a good heart in them, believing
that, when fitted out with stronger hook and line, they would tread out
westward again and find that pin’s head among the rolling seas and
dank fogs, just where they left it. To do such a thing is a mighty feat
of science and art. To believe it may be done, and to make that belief
take hold of the hearts of common sailors and nerve them for a new
trial, this has its morale of great value to the age in which we live.
With these views, we repeat, all hail to the sublime defeat I The
genius of Old Ocean might say with Pyrrhus over a partial triumph ;
“ One more such a victory and I am lost.”
E. B.
“Wayside Warbles.”
By the Bideford Postman Poet.
We wish all our readers would read this volume of poems by Edward
Capern, the Bideford Postman Poet. He is the Robert Burns of
Devonshire, and we think some of his verses will equal anything the
Scotch bard ever wrote in the way of touching pathos and beauty. No
equal space in Ayrshire has been set to more joyous music of a poet’s soul
than the postal beat of Edward Capern. It extends six miles out from
Bideford to a small rural village called Buckland Brewer. This he
-has walked for many years, and he walks it now with his letter-bags.
And while he walks, he “ warbles by the wayside ” about everything he
sees—lads and lassies, flowers, birds and bees, and trees, and brooks, and
barn-yards, mills and rills. He gives them the pulse and voice of life,
and sets them a singing for very joy. While waiting for his little mail
in the village on the hill, he writes out these musings by the way;
sometimes carrying home with him two or three songs on different
subjects. On our recent “ Walk from London to Land’s End and Back,”
ye spent several days with him, and accompanied him on his postal
beat, and sat by him at the cottage table in. the village, on which he
Bias penned most of his poems, and saw many of the subjects of his
song. His muse is naturally as joyous as the lark’s, and sings as
spontaneously. A rich, rollicking happiness wells up in his verse on
bird, bee, brook or flower. The two concluding verses of “My Excuse”
explain his predilection for the scene and subjects of his singing:
�536
THE BOND OE BROTHERHOOD.
The lonely bird that wakes the night
Down in the dingle-bushes,
Ne’er imitates the skylark’s note,
Nor warble of the thrushes.
The linnets, too, have their own song,
The happy little darlings !
And next the oratorio
Loud chanted by the starlings.
*
«"
[September 1, 1865.
'
The storm-cock braves the wintry blast,
In his bold lay delighting,
And sings, like me, the loudest oft
When winds are cold and biting.
Each has its own delicious way
In trilling Nature’s praises ;
And I have mine, which sweetest sounds
Among my native daisies.
Up to a recent date all his verse was as mirthful as the laughter of a
meadow brook. It fairly bubbled over with a glory of gladness. But
suddenly a great and almost crushing sorrow fell down upon his spirit.
His only darling daughter “ Milly ” was taken away. “ Under the
shadow of this afifetion. his soul sat dumb ” for a season. Then his
muse began to J^reathe a strain never heard before. In a part of the
volume entitled (i Willow Leaves,” several poems touching on this
grief are given, which, to our mind, are as full of the mournful beauty
of sorrow as Burns ever put into verse. We subjoin one of these,
headed “ The Two Minstrels,” mostly for the two last stanzas :
THE TWO MINSTRELS.
Now while hedgerows, high and swelling,
All with clover sweetly smelling
In the new made hay;
,
Where the golden sunbeams shimmer
Through'the leafy lanes of “ summer,”
Drowsy with the heat and glimmer,
I betake my way.
List! is that the skylark soaring ?
What a passionate outpouring
Of his love and joy!
Hark! how loud his notes are trilling,
AU my soul with rapture filling !
So sang I with soul as willing,
When I was a boy.
See, along the plains of Heaven,
Mimicking the ’fields of Devon,
Snow white swaths are seen:
“ Hear me, unseen meader there,
With thy scythe so keen and bare,
Mowing down its lilies fair,
Lacking meadows green!
�September 1, 1865.]
THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD.
537
Have you not a saintly stranger,
Freed from sorrow, death and danger,
Like a ray of light,
Fairer than your snowy showers,
. Visiting your pleasant bowers,
Gathering celestial flowers,
Like your blossoms white ? ”
If so, ’tis my maiden Milly,
And, I pray thee, tell that lily,
In the fields of God,
Tuneful, from this desert springing
Oft I fly, the bright air winging,
But, lark like, I cease my singing
When I touch the sod.”
The African BoyWhen Jesus came on the earth, he brought man a golden rule with him. He said,
“Do unto others as ye would that they should do unto you.” “ Overcome evil with
good,” and many other beautiful truths were brought and left on record for our
lasting benefit. Our Saviour acted on the law of kindness. He never spoke an
unkind word. “ When He was reviled, He reviled not again; when He suffered,
He threatened not.” His was indeed a bright example for all, for the young and
the old, the rich and the poor. How thankful then ought we to be, that we can
enjoy this blessed book, the Bible, undisturbed and at so cheap a price ! Some dark
countries have not yet enjoyed the light of the Gospel. How then can we be sur
prised if they give way to naughty passions, and are cruel and harsh to one another?
How different is your lot from theirs! and how different should your conduct be !
Compare your situation with that of the poor African,—the poor black negro! They
have a heart and a soul as you have ; there is feeling under the black skin as well
as under the white. The same Great King who made you—made them! Whyshould you have more advantages than they ? But so it is. Prize your high privi
leges, and pray for the poor negroes. Oh, you do not know, dear children, how
thankful, how delighted these poor creatures are when good white men carry the
blessed truths to them; and it was but the other day that I heard two gospel
ministers speaking of poor benighted Africa, where they have lately been travelling.
They said they had preached in many large assemblies, and seen many eyes bathed
in tears,—all anxious to hear of their dear Saviour. No doubt their kind words and
the blessed gospel that they preached touched the hearts of the poor blacks. Perhaps
many had never heard of Christ before. One little circumstance I must mention
that they related. A little boy about nine years of age, went out to service. His
mistress was a kind, pious woman. After a short time he became dull, spoke little,
and seemed as if a dark cloud was passing over his once bright mind. The lady
asked him what was the matter. “Oh!” said he, “my heart rough: my heart
bad; me no love Jesus! ” She encouraged him with kind words, and told him where
to look for help and comfort. A few days more passed, and again he seemed the
same happy creature. Upon his mistress inquiring as to the change, “ My heart
smooth; my heart smooth ; me love Jesus ! ” This is a simple little story, but one
of great interest. If ever you meet with poor negroes, treat them kindly; do not
laugh at them, as some wicked children do, because they differ from you. Try to
win them to Christ, and again I say, pray for them !
Lousia A.
�'
538
THE BOND OF BROTHERHOOD.
ond of-brotherhood,vol. xv.,
B
for 1864, bound in wrappers, imitation cloth;
price One Shilling and Fourpence, Post-free.
Job Caudwell, 335, Strand, London, W.C.
[September 1, 1865,
3s. per Annum post free.
THE HERALD OF PEACE.
Official
1 Organ of the Peace Society. 19, New BroadStreet, London.
Important Notice to Purchasers of Books.
Cheap Edition.
NY BQOK sent free on receipt of the THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS: Its
published price in stamps or Post-office
orders on the Strand Office, by Job Caudwell,
335, Strand, London, W.C.
GRIND YOUR OWN FLOUR!
N consequence of the great adulteration
of Flour and the poisonous compounds in
Bread, Job Caudwell, has manufactured some
STEEL FAMILY MILLS, to stand on a table
or fasten to a post, which, for cheapness, dura
bility, and execution, cannot be equalled.
Post
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No. 1 will grind lflbs. per hour 1 8 0 - 1 10 0
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Independent of the great benefit derived from
having pum bread, the economy effected will
soon repay the outlay. Wheat at 6s. per bushel
yields bread at 4|d. the 4-lb. loaf. See “Our
Daily Bread,” price 2d. P. O. Orders on the
Strand Office, in favor of Job Caudwell, 335,
Strand, W.C.
URTON’S UNFERMENTED WINE,
B
made from the juice of the finest Grapes,
is the best element for the Lord’s Table.
has been analysed and pronounced perfectly
free from Alcohol by Dr. Arthur Hill Hassall,
Dr. J. M. Davison,University College, T. A. Smith,
Esq., Lecturer on Chemistry, and other eminentmen, and is strongly recommended by the Revs.
Dr. Jabez Burns, Ebenezer Davies, Dawson
Burns, Isaac Doxsey, &c., &c.—Price, 2s. 6d. per
bottle; 24s. per dozen; Half-bottles, Is. 6d. each,
or 14s. per dozen.—Post-Office Orders to be made
payable at the Strand Office.
Job Caudwell, 335, Strand, London, W.C.
Third Edition, One Penny.
GETARIAN COOKERY for the
Million; containing what to eat, and how
to prepare it, with instructions and Recipes for
One Hundred and Sixty different Dishes, suitable
for families, bachelors, invalids, children, &c.,
showing the best, cheapest, and happiest mode
of living. By Job Caudwell, F.R.S.L. “Live
not to Eat, but Eat to Live.”
Job Caudwell, 335, Strand, London, W.C.
OB
J
CAUDWELL’S
HOMEO
-L Strength and its Weakness. By Edmuwd
Fey, Price 6d. post free.
London : Job Oaudwell, 335, Strand.
Fifteenth Thousand.
HY I HAVE TAKEN THE
W
PLEDGE ; or an Apology for Total Absti.
nence and the Permissive Maine Law. By the
Very Rev. Francis Close, D.D., Dean of Carlisle.
Price 3d. Two copies post-free for 6d.
London : Job Caudwell, 335, Strand, W.C.
Temperance
champagne.
Unfermented and entirely free from Spirit;
also Soda Water, Lemonade, Tonic Water
(Quinine), Ginger Beer, Soyer’s Nectar, Potash
Water and Seltzer Water.—CHAS. E. CODD
AND CO., 112, High Holborn, London.—Pricelists on application. Country orders must be
accompanied by Post-office Order, or a London
Reference.
Monthly, Eight pp. Super Royal Quarto,
Beautifully Illustrated. Now Ready, No. 16,
Price One Penny, the
British workwoman out and
AT HOME. “A woman that feareth the
Lord, she shall be praised. Give her out of the
fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her.”
Proverbs xxi., 30-31.
Communications for the Editor can be sent to
Office of “British Workwoman,” 335, Strand,
London. W.C.
It
*** A Specimen Number sent to any address
on receipt of two postage stamps. Four
Copies, post free, for four stamps. London:
Job Caudwell, 335, Strand, W.C.
Temperance
spectator,
Temperance
star, Weekly,
Monthly, Twopence, post free, Threepence,
is an Independent Journal, advocating TotalAbstinence from intoxicating drinks and Prohi
bition of the Liquor Traffic. Contributions from
the best authors enrich its pages from time
to time, exhibiting the complete' harmony of
Teetotalism and Prohibition with the teachings
of Scripture, Science, and Experience. The
TEMPERANCE SPECTATOR is the recognised
monthly of the Teetotal and Prohibition world,
and consequently the best medium for adver
tisers. Three copies post free for Sixpence.
Vol I., II., m., IV., V. and VI., cloth, 3s. each.
Job Caudwell, 335, Strand, London, W.C.
One Halfpenny, 8 copies, post free for
Fourpence; Monthly parts, Threepence; contains
with other revised arrangements,Leading Articles
by sound and competent writers—Temperance
and Maine Law news, Metropolitan and Pro
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Peculiar Merit, &o. The TEMPERANCE STAR
denounces Alcohol as a poison, and demands
the suppression of the traffic, as opposed to the
Truths of the Bible, the Facts of Science, and the
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Job Caudwell 335, Strand, London, W. 0.,
and all Booksellers.
PATHIC COCOA, quite pure, and free
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NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS.—AU Advertise
and prevents its turning sour on the most ments must be sent to Job Caudwbll, 335,
delicate stomach. In half-pound and one-pound Strand, London, on or before the 24th of the
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tin-foil packets, at Is. 8d. per pound.
Robinson and Waitt, Printers, 6a, Dowgate Hill, Cannon Street, E.C.
�
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Bond of Brotherhood Conducted by Elihu Burritt. Vol. XVI, No. 182, September 1865
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League of Universal Brotherhood
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Place of publication: London
Collation: [523]-538 p. ; 23 cm.
Notes: Also known as Elihu Burritt's Bond of Brotherhood. Contents include: L'Entente Cordiale -- The inefficiency of capital punishment -- A relic of slavery. Elihu Burritt was a temperance and anti-slavery activist. At top of title page: Registered for Transmission Abroad. From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed by Robinson and Waitt, Cannon Street, London.
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Job Caudwell; Simpkin, Marshall & Co.
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[1865]
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G5386
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Pacifism
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Burritt, Elihu [1810-1879] (ed)
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<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br />This work (Bond of Brotherhood Conducted by Elihu Burritt. Vol. XVI, No. 182, September 1865), identified by Humanist Library and Archives, is free of known copyright restrictions.
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English
Conway Tracts
Peace
Slavery
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Text
CONTEMPORARY WARS.
(1853-1866.)
STATISTICAL RESEARCHES RESPECTING THE LOSS OF
MEN AND MONEY INVOLVED IN THEM.
BY
PAUL LEROY BEAULIEU.
LAURÉAT DE L’INSTITUT.
From the French Edition issued in the “ Peace Library ” of the Paris
“ International League of Peace.”
TRANSLATED AND REPUBLISHED BY THE
LONDON PEACE.
SOCIETY,
19, NEW BROAD STREET, E.C.
1869.
PRICE FOURPENCE.
�LONDON :
R. BARRETT AND SONS, PRINTERS
MARK LANE.
�PREFACE.
The London Peace Society has been engaged for
more than fifty years in endeavouring to create a public
opinion in this and other countries against War and
warlike armaments, and in favour of settling inter
national differences by Arbitration instead of an appeal
to the sword. In the United States there has been a
similar association in existence for about the same
period. But in Europe the English Peace Society has,
during the larger part of that time, been the only
organised body working for that object. Of late, how
ever, there has been a very earnest movement in the
same direction on the Continent, which has given rise
to several societies who are labouring in various ways
for substantially the same ends. One of the most im
portant of these is the International League of Peace,
not to be confounded with another association, with a
somewhat similar title, which originated in the Geneva
Congress of 1867.
The League was founded mainly by the indefatigable
exertions of M. Frederic Passy, and numbers among its
supporters many distinguished persons, not only in
France, but in Germany, Italy, Belgium, and other
continental countries. Among other modes of operation
B
�2
PREFACE.
it is issuing from the press, under the general title of
Bibliothèque de la Paix, a series of small volumes,
admirably adapted for popular instruction. Eight or
nine such volumes have been already published. One
of the most valuable of these is Les Guerres Contem
poraines, by M. Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, a translation of
which is here presented to the English reader. It is, as
will be seen, a work of great labour and research, and so
careful has the author been not to exaggerate, that he
has in several instances very much understated the
cost in blood and money of the wars in which Europe
has been engaged within the last sixteen years. These
pages must surely be regarded as presenting a melan
choly illustration of the civilisation and Christianity of
the nineteenth century.
�CONTEMPORARY AVARS.
The important legislative debates which for some weeks
have kept the country in a state of suspicion and uneasi
ness, and imbued the public mind with the most painful
apprehensions, have imparted to all the circumstances of
contemporary wars a prominent reality and interest.
Questions of military statistics, which were previously only
interesting to a few persons, have suddenly acquired., in the
estimation of all, an incontestable importance.
Hence we do not shrink from presenting to our readers
a work bristling with figures and facts. We have deter
mined to indicate, with the utmost possible exactness, the
material losses, both of money and of men, involved in the
great wars which have afflicted mankind from 1853 to 1866,
and which constitute, to use the graphic expression of one
of our Deputies, the bill of cost of each war.
The ground upon which we are about to enter has not
been thoroughly explored hitherto. The material losses
comprise the losses of men and money—the losses of men
are enumerated in the official statistics, and the losses of
money are set forth in the respective budgets.
A minute exactness is often difficult to attain. There is
an abundance of official documents respecting the loss of men,
but they are sometimes contradictory ; the greater part of
them are issued too soon after the war, and this precipitancy
is a cause of much inaccuracy. As regards the two great
wars in the Crimea and in the United ¡States, and also as to
the Schleswig War, so far at least as Prussia is concerned, we
have been enabled to attain complete precision. For these
wars have been described in large and comprehensive histo
ries, in which the losses have been studied, enumerated, and
classified, systematically and scientifically. The official re
�4
ports of the Crimean War presented to the British Parlia
ment, the remarkable book of Dr. Chenu, the various memo
rials composing “ the Medical and Chirurgical History of the
American Rebellion,” the very recent publication by Dr.
La?ffleur on the “ Schleswig Campaign,” are works of scien
tific exactness. Unfortunately the documents respecting
other wars neither possess similar value nor authority.
As regards finances, we have also met with some embar
rassing difficulties. There is a means of calculating financial
losses, which is in vogue with our statesmen, and which has
met with general favour—it is to add together the various
loans contracted on account of war, and to take the sum of
these different loans for the amount of the expenses of the
war. Nothing is more simple, but nothing is less exact.
In fact, it often happens that sums of money borrowed in
view of a war are only partially expended upon such war.
Thus, the loan contracted in 1859 by France was not
entirely absorbed by the Italian War, and the considerable
portion which was not required by the war was diverted by
a special law to works of public utility. Further, it often
happens that the sum of the loans is very far from being
equivalent to the sum of the expenses of a war. It is neces
sary to take cognisance of the revival of old imposts, or of
the establishment of new taxes, of the use of extraordinary
resources, and of important sums which may have been pro
cured by the reduction of civil expenses, or bv the transfer
of accounts. Thus, the expenses of England for the Crimean
War were four times greater than the loans which she con
tracted during that struggle.
The only rational means of arriving at moderate precision
is to study carefully the war budgets during the contest,
and to compare these with those of the preceding period of
peace. In order to do this, we must know what the budgets
are. But there are States which have none, or, rather,
which had none. Thus, the expenses of Russia during the
Crimean War will always be difficult to calculate, notwith
standing the able researches of MM. Leon Faucher and
Wolowski. It also happens that, certain wars being very
recent, we do not possess their complete budgets, or returns,
of expenditure. In some countries these returns take a long
time in their completion. We know that it was only in the
�5
session of 1867 that the French Legislative body voted the
law to sanction the financial returns of 1863.
And even when we have been enabled to determine with
precision the total expenses of war to the belligerent
countries, we are still far from the knowledge of all the
expenses, even the public ones, which the war has involved.
We must also study the budgets of neutral nations, for
war in our day has this particular feature, that it strikes a
blow at the finances even of neutral nations, and forces
them into an attitude of anxiety, which involves large
armaments. Again, in some countries, we must extend our
researches still further. Any one who should only estimate
as the expenses of the Northern States of America during
the Secession War, the expense they incurred as members of
the Union, without taking account of those incurred by the
separate states and districts, as such, in their preliminary
outlay upon the volunteers, and their equipment of every
kind, must acknowledge that he has not arrived at the total,
and that his estimate would be incomplete. And this is
not all. There are some countries, both primitive and
advanced, where the initiative efforts of individuals are on a
large scale, and where the private contributions towards war
are a very important accompaniment of the public expense.
The gifts furnished to the Czar by the Russian aristocracv,
and all that English and American patriotism so largely
contributed as offerings, equipments, or supplies, should
also be taken account of. As regards Russia, or England,
these private contributions mount up to a hundred million
francs ; and as regards America, to a thousand millions.
And at length, when we have made all these calculations,
shall we then have accomplished our task ? By no means !
All the private losses, the ravage of the lands, the spoiling
of crops; in case of siege or maritime war, the ruin of
cities and the destruction of shipping ; all these losses,
impossible to be estimated, must be always kept in view,
although they cannot be calculated. And even this is not
the whole. Eor by the side of these losses, which we
may term positive ones, and which consist in the material
destruction of acquired wealth, we must take account of the
losses which we may term negative, and which are involved
in the stagnation of business, the dulness of commerce,
�6
and the stoppage of industry. All these ruinous effects,
which the curse of war accumulates, escape our statistics;
but they are not the least part of that curse.
The Crimean War.
Loss of Life.
The Crimean War is the most murderous of those Euro
pean wars of which the calamities have been scientifically
calculated with some degree of precision.
In the estimate of the loss of men, we shall chiefly take
for our guide the report of Dr. Chenu to the Army Board
of Health. This valuable document possesses the double
merit of being official and scientific; it emanates, in fact,
from the Ministry of War, and it obtained from the Aca
demy of Sciences the grand prize for Statistics.
The French army had to struggle against three great
dangers—the cholera, the enemy’s fire, and the scurvy. In
the month of September, 1854, our army had not yet seen
the enemy, but it had already lost 8,084 men, chiefly through
cholera.—(Dr. Chenu, p. 622.) Throughout the campaign
disease carried off four times as many victims as the Russian
fire. Here is the exact state of the losses of the French
army as given by Dr. Chenu :—
Received into
Ambulances or
Hospitals.
Various diseases and cholera, from
April 1 to Sep. 20, 1854 ... ... 18,073
Ambulances in the Crimea and
Hospitals at a distance from
Constantinople .......................... 221,225
Hospitals at Constantinople.......... 162,029
Killed by the enemy, ormissing...
—
Died without entering ambulances
or hospitals....................................
—
Loss of the ¿JèmiWante ;—
1. Troops on board .............
—
2. Marines.............................
—
Coast infirmary and naval hos
pitals .......................................... 34,817
Killed
or
Dead.
...
8,084
...
...
•••
29,095
27,281
10,240
•••
4,342
•••
•••
394
308
...
846
�7
Killed
or
Dead.
Received into
Ambulances or
Hospitals.
Died in France in consequence of
diseases and wounds contracted
during the war, up to 31st Dec.,
1857 ........................................
Total
—
... 436,144
...
15,025
95,615
Thus, according to Dr. Chenu’s calculation, which cannot
be refuted, France lost 95,615 men in the Crimean War;
the number of men whom she had sent to the East at differ
ent periods of the struggle form a total of 309,268 ; hence
we see that the number of dead are, to those sent out,
nearly in the proportion of 1 to 3. It is interesting to in
vestigate the causes of this mortality. The preceding table
indicates that only 10,240 men were killed by the enemy;
the number of those who sunk in consequence of their
wounds was not much greater; there remains, then, about
75,000 men who died of cholera, of scurvy, or of other dis
eases. We have seen that the cholera carried off, during
the first four months of the expedition, on Turkish territory,
8,084 men ; and, according to the estimate of M. Jacquot,
the mortality attributable to scurvy comprehended one-third
of the total loss. The 20,000 men who died on the field of
battle, or in consequence of their wounds, had at least
obtained a speedy death, accompanied by innumerable glo
rious associations. But these 75,000 victims of cholera, of
typhus, and of hospital corruption, were obliged to undergo
all the delays, all the sufferings and miseries of a death of
unmitigated horror.
We are bound to make this distinction between the dis
eased and the wounded, for the amount of the calamities of
war can only be really understood when we take a correct
account of the sufferings of those unnoticed multitudes
slowly and needlessly consumed by disease.
If 95,615 Frenchmen were carried off* by death, are we to
believe that this is the limit of our losses ? Are we to
believe that the 214,000 soldiers who escaped death in this
disastrous expedition, returned to France in the same con
dition in which they left it ? Are we to believe that those
30,000 wounded men, whose wounds were not mortal, those
�8
10,000 cholera patients who were discharged from the
Turkish hospitals, and all those unfortunate beings tainted
and emaciated by scurvy, dysentery, and many other fright
ful diseases, brought back to France, to agriculture, to in
dustry, or to national service, the strength of which they
had been deprived ? Are we to believe that amongst the
214,000 survivors, who have spent so many days in hospitals,
there are not a great proportion—a quarter, at the lowest
estimate, probably a third, and perhaps a half—whose health
will always remain enfeebled, shattered, and prone to re
lapse ? What an enormous and incalculable loss of strength !
Here follow the losses of the English army :—
Received into
Ambulances or
Hospitals.
Wounded................................. ... 18,283
Died in hospitals in consequence of
wounds.................................
Killed on the field of battle ...
—
Fever patients and otherwise
diseased
......... ’.............. . ... 144,410
—
Died in hospital ................ .........
Died at sea or elsewhere
. ...
—
Total
.................. 162,693
Killed
or
Dead.
—
1,846
2,756
..
—
16,298
1,282
...
22,182
The effective force first despatched was 97,804 men ;
hence the mortality was about one-fourth. The immense
superiority of the sanitary service and of the general ma
nagement during the second part of the campaign, explains
why the mortality was relatively less in the English than in
the French army.
The aggregate losses of Piedmont, out of an effective
force of 12,000 men, were, according to Dr. Chenu—
Killed by the enemy................................................
Died in consequence of wounds
.........................
Died of various diseases in the Crimea..................
Died in the hospitals of the Bosphorus..................
Died subsequently in Piedmont .........................
Total
...........................
12
16
1,720
446
1
2,194
Here, again, is a mortality of 18 per cent., although the
�9
Piedmontese army, as is implied by the return of the killed,
took no active part in the siege.
The losses of the Turks and Russians can only be conjecturally ascertained. Dr. Chenu estimates at 10,000 the
number of Turks who perished by the fire of the enemy
before Sebastopol, and during the bloody campaign of Wal
lachia and of the Danube: he places at 25,000 the number
of Turks who died of disease.
Ä3 to the Russians, he believes that 30,000 must have
been killed on the battle-fields of Turkey and the Crimea:
he computes at 600,000 the number of Russian soldiers who
died of disease and fatigue. This computation may, at first
glance, appear exaggerated, but a little reflection shows
that it is founded upon legitimate reasoning. In the first
place it is necessary to take notice of the considerable levies
called out in Russia during the war. Instead of taking for
soldiers 7 serfs out of every thousand, as had been the prac
tice, there were in 1854 two levies, each ot 12 serfs per
thousand. It was the same in 1865. Thus, in these two
years there were raised 48 serfs per thousand instead of 14,
which was the normal number ; that is to say, there were
withdrawn from tillage three and a half times as many men
as in preceding years. In an empire so vast as Russia,
conscriptions, which in two years take 5 per cent, of the
number of serfs, furnish an enormous effective force, and
indicate at the same time the magnitude of the losses.
It must be remembered that the greatest part of these
recruits, in order to reach Sebastopol from the provinces,
whether central, northern, eastern, or western, had to march
three, four, or five hundred leagues across impoverished
districts and where roads are few. Account must also be
taken of the experience of Russia in preceding wars. One
of the most distinguished major officers of our time, the
Baron de Moltke, has written a remarkable monograph of
the war -with Turkey in 1828-29 (“ Der Russische Türkische
Feldzug in der Europäischen Türkei, 1828-29, dargestellt
durch Freiherr von Moltke”).
In six months, says Baron Moltke, from May, 1828, to
February, 1829, the Russian army, of which the effective
force did not exceed 100,000 men, numbered in ambulances
and hospitals 210,108 cases of disease, which was an
�30
average of two illnesses per man within six months, whilst
in the French army in the Crimea, during two years, there
were only 150 cases per 100 men. Major Moltke adds that
during the first campaign alone the Kussian army lost the
half of its effective force. In May, 1829, 1,000 men per
week entered the hospitals ; in July 40,000 men, nearly half
of the effective force, were in hospital; in five months from
March to July, 1829, 28,746 died of disease! The mor
tality increased during the following months, and Major
Moltke estimates at 60,000 the number of .Russians who
died of disease during this short campaign, out of an effec
tive force amounting to 100,000 men ! He adds that only
15,000 soldiers were able to recross the Pruth and that
the Kussian army was almost annihilated by disease.
In the absence of the precise statistics, which are not
obtainable, relative to the Kussian losses in the war of
1853-56, we have thought it appropriate to refer to the
above statistics borrowed from a standard work by one of
the most able and esteemed writers of the day. They will
furnish a base for comparison and justify the calculation
given by Dr. Chenu.
These enormous losses are usual in the Kussian armies.
Those of the Polish campaign in 1831, or of the Hungarian
campaign in 1849, were relatively quite as great. It is
said that the army of the Caucasus loses 20,000 men per
year, and it is estimated that the Kussian losses in the
Caucasus since the beginning of the contest with the Cir
cassian tribes, has been nearly 500,000 men !—{Quarterly
lie view, March 1854.) According to the admission of an
enthusiastic partisan of Kussia, Baron d’Haxthausen, half
the recruits formerly died of exhaustion, disease, and
debility, and this mortality is probably still nearly one
third. All these statements, borrowed from one of the
most valuable military monographs of our time, the book of
Baron Moltke, and from a work pervaded by Russomania,
that of Baron d’Haxthausen, are sufficient to warrant the
estimate of Dr. Chenu, that 630,000 Russians were cut off
by the Crimean War.
He then gives us the following general table of the losses
sustained by the whole of the armies brought into the field
during the war (Chenu, p. 617) :—
�11
Year.
Killed.
Died of Wound s
or Disease.
Total.
French Army...
1854-56 . . 10,240 85,375 95,615
English Army...
19,427 22,182
55
• . 2,755
Piedmontese Army 1855-56
12
2,182
2,194
Turkish Army... 1853-56 . . 10,000 25,000 35,000
Russian Army...
. 30,000 600,000 630,000
>>
Total Deaths ..........
53,007 731,984 784,991
Hence the Eastern War must have devoured nearly eight
hundred thousand men 1
Loss or Money in the Crimean War.
1. The Allies.—The loss of capital in the Crimean War
was not less enormous than the loss of life.
England had at the head of her finances when the war
broke out, a celebrated man whose reputation has increased
subsequently—Mr. Gladstone.
This financial economist
wished to meet the expenses of the war by increased tax
ation ; and taxes were actually imposed to an incredible
extent; but it, nevertheless, became necessary to have
recourse to a loan; just as in Erance where our financiers
had pronounced in favour of a loan, it was not the less
necessary, eventually, to have recourse to taxation, so
greatly did the costs of the war exceed all anticipation.
The following is the abstract of the English budgets from
1853 to 1857
Civil Service.
Army.
Navy.
1853 ............ £7,044,321 ... £9,685,079 ... £6,640,596
1854 ............ 7,638,650 ... 12,397,273 ... 12,182,769
1855 ............ 8,435,832 ... 29,377,349 ... 19,014,708
1856 ............ 8,392,622 ... 25,049,825 ... 16,013,995
1857 ............ 9,839,325 ... 15,107,249 ... 10,390,000
The budget of 1853 may be considered the normal budget
of the time of peace ; it is, however, greater than most
preceding budgets. If we add to it the four war budgets
from 1854, the year in which the war began, to 1857,
the year in which the last expenses were incurred, we find
a total of £81,931,690! Four budgets of army expenses
equal to that of 1853 would only amount to £38,740,316.
Hence, in this department alone, the Eastern War cost
�12
England £43,191,380. The same operation with the naval
department proves that the addition here is £31,039,088.
The extra charge for the two united services gives a sum
total of £74,230,468, or 1,855,761,700 francs: the total
expense which, the Eastern Expedition imposed upon
England !
To furnish these extraordinary costs, and to procure this
£71,230,468, England made unprecedented efforts. Her
taxation was increased in an incredible proportion. The
following are examples of this great increase. The tax on
brandy which had been 7s. lOd. in England, 3s. 8d. in Scot
land, and only 2s. 8d. in Ireland, was increased by succes
sive stages to 8s. in the three kingdoms ; it was then more
than double in Scotland and more than triple in Ireland.
The tax on malt had been from 2s. and 2s. 7d., according to
quality; from May 8, 1854, to July 5, 1856, during the
requirements of the war, it was raised to 3s. Id., and even
tually to 4s. This was an increase of 60 per cent.
The increase bore with special force upon the Income
Tax. The history of this tax is a curious one. It was
created by Pitt to meet the demands of the Avar against
Napoleon. It was abolished in 1816, re-established in 1S42
for three years, prolonged for a similar period from 1845 to
1848, imposed for one year ouly in 1851 and in 1852, and
authorised for seven years in 1853. The Act of 1853,
which legalised its prolongation, extended it to Ireland,
which had always been exempt from it. By the same Act,
the exemption from the tax enjoyed by incomes below £150
was limited to incomes below £100. But incomes of from
£100 to £150 were only to pay 5d. instead of 7d. in the
pound. The EasternWar brought about, after April Sth, 1854,
the doubliug of these taxes. The next year a halfpenny more
in the pound was added to incomes of from £100 to £150,
and 2d. for all others, so that the tax stood at Is. 4d. and
ll^d. These augmentations ceased in 1857, when there
was a return to the former taxation of 5d. and 7d.
Although these augmentations of taxation had raised the
revenue from 50 millions sterling, the average for each of
the ten years, from 1843 to 1853, to the enormous sum of
63 millions in 1855, 68 millions in 1856, and 66 millions in
1857 ; although the year 1853 had left a considerable
�13
surplus, it became necessary to have recourse to a loan, and
to augment that debt which there had been so many efforts
to reduce.
Crushing taxes, an augmented national debt, and exces
sive floating liabilities—such was the harvest reaped by
England from the Crimean War, which demanded for the
British army and navy an increased expenditure of more
than 1,855 million francs ! (£74,000,000).
France had to make sacrifices almost as great as her ally.
This may be judged of by the following table of her total
expenses, both ordinary and extraordinary, from 1850 to
1856
1850 ...... 1,472,637,238 francs
1851 ...... 1,461,329,644 „
1852
1,513,103.997 „
1853
1,547,597,009 „
1854
1,988,078,160 „
1855
2,399,217,840 „
1856
2,195,751,787 „
We see that the advance is frightful. Let us examine it
in detail. We may presume, as a fair supposition, that the
provisional budgets of the army and navy for 1854 repre
sent the normal expenses of these two departments in time
of peace. All that exceeds the extent of these budgets,
whether in the year 1854 or the following years, we may
attribute to the Eastern War.
According to the provisional budget of 1854, the expenses
of the army were to be 308,386,046 francs, and those of the
navy 116,476,001 francs. According to the budget of
1854, sanctioned by the law of the 3rd of June, 1857, the
expenses of the army were raised to 567,245,687 francs,
and those of the navy to 175,088,126 francs, in
addition to 2,797,301 francs for extraordinary expenses.
For the year 1855, according to the special budget, sanc
tioned by the law of the 6th of May, 1858, the expenses of
the army were raised to 865,607,477 francs, and those of
the navy to 212,677,474 francs, in addition to 68,821,S04
francs for extraordinary expenses. In that year, 1855, the
united expense of the two departments of army and navy
amounted to the enormous figure of 1,147 million francs I
In 1856, according to the special budget, sanctioned July
�6th, 1860, the expenses of the army were 693,153,176
francs, and those of the navy 220,163,567 francs, besides
5,555,146 francs for extraordinary expenses — in all,
918,870,889 francs. In 1857, the year in which the last
payments for the war were made, the expenses of the army
department still reached 410,919,408 francs, and those of
the navy 138,962,467 francs, besides 4,862,431 francs for
extraordinary expenses, or 100 millions more than these
budgets had required during the peace which preceded the
Crimean War.
From these statistics, and reckoning as normal taxation
the military and naval expenses of the provisional budget
of 1854, sanctioned June 10th, 1853, we find that the
Eastern War forced upon France more than 1,660 millions
of extraordinary outlay. We do not, however, conceal that
this sum is greater than that which is avowed in the minis
terial account of the Eastern War; but we feel that we
ought to adhere to the figures just given, inasmuch as they
result from an attentive examination of facts, and we
submit them in full confidence to all critics. The method
which we have pursued in obtaining them is as simple as it
is natural. The result must be beyond the reach of
objection.
Nearly the whole of these expenses were covered by
loans, but it was nevertheless necessary to have recourse to
taxation. The duty upon spirits was raised from 34 francs
the hectolitre to 50 francs : from this source alone a gain of
30 millions was anticipated. The tax upon railway fares
was similarly increased, and was expected to produce
6 millions. The freight of goods forwarded at express speed
was tithed: this would bring in 1,800,000 francs. Subse
quently the second general tax of one-tenth was imposed,
and which, as is well known, continued long after the war.
This last tax was calculated to increase the revenue by
52 million francs.
Thus taxes were created by the war, which lasted longer
than the war. The Treasury was burdened with a per
manent charge for the interest of loans. After the special
budget of 1853, authorised by the law of June 25th, 1856, the
interest of the debt only absorbed 374,484,506 francs 74 cen
times ; in the special budget of 1856 the interest required
�15
71,709,380 francs additional. The floating debt, which in
1853 was 614,980,562 francs, became 895,281,625 francs in
1857. The deficiencies and reimbursements, which were
98 millions in 1853, amounted to 110 millions in 1854,
121 millions in 1855, 128 millions in 1856; the expenses
of administration and of the collection of revenue, which
were only 151 millions in 1853, amounted to 164 millions
in 1854, and to 179 millions in 1855. Whilst expenses
were thus augmenting, receipts remained stationary ; thus
the product of indirect taxes was just the same in 1854 as
in 1853. The worst financial evil of the war, in addition to
an increase of 1,660 millions in immediate expenses, was the
permanently high amount of the army and navy budgets
during the subsequent period of peace. These two depart
ments have since involved much greater expenses than
previously. It is thus in all wars: they first produce a
sharp attack of disease, more or less dangerous, though
temporary ; but they always leave behind them a chronic
disarrangement, which occasions permanent disorders and
an habitual condition of anxiety.
Piedmont affords a proof of this. In the special budget
of 1856, which M. Lanza presented to the legislature in
Januarv, 1859, the extraordinary expenses of the kingdom
of Sardinia, on account of the Eastern War, were reported
as follows :—
Army.
Navy.
Total.
Actual payments in 1855... 19,790,741 2,416,467 22,207,208
Actual payments in 1856... 22,654,659 4,897,180 27,551,839
Expenses reported..............
2,500,928
645,415
3,146,343
Demands recognised, but}
not liquidated up to the 1
2,196
.........
2,196
end of 1856..................... 3
Total...... (francs) 44,948,524 7,959,062 52,907,586
Thus this little sub-Alpine nation had spent nearly
53 millions for the Eastern War in addition to the ordinary
expenses of its army and navy. Further, in 1855 and 1856
it contracted two war-loans, one of £2,000,000, and the
other of 30 million francs. It was already marching with
rapid strides along that perilous path of loans which was
destined to involve it in the perplexities in which enlarged,
but young, Italy now finds itself.
�16
Turkey.—It is to be wished that we could ascertain the
share contributed by Turkey to the expenditure of the allies;
but here certainty and precision fail us. M. Engène Poujade
made a calculation, in 1857, of the amount of the Turkish
debt, including the loans contracted during the Eastern
War, the paper money, bearing interest or otherwise, the
old and new bonds, the old and new arsenal debts, and the
various other debts, returned or not returned, after the war.
The total of these amounts he estimated to be at least
705 million francs.—{Annual Report of the Public Credit,
1st year, 265-66.) It is difficult to ascertain exactly how
much of this sum should be attributed to the Crimean
War; but if we reflect upon the expenses which must have
been involved in the autumn and winter campaign in
Wallachia and in the Asiatic campaign, the maintenance of
troops at Sebastopol, an estimate of 400 millions as the
Turkish share in the expenses of the war will be evidently
considerably below the real amount.
Then we have as a general total—
1,855 million francs for England ;
1,660 million „ for France ;
400 million „ for Turkey ;
53 million „ for Piedmont.
In other words, the Eastern Expedition cost the allies
3,9G8 million francs (or £158,720,000) !
2. Russia.—Let us now endeavour to determine, with the
utmost attainable precision, the costs of Russia in conse
quence of this war. “ It is difficult to fix the exact amount of
the Russian public debt,” wrote M. Maurice Block ; “ the
Russian official return respecting it appears to be compiled
w ith so little attention to clearness that those who seek to
receive information from it find its statistics mutually
inconsistent.”—(Puissance Comparée des divers Etats de
TEurope.) Recent works have thrown more light on this
obscure subject, which can be really investigated, provided
sufficient discrimination is exercised. The statements pub
lished three years ago by M. Wolowski in the Revue des
Peux RLondes, further corrected by the definite information
furnished by M. Horn in the “ Year-book of Finances,” and
the anticipatory calculations of M. Leon Faucher at the
�17
beginning of the war, have combined greatly to simplify the
difficulties of this question.
The amount of the Russian consolidated debt, previous to
the commencement of the difficulties with the Porte, was
336,219,412 silver roubles, or 1,513 million francs. In 1857
this debt had reached 522 millions of silver roubles, or
185,785,588 roubles more than it was before the war, that
is to say, 743,142,352 francs. The amount of bills of credit
and paper money before the war did not much exceed 300
million roubles ; at the end of 1854 it was 356 millions ;
in 1855 it was 509 millions; in 1856, 689 millions; in
1857, the year of settlement, it attained 735 million
roubles, or 2,940 million francs. But this was not all the
cost of the war. The Russian Government recalled 100
millions which it had lent to other nations in 1847, and
of which 50 millions were in the French funds. It diverted
from their destination a large portion of the funds intended
to guarantee the repayment of bills of credit. These funds
amounted, in March, 1854, to nearly 160 million silver
roubles ; in the month of September they were only
146,500,000 roubles. They continually decreased during
the war until they fell to about 100 million roubles.
We must also take into account the voluntary contribu
tions to the Russian Government. The clergy, at the
beginning of 1854, offered 80 million francs ; other volun
tary contributions were shown by M. Leon Faucher to be
about 100 million francs. If we suppose, which is probable,
that during the remaining period of the war these voluntary
gifts were doubled, that is to say, making, with a sum of
180 millions contributed bv the clergy, an amount, according
to M. Leon Faucher, of 360 millions, we shall arrive at a
total of 3,183 million francs (£127,000,000). We must
further take cognisance of the increase of the principal
taxes (for instance, by a ukase of December 1, 1854, the
duty on salt was raised from 28 kopecs to 44, and all the
other indirect taxes shared the same fate). Neither must
we lose sight of contributions in kind, which, in a country
like Russia, must be very considerable. It must be remem
bered that requisitions for provender, &c., were made on a
grand scale in that immense empire, then traversed every
where by thousands of men who were marching to the
o
�18
Crimea, even from the most distant provinces. The requi
sitions made by the Russians in Wallachia alone are
estimated by M. Ubicini at 50 million francs. If all these
things are taken into account it will be evident that Russia
did not spend less than 4,000 million francs on the Crimean
War (£160,000,000) !
Further Losses involved by the Crimean War.
1, Austria.—We have not yet done with the extra
ordinary expenses which the Crimean War imposed upon
the European powers. Even neutrality is sometimes costly.
Austria affords an instance of this. The following are the
militarv expenses of Austria for the three years 1855, ’56,
and ’57
1855.
1856.
1857.
Ordinary expenses ...114,320,715 flor. 109,695,558 106,890,019
Extraord. expenses ...101,720,117 „ 14,138,279 11,130,634
The ordinary expenses of the ministry of war for 1857
still continued higher than those expenses were previously
to the Turko-Russian conflict. We may, however, take
this sum of 107 million florins as the normal rate of
military expenses in time of peace ; we then perceive that
the additional expense which the Crimean War imposed
upon Austria amounted to 137,129,000 florins, or about
343 million francs (£13,720,000). It is known that, during
the Eastern War, Austria contracted three great national
loans (so called) which were professedly needed to liberate
the state from its old obligations to the bank, but the
greater part of which was otherwise appropriated, and,
notably, towards the extraordinary expenses called for by
the uncertain neutrality which the nation foresaw would
have to be maintained during the struggle.
2. Prussia, Sweden, fyc.—The same war, and the possible
complications which it might involve, determined the
Prussian Government to demand of the chambers, in 1854,
an extraordinary loan of 30 million thalers (112,500,000
francs) for the ministry of war. At the same time various
taxes were increased. It is, however, to be specially noticed
that the Prussian Government had the wisdom only to
expend a portion of the loan on armaments.
�19
Sweden and Denmark also voted special loans, and the
Germanic Confederation made similar preparations.
If we add these expenses to the 343 millions expended by
Austria, it must be admitted that, without exaggeration,
the total expenditure of the neutral powers amounted to
500 million francs (£20,000,000), which, with the 4,000
million francs expended by the four allies, and the similar
4,000 million francs which the war must have entailed
upon Russia, gives a total of 8,500 million francs, or
£340,000,000!
Additional Losses oe Russia.
But is even this the whole loss ? Certainly not. That
which a war costs to the public finances of a country, or
that which figures in the budget, only represents a small
portion of the losses imposed upon the national property,
such as the suspension of industry, the ruin of commerce,
the unsettlement of all financial prospects, the bankruptcies,
the enforced idleness—these are exceedingly serious evils.
Any one who supposes that the Eastern War only cost
Russia 4,000 million francs, can have no idea of the immense
loss of capital which this war occasioned. Never, since the
great Continental Blockade, has a nation been placed under
the pressure of a struggle so formidable to all its financial
and commercial interests. Its ports being blockaded, per
mitted neither exportation nor importation; its ships were
rotting, at anchor, behind the fortifications. After the
month of March, 1854, not a single Russian flag was to be
seen in the ports of France or of Great Britain, and those
which had been delayed by wnnter were sold to escape the
risk of seizure.—fBlackivood's Magazine, April 1, 1854.)
The trading vessels which allowed themselves to be over
taken in the Baltic, in the Black Sea, and even in the Sea
of Azov (where they appeared to be protected by the fleet)
had been destroyed. At how much are we to estimate the
value of these ships and their cargoes ? And how can we
ascertain the value of the injuries and of the loss of interest
of capital involved by the rotting of so many vessels in har
bour ? Even neutral ships did not enjoy full liberty of
arrival and departure, if loaded with Russian cargoes, as
�22
which burdened the Turkish people ? And, lastly, was it not
the case that both France and England were specially incon
venienced by being prevented from having recourse to Russia
for provisions to supply the deficiency of their harvests ?
Except in Russia, the harvests were at that period smaller
than usual throughout Europe. If peace had continued,
Russia could have easily supplied her neighbours with 40
million bushels during the two years (stated by M. de
Molinari, in the Journal des Economistes). But her crops
were shut up at Odessa by the allied fleets, which, in order
to injure the Russians, starved their own countries. The
Tory reviews announced that, for a few shillings more per
bushel, a ready supply of wheat could be obtained from the
far-west of America.—(Blackwood's Magazine, April 1,
1854.) But “a few shillings more per bushel” are suffi
cient to substitute scarcity for abundance.
Once more, is it not certain that France and England
injured themselves permanently by ruining Russia ? The
amount of business that can be carried on with a nation,
just as with an individual, is in proportion to its resources.
Everything which impoverishes a nation also injures those
who do business with that nation. It is foolish to ruin
him who buys from us, or who sells to us, for by so doing
we deprive him of the means of purchase or production.
In fact it was quite as much to the detriment of English
and French industry, as to that of Russian commerce, that
our cruisers blockaded the Baltic ports. And the fleet
which closed the harbours of the Black Sea were no less
mischievous to the hungry populations of England and
France than to the Russian corn-growers.
Summary.
We have now endeavoured to ascertain the accumulated
losses which were caused by that Crimean War, which was
so thoughtlessly entered upon. Eight thousand Jive hun
dred million francs (340 million pounds sterling') is the
acknowledged burden imposed by this war upon the public
finances of Europe. But it is absolutely impossible to
calculate the sum of those indirect losses which we have
alluded to, or of a multitude of other losses which have not
�23
come under our notice; it would be presumptuous even to
attempt an approximate estimate of these.
THE WAR IN ITALY (1859).
Respecting the losses of the Italian War, we do not
possess any such comprehensive works as those which have
afforded such valuable aid in our reviews of the Crimean
Expedition. Dr. Chenu is now preparing a work on this
subject, and, pending its publication, we are limited to a
critical study of various official papers which, in too many
cases, bear indications of haste and confusion. We shall
take for our chief guide the paper read by Baron Larrey to
the Academy of Medicine, with numerous corrections from
subsequent statistics, furnished either by distinguished
statisticians and surgeons, or derived from recent minis
terial documents.
The general estimate which has been arrived at as to the
total losses in the Italian War, including the number of
persons killed, wounded, and missing in the three armies,
is as follows, viz. 38,650 Austrians, 17,775 Frenchmen,
6,575 Sardinians ; total, 63,000. These results have been
obtained by the researches of one of our most distinguished
military statisticians, M. Boudin, editor of the “Journals of
Medicine and Military Surgery.” This general amount of the
losses is, however, only estimated at 61,978, according to
the official dispatches collected under the direction of
Col. Saget, the head of the historical and statistical depart
ment of the Ministry of War. The discrepancy between
these two estimates is only 1,022 ; and it should be remarked
that in Colonel Saget's papers no account has been taken of
a considerable number of missing and wounded men whose
recovery has not been notified to the hospitals.
The greatest confusion is indicated in some of these
official returns. At Magenta, for example, certain official
dispatches return the number of killed and wounded at only
3,223 ; subsequent dispatches raise the number to 4,535,
including, it is true, the missing, most of whom were even
tually found amongst the dead. It is the same as regards
�24
Solferino, where the first calculation of the killed and
wounded in the French army was 8,530, an amount which was
increased in later documents to 11,670 private soldiers, and
720 officers in addition. In such cases the larger and more
recent returns are the more correct.
“ The statistics of the dead,” says Dr. Larrey, “ appear to be
more difficult to ascertain than those of the wounded. Whilst
giving, in the first place, from the official returns, a total of 8,084
men as killed on the field of battle alone, in the armies of
France, Sardinia, and Austria, those statistics include, so far
as the French army is concerned, the number of persons who,
throughout the campaign, died of wounds or of disease. But
how large a number died subsequently, and how many, who
were reported as missing, may have been drowned in rivers or
have perished in some other way ! ”—Larrey, page 61.
During the campaign itself, disease exercised but little
influence on our army; but during the subsequent occu
pation of Italy and the return to France it made many
victims.
The mortality then caused 11 appears to have
exceeded, in the French army, the number of men killed on
the field of battle.”—{Larrey, page 62.)
“ We are
dropping our men at all the hospitals along the route ! ”
exclaimed a regimental doctor, on the return of the army.
A publication, emanating from the General Statistical
Board of France, gives us the following information re
specting the deaths in the French army in 1859 :—
In
France.
In
Algeria.
Died on the field of battle
or in ambulances..........
32
54
Died in hospitals .......... 5,835 2,361
112
24
Suicides .........................
In
Italy.
In
Rome.
Total.
5,872 0 5,868
4,360 84 12,640
167
31 0
Totals
5,979 2,439 10,263 84 18,675
The 10,263 soldiers who died in Italy were, certainly,
not the only victims of that war; to these must be added
the number of those who, after the campaign, entered the
French hospitals to sink under the wounds and diseases
received during the expedition; and these must have been
very numerous, if we receive the statements of Dr. Larrey.
And, if we follow the plan adopted by all military statis
ticians, by Dr. Chenu, Dr. Laeffleur, and by the authors of
the English reports on the Eastern War, we ought also to
�25
add the number of those who, in the year following the
close of the campaign, perished from its consequences. We
cannot, then, hesitate to admit that the Italian War cost
the lives of at least 15,000 Frenchmen.
Then, as to the other combatants, we must bear in mind
that, for several reasons, such as the greater precision of
our weapons, the larger calibre of our projectiles, and the
disorder inseparable from defeat, the mortality from wounds
must have been incalculably greater in the Austrian army
than in the French. The deaths from disease must also
have been far more numerous in the enemy’s camp than in
ours, from the more excessive fatigue of the troops and the
deficiency of provisions. After the battle of Solferino the
overcrowded hospitals of Verona were swept by typhus and
contagious corruption.—(Larrey, page 57.) Turning our
attention to the Italian army we find, from the observations
of Dr. Cazalas, that, from several causes, there was com
paratively a much greater mortality from wouuds amongst
their troops than in the French army.
Considering all these circumstances, we may legitimately
conclude that, inasmuch as the number of our troops killed
by the fire of the enemy and by disease was 15,000, the
total loss of life in the three armies from those causes, and
from deaths through fatigue and privation, must have
amounted to 45 or 50 thousand !
Loss of Money by the Italian War.
From losses of life we turn to losses of money. "We shall
not here meet with those formidable lines of figures which
encountered us in our investigation of the Crimean War.
But we shall enter into certain details relative to the
disastrous expedients, to which an empire in extremity was
obliged to have recourse, in order to meet the ruinous
expenses in which it had been involved by its unwar
rantable pride. We shall analyse closely those burdensome
contrivances which the evil genius of Austrian finance
suggested to her. We shall see the abyss of paper-money
and of national deficit open before us and become deeper
and deeper, and shall perceive that the war in Lombardv
was, both as regards Austria and Italy, if not the first and
only cause, at any rate the principal source, of the economic
�26
and financial confusion which continues to arrest the com
mercial and industrial progress of two great nations, and
which still deprives them of the spirit of enterprise, and
condemns them to inaction and wretchedness. We shall
also witness the counter-stroke of war upon the neutral
Powers ; we shall watch loans and extraordinary credits
drawing successively within their deadly coil all the German
States, and the contagion of armaments and foolish military
expenditure spreading itself even amongst those whose
situation should render them safe from any fear of war.
France.—So far as France is concerned, the debts autho
rised at first, by the Budget Law, for the Ministry of War,
in 1859, amounted to 337,447,500 francs. Successive im
perial decrees added the following supplementary debts :—
Francs.
Decree of July 2, 1859
„
July 14, „
„
Aug. 17, „
99
„
„
99
99
Dec. 11, „
Feb. 18,1860
850,000
131,360,000
24,470,000
23,500,000
26 380,000
9,380,000
Total
215,940,000
From this there must be deducted the debts an
nulled by the decrees of Feb. 18 and 28, 1860
30,122,000
Balance of debts sanctioned by decrees ...
... 185,818,000
Two former debts, authorised by special laws
March 31 and June 4, 1859, amounted to ... 90,158,691
This gives, with the Budget, a total of ...
To this must be added for closed accounts
276,018,691
613,466,191
7,350,475
Making the Army Budget of 1859 amount to ...
620,816,666
This amount was never before surpassed, except in two
instances, those of 1855 and 1856; when in the first case
the expenses of the army budget rose to 865 millions, and
in the second to 693 millions. The total expenses in the
navy budget of 1859 were 213,800,000 francs, and those
for Algeria and the Colonies 39,600,000. This is 92 mil
lions more than in the preceding years of peace. The
�27
Ministry of War, on its part, had required 283 millions
more than the normal amount in time of peace.
We are thus enabled to estimate the expenses of France
for the Italian War at 375.^ millions (£15,020,000). It is
evident that the loan of 500 millions was far from being
absorbed. The special budget of public works, voted
June 26, 1860, authorised the application, to great works
of general utility, “ of the funds of the loan then remaining
unabsorbed.”
Austria.—Thisltalian War imposed still greater sacrifices
upon Austria. On the very day of the crossing of the Ticino
(April 29) the Vienna Gazette announced to the Austrian
people that a decree, dated April 11, had authorised the
Bank of Vienna to refuse specie payments for its notes and
to enforce its paper currency. The Bank repaid this favour
by a loan of 134 million florins (£13,400,000) on the
security of a public debt of 200 million florins to be con
tracted on the first suitable occasion. But this was
merely an initiative measure, as a commencement of the
business.
The impossibility of having immediate recourse to a
public loan necessitated the levying of heavy duties. The
accumulation of taxation was pushed to its utmost limits
and extended to every source of revenue. The decrees in
the month of May embraced every province. Hungary
which had hitherto been exempted from taxes on wine
and butcher’s meat, was now assessed for these articles.
Throughout the empire the taxes on articles of consumption
were increased 20 per cent. In the economy of nations
as in that of individuals, in proportion as the development
of general wealth is diminished, the greater is the extent
to which the expenses of consumption, strictly so termed
(the consumption of food), encroach upon the total income
of individuals or communities. These excessive taxes upon
butcher’s meat, corn, wine, and beer, weigh much more
heavily on the people of Austria than they would on the
populations of France or England. The duty upon salt,
largely increased since 1850, was again raised by the decree
of May 7. The poorer classes of Austria were already
paying an annual average of 33 million florins upon salt;
they were henceforth required to pay 38 million florins
(£3,400,000).
�28
The decrees of May 7, which so rigorously taxed articles
of consumption, also extended to business matters, and in
creased the charges on all fees, stamps, entries, and regis
tration. The increase varied from 15 to 40 per cent., and
this at a time when the stagnation of business and the
depreciations and changes of currency already rendered
transactions so difficult and hazardous.
A decree of May 13 equally increased the direct taxation,
not only for the whole continuance of the war, but also
during “ the extraordinary state of affairs brought about by
the events of the war.” The tax on cultivated land, already
ranging from 12 to 16 per cent., was augmented onesixth, as was also the duty on rentals. The tax on country
residences, or class-tax, was raised one-half. The indus
trial taxation, laying burdens upon manufacturers, traders,
and artisans, and also the income-tax, were increased
one-fifth. What suffering and misery were thus laid upon
the people for the presumed honour of the House of
Hapsburg !
But nothing equalled the grievance of paper-money and
the sufferings springing from this source. It has been
appropriately remarked that the depreciation of paper
money appears to be subject to a law analogous to that
which regulates the rapid descent of a mass of rock falling
from a mountain. It proceeds according to a geometrical
progression. The paper of the United States, during the
¡Secession War, was maintained for a long time at a loss of
a fifth or a fourth. Then it rapidly descended to a depre
ciation of one-half, and still more rapidly to a depreciation
of two-thirds. If the South had been less exhausted and
could have continued the war one year longer, the loss
upon “ greenbacks” would probably have been five-sixths.
—(Michael Chevalier in the Revue des Deux Mondes, of
June 1, 1866.) Austria, in 1859, was in a similar position.
She was compelled to procure effective resources ; in other
words—gold and silver.
On the 25th of May, 1859,
she forced on the Lombard and Venetian people a specie
loan of 75 millions. The city of Venice could only pay the
first instalment by increasing taxation on income and in
dustrial occupations 85 per cent, and by adding several
additional kreutzers (halfpence) to the already extreme
�29
burden of the tax on rentals. Every imaginable expedient
teas had recourse to, to gain possession of all the gold and
silver in the, empire. The State, which only paid in paper,
demanded by a decree of the 29th of April that the custom
house charges should only be paid in specie. This was
the ruin of the foreign trade. The merchant, who was
already paying an exchange rate of from 30 to 50 per
cent, upon the price of goods bought abroad, now had
to pay a similar rate upon the specie required for fees at
the custom-house. The last of these ruinous decrees was
to involve bankruptcy. The State was irresistibly borne
on to it. On the 11th of June, a decree suspended the
payment of metallic currency throughout the period during
which the extraordinary circumstances, involved by the war,
should continue. It was indeed time that the Peace of
Villafranca should be conceded.
On the return of peace the Bank was, more than ever,
unable to resume payments in specie. With a specie total of
79 millionflorins, it had circulated notesfor 453 millions! The
augmentations of taxation, terrible as they were, were main
tained indefinitely by the decree of December 1S59. The
army budget had become immoderately swelled. It was
106 million florins in 1858. In 1859 it rose to 292 millions,
this was an increase of 186 million florins (£19,200,000).
But this was only to meet the expenses of 1859. The army
budget of 1860 shows 138 millions of ordinary, and 36
millions of extraordinary, expenses—in all more than 174
millions; consequently it exceeds by 68 million florins the
army budget of 1858. The budget of 1861, on the contrary,
manifestly approaches the budget of 1858, which may be
considered the normal budget of the army department in
time of peace. The special expenses of Austria for the
Italian War are therefore 186 million florins spent in 1859,
and in addition 68 millions which were not paid till 1860—
a total of 254 million florins (or about £26,000,000).
But these figures afford no correct idea of the burdens of
the population. The interruptions of trade and industry,
the taxable resources devoured by the treasury, the variations
of currency, the disadvantages of exchange—all these
disasters were to become chronic maladies for Austria. Such
was the cost of a false plea of honour! To estimate the
�32
been raised to nearly 1,000 millions, and notwithstanding,
also, all the increased taxation, there resulted, as in Austria,
a considerable deficit. According to the report presented
by M. Galeotti, on behalf of the commission which had been
appointed to consider a demand for the authorisation of a
new loan of 150 millions in 18G0, the financial account of
1859 had left a total deficit of 104,399,956 francs. The
war of 1859 had cost Piedmont 255 million francs, in
addition to the increase of 10 per cent, upon all taxation,
and irrespective of the incalculable evils of paper-money.
France spent 375| millions (£15,000,000); Piedmont,
255 millions (£10,200,000); and Austria, 650 millions
(£26,000,000) ;
making a total of l,280i millions
(£51,200,000). But this is by no means the sum of the
expenses occasioned by that war. We must also take into
account the outlay of Germany upon special armaments.
Germany.—It is well known that the war of 1859 aroused
a great excitement in Germany, that suddenly old animosities
were revived, and that a convulsion of anger agitated all the
Germanic populations throughout the territory of the Con
federation. Hence originated extensive warlike preparations
which necessitated supplementary credits and loans.
In Prussia, the law of May 21st, 1859, which provided
for the possibly necessary contingency of calling out the
army during the course of the year, authorised the Minister
of Finance to increase, to the extent of 25 per cent., the
income tax, the land tax, and the corn and timber taxes.
The Cabinet Council of June 14th, which ordered the
calling-out of six battalions, was immediately followed by
the above increase of taxation, which continued long after
the end of the war. A second law, also passed on the 21st
of May, authorised the government to incur every expense
which might be rendered necessary by the “ Kriegsbereitschaft ” (readiness for war). According to this permission,
the government might borrow money to the extent of
40 million thalers (£6,000,000). A royal order, of May
26th, immediately prescribed the negotiation of a loan of
30 million thalers (£4,500,000).
The expenses of the smaller German States were, in pro
portion, much greater than those of Prussia. In the Grand
Duchy of Baden, the special military expenses, in conse
�33
quence of the “ Marschbereitschaft,” amounted to 4,257,000
florins (£364,400). This was provided for by the appro
priation of money raised for the construction of railways,
the completion of which was accordingly postponed. On
the 7th of June, the Chambers of Hesse Darmstadt
unanimously voted a loan of 4 million florins (£333,333).
Electoral Hesse had voted a loan of 700,000 thalers
(£105,000), which was exhausted by the end of June,
1859, and the government then demanded a fresh loan of
1,300,000 thalers (£171,000). Wurtemberg raised by loan
7 million florins (£583,333). In Hanover, the special
military expenses amounted to ll| million francs. In
Saxony, subsidies were voted of 5,636,725 thalers (£845,508).
In Bavaria, the loans for special armaments reached to
80 million francs. Hence, for these seven secondary States,
we have an expense of 152 million francs. If to this we
add the expenses of Prussia and those of the other smaller
States, respecting which latter we have not been able to
procure positive information, the costs of the three belli
gerent Powers are found to be 1,280 million francs, and the
total expenses of both belligerents and neutrals 1,500 million
francs (£60,000,000).
We have then, to sum up, a cost of 60 million pounds
sterling imposed on the finances of Central Europe; heavv
taxes, temporarily levied at first, but ultimately rendered
permanent by the course of events; the augmentation of
war-budgets which never completely returned to their pre
vious level; the commercial and industrial disorganisation
of Italy and Austria—these constitute the penalty paid by
Europe for that very short war, which, by the exercise of a
little good feeling on the part of the government at Vienna,
might have been so easily avoided.
THE AMERICAN WAR.
Of all the instances of the squandering of human life
caused by war, this is the most frightful. In four years the
North called to arms 2,656,000 men. To stem this tide or
manhood rolled against her, the South opposed a dyke, long
D
�34
insuperable, of 1,100,000 human breasts. And before the
South could be conquered these 1,100,000 soldiers, many of
whom were youths of sixteen or old men of sixty, were to
be violently swept aside, and more than half of them were
to sink under the force of the struggle.
This gigantic strife involved a carnage previously unheard
of, and which should obtain the attention of philanthropists
and be recorded by a faithful historian. We have before us
a remarkable work, the Report, prepared for general circu
lation, by Major-General Joseph K. Barnes, surgeon-general
of the United States army. (Report on the Extent and
Nature of the Materials available for the Preparation of a
Medical and Surgical History of the Rebellion^)
This
medical and surgical history is not yet completed, but the
published materials furnish most valuable information.
The monthly reports issued from rather more than one
half of the regiments in the field, during the first year, give
17,496 cases of wounds by fire-arms. The monthly reports
issued from three-fourths of the regiments, during the year
ending June 30th, 1S63, present 55,974 cases of wounds.
The lists of wounded persons carried off the battle-fields in
1861 and 1865 include more than 114,000 names. But we
are informed that these returns still await completion by
additions from the reports of general hospitals, where many
wounded persons were received whose names had neither
been registered by the hospital clerks on the battle-fields
nor by the regimental surgeons. There should also be
added the names of those who were killed during the
conflicts. There would thus be given a total of 221,000
wounded, without reckoning those killed on the field. This
enormous amount of wounded far surpasses the total of
similar cases in all the armies engaged in the Crimean War.
To understand clearly the gigantic and unprecedented
features of this American War, it is necessary to enter into
special details, and to compare the respective number of
cases of particular injuries or important operations in the
Union army with those in the French and English armies in
the Crimea. If we take, for instance, fractures of the femur
by fire-arms, we find that in the French army in the Crimea
there were 459 injuries of this description and 194 in the
English army, whilst more than 5,000 similar cases were
registered in the United States army. If we take some
�35
important operation, as the point of comparison, for example
the amputation of the upper portion of the humerus, the
Crimean reports mention 16 of these amputations in the
English and 42 in the French army, whilst in the American
army we iind reported 575 operations of this nature. (Recueil
de JUedecin et de Chirurgie Militaire, vol. xvii. pp. 390,
391.) Such details are characteristic, and indicate the extent
and horror of the massacre.
If we pass on from wounds to diseases, we find a result
more satisfactory to humanity. Two distinguishing features
of the American War are the considerable comparative
increase in the number of victims under the enemy’s fire,
and a similarly great diminution in the number of persons
visited by diseases. This demonstrates that the means of
destruction have made gigantic progress, but also that
superior measures for the restoration and maintenance of
health are being extensively adopted. During the first year
of the war, with an effective force of 290,936 men, 14,183
died of disease. In the second year, with an effective of
644,508 men, the number of deaths from disease was 42,010.
During the whole continuance of the war about 97,000 men,
in the Northern armies, were killbd under fire, and 184,000
died of disease; in all 281,000 men.
The losses of the South were much greater; but on this
subject we do not possess any scientific work. In the fol
lowing statistics furnished to us, the number of dead is not
distinguished from that of the wounded:—
Alabama ........... ...
Arkansas........... ...
Florida............... ...
G eorgia ........... ...
Louisiana........... ...
Mississippi ....... ...
Missouri ........... ...
North Carolina ...
South Carolina ...
Maryland........... ...
Tennessee........... ...
Texas ............... ...
Virginia ........... ...
Enlisted.
Killed or Maimed.
120,000 ... ........... 70,000
50,000 ... ........... 30,000
17,000 ... ........... 10,000
131,000 ... ........... 76,000
60,000 ... ........... 34,000
78,000 ... ........... 45,000
40,000 ... ........... 24,000
140,000 ...
65,000 ... ........... 40,000
40,000 ... ........... 24,000
60,000 ... ........... 34,000
93,000 ... ........... 53,000
180,000 ... ........... 105,000
Total....... , 1,074,000 ... ........... 630,000
�36
We have here a total of 630,000 killed or maimed out of
1,074,000 enlisted, or GO per cent.! If, now, we compare
these losses with the total amount of the white population
in the South, we see that they form more than 10 per cent.,
or 20 per cent, of the male population.
It may be said, then, that the American War swept off
nearly all the youth of the Southern States; and this is no
metaphor, but a literally true statement.
If to these 630,000 men, lost to the South, we add the
2Sl,000 who were killed in the Northern armies, we have a
total of more than 900 thousand men. But it must not be
overlooked that, in the return of 630,000 men, many maimed
are included. If we consider that the immense majority of
the Southern losses were occasioned by disease and fatigue,
by the poor constitution of the army which embraced youths
of sixteen and elderly men of sixty, and by the almost total
absence of rest for want of reinforcements, we may estimate
that four-fifths of these 630,000 men as killed and onefifth as maimed, we shall then obtain, in the two armies,
a total of nearly 800 thousand dead! *
Financial Losses.
The financial losses were still more unprecedented. “ The
North expended upon this war 14,000 million francs,” says
M. Vigo Roussillon (Puissance Militaire des Etats-Unis,
since the Secession War.)
He states further that it
cost the South nearly as much, and that altogether the
civil war entailed upon the United States of America
more than 25,000 million francs (£1,000,000,000) in actual
military expenses, and fully double this sum if account is
taken of the loss of productive power and the value of the
property and crops destroyed.
It is our opinion that M. Vigo Roussillon and the public
generally form too low an estimate of the actual expenses of
this war. To say that the American War cost the Northern
States 14,000 million francs (£560,000,000) is to mistake the
amount of the debt contracted for the actual sum of the
costs. We have previously protested against this defective
mode of calculation, which takes no account of the taxation,
the increase in which was enormous during the years of the
Vids Note at the end of this work.
�Secession War. The very exceptional nature of this high
taxation is indicated by the fact that, on the return of peace,
it was found practicable to pay off an extraordinary pro
portion of the debt. The following are, in round figures, the
budgets of the army and navy, from I860 to 18G6 :—
1860- 61 ..........
35 million dollars
1861- 62 .......... 437
„
„
1862- 63 .......... 662
„
1863- 64 .......... 776 „
1864- 65 .......... 1,153
„
„
1865- 66 .......... 327
„
„
{Moniteur of Nov. 3, /866.)
The budget for the army and navy had already required,
in 1860-61, a sum much greater than those of previous years,
which had never exceeded 25 million dollars. We may, how
ever, take the sum of 35 millions, reached in 1860-61, as the
normal amount for the army and navy budgets in time of
peace, and may assume that, if the struggle had not broken
out, this sum would not have been surpassed in the sub
sequent annual expenditures. The total amount of the five
military budgets from 1861 to 1866 w’ould then have been
175 million dollars. But its actual amount, on the other
hand, was 3,355 million dollars, that is, 3,180 million dollars
for extraordinary war expenses.
Now 3,180 million dollars are about 17,000 million francs
(£636,000,000). Thus a very simple calculation has fur
nished us with an estimate of extraordinary war expenses
surpassing, by about 2,000 millions, the amount of the
American debt.
But to these 17,000 millions must be added the amount
of voluntary contributions. According to the Aeiü York
Herald and Dr. Evans, these contributions exceeded,
at the commencement of 1862, 1,000 million francs.
According to M. Elyse Bed us, they had reached 1,144
millions by the 1st of March, 1864. The Sanitary Com
mission and auxiliary or similar societies spent 120 millions
in drugs, maintenance, clothing, and hospital expenses. We
thus obtain the amount of 18,264 millions, which is fully
conceded, and from which there is nothing to abate.
But we have not yet reached the complete amount. We
should add the expenses of states, counties and districts, in
armaments and in bounties to volunteers. The bounties
�38
were very considerable; they amounted to 2,000 dollars
(10,700 francs) per head, certainly the half of which was
paid by the states, districts or counties. M. Vigo Roussillon
gives us the total of these payments to the army, from
July 1, I860. This sum is only 5,145,000,195 francs,
which would only be 1,938 francs per head per each
volunteer. It must surely be admitted that the states,
districts, or counties furnished a sum at least equivalent.
The expenses of the North would amount to 23,500 millions !
{940 million pounds sterling /) As to the expenses of the
South, it is impossible to estimate them.
We venture
to say that the whole of the circulating, or portable, capital
in the rebel States was almost entirely absorbed by the war;
and as to representing statistically an amount which can in
no wise be calculated, we shall not have the presumption to
attempt it.
And how shall we estimate, even approximately, the
indirect losses and ruin ? To say nothing of the immense
number of estates in the richest parts of the Union, in
Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri, constantly traversed and
ravaged, for four years, by innumerable armies; to say
nothing of three million labourers transformed into soldiers
and so depriving agriculture, and other industry, of their
powerful co-operation ; all the crops destroyed; all the
plantations neglected for want of workers ; all the manu
factories closed for want of capital and security ; all the rich
stocks of cotton, for which Europe teas so anxious, devoured
by flames; these incalculable losses we pass by because we
cannot compute their value.
But there is a further loss which does not evade calcula
tion. In consequence of the war, wbat became of that
superb mercantile navy which constituted the glory of the
United States ? To how many millions did the Northern
losses from privateers amount? The injury caused to
Northern commerce by the Alabama alone, in her short
career, is estimated at 80 million francs (£3,200,000).
How many fine ships and rich cargoes became the prey of
Southern corsairs, which, being unable to bring them into
-European ports, burnt them in mid-ocean! Then, again,
what general confusion ensued in all the commercial relations
of the United States, and what a high rate of insurance !
The Northern States were obliged to sell to England,
�39
at a loss, the greater part of their ships, and to denationalise
their mercantile navy.
From 1858 to 1860, the average number of vessels sold by
the Americans to the English was 40, measuring altogether
16,000 tons ; in 1861, it was no longer 40, but 126, and of
a tonnage of 76,000 ; in 1862 it was 135 ; in 1863 it was
320, of 252,579 tonnage. The statistics are wanting for the
years 1864 and 1865, which were the most terrible years for
the commerce of the Union. In 1860, two-thirds of the
exports of the United States were conveyed in American
vessels; in 1863, two-thirds icere conveyed in foreign ships ;
(Langel, “ Les Corsaires Confédérés,” Revue des DeuxAIondes,
July 1, 1864). We have quoted this particular statement
because it presents some exact figures. But it is a matter
of merely secondary importance amid the immense exhibition
of the sufferings, ruin and catastrophe which afflicted the
United States during those four years.
European Losses
by the
American War.
And they were by no means the only sufferers who were
involved : the manufacturing population of Lancashire, of
Alsace and the Lower Seine, were also deeply affected by
the war. This fearful Cotton Crisis, with its disasters
and reactionary effects, that for several years disturbed
Europe, is a wound that must be probed, in connection with
the influence of the American War. The following explana
tion of the subject is given by M. Pouyer-Quertier in his
report on the proposal to the Legislature for the authorisa
tion of a loan of 5 million francs in aid of the localities
affected by the depression of the cotton-industry :—
“ The cotton-industry is one of the principal employments in the
world. Taking Europe only, the imports and labour connected
with this manufacture, within the last few years, have been of the
value of at least 4,000 million francs per annum (£ 160,000,000)
viz. 2,000 millions for England, 800 millions for France, and
1,200 millions for the remainder of the Continent. Of this amount
the raw material (of which four-fifths were derived from the United
States) represents a value of 1,200 millions ; the dyes, grease,
oils, machinery, &c. make up 800 millions, whilst the wages paid
(in Europe) for labour at this branch of industry are about 2,000
millions (of francs).
“ From these summary statistics it may be easily compre
hended how much trouble must have been occasioned in the
�40
cotton-manufacturing countries by the scarcity of the indispen
sable material. England, which is, unquestionably, the greatest
consumer of raw cotton, was the first to diminish the regular
course of its manufacture. From the month of August, 1861,
this industry began to fall off in Lancashire. The American
War having broken out in the spring of 1861, and the blockade of
the Southern ports having been almost immediately made
effectual, the price of cotton rose rapidly. In consequence of
this sudden rise in the raw material, the hours of labour were
further shortened in the manufactories ; and from the month of
July, 1862, nearly all the factories in Great Britain were working
on short time. From that date to the 31st of December, 1862,
the pressure continued to increase, and hence extreme distress
spread throughout the cotton districts.
“ In France the supply of the raw material on hand was com
paratively much greater. Hence a serious diminution of labour
did not commence in Normandy until about August or Septem
ber, 1862, and in the Eastern manufacturing district of France
not until December.
“ In 1860 Europe had attained a weekly consumption of 90,000
bales of cotton, and it was estimated that new sources of produc
tion ■would raise the amount to at least 100,000 bales per week
in 1861, the period when the American War broke out. The
actual stock on hand for all Europe was then only 360,000 bales
of American cotton. For two years the value of American
cotton had been from 70 to 80 francs per 50 kilogrammes. At
the beginning of September, 1862, it had reached 350 and even
360 francs. In November it sunk to 275, but again rose in
December to 300 francs.”—(Moniteur, January 27, 1863.)
We have quoted the above from the words of an eminent
manufacturer; they are, however, open to criticism, and
doubtless contain some exaggerated statements on certain
points, especially as to the reduction of wages in the cotton
working districts of France and of Europe generally.
But the distress occasioned in the Old World by the
American War is not the less immeasurable, as the following
statistics will show:—
“ The imports of cotton into England, for the year 1863,
cost three millions of pounds sterling more than those of
1861, although not amounting, even as to quantity alone, to
one-half the ordinary value of the latter.’’—(Journal des Economistes, January, 1864, p. 118.) There were, it is true,
additional supplies of cotton from India and Egypt, but
of a very inferior quality to that produced in America.
�41
This very necessity of having recourse to Egypt and India
created much embarrassment in European countries. “The
heavy purchases of cotton from countries which hitherto had
only exported it in small quantities, and which' had con
sequently not acquired the habit of a corresponding con
sumption of European products, occasioned in 1863 large
exportations of specie, from which the Continent has been
suffering, especially during the last three months. The
Bank of England, which began the year with a rate of
interest of 3 per cent., reached 8 per cent, in December.”—
(Journal des Economistes, p. 119, January, 1S64.)
Thus it is evident that a great war can import a multitude
of disturbances into our industrial and financial progress.
The year 1863 was a specially terrible time to pass through.
“ This winter,” wrote the Journal des Economistes, in
January, 1864, “will, happily, not be so difficult to undergo
as that of 1863. Calculations, which appear to be correct,
have shown that the average value of the French cotton
manufactures is 530 million francs f £21,200,000), of which
a fifth part, or 106 millions, represents wages, and that
there will only be half the amount of work done this year,
that is to say, that our operatives will lose about 53 million
francs. The importation of cotton has increased in the past
year about 50 per cent., and it will follow that the loss of
wages will be diminished one third. But the loss will be
actually much less, because a considerable number of
operatives have taken themselves to the manufactures
of woollen and linen and hemp, which have profited by the
rise in cotton.”
The calculations of M. Paul Boiteau appear to be more
correct than those of M. Pouyer-Quertier. But a loss
of 53 millions in wages, at an average rate of 3 francs
per day, or 1,000 francs per annum, implies 53,000 opera
tives without the means of existence. Even if this loss and
this number be reduced one half, and if we consider that
the French manufactories only furnish about the fifth part
of all the cotton fabrics of Europe, it will follow that at
least 100,000 of the working population of Europe were, in
consequence of the American War, left almost continually,
for nearly three years, without employment, and that three
or four times as many had to suffer a considerable diminu-
�42
tion of wages. How many deaths must have been occasioned
by this terrible “ holiday ! ” But such is war. Its nature is so
homicidal that it slays thousands of victims even at thousands
of leagues distance from the battle-fields !
But, again, if America overthrew our industry by ceasing
to furnish us with the raw material, she gave us further
trouble by no longer buying our manufactured produce.
“ It is evident that a customer so exhausted can only be a
poor customer to us, and that, when the war is over, the
effects of the past cannot immediately disappear. Hence it
appears from the Customs Returns that French exports to
foreign parts, especially as regards silk and woollen goods,
have undergone an important and significant diminution.”
(Journal des Economistes, vol. xlvii. p. 306.) The operatives
of Saint Etienne were scarcely in a better condition than
those of Mulhouse and Rouen on the conclusion of that
war.
It would be in vain to adduce a multitude of additional
statistics ; they would not enable us to estimate all the
calamities of the war. And yet, says M. Horn, “ 4,000
million francs (£160,000,000) would have sufficed to abolish
slavery by purchasing every slave at the general average
rate of 1,000 francs (£40) each, taking young and old, men
and women, the infants and the aged, uniformly.” What
economy this would have been! But, as was remarked by
M. Michael Chevalier, to have exercised this wise and self
denying foresight, America should have possessed, in the
crisis of 1861, men as great as those who directed the crisis
of the last century,—a Franklin in the North and a Wash
ington in the South. Yet even this should not have been
necessary. For a truly-informed and virtuous people knows
how to act, irrespectively of its great men, and will adopt
useful and right measures from the prompting of its own
intelligence and virtue.
THE SCHLESWIG- AND GERMAN WARS.
(1864—1866.)
The very recent occurrence of the two wars of 1864 and
1866 presents an unfavourable condition for judging with
accuracy respecting even their material results. In par
�43
ticular, we have no precise information as to the financial
expenditure involved. For the European governments have
not acquired the prompt and practical business habits of the
government at Washington, thanks to whose despatch the
financial situation of the Union is as readily ascertainable
as that of a large loan association.
We possess a valuable and quite recent work upon the
human losses in the Danish War (General 'Report on the
Medical Service in the Campaign against Renmark, by Dr.
Laeffleur, Physician in Chief to the Prussian Army). This
book, which has just been issued, has afforded us useful
information.
On the 1st of February, 1864, the allied army crossed
the Eyder ■ it was then composed of 60,000 men, of whom
one-third were Austrians and the remainder Prussians.
The Austrian contingent was not increased throughout the
campaign ; the Prussian force, on the contrary, was raised to
63,000 men. Out of this considerable force the following
losses in the Prussian army took place :—
Killed in action, or died of wounds ... 738 men
Died of diseases or various accidents ... 310 .,
Total ... 1,048
The number of dead in the Prussian army is therefore
only 1-j per cent, of the effective. This very small propor
tion of deaths is very surprising ; and yet the engagements
were very sanguinary, relatively much more so than even
those of the Crimean War; and, in proportion to the num
bers engaged, the assault of Duppel was as terrible as that
of the Malakoff. There were returned, in the Prussian
army—
At Missunde (February 2)
206 wounded, 59 dead
At Duppel (April 17 and 18) 1,780
,,
550 „
At Alsen
...
...
351
„
104 ,,
And what is most striking in this campaign is the very
small number of those who died from disease. There were
only 26,717 diseased, of whom only 310 died. This low
rate of mortality is chiefly owing, as Dr. Laeffleur acknow
ledges, to the philanthropic efforts of private associations
for the assistance of the soldiers.
It is more difficult to ascertain correctly the losses of the
Danish army. But it is certain that, for various reasons,
�44
and, amongst others, on account of the inferiority of its
armaments, it suffered much more than the Prussians. We
may fairly estimate the Danish losses, under fire, at double
those of the Prussian army, or about 1,500 men.
The Danish army was much more severely visited by
disease than its adversary. On this point we cau borrow
some exact details from Dr. Laeffleur. There were 31,575
cases of disease ; typhus made considerable ravages, and the
losses of the Danes from disease were 756 men, or much
more than double the Prussian losses from the same cause.
The Austrian losses must have been very inconsiderable ;
for, being less numerous than the Prussians, they took a
smaller part in the action.
To sum up,—the Prussians lost l,04S men; the Danes
certainly lost more than double as many, and the total loss,
including that of the Austrians, must have been about 3,500
men.
The financial losses are more difficult to ascertain. As
regards Austria and Prussia they were covered by the in
demnities of the war. The Danish budgets are not before
us, but we have, at least, the state of their debt before and
after the war;—
Before the War.
Rixdalers.
Ordinary debt of the Danish monarchy ... 98,261,793
Special debt of the kingdom
...
...
1,289,780
Holstein debt
...
...
...
...
666,000
Total
... 100,217,573
The debt of the kingdom, on the 31st of March, 1865, was
132,110,802 rixdalers; so that the war cost Denmark at
least 30 million rixdalers. To this must be added the war
indemnities paid by the Duchies and the share of the Duchies
in the debt of the monarchy previous to the war. We
thus obtain an approximate amount of 180 million francs
(£7,200,000). 180 million francs and 3,500 men are a
terrible loss of capital and of human life ; and the more so,
when it was so easy to have retained for industry and useful
labour all this money and all those vigorous limbs.
�45
THE WAR BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA
IN 1SG6.
We now come to the great war of 1866. The statistics
relating to its loss of life are found to vary, particularly as
regards Prussia. An early official statement, dated Decem
ber, 1866, has been greatly exceeded by the most recent
returns from the Statistical Board of Berlin. It is probable
that even the latter do not afford exact statistics, and that
when Dr. Laeffleur prepares, as we hope he will do, a work
on the campaign in Bohemia, similar to that which he has
just published on the Schleswig campaign, it will be seen
that the amount of loss has been even greater than is
already admitted.
The number of wounded men in the Prussian army is,
according to the first report, 15,554; but according to the
later ones, 16,177. The first returns only indicate 2,910
killed; the corrective dispatches place the number of the
dead, within forty-eight hours, at 2,931 ; and of those who
sank afterwards in consequence of their wounds, at 1,519—
a total of 4,450. The first returns are silent as to diseases,
but the later ones announce 6,427 deaths from typhus and
other diseases. This makes in all, 10,877. It is evident,
from this illustration, that the corrective returns give higher
numbers than the provisional reports, and that still further
additions may be expected when the finally-corrected reports
are issued.
As regards Austria, we are still dependent upon the
merely provisional reports. The 13th annual report of the
Statistical Commission of Vienna, contains a series of
authentic results which indicate the strength and the losses
of the Austrian army during the war against Prussia. The
returns are merely based on the state of the army at the
end of August, 1866, from which it is evident that they
must be very defective and much lower in amount than
the reality. For who will tell us how many men have died
of their wounds since the month of August 1866 ? All
military statisticians, as for example, Dr. Chenu,Dr. Lseffleur,
�46
and the English author of the Reports on the Crimean War,
prolong their investigations for at least eighteen months
after the commencement of peace. Further, the Austrian
returns appear to take no account of the number of the
sick and diseased.
The Austrian army, at the beginning of the struggle, was
composed of 646,636 men, of whom 407,223 were then
arrived at the two great scenes of conflict. The total
number of avowed losses is 10,994 killed, 29,304 wounded,
and 43,743 missing. We are assuredly far from the truth
here ; and we do not hesitate to say that the number of
killed must have been double. Out of these 29,304 who
were still living in the month of August, 1866, experience
authorises us to assume that several thousands, at least four
or five thousand, must have died subsequently from their
wounds. We have seen, from Dr. Chenu’s Report on the
Crimean War, that those who died in France, in conse
quence of injuries received during the expedition, amounted
to 15,000 in the eighteen months after the war. Similarly,
those who died in Austria, either in hospitals or at home,
during the period of eighteen months after this contest,
must have been very numerous.
Further, there is not the least allusion, in the Austrian
returns, to diseases, which, amongst the Prussians, carried
off more than 6,000. It is not likely that the losses of
the Austrians, under this head, were less considerable ; their
fatigues were as great, their diet was inferior rather than
otherwise, and the thorough demoralisation of the Austrian
troops was a powerful auxiliary to epidemics. We have,
then, still to await a complete work on the losses of Austria
in 1866, and a revision which will be at the same time a
supplementary addition to the present insufficient returns.
It is, at least, certain that such rectifying statistics will
raise the total losses of the Austrian army to 20 or 25
thousand men.
We have not accurate accounts of the losses of the Ger
manic Confederation, properly so termed. We have only
before us the Saxon returns published almost immediately
after the war ; and they present indications of the greatest
confusion. We have no statistics respecting the Bavarians
and Hanoverians, although they were engaged in bloody
�47
encounters. We may, without any exaggeration, admit an
amount of 3,000 killed from the smaller states.
A supplement to the Florence Gazette, quoted by the
Moniteur, of July 9, 1866, contains the following calculation
of the Italian losses at Custozza: — 951 killed, 2,909
wounded, 4,252 prisoners. The number of dead only in
cludes those who expired in the first few days after the
battle. It must, therefore, be considerably augmented—
almost doubled, in fact—to include those who died from
their wounds in the year following the battle. For the day’s
conflict at Lissa, the Nazione claims to have received infor
mation of a total loss, to the Italians, of 743 killed, and 155
wounded.—(jbloniteur of July 29, 1866.)
We have no
details of the losses of the Volunteers, which must have
been extensive. We may calculate at 3,000, at least, the
number of Italians who perished from the enemy’s fire at
Custozza, at Lissa, and in Garibaldi’s campaign. Notwith
standing the short duration of the war, this estimate of
mortality should evidently be doubled, if we are to take
account of the deaths occasioned by disease, fatigue, poor
food, and all other sufferings, physical or moral.
To sum up—the number of Prussians killed or dead was
about 11,000 ; we consider the probable amount of Austrian
losses as varying from 20 to 25 thousand; those of the
smaller states of the Confederation at from 3 to 4 thousand ;
and those of the Italians as nearly 6,000. This makes a
total of from 40 to 45 thousand killed or dead. We believe
that this amount is not exaggerated, and we hope that a
systematic and scientific history of this war will furnish us,
in two or three years, with the exact figures, which may be
greater than ours, but which will certainly not be less.
Financial Losses oe the Wab.
The financial losses of the war are difficult to ascertain
with rigorous exactness; they are certainly not liquidated,
and we cannot obtain the true amount.
Austria, as early as November 23,1865, had negotiated a
loan at Paris. It was not a war loan, but was applied to
reimburse the advances of the National Bank. Immediately
the war broke out, in the early part of the month of May,
recourse was had to various expedients. The Government,
�48
issued notes of from 1 to 5 florins, for forced currency:
this issue reached the amount of 150 million florins. A law
passed July 7 authorised the minister to obtain a further
200 million florins, either by a voluntary loan or by an in
creased issue of Government notes. The Bank of Vienna
advanced, temporarily, 60 millions in bank-notes. An imperial
decree of the 25th of August authorised the Minister of
Finance to issue 50 million florins in 5 per cent, bonds and
90 millions in Government notes. This was the completion
of the 200 millions which the law of July 7 permitted. In
addition to these resources, the Government had intended,
early in June, to impose on Venetia a forced loan of 12
million florins. This made a total of 362 million florins
which it had sought to obtain. We cannot believe that
this enormous sum, which amounts to nearly 900 million
francs (£36,000,000), was wholly absorbed by the war. It
appears doubtful whether the forced Venetian loan was ever
obtained; and out of the 150 million florins levied in addi
tion to the previous costs of the war, we believe that only a
portion can have been absorbed by its special demands.
Nevertheless, the expenses of Austria, for this war, may be
estimated at 600 millions, at least, without reckoning
the indemnity which she had to pay to Prussia.
The expenses of the latter country are much more diffi
cult to calculate. The cash balance, or reserved fund, of
Prussia, amounted, before the war, to 21 million thalers.
After the beginning of May, these resources being absorbed,
the Government began to have recourse to various expe
dients. For what was the creation of the mercantile loan
Bank but a Treasury expedient ? This bank was authorised
to issue 25 million thalers in paper money (Darlehnskassensclieine'), which were rendered a compulsory currency, at
par, in all public banks. Then again, throughout the war,
the Prussian troops subsisted upon the enemy. And after
the war, the contributions imposed upon the vanquished
amounted to nearly 200 million francs (£8,000,000). In
the Legislature, on the 13th of August, 1866, the Minister
of Finance made a demand for extraordinary loans to the
extent of not less than 60 million thalers (£9,000.000). Of
this amount, however, 21 million thalers were devoted to
liquidate outstanding balances, and another portion was not
�49
expended. But, altogether, the expenses of this war, to
Prussia alone, must have amounted to 400 million francs
(£16,000,000). (Vide Moniteur, Sept. 3, I860.) Of this
sum, nearly one half was reimbursed by the contributions of
the conquered States.
As to Italy's share of expenditure on this war, it com
menced on the 1st of May, 1866, by the decree of an enforced
paper currency, and by a loan of 250 millions from the
National Bank. In pursuance of a decree, dated June 28,
1866, she imposed a general tax upon all moveable property,
a source of many subsequent difficulties. Finally, she had
recourse to a compulsory loan of 350 millions. Although
the total amount of these resources, which exceeded 600
millions, was not absorbed by the expenses of the war, there
is no doubt but that the latter reached at least 400 million
francs (£16,000,000).
We are unable to state accurately how much was the cost
of this war to Hanover, the Hessian States, Wurtemberg,
Saxony, &c. ; but when we remember that in 1859 the
special expenses of these secondary States, as set forth in
their respective budgets, were 152 million francs for the
seven principal States alone, although they did not then fire
a single gun, and were merely put into a condition of readi
ness for war (ffiriegsbereitschaft), it is difficult to believe
that the smaller States can have spent less, during the war
of 1866, than 250 million francs (£10,000,000), at any rate,
and without including the indemnities paid to Prussia.
The sum of the official and immediate expenses of the
war of 1866, may be therefore reckoned at about 1,650
million francs (£66,000,000) for the respective governments
in Germany and Italy.
But in this war, as in every other, the expenses indicated
in the public budgets, were the less considerable ones.
What a commercial and financial catastrophe was produced
in Italy by this inopportune war, with its triple plague of
paper money, forced loans, and the vexatious and inequitable
tax on moveable property ! It was a deadly blow from
which she will, probably, take twenty years to recover.
There had been debates on economy and it appeared that
some effectual steps would be taken in that direction, just
before the war broke out which demanded an unsparing inE
�50
crease of expenditure. How can young Italy struggle
successfully with the pernicious consequences of the ab
sorption of its circulating capital by the forced loan, the
annihilation of legitimate profits by the tax upon moveable
property and the losses and unsettlement of currency in
volved by the paper money ? These losses were especially
disastrous to a country whose imports had, for several years,
far exceeded its exports, and which was now to suffer, in its
foreign commercial transactions, the very heavy expenses of
a disadvantageous and exceedingly variable rate of exchange.
Austria was placed in a similar situation. She was truly
in a pitiable state. She had barely got over one crisis,
and was but beginning to remove the evils occasioned by
that crisis, when she voluntarily plunged herself into another
similar one. In 1858 she had just terminated the com
pulsory currency which had been so disastrous to her for
ten years. In 1859 she re-established it. In 1866 she was
repaying the advances made by the bank and there was a
prospect of the second termination of the forced currency,
when she threw herself, of her own free will, into new
dangers. By her mistakes and faults she became the prey
of paper money, continually increased taxation, commercial
disorganisation and industrial stagnation.
And even Prussia, so powerful and prosperous, had to
suffer, for six weeks, a suspension of all business. At the
beginning of the month of May, 20,000 of the working men
of Berlin found themselves out of employment, and, on the
declaration of war, mechanics, professors, bankers, labourers
and traders were all taken away from their usual avocations.
The Government proclaimed a universal holiday, as it were,
for two months throughout the kingdom, on account of the
war. During this time workshops and schools were closed
or empty. Thus we have the spectacle of a great nation
dead to labour and study for two months ! What an arrest
of civilisation ! In the public catastrophe how many indi
vidual and obscure or unnoticed calamities were involved 1
Failures took place to an incredible extent: they occurred
in Berlin at the rate of twenty or twenty-five per day, or
about the usual weekly number in ordinary times.
The smaller German States, roused abruptly from their
peaceful and industrious life, also expiated, by many losses,
�51
the general folly. All the public works which were being
so energetically pushed forward were checked. Thus Baden
had just contracted a loan for her railways ; the war absorbed
it. A similar exigency had already occurred in that State
in 1859. All the other minor States which, except in the
moment of delirium in 1859, had only contracted peace
loans were now compelled to rush into war-loans. To these
burdens must be added the various military requisitions,
ravages and arbitrary contributions, the six million florins
which General Vogel do Falkenstein extorted from Frank
fort, and the 25 million florins which General Manteufel also
extorted from the same city the very next day. We must
also remember the condition of Bohemia, desolated, laid
waste, and almost ruined by the quartering and conflicts of
600,000 men.
The blow struck in Germany influenced all Europe.
This unforeseen catastrophe, this sudden folly which had
overspread the centre of Europe, affected, by contagion, the
adjacent countries. In every direction men thought of
nothing but new rifles, strange guns, huge or small, and
gigantic armies. It was deemed necessary to have new
conscription-laws, new loans and new taxes. Countries
which had just been reducing their armies now only thought
of increasing them as much as possible.
In short, this German crisis raised the war-budgets of
every European nation. It inscribed 1,650 million francs
(£66,000,000) on the budgets of the belligerents alone;
it resulted in 45,000 deaths, in the ruin of Austria and
Italy, and in the universal and permanent increase of burdens
and public anxieties. Such is the balance-sheet of the
campaign in Bohemia!
Whence comes it that even two years after this war our
industry is languishing and our commerce suffering ?
Whence comes it that our money capital remains idle in
our banks, instead of supporting our manufactures and
creating new enterprises ? It is because war, even when
dead, leaves its spectre behind it, which long continues to
terrify the people afresh and to make them apprehensive of
further misfortunes.
�52
DISTANT EXPEDITIONS.
We now come to those disastrous Expeditions which have
involved so heavy an expense to the European Powers, and
especially to France. Unfortunately here statistics fail us,
especially as respects the losses of human life. We shall
hardly venture even any conjectural estimate. We shall
content ourselves with a mere reference to the great distance
of the scenes of conflict in China, Cochin China, Mexico,
and St. Domingo; the variations of climate, the yellow fever,
typhus and marsh fever, the fatigues of a war of incessant
skirmishes, the obstinate resistance of the enemy in Mexico
and Cochin China, the insufficiency of communication, of
hygienic assistance, and, at times, even of provisions. We
leave it to the reader to form, in view of these disadvan
tageous circumstances, a more or less accurate idea of the
number of victims which these deplorable Expeditions must
have swept off.
Although we are enabled to form a less vague conception
of the financial losses involved, an exact result is not attain
able. The expenses of most of these Expeditions are not yet
liquidated. The Legislative Assembly voted, as recently as
1867, the settlement of the accounts of 1S63. The accounts
of 1864, 1865, and 1866 are not yet known with precision.
Another difficulty in these calculations is that the expenses
of distant Expeditions are returned in the several budgets
under different headings, and are sometimes confounded
with expenses of another description. A state of very great
confusion characterises all these matters, and the time for
putting an end to it does not appear to have yet arrived.
These exceptional expenses have eventually become so
habitual that they have passed from the extraordinary into
the ordinary budgets. A proof of this is afforded by the
publication of the accounts accompanying the law of assess
ment for the expenses and receipts of the year 1863, pre
sented to the Legislative Assembly, May 6, 1S62, by M.
Vuitry, as Commissioner. The ordinary Navy Budget bore
an increase of 18,773,501 francs (£750,940) over the prec eding one ; and M. Vuitry accounted for this increase in
the following manner:—“tFor several years in succession
the various budgets, each copying the preceding one, repeated
�53
the same number of ships as being requisite for the reception
of marines, namely, 152 ships for a force of about 26,000 men,
although different circumstances had obliged the Department
of Naval Affairs either to form new stations or to increase the
capacity of some of the existing ones. Consequently, special
loans were needed to meet these expenses, which, although
appearing to be merely casual and temporary at first, even
tually partook of a normal and permanent character. The
ordinary budget used to provide for 152 armed vessels; in
1859 the number of these was 300, of which, however, 123
were required for the Italian Army and for the Indo-Chinese
Expedition. In 1860 the number of effective war-ships was
raised to 275—77 of which were for the Indo-Chinese and
Syrian Expeditions. In 1861 the number would probably
be nearly the same. Under these circumstances, the Govern
ment had found it expedient carefully to determine what
proportion of the special armaments of preceding years
should henceforth be regarded as indispensable for maintain
ing the service of our naval stations, whose number and im
portance have increased in consequence of the new establish
ments of the kind being formed in distant seas by the French
nation.”—(JZbm’tewr, March 12, 1862.)
These distant Expeditions had, in fact, terribly augmented
our Naval Budget. In 1857 it was only 121,S65,000 francs
(£1,872,600) ; in 1859, without reckoning Algiers and the
colonies, it rose to 213,800,000 francs (£8,552,000) ; and
in 1861 (as admitted in the Exchequer Bill of June 8,
1864), it required more than 230 millions (£9,200,000).
Thus the Navy Budget had increased, in consequence of
distant Expeditions, about 100 millions (£4,000,000), and
this augmentation had almost come to be regarded as a per
manent one. The Army Budget also suffered from the
influence of these Expeditions. In 1861, a year of peace,
it demanded (as is admitted in the Exchequer Bill of June
8, 1864) 400,975,814 francs, an excess of 55 millions over
the anticipated amount of 345 millions (£13,800,000).
Hence one of the most vexatious results of these far-off
wars has been the immeasurable expansion of our ordinary
budgets.
The supplementary loans will cease with the
Expeditions themselves, but the augmentation of the Army
and Navy Budgets, caused by these wars, has been declared
by Government to be normal and permanent; and it has, in
�54
point of fact, been subsequently so recognised as being
normal and permanent.
As to the total expenses of these Expeditions, M. Larrabure estimated them, even four years ago, as already
amounting to 270 millions (£10,800,000) for the Mexican
and Cochin China Expeditions only. In a Legislative dis
cussion at the same period, M. Calley Saint Paul calculated
at 450 millions (£18,000,000) the costs of the wars in China,
Cochin China, Mexico, and Japan. M. Vuitry (Government
Commissioner), in reply, admitted expenses of 17 millions
for the Syrian Expedition, 11 millions for that to the Kabyles
(in North Africa), and 166 millions for that to China and
Cochin China; and at the time of the Treaty of Miramar,
the French Government announced that it had spent 270
millions in Mexico. However, it has subsequently retracted
this statement as an over-estimate.
According to the Report of M. du Mirai on the Budget
of 1868 the expenses of the Mexican Expedition were as
follow
Army.
Francs.
Year.
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
Total ...
27,119,000
72,012,000
51,732,000
29,342,000
41,792,000
9,993,000
Navy.
Francs.
.
. ..
. ..
. ..
. ..
. ..
. ..
Finance.
Francs.
3,200,000
35,902,000
24,606,000
15,667,000
10,583,000
13,798,000
13,117,000
..
.
..
379,000 .. .
.. 1,001,000 . .
.. 1,675,000 .
.. 1,480,000 . .
.. 9,567,000 .. .
..
200,000 . .
Totals.
Francs.
3,200,000
63.400,000
97,619,000
69,074,000
41,405,000
65,157,000
23,310,000
231,990,000 . .. 116,873,000 .. 14,302,000 .. . 363,165,000
(£9,279,GOO) . . (£4,674,920) .. (£572,080) .. .(£14,527,000)
According to another table, extracted from the same
Report, the receipts, more or less available, during the
Expedition, consisting of repavments and Mexican bonds,
amounted to 61,975,000 francs (£2,479,000); whence the
excess of expenditure would be 301 million francs
(£12,040,000).
. It is needless to remark that this official return is exces
sively below the actual cost. M. Berrver offers to prove
that the Expedition has absorbed 600 millions (£24,000,000),
but this is impossible. However, inasmuch as the Govern
ment itself avowed an actual expenditure of 270 millions
at the time of the Convention of Miramar, that is to say,
when the war was not half completed, it is difficult to con-
�55
elude otherwise than that the further expenses, after allowing
fordeductions and repayments, must have swelled this amount
to at least 400 millions (£16,000,000).
As regards the Expeditions to China, Cochin China, and
the Lebanon, we cannot estimate them at less than 300
millions (£12,000,000). This sum represents, almost
exactly, the unforeseen augmentations of our Army and
Navy Budgets in the years of peace, 1860, 1861, and 1862,
when the Mexican Expedition had, as yet, cost but little.
As we are aware, the Expedition to Cochin China still con
tinues, and forms a constant increase of our budget.
If we add to these officially recognised expenses the
losses of capital diverted from productive employment
sunk, without return, in Mexican loans, it will be found
that these distant Expeditions have cost France at least a
thousand million francs (£40,000,000), in addition to the
permanent increase which they have imposed upon our naval
establishments.
SUMMARY OF LOSSES BY RECENT WARS.
I.—Loss or Human Life.
Number of men wrho were slain on the field of battle, or
who died through wounds and disease:—
Killed by War.
Crimean War ...
Italian War (1859)
War of Schleswig Holstein
American Civil War—
Northern Army
Southern Army
War of 1866, between Prussia,
Austria, and Italy...
Distant Expeditions and various
wars, Mexico, Cochin China,
Morocco, St. Domingo, Para
guay, &c..................................
Total
784,991
45,000
3,500
281,000 1 #
519,000 j
45,000
65,000
1,743,491
Understated—vide Note at the end of this work.
�56
Hebe is a total of about 1,750,000 men swept off
BY WAB FBOM CIVILISED NATIONS BETWEEN 1853 AND
THAT IS TO SAY, IN THE SPACE OF 14 YEABS.
1866,
This is a number equal to the whole male population of
Holland. It is also a number equal to that of all the work
ing men employed by the industrial or commercial classes in
France. (Audiganne, “ Les Ouvriers d' a present]' page
405.) And yet this immense amount of human life, strength,
and intelligence, has been devoured by war in the eecent
14 yeabs of this century, so distinguished by its civilisation,
industry, and popular liberty !
SUMMARY OF THE FINANCIAL LOSSES BY RECENT
WARS.
Crimean War, 1853-4 ...
American Civil "War,
1861-5—
The North ...
The South
Italian "War, 1859
War of Schleswig Hol
stein, 1864
War of 1866, between
Prussia, Austria, and
Italy
Distant Expeditions to
Mexico,
Cochin
China, &c....
Total
340 million pounds sterling.
940 million
460 million
60 million
n
99
7 million
J,
99
66 million
99
99
J?
99
40 million
... 1,913 MILLION POUNDS
99
STEELING !
Even these are only the immediate and positive expenses
of the wars ; and some of the struggles are not yet ended.
Complete returns cannot be obtained respecting the expenses
of Spain in the Expedition to Cochin China, nor of those of
Peru, Chili, and St. Domingo. We are not in possession
of the costs of recent conflicts between the Republics of
South America and Spain, or of the still continuing war
between Brazil, La Plata, and Paraguay—a persistent and
furiously devastating struggle. Nor have we full returns
�57
from Mexico as to its war for independence against France.
And yet, irrespective of all these unfurnished expenses, we
have accounted for the frightful amount of nearly 48,000
million francs (or £1,913,000,000), which, if employed in
works of peace, would have entirely transformed the social
and financial condition of civilised nations. But the evil
genius of War has devoured the whole of it in fourteen years,
IN OBDEE TO SWEEP FROM THE EACE OF THE EARTH NEARLY
1,800,000 MEN.
NOTE.
A gentleman at New York, after reading “ Contemporary
Wars,” has written to Mr. Henry Richard, M.P., London, to say
that M. Beaulieu’s work greatly understates the losses of life and
property caused by the late Civil War in his country. He says :—
“ M. Beaulieu’s work is an able one, and generally correct ;
but, instead of 281,000 men killed in the Northern armies, the
total loss is known to be 1,100,000 by all causes up to 1867
inclusive.
“ By the census of 1860 the whole property of the United States
(exclusive of slaves) was valued at 14,183 million dollars, and
the loss of capital during the war (also exclusive of slaves) is
known to be over 5,000 millions, or fully one-fifth of the whole
property of the country in 1860. We look upon the present
prosperity, therefore, as merely fictitious, and destined to a
tremendous collapse, which is only a question of time.”
The same writer complains of the terrible amount of vice and
immorality occasioned by the habits formed during the war,
and forwards the following statement on the subject, extracted
from the New York Journal of Commerce, one of the highest
class newspapers in the United States :—
“ The ‘ Moral ’ Effect
of the late
Civil War
in
America.
“The prevalence of bold, wanton crime throughout all parts of
the country cannot be denied. It is not this city or the large
centres of population generally that are chiefly infected, although
some, for selfish purposes, encourage this idea. Many causes
have conspired to produce this outcropping of evil, but the chief
cause, beyond question, is the demoralisation produced by the war.
Some enthusiastic writers and orators claimed that the conflict
would be like “ a purifyingfurnace, ” from which the nation would
emerge cleansed and sanctified, like gold from the crucible. We
�58
pointed to all history in refutation of this theory, and urged the
adoption of every possible means to mitigate the evils that must
inevitably follow and grow out of the long and bitter contest.
Recklessness of life—disregard of the rights of person and pro
perty—the disposition to take by strategy, and still more by the
strong arm, any coveted good—a contempt for laws, so often
violated or silent in the presence of armed force—a sense of the
might of physical power in the presence of restraints purely
moral—familiarity with deeds of blood, rapine, and cruelty,
deadening the conscience and blunting all the finer sensibilities
of the soul—these and many kindred associations suggest them
selves to every careful observer who studies the demoralising
effect of war upon the nation at large. They are peculiar to no
age or race, and they operate on man as man in every com
munity and by every fireside. There is probably as great a ratio
of difference between the past and present condition of the most
moral and virtuous community in the country in the debasing
effect of the war, as between the criminal classes, once partially
restrained, but now rendered more brutal, daring, passionate, and
reckless, as the result of this national experience. We might
safely appeal to individual consciousness to sustain this assertion,
if men were willing to examine and judge themselves impartially;
but its truth is capable of demonstration.”
R. BARRETT AND SONS, PRINTERS, MARK LANE.
/A
�
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Victorian Blogging
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An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Contemporary wars (1853-1866): statistical researches respecting the loss of men and money involved in them
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Beaulieu, Paul Leroy
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 58 p. ; 19 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. From the French edition issued in the 'Peace Library' of the Paris 'International League of Peace'. Printed by R. Barrett and Sons, Mark Lane, London.
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London Peace Society
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1869
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G5394
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War
Pacifism
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Text
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English
Conway Tracts
Peace
War
War Casualties
War-Economic Aspects
-
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Title
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Victorian Blogging
Description
An account of the resource
A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Essays towards peace
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Robertson, J. M. (John Mackinnon) [1856-1933]
Westermarck, Edward
Angell, Norman [1874-1967]
Swinny, S.H.
Bonner, Hypatia Bradlaugh [1858-1935]
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: London
Collation: 91, [4] p. ; 17 cm.
Notes: Contents: Superstitions of militarism / John M. Robertson -- Christianity and war / Edward Westermark -- War as the failure of reason / Norman Angell -- Rationalism and international righteousness / S.H. Swinny. Published for the Rationalist Peace Society. Publisher's advertisements on unnumbered pages at the end. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
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Pacifism
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Militarism
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"Tract No. IV. of the Society for the Promotion of
Permanent and Universal Peace.
EXTRACTS
FROM xIIE
WRITINGS OF ERASMUS,
ON THE
SUBJECT OF WAR.
-- —Ono murder makes a villain ;
Millions, a hero.
Bishop Portcut.
----- O I what are these,
Death’s ministers, not men, who thus deal death
Tu'inmanly to men, and multiply
Ten thousandfold the sin of him who slew
His brother : for of whom such massacre
Make they, but of their brethren ; men of men
Paradise Lost, Bock XI. line 63S,
STFEEUTYPE EDITION.
|g
■
>
\
Honson:
PRINTED BY RICHARD BARRETT, MARK LANE.
S0LD Br
TEroMAS WARD & Co., PATERNOSTER ROW;
BY ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS ; AND
AT THE DEPOSITORY, 19, NEW RROAD STREET,
FINSBURY CIRCUS.
%
�TRACTS OF THE PEACE SOCIETY'.
To be had at Thomas Ward & Co.’s Paternoster Row, and at the
Depository, 19, New Broad Street, Finsbury Circus.
IN OCTAVO.
No. I. A Solemn Review of the Custom of War.
II. War inconsistent with the Doctrine and Example of Jesus Christ, by
John Scott, Esq.
III. An Essay on the Doctrine and Practice of the Early Christians as
they relate to War, by Thomas Clarkson, Esq. M. A.
IV. Extracts from Erasmus.
V. Sketches of the Horrors of War, by Evan Rees.
VI. On Universal Peace, by the Rev. David Bogue.
VII. Observations on the Applicability of the Pacific Principles of the New
Testament to the Conduct of States, &c. by Jonathan Dymond.
VIII. An Examination of the Principles which are considered to support
the Practice of War, by a Lady.
IX. The Principles of Peace Exemplified in the Conduct of the Society oi
Friends in Ireland, during the Rebellion of the year 1798, with
some Preliminary and Concluding Observations, by Thomas
Hancock, M.D. In Three Parts.
X. Historical illustrations of the Origin and Consequences of War, by
the Author of Tract No. VIII., as above.
XI. Reflections on the Calamities of War, and the Superior Policy of
Peace, translated from the French of a Treatise, “ On the Admi
nistration of the Finances of France,” by M. Necker.
XII, An Essay on War, and on its Lawfulness under th.e Christian Dispen
sation, by Joseph John Gurney.
Welsh. — Epitome of the Views
and Objects of the Peace
Society.
French.—Nos. I. to VIII. and XI.
German.—No. I.
Dutch.—No. II.
Spanish.—No. III.
Italian.—Nos. I. and III.
NEW SERIES OF SMALL TRACTS.
IN DUODECIMO.
By the Author of “ Select Female Biography,” “ Annals of my
Village,” fyc.
No. I. Sketch of a Hospital Scene in Portugal.
II. Results of War, with Suggestions for an Amicable Settlement of
National Disputes.
III. Sketch of the Miseries suffered by the Germans during the Seven
Years’ War, from 1756 to 1763.
IV. Peace Societies, and the Scenes which have occurred within the last
Sixty Years, in Two Parts.
V. Account of the Massacre of Corcubion, with an appeal to English
Ladies.
VI. The Sights we have seen
Also “ The Herald of Peace,” published Quarterly, and to b&
had as above.
Every Annual Subscriber of 10s. 6d. and upwards, may, within the. year,
receive in return, Tracts to the amount of one half of his Subscription, on
application at the Office. And Country Subscribers are requested to give
•he Address of some person in Loudon to whom they may be'sent.
�EXTRACTS
FROM
ERASMUS.
If there is in the affairs of mortal men any one thing which it k
proper uniformly to explode; which it is incumbent on every
man, by every lawful means, to avoid, to deprecate, to oppose;
that one thing is, doubtless, War. There is nothing more un
naturally wicked, more productive of misery, more extensively
destructive, more obstinate in mischief, more unworthy of man,
as formed by nature, much more of man professing Christianity.
Yet, wonderful to relate! in these times war is every where
rashly, and on the slightest' pretext, undertaken; cruelly, and
savagely conducted, not only by Unbelievers, but by Christians;
not only by Laymen, but by Priests and Bishops; not only by the
young and inexperienced, but even by men far advanced in life,
who must have seen and felt its dreadful consequences; not only
by the lower order, fickle in their nature, but above all by princes,
whose duty it is to compose the rash passions of the unthinking
multitude by superior wisdom, and the force of reason. Nor are
there ever wanting men, learned in the law, and even divines,
who are ready to furnish firebrands for the nefarious work, and to
fan the latent sparks into a flame.
Hence it happens, that war is now considered so much a thing
of course, that the wonder is, how any man can disapprove of it;
so much sanctioned by authority and custom, that it is deemed
impious (I had almost said heretical) to have borne testimony
against a practice, in its principle most profligate, and in #**>
A 2
�4
effects pregnant with every kind of calamity. If any one considers
a moment the organization and external figure of the body, will
he not instantly perceive that Nature, or rather the God of Na
ture, created the human animal not for war, but for love and
friendship; not for mutual destruction, but for mutual service
and safety; not to commit injuries, but for acts of reciprocal
beneficence.
Man she brought into the world naked, weak, tender, un
armed, his flesh of the softest texture, his skin smooth and
delicate, and susceptible of the slightest injury.
There is
nothing observable in his limbs adapted to fighting, or to vio
lence. Unable either to speak or walk, or help himself to food,
he can only implore relief by tears and wailing, so that from
this circumstance alone might be collected, that man is an animal
bom for that love and friendship which is formed and cemented
by the mutual interchange of benevolent offices. Moreover, Na
ture evidently intended that man should consider himself in
debted for the boon of life, not so much to herself as to the
kindness Of his fellow-man; that he might perceive himself
designed for social affections, and the attachments of friendship
and love. Then she gave him a countenance not frightful and
forbidding, but mild and placid, imitating. by external signs the
benignity of his disposition. She gave him eyes full of affectionate
expression, the indexes of a mind delighting in social sympathy.
She gave him arms to embrace his fellow-creatures. She gave
him lips to express a union of heart and soul. She gave him alone
the power of laughing, a mark of the joy of which he is suscep
tible. She gave him tears, the symbol of clemency and compas
sion. She gave him also a voice, not a menacing and frightful
yell, but bland, soothing, and friendly. Not satisfied with these
marks of her peculiar favour, she bestowed on him alone the use
of speech and reason : a gift which tends more than any other to
conciliate and cherish benevolence, and a desire of rendering
mutual services; so that nothing among human creatures might
be done by violence. She implanted in man a hatred of solitude,
and a love of company. She sowed in his heart the seeds of every
benevolent affection; and thus rendered what is most salutary, at
the same time most agreeable. For what is more agreeable than a
�friend; what so necessary ? Indeed, if it were possible to conduct
life conveniently, without mutual intercourse, yet nothing could be
pleasant without a companion, unless man should have divested
himself of humanity, and degenerated to the rank of a wild beast.
Lastly, to man is given a spark of the divine mind, which stimu
lates him without any hope of reward, and of his own free will,
to do good to all: for of God this is the most natural and appro
priate attribute, to consult the good of all by disinterested bene
ficence. If it were not so, how happens it that we feel an exqui
site delight, when we find that any man has been preserved from
danger, injury, or destruction, by our offices or intervention?
Now view, with the eyes of your imagination, savage troops
of men, horrible in their very visages and voices; men clad in steel,
drawn up on every side in battle array, armed with weapons,
frightful in their crash and their very glitter; mark the horrid
murmur of the confused multitude, their threatening eye-balls,
the harsh jarring din of drums and clarions, the terrific sound of
the trumpet, the thunder of the cannon, a noise not less formi
dable than the real thunder of heaven, and more hurtful, a mad
shout like that of the shrieks of Bedlamites, a furious onset, a
cruel butchering of each other!—See the slaughtered and the
slaughtering!—heaps of dead bodies, fields flowing with blood,
rivers reddened with human gore. It sometimes happens that a
brother falls by the hand of a brother, a kinsman upon his nearest
kindred, a friend upon his friend, who, while both are actuated
by this fit of insanity, plunges the sword into the heart of one
by whom he was never offended, not even by the word of his mouth!
So deep is the tragedy, that the bosom shudders even at the feeble
description of it, and the hand of humanity drops the pencil while
it paints the scene.
In the mean time, I pass over the corn fields trodden down,
peaceful cottages and rural mansions burnt to the ground, villages
and towns reduced to ashes, the cattle driven from their pasture,
innocent women violated, old men dragged into captivity, churches
defaced and demolished, every thing laid waste, a prey to robbery,
plunder, and violence!
Not to mention the consequences which ensue to the people
after a war, even the most fortunate in its event; the poor, the
�6
unoffending common people, robbed of their little hard-earned
property; the great laden with taxes: old people bereaved ot
their children, more cruelly killed by-the murder of their off
spring, than by the sword; happier if the enemy had deprived
them of the sense of their misfortune, and life itself, at the same
moment; women far advanced in age, left destitute, and more
cruelly put to death, than if they had died at once by the point of
the bayonet: widowed mothers, orphan children, houses of mourn
ing ; and families, that once knew better days, reduced to extreme
penury.
Why need I dwell on the evils which morals sustain by war,
when every one knows, that from war proceeds at once every kind of
evil which disturbs and destroys the happiness of human life.
As I just now drew the portrait of man and the picture of war,
so now it is my intention to compare war with peace, to compare
a state most poignant with misery, and most wicked in its origin,
with a state profuse of blessings, and contributing in the highest
degree to the happiness of human nature; it will then appear to
be downright insanity to go in search of war with so much dis
turbance, so much labour, so great profusion of blood and trea
sure, and at such a hazard after all, when with little labour, less
expense, no bloodshed, and no risk, peace might be preserved
inviolate.
Now, amidst all the good this world affords, what is more de
lightful to the heart of man, what more beneficial to society, than
love and amity ? Nothing, surely. Yet what is peace, but love
and amity subsisting between great numbers ? And, on the other
hand, wliat is war, but hatred and enmity subsisting between
great numbers ? But it is the nature of all good, that the more
it is extended, the greater the good becomes, the more benign its
influence; therefore, if the amicable union of individuals is so
sweet and so salutary, how much will the sum total of happiness
be augmented, if kingdom with kingdom, and nation with na
tion, coalesce in this amicable union ? On the other hand, it is
the nature of all evil, that its malignity increases the more it is
extended; and therefore, if it be wretched, if it be wicked for one
man to meet another with a sword pointed at his vitals, how
much more wretched and more wicked, that thousands and tens of
�1
thousands should meet in the same manner ? By union, little things
are augmented to a respectable magnitude; by disunion, the
greatest fall to insignificance and dissolution. Peace is, indeed,
at once the mother and the nurse of all that is*good for man:
War, on a sudden, and at one stroke, overwhelms, extinguishes,
abolishes, whatever is cheerful, whatever is happy and beautiful,
and pours a foul torrent of disasters on the life of mortals. Peace
shines upon human affairs like the vernal sun. The fields are cul
tivated, the gardens bloom, the cattle are fed upon a thousand
hills, new buildings arise, riches flow, pleasures smile, humanity
and charity increase, arts and manufactures feel the genial warmth
of encouragement, and the gains’of the poor are more plentiful.
But no sooner does the storm of war begin to lower, than what a
deluge of miseries and misfortune seizes, inundates, and over
whelms all things within the sphere of its action ! The flocks are
scattered, the harvest trampled, the husbandman butchered,
villas and villages burnt,— cities and states, that have been ages
rising to their flourishing state, subverted by the fury of one tem
pest, the storm of war. So much easier is the task of doing harm
than of doing good; of destroying than of building up!
Many, alas! are the evils by which miserable mortality is tor
mented, worn out, and at last overwhelmed. We read of whole
cities buried in ruins by earthquakes, or burnt to ashes by light
ning, whole countries swallowed up in chasms occasioned by
subterraneous convulsions ; not to mention how many men are
lost by casualties, which, by the frequency of their occurrence,
cease to surprise ; how many are drowried in seas and rivers, how
many destroyed by poison, by falling, by other accidents.
Why should those who are obnoxious to so many calamities,
go voluntarily in quest of an adscititious evil, as if the measure of
misery required to be full to the very brim, and to run over; in
quest of an evil, not a common evil, but an an evil of all human evils
the worst and the foulest; so destructive an evil, that alone, it ex
ceeds them all in mischief; so abundant in misery, that it com
prehends every kind of wretchedness within itself; so pestilential
in its nature, that it loads men with guilt in proportion as it galls
them with woe.
To these considerations add, that the advantages derived from
�8
peace diffuse themselves far and wide, and reach great numbers
while in war, if any thing turns out happily, (though what
can ever deserve the appellation of happy in war!) the advan
tage redounds only to a few, and those unworthy of reaping it.
One man’s safety is owing to the destruction of another. One
man’s prize derived from the plunder of another. The cause
of rejoicings made by one side, is to the other a cause of mourn
ing. Whatever is unfortunate in war, is severely so indeed, and
whatever, on the contrary, is called good fortune, is a savage and
a cruel good fortune, an ungenerous happiness, deriving its exist
ence from another’s woe. Indeed, at the conclusion, it com
monly happens, that both sides, the victorious and the vanquished,
"have cause to deplore. I know not whether any war ever suc
ceeded so fortunately in all its events, but that the conqueror, if he
had a heart to feel, or an understanding to judge, as he ought to
do, repented that he ever engaged in it at all.
Such and so great are the evils which are submitted to, in
order to accomplish an end, itself a greater evil than all that have
preceded in preparation for it. We thus afflict ourselves for the
noble end of enabling ourselves to afflict others. If we were' to
calculate the matter fairly, and form a just computation of the
cost attending war, and that of procuring peace, we should find
that peace might be purchased at a tenth part of the cares, la
bours, troubles, dangers, expenses, and blood, which it costs
to carry on a war. You lead a vast multitude of men into danger
of losing their lives, in order to demolish some great city ; while
the same labour and fatigue of these very men would build, with
out any danger, a more magnificent city, than the city doomed to
demolition. But the object is to do all possible injury to an
enemy. A most inhuman object, let me tell you! and consider,
whether you can hurt him, essentially, without hurting, at the
same time, and by the same means, your own people. It surely
is to act like a maaman to take to yourself so large a portion of
certain evil, when it must ever be uncertain how the die of War
may fall in the ultimate issue.
Where are there so many and so sacred obligations to perfect
concord, as in the Christian religion? Where so numerous ex
hortations to peace? One law Jesus Christ claimed as his own
�peculiar law, and it was the lan of looe or charity. What prac-'
tice among mankind violates this law so grossly as war ? Christ
salutes his votaries with the happy omen of peace. To his disciples
he gives nothing but peace: he leaves them no other legacy but
peace. In his holy prayers, the subject of his devout entreaty was
principally, that, as He was one with the Father, so his disciples,
(that is to say, all Christians,) might be one with him. This union
is something more than peace, more than friendship, more than
concord; it is an intimate communion with the Divine nature.
Solomon was a type of Christ. But the word Solomon, in
Hebrew, signifies the pacific. Solomon, on this account, because
he was pacific, was chosen to build the temple. David was re
jected as a builder of the temple, because he was a warrior. He
was rejected for this, though the wars he carried on were against
the wicked and at the command of God; and though he, who
afterwards abrogated, in great measure, the laws of Moses, had
not yet taught mankind that they ought to love their enemies.
At the nativity of Jesus Christ, the angels sung not the glories
of war, nor a sung of triumph, but a hymn of peace: “ Glory to
God in the highest, on earth peace ; good will towards men.”
The mystic poet and prophet foretold before his birth, (Ps. lxxvi. 2.)
“ In the city or peace (Salem) he made his dwelling-place :
there brake he the arrows of the bow, the shield, the sword, and
the battle-axe.”
“ He shall refrain the spirit of Princes ; he is terrible to the
Kings of the earth.”
Examine every part of his doctrine, you will find nothing that
does not breathe peace, speak the language of love, and savour of
charity ; and as he knew that peace could not be preserved unless
those objects, for which the world contends with the sword’s
point, were considered as vile and contemptible, he ordered us to
learn of him to be meek and lowly. He pronounced those happy
who held riches, and the daughters of riches, Pomp and Pride, in
no esteem; for these he calls the poor in spirit, and these he has
blessed. He prohibited resistance of evil. In short, as the
whole of his doctrine recommended forbearance and love, so his
life taught nothing but mildness, gentleness, and kind affection
Such was his reign; thus did he wage war, thus he conquered
�10
and thus he triumphed. Nor do the apostles inculcate any other
doctrine; they who had imbibed the purest spirit of Christ, and
were -filled with sacred draughts from the fountain head. What
do all the epistles of St. Paul resound with but peace, but longsuffering, but charity? What does St. John speak of, and repeat
continually, but Christian love ? What else St. Peter: What else
all the writers in the world, who are truly Christian?
Whence, then, the tumults of war among the Children of Peace ?
Is it a mere fable when Christ calls himself the vine, and his dis
ciples the branches ? Who can conceive a branch divided against
a branch of the same tree? Or, is it an unmeaning assertion,
which St. Paul has repeatedly made, that the Church is one body,
united in its many members, and adhering to one head, Jesus
Christ? Whoever beheld the eye contending with the hand, or
the belly fighting against the foot? In the whole universe, con
sisting of parts so discordant, there still continues a general har
mony. In the animal body, there is peace among all the members,
and with whatever excellence one member is endowed, it confines
not the benefit to itself, but communicates it to all. If any evil
happen to one member, the whole body affords it assistance. Can
then the mere animal connexion of nature, in a material body,
formed soon to perish, effect more in preserving harmony than the
union of a spirit in a mystical and immortal body ? Is it without
meaning that we pray, according to the command of Christ, Thy
will be done on earth, as it is in heaven? In the Kingdom of
Heaven there is perfect concord. But Christ intended that his
Church should be nothing less than a Celestial Community; a
Heaven upon Earth; men who belong to it living, as much as
possible, according to the model of the heavenly kingdom, hasten
ing thither, and feeling and acknowledging their whole dependance
upon it for present and future felicity.
It may now be worth while to observe in what manner Christians
defend the madness of War.
If, say they, war had been absolutely unlawful, God would not
have excited the Jews to wage war against their enemies. I hear
the argument, and observe upon it,-that the objector should in
justice add, that the J ews scarcely ever waged war, as the Chris
�11
tians do, against each other, but against aliens and infidels. We
Christians draw the sword against Christians. To them a diffe
rence of religion, and the worship of strange gods, was the source
of contest. We are urged to war, either by childish anger, or a
hunger and thirst for ricnes and glory, and oftentimes merely for
base and filthy lucre. They fought at the express command of
God; we, at the command of our own passions.
But since the time that Jesus Christ said, Put up thy sword
into its scabbard, Christians ought not to go to war, unless it be
in that most honourable warfare, with the vilest enemies of the
Church, the inordinate love of money, anger, and ambition.
These are our Philistines, these our Nabuchodonosors, these our
Moabites and Ammonites, with whom we ought never to make a
truce; with these we must engage without intermission till the
enemy being utterly extirpated, peace may1 be firmly established.
Unless we subdue such enemies as these, we can neither have
peace with ourselves, nor peace with any one else. This is the
only war which tends to produce a real and a lasting peace. He,
who shall have conquered foes like these, will never wish to wage
war with any mortal man upon the face of that earth on which'
God placed all men to live, to let live, and to enjoy the life he gave.
I lay no stress on the opinion of those who interpret the two
swords given to Peter to mean two powers, the civil and eccle
siastical, claimed by the successors of Peter, since Christ suffered
Peter himself to fall into an error in this matter, on purpose
that, when he had put up his sword, it might remain no longer a
doubt that war was prohibited; which, before that order, had
been considered as allowable. But Peter, they allege, did
actually use his sword.. It is true he did ; but while he was still a
Jew, and had not yet received the genuine spirit of Christianity.
He used his sword, not in support of any disputable claim to pro
perty, not to defend goods, chattels, lands, and estates, as we
do; nor yet for his own life, but for the life of his Lord and
Master. Let it also be remembered, that he who used the sword in
defence of his Master, very soon after denied and renounced that
Master. If Peter is to be our. model, and if we are so much
pleased with the example of Peter fighting for Christ, we may pro
bably approve also the example of Peter denying Christ.
�12
Peter, in using his sword, only made a slip in consequence of
the impulse of a sudden passion : yet he was reprimanded. But
if Christ approved of this mode of defence, as some most absurdly
infer from this transaction, how happens it that the uniform tenour
of his whole life and doctrine teaches nothing else but forbearance ?
Why, when he commissioned his disciples, did he expose them to
the despots of the world, armed only with a walking-stick and a
wallet, a staff and a scrip ? If by that sword, which Christ ordered
them, after selling every thing else, to buy, is meant a moderate
defence against persecution, as some men ignorantly interpret it,
how came it to pass that the Martyrs never used it ?
But they urge, that the laws of nature, the laws of society, and
the laws of custom and usage, conspire in dictating the propriety
of repelling force by force, and defending life, and money too,
which is to some persons as dear as life. So much I allow. But
Gospel Grace,'of more force than all these laws, declares in deci
sive words, that those who revile us, we must not revile again:
that we must do good to them who use us ill; and that we should
also pray for them who design to take away our lives. All this,
they tell us, had a particular reference to the apostles; but I con
tend that it also refers to all Christian people, to the whole body
which should be entire and perfect, though one member may have
been formerly distinguished by some particular pre-eminence.
The doctrine of Christ, can, indeed, have no reference to them,
who do not expect their reward with Christ.
But they proceed to argue, that as it is lawful to inflict
punishment on an individual delinquent, it must also be lawful to
take vengeance on an offending State. The full answer to be
given to this argument would involve me in greater prolixity
than is now requisite. I will only say that the two cases differ
widely in this respect. He who is convicted judicially, suffers
the punishment which the laws impose: but in war, each side
treats the other side as guilty, and proceeds to inflict punish
ment, regardless of law, judge, or jury. In the former case, the
evil only falls on him who committed the wrong; the benefit of
the example redounds to all: in the latter case, the greatest part
of the very numerous evils falls on those who deserve no evil at
all; on husbandmen, on old people, on mothers of families, on
�13
orpnans, and on defenceless young females. But if any good at
all can be gathered from a thing which is itself the worst of all
things, the whole of that good devolves to the share of a few
most piofligate robbers, to the mercenary pillager, to the pira
tical privateer. It would be better to let the crime of a few go
unpunished, than, while we endeavour to chastise one or two by
war, in which, perhaps we may not succeed, to involve our own
people, the neighbouring people, and the innocent part of the
enemies, (for so I may call the multitude,) in certain calamity.
It is better to let a wound alone which cannot be healed without
injury to the whole body. But if any one should exclaim, “ that
it would be unjust that he who has offended should not suffer con
dign punishment;” I answer, that it is much more unjust that so
many thousand innocent persons should be called to share the
utmost extremity of misfortune, which they could not possibly have
deserved.
But the objector repeats, “ Why may I not go and cut the
throats of those who would cut our throats if they could?” Do
you then consider it as a disgrace that any should be more wicked
than yourself? Why do you not go and rob thieves? they would
rob you if they could. Why do you not revile them that revile you ?
Why do you not hate them that hate you ?
Do you consider it as a noble exploit for a Christian, having
killed in war those whom he thinks wicked, but who still are
men, for whom Christ died, thus to offer up victims most acceptable
to the Devil, and to delight that grand enemy in two instances;
first, that a man is slain at all; and secondly, that the man who
slew him is a Christian?
If we are willing to conquer for Christ, let us buckle on the
sword of the Gospel; let us put on the helmet of salvation, grasp
the shield of faith, and be completely clad in apostolical armour,
the panoply of heaven. Then will it come to pass, that we shall
triumph even in defeat, and when routed in the field, still bear
away the palm of a most glorious victory. If we endeavour to be
what we are called, that is, to be* violently attached to nothing
worldly, to seek nothing here with too anxious a solicitude; if
we endeavour to free ourselves from all that may encumber and
impede our flight to heaven; if we aspire with our most ardent
�14
wishes at. celestial felicity; if we place our chief happiness in
Christ alone;—we have certainly, in so doing, made up our
minds to believe, that whatever is truly good, truly great, truly
delightful, is to be found in his religion. If we are convinced
that a good man cannot be essentially hurt by any mortal; if we
have duly estimated the vanity and transitory duration of all the
ridiculous things which agitate human beings ; if we have any ade
quate idea of being so cleansed, by continual meditation, from the
pollutions of this world, that when the body is laid down in the
dust one may emigrate to the society of angels : in a word, if we
exhibit these three qualities, without which no man can deserve
the appellation of a Christian : Innocence, that we may be free from
vice; Charity, that we may deserve well of all men; Patience,
that we may bear with those that use us ill, and, if possible, bury
injuries by an accumulation of benefits on the injured party ; I ask,
what war can possibly arise hereafter for any trifles which the
world contains ?
If the Christian religion be a fable, why do we not honestly
and openly explode it ? Why do we glory and take a pride in
its namtf ? But if Christ is “ the way, and the truth, and the life,”
why do all our schemes of life and plans of conduct deviate so
from this great Exemplar ? If we .acknowledge Christ to be our
Lord and Master, who is love itself, and who taught nothing but
love and peace, let us exhibit his model; not by assuming his
name, but by our lives and conversation. Let us adopt the love of
peace, that Christ may recognize hrs own, even as we recognise him
to be the Teacher of Peace.
�15
Extract from a Letter addressed by Erasmus to Francis
the First, King of France, anno 1523.
What can be frailer, more transitory, more exposed to misery,
than human life ? I dwell not on the great variety of diseases,
disasters, accidents, fatal calamities, pestilential sicknesses, light
ning, earthquakes, conflagrations, inundations, and other evils
which overwhelm it without limit and without number. Yet,
among all the miseries by which man is infested, there is not one
more malignant, more mischievous than War; not one that, like
War, does more harm to the morals of men, than even to their
property and persons. It is, indeed, a less injury to deprive me of
my life than of my innocence. Nor is war at all the less detest
able, because the greatest portion of its evils falls on the poor and
low; on the farmer, on the manufacturer, or the wayfaring man.
Our Lord Jesus Christ shed his blood for the redemption of these
men, despised as they are, no less than for the redemption of
Kings. And when we shall stand before the judgment-seat of
Christ, where the most powerful Lords of this world must shortly
stand, that impartial Judge will require a no less strict account to
be given of those poor and despised ones, than of Despots and
Grandees. Therefore they who deem it a trifling loss and injury
when the poor and the low are robbed, afflicted, banished, burnt
out, oppressed or put to death, do in truth accuse Jesus Christ
(the wisdom of the Father) of folly, for shedding his blood to save
such wretches as these.
Christ, throughout his whole life, displayed the character of a
Saviour, a Comforter, a universal Benefactor. Whether in the
temple or the synagogue, whether in public or in private, whether
in a ship or in the wilderness, he'taught the multitude, he healed
the sick, he cleansed the lepers, he restored the paralytic, the
lame, the blind; he expelled evil spirits, he raised the dead, he
delivered those that were in jeopardy; he fed the hungry; he re
futed the Pharisees ; he took the part of the disciples, of the poor
sinful creature who so lavishly poured out her ointment; he even
comforted the guilty and unhappy woman of Canaan, who was
detected in the commission of her crime. Review7 the whole life
�16
of Jesus; he never did evil to any mortal, though he was himself
used so ill, and if he had chosen it, might have revenged himself
so amply. He was uniformly the Saviour and the Benefactor. To
Malchus he restored the ear which Peter had cut off. He would
not suffer his own personal safety to be secured, even, by so trifling
an injury as that which was done to Malchus. Suspended on the
cross, he saved one of the thieves that were crucified with him.
After his death he brought over the Centurion to the Christian
faith. This was supporting the character of a King, truly so called
—To do good to aid, and injury to none.
; sib jfooj
■ , ■)
.
oq Yuhsiviil oe oii/r iHt'hiOio lolaia
pjKdiiu bog
oil) h- ’ ioimoo
ad lo JCKKKeiauHGo adj ni fjaWilob
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Extracts from the writings of Erasmus on the subject of war
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Edition: Stereotype ed.
Series: Tracts of the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace
Series no.: No. IV
Place of publication: London
Collation: 16 p. ; 21 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed by Richard Barrett; sold at Thomas Ward & Co. [and other booksellers]. A list of the Tracts issued by the Society listed on title page verso. KVK gives original publication details as: Printed by Bensley and Son, 1817.
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Erasmus, Desiderius
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Richard Barrett, Mark Lane
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[n.d.]
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G5194
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Pacifism
Desiderius Erasmus
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Conway Tracts
Peace
War
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9e
THE PERIL OF WAR:
A DISCOURSE
DELIVERED AT
jSoUTH
Place
JZÎhapel,
MARCH 31J/, 1878,
BY
MONCURE D. CONWAY, M.A.
LONDON :
SOUTH PLACE, FINSBURY.
FRIGE TWOPENCE.
�^LONDON:
PRINTED BY WATERLOW AND SONS LIMITED
LONDON WALL.
�THE PERIL OF WAR.
I had prepared for this morning the discourse you
were expecting,—on Friendship. But, alas, the hour
which has arrived permits me no such idyllic theme
as that. There are sounds on the air not of friendship
but of strife; and however feeble one voice amid the
roar of partisan passion, mine must bear testimony
and protest against the wild and guilty schemes which
would plunge this nation into a chaos of barbarism.
While to-day the nation kneels to one who said
“ Blessed are the peacemakers,” its Queen is com
pelled to invite her subjects to rise from their knees
and become peacebreakers. For the whole civilised
world is at peace. The war-drum is hushed. The press
had long made the Gorgon’s face so familiar a guest
at every table, that overwrought horror seemed turning
�4
to stone. ' From that carnage the shuddering world
has emerged. Thousands are on beds of pain, binding
up their fresh wounds; thousands are wandering un
sheltered around their desolated homes; thousands
are dropping hot tears over new-made graves. Still
above all these agonies there has dawned a day of
peace. It is England that is now called upon to break
that peace; to blacken that sky again with the cloud
and tempest of war; to renew the deadly work, that
seemed closed, of strewing the earth with the dying
and the dead. It is this land of culture, art, science,
civilisation, which stands forth alone,—where countries
we thought generations behind us in progress ask for
consultation and friendliness,—this land which alone
summons Europe to a war that can bring no conceiv
able good, nothing but the curses of agonised millions
upon us.
It is to be feared we have fallen on a generation so
familiar with the blessings of peace as to forget the
terrible meanings of war, one which no longer recog
nises the fatal power of war to drag a people back
under the sway of animalism. I speak to-day, and
trust you will listen to what I have to say; another
week, even, it may be too late, the friends of humanity
may be struck dumb. A few guns fired, a single sharp
engagement, a smarting defeat, and the excitement of
conflict may flame through the land; a fictitious
�5
ardour of miscalled patriotism may seize even on
people of sense, pervert reason, raise the passions of
the prize-ring, and the voice of conscience and reason
be drowned. Before that demonic possession has
replaced the healthy heart and intelligence of our
country, let us, while we can, ask ourselves what war
is? what we are going to war for? what is our own
duty in view of this danger, and what it will continue
to be should a'disloyal government drag us into this
barbarism ?
‘ The microscope reveals miniature butchery in
atomies and infinitely small biters, that swim and fight
in an illuminated drop of water; and the little globe
is but a too faithful miniature of the large.’ When
the infusoria became human bipeds—not yet men—
they went on pretty much the same way, biting and
devouring one another. History is mainly a record
of wars, and it has bequeathed us the sorry fact that
still nations devote more money to armies and navies
than they do to education or the arts.
In savage and nomadic eras this was perhaps
inevitable. It was • natural, before civilisation ad
vanced, that war should be normal, taking the place
of law and friendly arbitramejits not yet framed in fit
tribunals.
It was in those days that the traditional deities were
imagined—all their chiefs, gods of war, gods of the
�6
thunderbolt, and of wrath, Indra, Mars, Jove, and
Jehovah-—whose breath, as his prophet said, is a
stream of fire and brimstone kindling Tophet. But
we have moved a long way from that fighting and
scratching boyhood of the world—at least theoretically.
Even the orthodox have a different idea of the figure
who wields fire and brimstone, and kindles Tophet,—
and they do not worship him, but view him with
hostility and horror. Yet that Jehovah was only a
god of war, and the breath of it is still a stream of
fire and brimstone kindling Tophet. If that now
sounds diabolical, it is because the sulphurous work
of gunpowder is diabolical.
But let us look at a nearer time. Let us take com
paratively modern English history as our mirror, and
see how the national life and face are reflected in it.
As late as Elizabeth’s time this nation made war
against the commerce of the world, and maintained
as a national policy what it now calls piracy. The
proverb was, “No peace beyond the line,” and every
sailor shipped on the buccaneer’s bargain, “No prey,
no pay.” That was then as much patriotism as fight
ing Russia could be now. The celebrated Cavendish
was thought a very pious Christian in his time. At
the close of the 16th century (September, 1588) he
wrote to Lord Hunsdon on his return from a voyage
round the world : “ It hath pleased Almighty God to
�7
suffer me to circumpass the whole globe of the world,
entering in at the Strait of Magellan, and returning
by the Cape of Buena Esperanga ; in which voyage I
have either discovered or brought intelligence of all
the rich places of the world which were ever discovered
by any Christian. . I navigated along the coast of
Chili, Peru, and New Spain, where I made great
spoils. I burnt and sunk 19 sail of ships, small and
great. All the villages and towns I ever landed at I
burned and spoiled.” The good Cavendish begins
his proud narrative, “ It hath pleased Almighty God.”
But how does it strike us—with the horror of one
ship going down with 300 men fresh in our minds ;
how does this hero of sunken ships and burnt towns
now strike our fancy ?
This was near 300 years ago. But let us look
back to the attitude of patriotism, as it was called,
under a quarter of a century ago. The great Crimean
War—the war against Russia—lasted about two years.
For it England and France paid, in round numbers,
a hundred millions of money, and burthened their
people with a taxation never lifted since,—never to
be lifted,—under which they now groan ; and would
groan more but that a long peace has brought
prosperity to sustain it. That war cost Turkey near
thirty millions, and ever since she has been filching
it back wherever she could find a victim at home or
�8
abroad. Austria lost twenty millions of pounds by it,
and Russia sixty millions. In a single night Russia
destroyed her mighty fleet. In the course of that war
England lost in round numbers 50,000 men; France,
170,000; Turkey, 80,000; Russia, 400,000; in all,
700,000 men, in the prime of life, bit the dust to rise
no more; and more than 100,000 homes were plunged
into mourning, poverty, desolation.
And all for what? To extort a treaty now torn up
and scattered in little bits on the waters of the Black
Sea,—as every treaty obtained by violence is sure to
be, so soon as he who signs it under compulsion feels
free enough to tear it. Just as you would treat a
bargain made with a pistol at your head, was that so
costly treaty dealt with; and even so will be treated
any sham settlement of the Eastern Question that
may now be obtained by violence.
Is all this to be repeated ? And if so, will it look any
better twenty-four years hence than the Crimean War
does now ? And three hundred years hence how will
it look if a civilised people still dwells here? Pre
cisely as we now look upon our legalised piracy of the
16th century, and upon Cavendish burning all the
ships he ever saw, and all the towns and villages he
ever landed at.
For Russia has done England no more wrong than
those burnt towns did Cavendish. Russia has done
�9
this country no wrong whatever, notwithstanding the
insults heaped upon her by our press and ministry.
No man has yet arisen to point out a single interest
of this country which Russia has threatened^ or a
single action of her’s which this country would not
have done in her place. She has submitted to this
nation her treaty of peace, and empowered it to raise
objection to anything it pleases in that treaty. No
doubt that treaty needs alteration; it was made,
margined, and meant to be altered. A harder treaty
Germany exacted from France, and England said not
a word.
But Russia plainly asked more than she
means to take. When England has raised her objec
tion and Russia has defied such objection, then, and.
not till then, it will be time for this country to deter
mine whether the point is one for which it is necessary
to draw .the sword.
To unsheath the sword on a point not yet made; on
a request not yet refused; on a matter of diplomatic
form; on a demand to which England herself would
never submit; that were to relapse into the war of
infusoria,—law of the jungle—settlement of tooth and
claw, to be unsettled by any stronger tooth and claw
that may grow up.
I have not the slightest fear of war being brought
on by the sober senses of this country. I have no fear
that the cause of right and justice will lead to war.
�IO
But there is reason to fear that the old unfounded
prejudice against Russia,—onecf the superstitions not
yet worn out,—may render possible that dire catas
trophe. It was but the other day that the like pre
judice and superstition were directed against France.
In the time of Nelson Englishmen regarded French
men as their natural foes. Lord Nelson said, “ Whereever a Frenchman anchors his ship, there shall mine
be to fight him.” It is within our memory how
that feeling towards France was strong enough to
line the channel coast with needless fortresses,—
‘ Palmerston’s follies ’ they now are, for which
England paid dearly,—profiting nothing—on which no
one can now look but with shame. A few years after,
England discovered that France was not her natural
enemy but her natural friend; from that country
wealth poured into its coffers, long sealed up by Hate,
unsealed by Alliance; and the fortresses now remain
monuments of an animosity, panic and bluster, such as
one might have hoped would never recur. They are re
curring. The anger against Russia is just as baseless;
will in the future be remembered with equal shame.
It has no foundation but in popular ignorance. The
defence of Russia is no part of my case; were it
ten-fold worse, then that would not justify shedding
one drop of its blood or ours unnecessarily; but I
have often been astounded at the ingenuity with which
�11
that nation is misrepresented to the English people.
Russia is not admirably constituted; few countries
are; but most of the things said against Russia, might
as well be said against the North Pole. It has not a
Parliament; but until it has a people what would be
a Parliament? Only a powerful House of Lords,
without any Commons, oppressing a powerless peas
antry. If there had been a Parliament in Russia, do
you suppose the nobles who must compose it would
■ever have emancipated their own serfs ? There would
have been at this moment many millions of serfs there
instead of the free men and women whom an Emperor
liberated against all aristocratic interest and protest,
and who are the poor people we propose to call from
the fields and schools where they are toiling upward to
independence,—in order that English labourers, leaving
iheirfields and schools may shoot at, and be shot by, them.
Russia consists of a miscellaneous collection of tribes
whom she has so far civilised that they have gained
the feeling of nationality; and few countries can
show a more steady progress. The number of her
journals and magazines almost equals those of England.
Her libraries are invaluable resources for the world.
Several of the greatest authors belong to that country,
and her artists are known through Europe for the
sublimity of their creations. While Russia is supposed
to be ambitious of possessing further territory—her
�12
real distress is that she has too much territory; she
cannot fully occupy it, nor bring its produce freely
into exchange; and she would gladly exchange several
districts large as England for a fresh entrance into the
commerce of the world, which would redound to the
benefit of mankind and her own civilisation. Is it a
great and glorious part for any nation to play—most
of all this nation, the pioneer of commerce—to beat
back another country whenever it makes an effort to
rise and participate in that commercial system which
makes the civility and wealth of mankind ? Are we
to go on for ever in this vicious circle of putting for
ward jealousy where generosity is needed ; and while
leading progress on one hand, bolster up a crumbling
old system on the other ?
If this be not the aim, why are we going to war ?
The Saturday Review of yesterday says it will be a
war of ‘no intelligible sense except national ani
mosity.’ The London Times of yesterday bases its
entire leader on the notion that Russia proposed to
suppress , the discussion of some points of its Treaty in
the Congress ; but even while that article was being
set up the telegram from St. Petersburg was upsetting
it by declaring that Russia did nothing of the kind,
but maintained the right of the Congress to discuss
what it pleased—every point—reserving her right to
be bound by the discussion, or not, just as England
�i3
and other nations reserve the same right. Thus,
while all are searching for the grounds of war, nobody
can discover them.
With Turkey fallen beyond restoration; with the
proposed new map for her rescued populations as
yet unconsidered; with no British interest involved,
and British honour untouched ; the world would be
constrained to say that for England now to break the
peace would be a gratuitous wrong, a disinterested
iniquity, an outbreak of criminal ferocity. But is it
breaking the peace to call out a reserved army ? The
resignation of the Foreign Secretary answers that
question. On such a step but one interpretation can
be placed. Russia having carefully avoided touching
any interest of this country has disappointed the par
tisans of war. Their only chance now is by this
menace to provoke her to some aggression—to raise
a panic in Russia under which she may take some
step, occupy some town or position, or do something
in way of defence which may be construed as aggres
sion, and utilized here to provoke this nation in turn.
The two nations would thus be set by the ears like
two dogs in a ring. If these forces are called out it
will be to that country as a blow in the face. Russia
has faults—many faults, but whatever they may be
from that day she will stand higher than her gratuitous
assailant. However the fortunes of such a war may
�14
go, England can win no real victory. Many of the
brave men around us will fall; many homes will be
draped in mourning; but the one solace of the fallen
soldier and of the broken hearts is that their martyr
dom makes for humanity, for God and the right.
That solace can be theirs only if the reason and con
science of the nation are convinced that the war
is clearly demanded by justice, by freedom, and
humanity.
Is the projected war thus clearly and solemnly
demanded? In this moment of pause before the
thunderbolt is launched, ask yourselves whether it be
a just, a humane thunderbolt ? whether it is directed
by moral principle, and aimed solely by justice ? We
hear something of the prestige of England. What is
the meaning of prestige? It is from prestigium, the
Latin word for a lie. We also hear loud talk of
England’s honour. But a nation’s honour is not main
tained by bloodshed; it is impaired-—-it is lost—by
unnecessary bloodshed. We have relegated to the
barbarism out of which it rose the code of the duel,
with the silly notion that honour among men may
depend on which can draw the other’s blood. War
for honour is just as foolish in a nation as between
two men.
No; there is no honour involved in the case. War
if undertaken at all, must be for vital national interests,
�i5
and self-defence. Otherwise it is dishonourable; and'
victory does not make it less, but more dishonour
able.
Even when most just, War is the worst necessity.
There is, indeed, much to be said for the Quaker maxinr
that 1 the worst peace is better than the best war/'
Whatever its motive the method is savage, and it re
coils terribly—more on the victor than the vanquished.
When all the church-bells of the Prince of Peace are
ringing out glory for successful slaughter, that is thevery moment for fear. The professional slayers of men
are not the wisest nor the best; but war brings them
all to the surface, and victory holds them there.
Trade is thrown out of its normal channels, and never
gets back into them again. It is a flood in one
direction; all the other channels left dry to make it.
The late war in America was as necessary, just, and
humane as a war could be; but the demoralisation of
the country has been fearful, and prevails to this day.
The successful generals were made civil rulers, and
corruption crept through every branch of government.
The sudden wealth of inflated paper led to extrava
gance and luxury among people who did not know
how soon their wealth might turn to rags again. The
attempt to support such style, and meet the increased
prices it entailed, brought on speculative bubbles,—
sham railways, pretentious schemes of men who would
�i6
not return to the humble honest business they followed
before the war; and the inevitable result came,—
financial collapse, chronic depression, and ruin of
labourers : all traceable to the war, just and necessary
.as it seemed, and sanctified though it was by the
■emancipation of four million slaves.
If in the proposed war with Russia England should
be victorious, it will still go very deep into her life.
Without allies, alone, fighting on a foreign soil, it will
be no short and sharp affair,—no two-years affair like
the last; unless the conditions alter it must necessarily
be a steady draught upon this country for many years,
her men and resources, to slowly waste away while
they lay waste the strength and resources of another
nation. By that process a few will be enriched, many
pauperised. It will be a field-day for speculators, the
millenium of adventurers. When it is over, if it ever
is, the nation will be ruled by epaulettes and uniforms.
"Statesmanship will be nowhere. All of our internal
reforms will be set back many years. They who talk
about woman and her claims will be asked whether
women can fight. The labourers turned aside from
many employments will seek them again to find them
dried up. All this has happened in America through
■four years of war, and it can happen here. And no
•conceivable outcome of a war which can only leave the
Eastern Question just where it found it, can com-
�i7
pensate for even a small part of the sufferings and
demoralisations it must entail.
It is a much easier thing to unloose that demon
than to chain him up again. In the last century
Vandreuil brought from America to France a famous
Indian Chief who had been fighting for the French. He
was presented to the King, and when he came into*
the royal presence the Sagamore lifted up his hand,
and said, “This hand has slain 150 of your Majesty’s
enemies in the territories of New England.” This sopleased the King that he knighted the Chief on the
spot, and ordered a pension of eight livres a day tobe paid him during- life. On the Sagamore’s return
to New England he was so impressed by the popularity
of his deeds of slaughter among the French, that he
set about murdering everybody he met. After he
had gone on adorning a state of peace with the arts of
killing which had gained him knighthood and fortune,,
his neighbours combined against him, and he was forced
to flee the country. That Indian may be regarded as
a sort of incarnation of the war-spirit. Its knighthood
and glory are won by wholesale killing; the more
people killed the more the bells peal, and thanks
givings go up to Heaven ; it is the grand apotheosisof ferocity. But when once the arts of peace have been
superseded by the arts of bloodshed; when a genera
tion has learned the black lesson that glorifies strife ;
�i8
think you it will be easy to unlearn all that, and recur
to the old standards of peaceful heroism and the
humble conflict with human evil and sorrow ? War,
like the wild Sagamore, returns to peace knighted and
pensioned for ferocity: that is its ideal of glory,—
military manners, military education, military govern
ment. Which all mean a nation set back many years
on the path of progress, and every rusty weapon in its
ancient constitution polished and turned against its
new and nobler aims.
I have now uttered my faith and feeling in this
momentous matter. They are such as have been
awakened within me by the low thunders on our
horizon of what may be presently a black cloud
shrouding the heavens and sending its bolts down
upon us. At such an hour the grand watchword of
your fathers sounds out again—1 England expects every
man to do his duty.’ It was the watchword of battle ;
it is to-day the watchword of a nobler battle, a battle
against war; a battle to defend the hearts and homes
of England against the threatened ravages of a war
without cause, necessity, or justice.
I have looked on the face of war. That monster
with its snaky locks and fiery blood-shot eyes and
harpy claws, I have seen passing over fair fields and
leaving its footprints, in burning villages, dying- men,
weeping women and children.
The same fearful
�phantom now rises again, girt round with skulls, claws
reeking with blood; it asks to lead this great nation
on that track of desolation. To that invitation, I
for one feel bound to say No !
�WORKS TO BE OBTAINED IN THE LIBRARY.
BY M. D. CONWAY, M.A.
PRICES,
s.
d.
The Sacred Anthology: A Book
of Ethnical Scriptures ..
The Earthward Pilgrimage
Republican Superstitions......
Christianity
.....................................
Human Sacrifices in England ..
Sterling and Maurice
......
Intellectual Suicide
......
The First Love again.........................
Our Cause and its Accusers
Alcestis in England
Unbelief: its nature, cause, and cure ..
Entering Society ..
The Religion of Children
0
2
2
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
6
6
6
0
2
2
2
1
2
2
2
2
7
6
NEW WORK BY M. D. CONWAY, M.A.
Idols and Ideals (including the Essay
on Christianity), 350 pp.
..
..
Members of the Congregation can obtain this
work in the Library at 5/-.
BY A. J. ELLIS, B.A., F.R.8., fie., &o.
Salvation....................................................... 0
Truth
....................................................... 0
Speculation
........................................... 0
Duty
....................................................... 0
Tho Dyer's Hand........................................... 0
2
2
2
2
2
BY REV. P. H. WICKSTEED, M.A.
Going Through and Getting Over
..
0
2
BY REV. T. W. FRECKELTON.
The Modern Analogue of the Ancient
Prophet ..........
02
BY W. C. COUPLAND, M.A.
The Conduct of Life
Hymns and Anthems
......
02
1!; 2!-, 8/.
�
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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The peril of war : a discourse delivered at South Place Chapel, March 31st 1878
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Conway, Moncure Daniel [1832-1907.]
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Place of publication: London
Collation: 19, [1] p. ; 15 cm.
Notes: Part of Morris Miscellaneous Tracts 1. List of 'works to be obtained in the Library' of South Place Chapel at end of pamphlet. Printed by Waterlow and Sons, London Wall.
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[South Place Chapel]
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Pacifism
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English
Morris Tracts
Pacifism
Peace-Religious Aspects-Christianity
Russia
War-Moral and Ethical Aspects
War-Religious aspects
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Text
NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
The first edition of this pamphlet was published less than two years
ago. It consisted of three thousand copies, most of which were sold
in the first two or three months. For some time the pamphlet has
been out of print, and the present moment seems opportune for
issuing a second edition.
I have retained the major portion of the first edition, only excluding
a few paragraphs of temporary value. For these I have substituted
remarks on the current aspects of the question; and by broadening
the printed page I have found room for other additions which are
chiefly statistical, and I hope always practical.
Europe is at this moment in a feverish condition. Rumors of im
pending war startle us day by day, and those who are supposed to
know (whether they do or not) foretell a terrific struggle in the
immediate future between all the leading powers. This much, at least,
is certain; the prodigal preparations that are being made everywhere
for war must sooner or later precipitate a terrible crisis. “ How oft,”
as Shakespeare says, “the means to do ill deeds makes ill deeds done.”
Bismarck and Moltke demand an increase of forty thousand men in
the effective German army, and General Boulanger demands a fresh
vote of an indeterminate number of millions to strengthen the French
military machine. Already the armies of these two countries amount
to nearly a million and a half each, with further available forces of
nearly another million in case of necessity. It is. in fact, stated on
good authority that France has cavalry and artillery ready for two
million infantry, all of whom would be armed with new repeating
rifles. The tension is too great to last. Without mutual disarmament,
France and Germany will certainly come into collision. Yet their
dread of fighting each other singly is so great, that they will strive to
embroil the whole continent before they take the field. Such an enter
prise is unfortunately too easy, for there is no love lost between Italy
and France, the Turkish empire only awaits its final dismemberment,
Austria cannot well stand alone, and England and Russia are almost
hereditary enemies.
Turning our attention homewards, we find a growing clamor for
further expenditure on our Army and Navy, and a constant pressure
.on Ministers by the Court party in the interest of anything but peace.
Lord Salisbury has been offering our alliance to Austria, which is an
implied menace to Russia; and his diplomacy has been carried on with
the same sublime contempt of Parliament and the People which is
evinced by all our Governments alike. We have been threatened
with a Salisbury-Victoria war of inconceivable dimensions, for the sake
of replacing the brother of the Queen’s latest son-in-law on the
Bulgarian throne.
In these circumstances I feel that the time is indeed opportune for a
new edition of my pamphlet, whose influence, however slight, will I
am confident be in favor of peace and progress.
�( 2 )
THE SHADOW OF THE SWOBD.
■------ *------The man-eating monster of fiction is terrible enough to romantic
young minds under the spell of the story-teller, but he is almost genial
and harmless in comparison with the real Ogre of war. Generation
after generation this frightful monster gorges himself on human flesh
and blood, solacing his intervals of satiety with the wine of human
tears. And every tune he prepares for a fresh repast, he demands a
larger provision for his ravenous appetite. What struggles in previous
history equalled in slaughter the contest between North and South in
America, or the later death-wrestle between France and Germany?
Or how could the fiercest combats between ancient empires, even that
of Rome and Carthage, rival the fight between England and Russia
which so many of our journalists have encouraged us to begin with
a liofit heart ? Such a struggle would have kindled the flames of war
from India to the Baltic, and probably set all Europe in an unparalled blaze. Surely the Devil’s cauldron was never heated and
stirred with such levity as now. A crowd of grinning apes playing
with fire in a powder factory were not more grotesquely terrible.
Awful as the Ogre’s blood-tax is, his impositions between meals are
even worse. In the palmy days of the Roman Empire, less than four
hundred thousand troops sufficed to preserve the peace of the world ;
and, if we except petty frontier tussels with barbarians, they often did
so for thirty or forty years together. But Europe has now its.standing
armies, whose total is reckoned in millions, and the peace is broken
three or four times in a generation. Let it also be remembered that
the Roman soldier was a worker as well as a fighter, helping to carry the
practical civilisation of Rome wherever her eagles floated. Our high
roads, the arteries of pedestrian and vehicular circulation through
England, were first made by the imperial legions, who used the pick
and the spade more frequently than the sword. But the armies of
modern Europe are all idlers. Their sole business is destruction. In
peace they consume without producing, and in war they devour like
the locust and the caterpillar. They are not the lame, the blind, the
maimed, and the imbecile, but the young flower of the male population,
withdrawn from productive industry, and supported by the labor of
others while they “ learn the art of killing men.” We shall consider
this economical aspect of the subject more fully presently; meanwhile
let us deal with the causes of war.
_
“ A background of wrath,” says Carlyle, “ which can be stirred up to
the murderous infernal pitch, does lie in every man, in every creature.
True, and this fierce instinct may be held to account directly for the
combats of animals, for primitive human fighting, for duels among
“ civilised ” peoples, and for street fights and all personal brawls. But
it accounts only indirectly for modern warfare. “ Civilised wager of
�( 3 )
battle ” is the game, not of peoples, but, to use Earl Beaconsfield’s
phrase, of “sovereigns and statesmen.” Cowper long ago remarked
that war is a game which kings would not play at were their peoples
wise. The fact is, our brute instincts, racial prejudices and national
vanities are systematically traded on by our rulers. Nothing is so
cheap and easy as a “foreign policy,” as nothing is so hard as a
domestic one ; and nothing so diverts attention from difficult home
affairs as the simple expedient of a foreign broil. If declaring war
lay with Parliament, the juggle would be more arduous. But it does
not. The Government hurries us into war before we can discuss its
policy, and when the matter comes up for debate, not only have things
gone too far for interference, but the question resolves itself into one
of confidence in the ministry, instead of approval of the particular
measure. By that time also the beast in us has tasted blood. The savage
thirst for more is upon us. Illustrated papers and daily war corres
pondence familiarise us with slaughter, and the sane voice of the
keepers of reason is drowned in the clamor of the wild beasts of passion,
scenting carnage and carrion.
Society is now too complex for the simple rules of interpretation
which apply to primitive quarrels. The Crimean war, for instance,
was not fought because Englishmen and Russians were animated by
mutual hatred. Dynastic and political reasons, as usual, played the
chief part in the prelude to that bloody drama. Had Louis Napoleon,
after usurping the French throne, not required an alliance with some
old European monarchy to rehabilitate his name and veil the fact of
his being & parvenu emperor, the struggle of thirty years ago might
never have commenced. As for Italy’s share in the war, it is notorious
that Cavour urged the King of Sardinia into action simply to gain a
military reputation for the kingdom, as a first step to the unification of
the peninsula under a native sovereign; and the Austro-Italian war
naturally followed the success of these tactics. Even before the
Franco-German war, notwithstanding the cry of a Berlin raised by
hired mouchards in the streets of Paris, it is not true that every French
man was yearning to grasp a German throat. The mass of the peasantry
were criminally hoodwinked. They voted “Yes” for the Empire,
thinking it meant Peace, and fancying, as they were told, that the
Republican opposition wished to drive the country into costly and
perilous foreign adventures.
Let us go back still further, and we shall see evidences of the same
truth. Eighty years ago Nelson told his seamen that they had but
one duty—to love old England and hate every Frenchman like the
Devil. Such a sentiment was of course loudly acclaimed, but it was
after all a cultivated sentiment. When Pitt began operations against
France, he found it necessary to tune the pulpit, and bribe and intimi
date the press in England. In due time his policy was successful.
The people were grossly abused, and after a few years’ fighting, when
their blood was up, they were ready for anything in the shape of war.
France merely stood to them as a synonym for enemy. They cursed
and hated Frenchmen with the spirit of a bull rushing at a red cloak ;
�( 4 )
the cunning matador who flourished the scarlet having his own ends to
serve through the creature’s madness.
We may consider it a fact that war is the game of “ sovereigns and
statesmen.” Grimly and strongly, as is his wont, Carlyle has expounded
the modern meaning of war in a famous passage in Sartor Resartus.
Let us hear him :—
“ What, speaking in quite unofficial language, is the net-purport and up
shot of war ? To my own knowledge, for example, there dwell and toil, in
the British village of Dumdrudge, usually some five hundred souls. From
these, by certain ‘ Natural Enemies ’ of the French there are successively
selected, during the French war, say thirty able-bodied men. Dumdrudge,
at her own expense, has suckled and nursed them ; she has, not without
difficulty aud sorrow, fed them up to manhood, and even trained them to
crafts, so that one can weave, another build, another hammer, and the
weakest can stand under thirty stone avoirdupois. Nevertheless, amid much
weeping and swearing, they are selected: all dressed in red; and shipped
away, at the public charges, some two thousand miles, or say only to the
South of Spain ; and fed there till wanted. And now to that same spot in
the south of Spain are thirty similar French artisans, from a French Dum
drudge, in like manner wending; till at length, after infinite effort,
the two parties come into actual juxtaposition ; and Thirty stands fronting
Thirty, each with a gun in his hand. Straightway the word ‘Fire!'is
given; and they blow the souls out of one another; and in place of sixty
brisk useful craftsmen, the world has sixty d®ad carcases, which it must
bury, and anew shed tears for. Had these men any quarrel? Busy as the
Devil is, not the smallest; .nay, in so wide a Universe, there was even, uncon
sciously, by commerce, some mutual helpfulness between them. How then?
Simpleton! their Governors had fallen out; and instead of shooting one
another, had the cunning to make these poor blockheads shoot.”
Carlyle is right. That is the truth about modern war. Democracy
has appeared on the scene of politics, but it has not fully assumed its
role. The drama is still played by the old actors of the upper classes,
and will be so, until the new company is properly formed and cast for
the various parts. Even in France, although the empire is gone, the
old ruling classes are still in power. They defer somewhat to the
Democracy in home affairs, but in foreign matters they treat it
with contemptuous disregard. They carry France into all sorts of
adventures for their own benefit. The Empire went to Algeria, and
the Republic goes to Tunis. Louis Napoleon sent armies to Mexico,
and Jules Ferry sends them to China. The motive is the same in both
cases; the French deputies are cajoled and manoeuvred in the same
way; and the French people are fooled and plundered with the same
easy impudence. It requires a Hercules to clean out an Augean stable.
When a leader of Gambetta’s greatness and force arises again, there
may be some hope, if he turns his back on the selfish exploiters of
society, sets his face resolutely to the people, and stretches out his
hands to them for salvation.
The world’s peace will never be secure until the Democracy takes
the reins of power into its own hands. Parliaments will be less ready
to declare war than Governments. Men will vote against war when
�the decision lies with them, who would not vote against their party
when hostilities have begun, and it is too late to undo the mischief
without overturning the ministry. The formalities of public debate
would also allow a pause for reason to assert itself. The first passionate
impulse of revenge would have time to subside, and wisdom,
justice and humanity would gain a hearing.
At present we are “ rushed ” into war. The Sovereign has the power
of declaring war, and in many cases it is beyond doubt that royalty is
largely responsible for the inception and development of international
quarrels. Was it not Lord Palmerston who had to threaten the late
Prince Consort for intermeddling with the négociations between
England and Russia ? And was it not the Court party, as well as the
bondholders, that incited Mr. Gladstone to begin military operations
in Egypt, in order that the Duke of Connaught, safely sheltered under
Lord Wolseley’s wing, might earn a little cheap glory and win a few
bastard laurels ? This is the kind of backstairs influence which our
effete monarchy now wields, to our perpetual loss and disgrace. The
constitutional power of the Soverign to declare war is, of course, never
exercised without the advice and consent of her responsible ministers ;
in other words, the Queen no more actually declares war than she
actually appoints bishops. The Cabinet is really supreme, and these
officials take advantage of a constitutional fiction to carry matters with
a high hand. In domestic business they are obliged to consult Parlia
ment before they can move a step ; in foreign affairs they act first and
consult it afterwards. Even then it is only because they need its
endorsement for their acceptances. A vote of censure may be moved
and «my be passed upon them, as we all know ; but what Ministry fears
such a contingency ? Earl Beaconsfield did as he pleased until the
country flung him from office, and he smiled at Parliamentary votes of
censure. Mr. Gladstone was just as little terrified by them. He knew
that “ the party ” would stick to him through thick and thin. They do
not like the expense of an election ; they trust to the chapter of acci
dents to pull the Government through its troubles before the fateful
day of reckoning ; and meanwhile they pacify their consciences by a
few timid, ambiguous speeches, and a trimming side-vote of entirely
harmless protest.
All that remains to Parliament is the “ power of the purse-strings,”
which is a ghastly sham, for what Government that can defy votes of
censure need fear a stoppage of supplies? A few Radicals might
challenge a division, and their action might produce a considerable
moral effect on the country, but there it would end. They could no
more check the Government than a road-stone checks the cart-wheel.
There is a jolt, but down comes the wheel again, and steadily revolves
its course. The fact is, the “ power of the purse-strings ” is one of
the worst of the many shams of our boasted constitution. It meant
something when the Sovereign really did declare war, and solicited
money from the people’s representatives to carry it on ; but it is
absolutely meaningless now that the leaders of those very repre
sentatives perform that function under a thin disguise.
�( 6 )
Before long this question will emerge into the field of practical poli
tics, and become a burning one indeed. It may be true, as Burke
said, that “ Statesmen are placed on an eminence that they may have
a larger horizon than we can possibly command.” But the extraordin
ary growth of the modern press, and the spread of education and
intelligence, since Burke’s time, have greatly diminished that advantage.
The time has gone by for the “ confidence trick ” in politics. Secret
service money and diplomacy will soon have to go together. Demo
cracy will demand that all its business be transacted in public. It will
not permit a handful of politicians at discretion
“To open
The pui’ple testament of bleeding war.”
It will insist on that power being vested in the whole nation, through
its elected representatives. And such a wise and just change will be
one of the best guarantees of peace.
Following Carlyle, Mr. Ruskin has impeached the governing classes
in respect to war. In the second letter of Fors Clavigera, he styled
the upper classes the great Picnic Party, and inquired what they had
done for the “ lower orders ” they lord it over with such serene
audacity. “They have,” he said, “spent four hundred millions of
pounds here in England within the last twenty years—how much in
France and Germany I will take some pains to ascertain—and with
this initial outlay of capital they have taught the peasants of Europe —
to pull each other’s hair.”
No doubt the upper classes furnish good fighting men, just like the
lower classes, for brute courage is common enough, and, as John Bright
says, any quantity of it can be gotfora shilling a day. YetTommy Atkins
dies as well as his officer, only he has nothing to do with the war
except risking his life, all the direction and all the glory and profit
resting with his superiors.
Go through the Peerage and see what an enormous number of
military and naval posts are held by its scions. They command our
forces, they get the lion’s share of pay, they shine in the Gazettes, and
they receive all the honors and rewards worth having. Poor Tommy
Atkins dies unannaled and unknown, or if he survives, has to content
himself with the reflection that virtue is its own reward. His wife and
children (if the celibate rule of the army for privates allows him those
luxuries) are left to semi-starvation or vice or crime, unless they gravi
tate to the workhouse. Tommy had much better be at home earning
an honest living, as he himself generally knows ; but he goes abroad
to fight the battles of the upper classes because their villainous laws
have starved him into the able-bodied citizen’s last resource.
Those upper classes, from the Queen to the humblest member of
Society (with a capital SQ, being divorced from honest industry, are
naturally predatory and nomadic in character, and they are ever seek
ing to gratify their tastes in person or by proxy. They inherit from
Feudal times the prejudice in favor of fighting men. They love Mili
�( 7 )
tarism and hate Industrialism, which has been supplanting it for cen
turies and will finally extinguish it. A salient, and in some respects a
superior type of them, was the late Colonel Burnaby. This “ dashing
fellow slipped off to the Soudan without leave and fought there with
out a commission. He had no more business with our troops than he
most perfect stranger. He was driven there solely by his love of
fighting. His motives were no more respectable than a tiger s, and he
died at last appropriately stuck like a pig. One of his ambitions was
to enter Parliament, where the Fighting Interest is already represented
by a hundred and sixty-eight members. Add to this that two hundred
and seventy-two members are connected with the Peerage by birth or
marriage, and you will easily understand how England is so frequently
pushed into war. Remember too that Her Majesty has a passion for
soldiers, and that when she breaks the monotony of her seclusion, it is
usually to review her troops or decorate a few “ heroes ” who have
distinguished themselves on the battle-field.
Mr. Bright once said that without declaring all wars unjustifiable,
he would like to see a single war justified. It was a request very diffi
cult to comply with. Every war we enter upon is perfectly righteous,
but somehow the historian afterwards writes them all down as crimes
or mistakes. Self-defence is a natural instinct; it never can be eradi
cated, and it never should. But it implies an aggressor; and conse
quently all justification of war on the one side only serves to heighten
its guiltiness on the other. A great conqueror is only another name
for a great criminal. Nature quietly buries and conceals every trace
of his ravages. Would that the world could as soon forget him, or
remember him only to condemn.
Priests may consecrate our banners, without regard to the merits of
the side on which they are ranged, or the awful scenes over which
they float; every regiment may carry its chaplain for ghostly succor ;
and the Church may solicit God’s blessing on every bloody enterprise
we engage in. But the teachers of religion cannot decree right and
wrong, nor have they any magic to transform crime into virtue. “ The
primal duties shine aloft like stars ” beyond the reach of chance and
change, however momentarily obscured by clouds of incense from a
thousand altars. And if the ministers of the Prince of Peace cannot
see the monstrous wickedness of war, there happily remains enough
instinctive justice and mercy in the breasts of heretics to brand it as a
capital crime against humanity.
Alas! how few realise the horror of war. The Romance of War is
more easily imagined—the glowing uniforms, the shining arms, the
prancing steeds, the martial music, and heroes contending for glory!
And pulses thrill on reading feats of arms, and blood glows at the
record of a “ splendid charge.” But, as Dickens wrote—
‘ 1 When the ‘splendid charge’ has done its work, and passed by, there
will be found a sight very much like the scene of a frightful railway accident.
There will be the full complement of backs broken in two ; of arms twisted
wholly off ; of men impaled upon their own bayonets ; of legs smashed up
�( 8 )
like bits of firewood; of heads sliced open like apples; of other heads
crunched into soft jelly by the iron hoofs of horses ; of faces trampled out
of all likeness to anything human. That is what skulks behind a ‘ splendid
charge.’ ”
Now let us turn from the graphic novelist to the experienced
journalist. This is what Dr. Russell, the famous Times war correspon
dent, wrote from the battlefield of Sedan : —
“ Let your readers fancy masses of colored rags glued together with blood
and brains, and pinned into strange shapes by fragments of bones. Let them
conceive men's bodies without heads, legs without bodies, heaps of human
entrails attached to red and blue cloth, and disembowelled corpses in
uniform,' bodies lying about in all attitudes with skulls shattered, faces
blown off, hips smashed, bones, flesh and gay clothing all pounded together
as if brayed in a mortar, extending for miles . . . and then they cannot, with
the most vivid imagination, come up to the sickening reality of that butchery.”
O the glorious Romance of War! Listen. Thirty thousand skeletons
of Russian and Turkish soldiers were shipped to England in 1881
as ma mire!
Well does Byron sing of war:
“ Lo! where the giant on the mountain stands,
His blood-red tresses deep'ning in the sun,
With death-shot glowing in his fiery hands,
And eye that scorcheth all it glares upon;
Restless it rolls, now fixed, and now anon
Flashing afar,—and at his iron feet
Destruction cowers, to mark what deeds are done.”
The poet’s image is daring, yet how true ! Let our own brutalities in
the Soudan witness. The adult male population of whole tribes slaugh
tered ; women amongst the dead, and boys grasping a spear; wives
and maidens ravished by our Turkish auxiliaries ; peaceful villages
burnt to the ground because the inhabitants did not wait to welcome
us ; miles of desert sand cemented with blood and strewn with corpses,
and thousands of desert vultures screaming joyously at their unwonted
feast.
War is just in self-defence, or in defence of a neighbor unjustly
attacked. We are not of those who believe in the refusal of aid
between nations in all circumstances. The sword may be, for some
time yet, as necessary as the lancet, but it should never be drawn
except against the enemies of mankind. “ The blood of man,” said
Burke, “ should never be shed but to redeem the blood of man. It is
well shed for our friends, for our country, for our kind. The rest is
vanity ; the rest is crime.”
When any of these great duties call us we should be ready to defend
them ; and if ever England were menaced by a brutal invader, the most
peaceful citizen might well wish her to be animated by the same brave
spirit that whipped the pride of the Armada and drove the hectoring
Dutch fleets from the English seas. Nay, to defend the nation’s liberties
�( 9 )
in the dark hour of extreme peril, one might hope that her sons would
make ramparts of their bodies, and if they could not make a pact with
victory, make a pact with death; that her daughters would gladly
resign their dearest in the spirit of the Spartan mothers of old ; and
that the very children might, like Hannibal, be dedicated to a righteous
revenge.
We are then far from loving peace at any price. But there is little
need to denounce such an impossible doctrine. It is not that way our
danger lies. Our fighting instincts, inherited from savage ancestors,
are too strong for us to submit tamely to aggression, even if the law
of self-preservation did not prompt us to defend our own.
National defence was not the origin of our modern standing armies.
They are legacies from Feudalism. The retainers of feudal nobles
became the king’s soldiers as the power of the crown strengthened over
its vassals. Disguise it how you will, the institution of standing armies
still savors of its origin. The military forces of Europe are the instru
ments of tyranny and the support of privilege. During the last fifty
years they have been as often employed in suppressing liberty at home
as in fighting the foreigner abroad. Perhaps England and Switzerland
are the only exceptions to this rule. The notion that armies are the
servants of the people is extremely recent. Fighting for his king was
the soldier’s recognised vocation. That spirit still half animates our
British troops, as it wholly animates the troops of Russia. In Germany
the idea of the fatherland may have overshadowed that of the emperor;
but little more than a century ago Frederick the Great’s armies fought
at his absolute command ; and Prussia, like every other German state,
was ruled on the same patriarchal principle. Democracy is very recent,
and has had no time to mould its own institutions. Those who are not
conversant with history do not understand that the institutions which
exist are relics of monarchy. And of these the worst is a standing army.
This fact has some bearing on the morality of a soldier's profession.
A French Radical said the other day, in the epigrammatic way of his
nation, that the business of an army is to defend the frontier. An ad
mirable sentiment! But that is not the soldier’s view. He goes with
cheerful alacrity wherever he is sent, and if he is ordered to the other
side of the globe he feels that brisk stirring of the blood which accom
panies novel adventures. French soldiers, drafted from the citizen
army of a Republic where the conscription is universal, set sail without
misgivings for Algeria, Tunis, Madagascar or China. “ Theirs not to
reason why,” as our Poet Laureate sings ; “theirs but to do or die.”
Does not all this show that Democracy has had but little if any effect
upon the army ? When men enter it they become possessed by its
spirit. And that spirit is military, authoritative, monarchical.
The English army is composed of volunteers, and is in a sense mer
cenary. And what are the motives that impel men to join it?
“ Generally,” says Bacon, “ all warlike people are a little idle, and love
danger better than travail.” The description applies admirably to our
upper classes who supply the army with officers, and no doubt it fits some
of the lower classes who supply it with privates. For the rest, men enter
�(. 10 )
the army as they engage in other professions, for a living ; and after a cer
tain allowance for ties of blood, they care as little on which side they fight
as a lawyer cares on which side he pleads. It is hardly fair to define
a soldier as a man who engages to kill anybody for a shilling a day, for
this loses sight of the fact that he undertakes to be killed as
well as to kill for that sum. But the definition, although not
accurate, contains a dreadful element of truth. It would be
unfair to visit on the individual soldier the whole odium of the
institution to which he belongs. True, and the hangman. is
scarcely responsible for capital punishment; yet we should shrink
from his company at our tables. Perhaps the wisest plan is to hate
the institution and pity its members.
Mr. Ruskin many years ago justified the soldier’s trade, or at least
exalted it:—
“ Philosophically, it does not, at first sight, appear reasonable (many
writers have endeavored to prove it unreasonable) that a peaceable and
rational person, whose trade is buying and selling, should be held in less
honor than an unpeaceable and often irrational person, whose traders slaying.
Nevertheless, the consent of mankind has always, in spite of the philosophers,
given precedence to the soldier. And this is right. For the soldier’s trade
verily and essentially, is not slaying, but being slain. This without well
knowing its own meaning, the world honors it for. A bravo’s trade is
slaying; but the world has never respected bravos more than merchants:
the reason it honors the soldier is, because he holds his life at the service of
the State. Reckless he may be—fond of pleasure or of adventure—all kinds
of bye-motives and mean impulses may have determined the choice of his
profession, and may affect (to all appearance exclusively) his daily conduct
in it; but our estimate of him is based on this ultimate fact—of which we
are well assured—that put him in a fortress breach, with all the pleasures
of the world behind him, and only death and his duty in front of him,
he will keep his face to the front; and he knows that . this choice
may be put to him at any moment, and has beforehand taken his pait vir
tually takes such part continually—does, in reality die daily.”
The element of truth in Ruskin’s eloquent defence of the soldier we
have already acknowledged ; the rest we deem fanciful and mistaken.
Miners and colliers risk their lives daily, but who calls them heroes ?
Policemen often carry their fives in their hands, but who worships
them ? Sailors incur on the average greater danger than soldiers, but
who chants their praises ? The fact is, they have no share in the pride,
pomp and circumstance of glorious war. It is our fighting instincts
that throw a glamor round the soldier. Our intellects approve indus
try, but our inherited feelings consecrate militarism. . In the same
wav, long after the Jews had settled down to agriculture, they
instinctively adored the nomadic character, and all their legendary
heroes came from the pastoral state.
_
.
A soldier holds not only his life, but his conscience, at the. service
of the State. Ruskin does not notice that. But, as civilisation
advances and morality refines, the fact will become more obvious.
Hosea Biglow is not so eloquent as the author of “ Unto this Last, yet
he utters many a sound truth in quaint language.
�(11)
“ Ef you take a sword and dror it,
An’ go stick a feller thru,
Guv’ment ain’t to answer for it,
God’ll send the bill to you.”
What does Ruskin say to that ? We fancy it would grate harsh truth
through his most melodious eloquence.
Our inherited fighting instincts account also for the applause with
which we greet the upper classes when they reward successful generals
at our expense. Sir Beauchamp Seymour was made a lord for bom
barding Alexandria, and received a present of £25,000. Lord Wol
seley had a grant of £25,000 for the Ashantee war, the only remaining
trophy of which is King Coffee’s umbrella; and another £30,000
for his Egyptian victories. Oh for another Swift to satirise this mon
strous absurdity! In the sixteenth number of his Examiner, that
splendid wit compared the rewards, amounting to over half a million,
heaped on Marlborough, with the reward given to “ a victorious
general of Rome, in the height of that Empire.” Nearly a thousand
pounds might have been spent on a triumphal arch, a sacrificial bull,
and other features of public celebration in honor of the general; but
the only thing he actually received was a crown of laurel worth two
pence, and perhaps an embroidered robe. The laurels of a modern
general are more costly. He fights for solid pudding, not for empty
praise.
Before we leave the morality of war let us print the last century’s
butcher’s bill. It is an edifying document:
LOSS OE MEN.
YEARS
1793 to 1815 ... England and France...........
Russia and Turkey ...........
■ 1828
1830 to 1840 ... Spain and Portugal...........
1830 to 1847 ... France and Algeria . .........
Civil Strife in Europe
1848
1854 to 1856 ... Crimean War ..................
Franco-Austrian War
1859
1863 to 1865 ... American Civil War...........
Austro-Prussian War
1866
France and Mexico ..........
1864 to 1870 ... Brazil and Paraguay...........
1870 to 1871 ... Franco-German War...........
1876 to 1877 ... Russo-Turkish War...........
Total
...
1,900,000
120,000
160,000
110,000
60,000
784,000
63,000
800.0G0
51,000
65,000
330,000
290,000
180,000
...
4,913,000
This prodigious slaughter-bill does not include those killed in the
various English and French expeditions. M. Beaulieu estimates the
French losses alone in these at 65,000. Overfire millions of men sacri
ficed to the,Moloch of War in less than a century ! Imagination shrinks
appalled. What a hecatomb of victims to “low ambition and the
pride of kings.”
�( 12 )
The wickedness of war is only exceeded by its folly. Of the Crimean
War, Mr. Kinglake says that “ it brought to the grave a million of
workmen and soldiers, and consumed a pitiless share of the wealth
which man’s labor had stored up as the means of life.” Yet what
advantage did it bring anyone ? The treaty of peace which closed
it has been torn to shreds; every provision in it is a dead letter.
What a glorious result after sacrificing a million lives and wasting
three hundred and forty millions of money! The myriad graves in
the Crimea are tenanted by murdered victims of la haute politique, and
the churchyard of Sebastopol is as great a monument of criminal folly
as the pyramid of skulls erected by a Tamerlane or an Attila.
What should we think of a man in private life who whipped out a
sword every time he quarreled, and tried to cut his opponent’s throat?
He would soon be relegated to the prison or the asylum. What, also,
do we think of a man who sticks to his opinion, however rash it may
be, and refuses to abandon it because he has once taken it up—as
though his infallibility were the chief thing in the universe, to which
all else must be subordinated; and who would sooner be ruined than
confess to a mistake? We consider him a dolt, a mule, a vain idiot.
And if he refuses to submit his differences with others to friendly or
legal adjudication, we regard him as still worse ; for we naturally think
with Grotius that “ the party who refuses to accept arbitration may
justly be suspected of bad faith.”
Now, what peculiar logic is there that can render the folly of an
individual wisdom in a nation, or transform private wickedness into a
national virtue ? We have not the slightest doubt that quarrels
between nations will eventually be settled as quarrels between indi
viduals are settled now, by appeal to an acknowledged tribunal. That
is the certain tendency of our age. Even Prince Bismarck, the man
of blood and iron, assists it by playing the part of “the honest broker.”
The Geneva Arbitration of 1872 on the “ Alabama ” dispute was the
inauguration of a new era. The arbitrators’ award mulcted England
in £3,000,000, but that sum is trivial to what the dispute might have
cost us had it rankled into a war. Since then no less than sixteen
international disputes have been settled in the same way.
Napoleon himself, in the solitude of St. Helena, dreamed of “ the
application to the great European family of an institution like the
American Congress, or that of the Amphictyon in Greece ”; and he
asserted that “this agglomeration of European peoples must arrive,
sooner or later, by the mere force of events.” How many eminent men
have since expressed the same view. Victor Hugo has uttered the right
great word “ The United States of Europe.” A recognised international
tribunal, a high court of nations, would allow of a great reduction in
the armies of Europe. Public opinion would restrain the fractious ; or as
Tennyson says, “then the common sense of most would hold a fretful
realm in awe.” Even the most selfish State, in its moment of intensest
excitement, would shrink from violating international law if the out
rage brought upon it swift punishment by the armed comity of Europe.
Gradually, with the cessation of war and the growth of peaceful senti
�( 13 )
ments, Europe would become ashamed of its barbarous past; and we
might reasonably hope that the benign process would continue,
“ Till the war-drums throbbed no longer, and the battle-flags were furled
Tn the Parliament of man, the Federation of the world.”
We promised to say more on the economical aspects of war. Take
the following (1885) list of European States, with the cost of their
armies and navies, and the interest on their national debts:—
Country.
Austria..........
Belgium..........
Denmark
France ..........
Germany
Great Britain
Greece ..........
Holland..........
Italy
..........
Norway...........
Portugal
Roumania
Russia ..........
Servia ...........
Spain ..........
Sweden..........
Switzerland ...
Turkey..........
Army and Navy.
... £13,400,000 ...
...
1.900,000 ...
...
1.000.000 ...
... 35.500,000
... 18.200,000 . .
... 28.900.000 ...
...
1.000,000 ...
... 2,700.000
...
... 19.000,000 ...
450.000 ...
...
1,400.000 ...
...
1,100.000 ...
... 33,000,000 ...
350,000
7.500,000 ...
...
1.200,000 ...
700.000 ...
...
4,500,000 ...
£171,800,000
Interest on National Debt.
............ £21,400,000
...........
4,100,000
...........
500,000
........... 47,000.000
........... 13,400,000
........... 30,000,000
...........
875,000
...........
2,700,000
........... 20,000.000
...........
270.000
...........
2,900,000
.........
2,000,000
........... 28.500.000
...........
310.000
........... 10,750,000
...........
600.000
...........
78.000
........... 12,330,000
£197,713,000
Here is a grand total of three hundred and seventy millions spent every
year on war preparations and on account of past wars.
Let it also be noted that the annual war-bill of nearly every country
goes on increasing. England is no exception. Mr. Gladstone started
well when he took the reins from Earl Beaconsfield, but his military
and naval expenditure went up year by year, until his twenty-six
millions grew to thirty, to say nothing of the £9,451,000 vote of credit
he obtained to put him in a position to play the game of brag with his
old friend the Czar of Russia.
Now take the cost of a few great wars during the last thirty years :
Crimean War ...
Italian War (1859)
American Civil War
*
Austro-Prussian War
Franco-Prussian War
Russo-Turkish War
Zulu and Afghan Wars
£340,000,000
60,000,000
1,400,000,000
66,000,000
500,000,000
210,000,000
30,000,000
£2,606,000,000
* This was the cost to the Northern States alone. The cost to the Southern States
would probably bring the total bill up to £2,000,000,000.
�( 14 )
This would allow £2 for every man, woman and child on the globe. It
would make two railways round the earth at the rate of £50,000 a
mile. It would provide every adult male in Europe with a freehold
farm of 100 acres in the United States.
During the present century England alone has spent on her army
and. navy, and. the interest of her national debt, nearly six thousand
millions. A third of that sum would b uy up her whole soil from the
landlords, restore it to the people, an d settle the Land Question for
ever. Out of every pound of taxes we now pay, 16s. l|d. goes for
War, War Debt, or preparation for War, and only 3s. lOjd. for all
other purposes. And as the chief part of our national income is raised
by indirect taxation, it follows that the main burden of war falls upon
the shoulders of the People.
Compare with the colossal sum we spend on War the paltry amount
we spend on Education, and then ask whether we are not afflicted with
insanity. Ruskin once inquired what was the proper view of a rich
householder who expended ten pounds a year on his library and five
hundred on policemen to guard his shutters. Such a householder is
Christian Europe.
England’s National Debt is over seven hundred millions, and nearly
every penny of it has been contracted by our class-government since
the “ glorious revolution ” of 1688, solely for the purpose of main
taining “ the balance of power ” in Europe, which simply meant inter
fering with other people’s business, or sharing in their quarrels. We
began, at the accession of William III., with a paltry debt of £664,264;
but small as the sum was, it acted like a vital germ, from which was
developed a huge system of financial corruption. When the taxes
of the country were once pledged, it was easy to draw further
drafts on posterity for the conduct of enterprises that would
never have been undertaken if their expenses had to be borne
at the time. Accordingly, we find that, at the accession of
Queen Anne, the Debt amounted to £12,767,225. Marlborough’s
campaigns nearly trebled it, for at the accession of George I.
it had increased to £36,175,460. Under that imported monarch it
rose to £52,523,023 ; and under his successor to £102,014,018. Then
came George III., who was for a long while mad and always blind;
and under his perverse and foolish rule, the Tory government involved
us in a wanton war with our brethren in America, and afterwards in
a^ mad war with the French Republic. The result was that when
George III. departed to whatever place is reserved for his like, the
Debt amounted to the prodigious sum of £834,900,960.
if- At this moment the male population of England, that is, every actual or
potential head of a family, is indebted £85 4s. 8d. to the national bond
holders, because preceding governments, without obtaining or soliciting
the people’s consent, went fighting at large in Europe and America,
wherever an opportunity for a scrimmage presented itself.
This National Debt handicaps us with an initial burden of over
twenty-two millions a year in the shape of interest. Our fathers danced
to a sorry tune, and we have to pay the exorbitant piper. And as
�()
most of our taxation is raised indirectly, it follows that this yearly
interest is a perennial burden on our national industry. During the
present century, to go back no farther, we have paid in interest alone
the terrific sum of £2,310,735,582. Surely a visitor from a distant
planet (say Voltaire’s Saturnian) on learning these facts, would suppose
that he had lighted on a race of madmen.
Who can point to a single particle of good which our lavish expen
diture on war and warlike preparations has conferred on any human
being, except generals, army contractors, and bondholders? When
the little boy, in Southey’s poem, wants to know what the battle of
Blenheim was all about, and what benefit resulted from the rival
armies leaving their empty skulls as memorials to future ages, old
Kaspar is nonplussed.
“ I really cannot tell,” said he,
“ But ’twas a glorious victory.”
A glorious victory ! Yes, the adjective is thrown over it to hide the
misery and folly. “ Glory ” is the bait on the despot’s hook; the gilded
fetter on a strutting slave ; the plume in the helm of a mailed free
booter. True and lasting glory is only won by the victories of peace.
“ These are matters so arduous,” as Milton told Cromwell, “ that in
comparison of them the perils of war are but the sports of children.”
People still talk of “ glory,” but wherein consists the true greatness
of England ? In the noble language of Landor—
“ The strength of England lies not in armaments and invasions ; it lies in
the omnipresence of her industry, and in the vivifying energies of her high
civilisation. There are provinces she cannot grasp; there are islands she
cannot hold fast; but there is neither island nor province, there is neither
kingdom nor continent, which she could not draw to her side and fix there
everlastingly, by saying the magic words Be Free. Every land wherein she
favors the sentiments of freedom, every land wherein she forbids them to be
stifled, is her own; a true ally, a willing tributary, an inseparable friend.
Principles hold those together whom power would only alienate.”
Would that the Jingoes, the halting Liberals, and the half-hearted
Radicals meditated this profound scripture. We should then be
spared such irredeemable crimes as our invasion of the Soudan by a
professedly Liberal government, and the wholesale butchery of men
who, in the Premier’s own language, were “ rightly struggling to be
free.” There are at present only two countries in Europe that cherish
a constant friendship for England. One is Greece, whom we aided in
her gallant struggle for emancipation; the other is Italy, who remem
bers our sympathy when she revolted against the Austrian yoke.
Meanwhile, let it be noticed that our governing classes always keep
a bogey to frighten us with. Long ago it was France ; now it is Russia.
Earl Beaconsfield traded on that bogey, and Mr. Gladstone followed
suit; in fact, he nearly involved us in a war with Russia through a
squabble over an Afghan outpost. England is perpetually warned
against the stealthy advances of “ Russian aggrandisement.” But are
not our shocked feelings a little amusing? Russian conquests during
�( 16 )
the last hundred and thirty years amount to 1,642,000 square miles
with a meagre population of 17,135,000 ; while England’s conquests in
the same period amount to 2,650,000 square miles, with 250 000 000
people. Our Jingoes appear to think that England may steal sheep,
but .Russia must not catch a rabbit.
All oyer Europe the same game is played. Peoples are filled by
tneir rulers with a blind and passionate hatred of each other. Austria
glares at Russia, and Russia at Austria. France and Germany vie
with each other in military organisation, waiting with feverish blood
and panting breath for the next death-wrestle. Italy prepares herself
to strike in the combat as it suits her interest. And the smaller States,
like Switzerland and Belgium, tremble lest their neutrality should
be violated in the bloody strife. Christendom is armed to the
teeth; and as Sir Henry Maine too truthfully observes, “During
the last quarter of a century, a great part, perhaps the greatest
part, of the inventive faculties of mankind has been given to the
arts of destruction.” The workman in the factory and the peasant
in the field know that they may at any moment be summoned from
their peaceful avocations by the trumpet of battle. They know also
that war has become more and more scientific, that horrid explosives
have made it more ghastly, and that they would be marshalled for
hideous slaughter, where each man sees the comrade fall at his side
but not the enemy who strikes him dead. Some of them who sicken
at the prospect, not with coward fears but with manly disgust, mio-ht
almost cry with Shakespeare’s Northumberland:
°
Let heaven kiss earth! Now let not Nature’s hand
Keep the wild flood confined! Let order die!
And let this world no longer be a stage
To feed Contention in a lingering act;
But let one spirit of the first-born Cain
Reign in all bosoms, that, each heart being set
On bloody courses, the rude scene may end,
And darkness be the bui-ier of the dead !
Europe is the modern Damocles. The ancient bearer of that name
envied the wealth of Dionysius of Sicily, who jestingly gave him a taste
of royal pleasures. Damocles ascended the throne and gazed admi
ringly on the wealth and splendor around him. But looking up, he
perceived a sword hanging over his head by a single hair. The sight
so terrified him that he begged to be removed from his position.
Europe likewise sits at its feast of life, but the fatal weapon suspended
overhead mars its felicity. Serpents twine in the dance, arms clash in
the song, the meats have a strange savor, there is a demoniac sparkle in
the wine, and a poisonous bitterness in the dregs of the cup. All is
darkened by the Shadow of the Sword.
Printed and Published by G. W. Foote at 28 Stonecutter Street, London.
�
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Victorian Blogging
Description
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
Date
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Title
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The shadow of the sword
Description
An account of the resource
Edition: 2nd ed.
Place of publication: London
Collation: 16 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: Date of publication from KVK. Part of the NSS pamphlet collection.
Creator
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Foote, G. W. (George William) [1850-1915]
Publisher
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G.W. Foote
Date
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[1887]
Identifier
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N264
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Pacifism
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Peace
War
World Politics-19th Century
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y
The Voice of a Peacemaker (MaftAew v. 9.)
ON
WAR:
SHEWING IN AN IDEAL PICTURE, OR MENTAL
VISION,
HOW MEN, BY THEIR RELIGIOUS SACRIFICES AND PROFESSIONS
OF DUTY TO GOD, ARE BOUND TO MAKE PEACE,
AND BE
AT ONE
WITH ONE ANOTHER.
Christianity is the ideal kingdom (image or vision) of goodness,
which it was the Mission of Jesus to make real; and when we
establish it in our hearts, the ideal is real, and the kingdom of God
then reigns.
Price Sixpence.
FOR DISTRIBUTION, TEN SHILLINGS PER HUNDRED.
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.
�i
�THE WAR.
The Rev. T. G. HEADLEY,
OF PETERSHAM, S.W.,
(Lately Ourate of St Peter's, Great Windmill Street, Haymarket'),
ENTREATS
THE QUEEN,
\
THE EMPEROR, Ì
ENGLAND,
FRANCE,
\
THE KING,
V
AND
THE PEOPLE,
AND
y
GERMANY,
AND ALSO ALL WHO LOVE AND USE THE NAME OF
JESUS,
TO READ THIS VISION,
AND TO GIVE HEED TO THE SPIRIT THEREOF, AND THE
WAR WILL. CEASE.
c3
co
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of the Cross».
At the price
cô
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Q.
�In answer to the letter and prayer of the Archbishop of CanterBishop of Loudon, and the letter of the Bishop of
Oxford (urging that for the spread of righteousness, enlightenment, and
true liberty, it is the duty of the Clergy to make Christian men feel
that Wars are contrary to the teaching of their Master), I have
advertised in the Daily News and Telegraph of the 11th, and the Times
of the 12th of August for a pulpit from which to preach the following
Vision; but not having received even one offer, I publish it for the
sake of the millions suffering in France and Germany; and may the
ministering Angels of Goodness pass it on from house to house.
For woe is it to the world, when, through strifes and Wars without,
the Church can not hear the Witness of God and Minister of Peace;
and through fears within she will not.
�For the purpose of a Sermon, I have made four divisions:
First.—A Text and
a few
Observations
thereon.
Second.—“ The Vision.”
Third.—A few Observations
on the
“Vision.”
Fourth.—The Conclusion.
Fifth.—In a Postscript,
People of England.
a
Word of Warning
to the
��A VISION ON WAR,
AND
HOW CHRISTIANS MAY HAVE PEACE.
---------♦--------
N the Gospel of St Matthew it is said that if ye
have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall
say to this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place,
and it shall remove ; and nothing shall be impossible
to you, ch. xvii. v. 20. And again, if ye shall say
unto this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou
cast into the sea, it shall be done, ch. xxi. v. 21.
Now, a mountain is an obstacle separating cities
and citizens from one another, preventing their social
communion. And since Wars separate nations and
individuals from one another, therefore War is a
mountain. And a mountain of that particular kind,
which seems referred to in the text, as one which it
would be desirable to get rid of as effectually as
though it were literally cast into the sea. And in my
belief, War may be as effectually prevented, as
«
though it were a monster we hated and had the power
to cast into the sea, if we only had the will to do so.
But we must have the will as well as the power.
For though a man had the power of a giant, or
a King, he might not have the will to exercise it
in our favour. And therefore, even had we an
almighty power, it is still necessary that our
heart or will should be moved to exercise it. And
I
�8
as we have the power to eschew evil and do good,
we have only to use this power for evil to ceases
And it is the object of my paper to show this,
and to bring it home to every one as a fact, that we
have the power within ourselves to remove War when
we have the will. I do not say that it is within the
power of any one particular person to effect this fronj
the beginning to the end. But I feel assured, when
it is known and felt by all that they individually
and collectively possess this power, they will then be
ready to give heed to the voice and will of any out
who commands their respect and sympathy, and who
rises (on behalf of the millions of helpless worn®»
and children in France and Prussia) in the name of
Jesus, to advocate peace on earth and good-will
towards men. And in the hopes that such an on«
will rise, and to prepare the way, in order that men
may give heed to him, I have drawn the following
picture. But I had this Vision on the 4th of July,
and therefore did not draw it for this War, of
which I had then no idea. And the immediate cause
of my writing it was the sound of a Military Bugle in
Richmond Park, which seemed to awake within me a
memory of all the horrors of the Crimean War, and
of War generally. And I yearned for the guidance
of the Holy Spirit to assist me in divining how to
prevent it, and the following Vision is the result
thereof; and I wish I could be brought before the
Queen to preach it (as Joseph, though a felon in the
sight of the Egyptians, was brought to the notice of
Pharaoh,and as David, though a shepherd only, was
brought before Saul the King), in order that, through
her influence, it might be noticed and published
throughout France and Prussia as well as England.
And although this seems improbable, if not impossible,
yet we are told that “ the wise and prudent conquer
difficulties by daring to attempt them, whilst sloth
and folly verily create the impossibility they fear.”
�9
And we are also assured that all things are possible
to them that believe. And since the Spirit of Good
is infinite, universal, and all-mighty, and will surely
fill the whole earth, though small as a grain of mus
tard seed at first, let us one and all (who believe
the blessed Scriptures are written for our learning)
endeavour to sow this spiritual seed of goodness and
love, looking to God to give it a hundred-fold in
crease. And if men can so wonderfully combine to
cause evil, as they seem to do in those unions we
have read and heard of in India, they who are as
earnest and zealous for good, ought to succeed in
spreading the Spirit of Good so as to leaven the masses
in Europe. For, by means of the Telegraph over the
earth, through the earth, and under the sea, we
can commune with men as swiftly as an angel on the
wings of the wind, and well nigh with the speed of
lightning itself. And no one can say he is with
out power; for even a Jewish maid-servant was able
to influence Naaman, the Syrian general; even
Pharaoh gave heed to a butler, and sent for the
prisoner Joseph; even King Agrippa was very deeply
affected by Paul, whom Festus stigmatized as mad.
And thus history tells us that the humblest, the
lowliest, and even the most despised of men, may
influence the highest, even some King, who may
again influence his Nation. And such a Nation will
then influence other Nations. Therefore let us one
and all do our part, individually and collectively, to
kindle in our Nation the spirit of goodness and
love, in the hope that we may become the instru
ments of an infinite, universal, and all-mighty Spirit
of Goodness, to leaven our neighbours in France and
Prussia therewith. And with the view of urging all
men, both at home and abroad, to follow in the foot
steps of Jesus in order to effect the glory of God
by bringing Peace on earth and good-will towards
men, I have imagined the following Vision :
�IO
“THE VISION.”
The Armies of two powerful Nations have met to
fight, and stand arrayed in all the panoply of War
face to face, as the North is to the South. The Priest
of the Northern Army, a holy man of God, and
beloved by the whole of his Nation, grieves for the
blood about to be shed (as a Father would grieve at
the slaughter of his children), and goes therefore, as
an Ambassador of his people and King, to the King
of the Southern Army, and thus addresses him : “ Sire,
you have arrayed your army against ours to destroy
it, and having conquered it you will agree to terms
of Peace, but the Soldiers love me as their Father,,
yea even as the Vicar of God upon earth, and to a
man would therefore die for me. Then accept me as
their substitute, and by the shedding of my blood
be appeased as much as though you had sacrificed
our Northern Army, and, being thus satisfied, let
there be peace.”
“ Well! well! ” says the Southern King, “ if your
Army is agreeable to it, so am I.”
“ Nay! nay ! ” say the soldiers of the Northern
Army, “ we are not. Our beloved and sacred Priest
shall not be sacrificed; but we all are willing to die
rather than that a hair of his head should be touched,
or a drop of his blood spilt.”
“ Well! well! ” says the Southern King, “thenlet
it be so.”
“ Nay! nay ! ” says the King of the North, “ it shall
not indeed be so. For this Priest is my servant, and
the Soldiers are my children, and therefore I should
be their substitute, to be sacrificed that thev mav
live.”
“ Great God,” says the King of the South, “ what
�II
amazing thing is this which I do hear and see ? A
holy Priest, ready to die as a substitute for the
people; the people ready to be slain as sheep for
the saving of their Priest and Shepherd ; and their
King ready to be offered as a substitute for the saving
of both.
“ 0 God, what am I that I should do evil to such
a nobly united family as this ? And what am I that
I should require the blood of such a noble brother, of
Sttefe a devoted people, of such a good Priest ? 0 God,
gave me from this sin ! 0 All-mighty, Eternal, and
Infinite Spirit of Goodness, aid me to induce my
Southern Army to make peace without shedding
one drop of blood of this noble Northern Nation.
0 God, would that Thou hadst made me to be King
Over such a noble people as these Northerners ? Oh !
would that ray Priest were inspired with a divine
and holy Spirit! Would that my Priest were like
to this holy Priest of the Northern Army!”
“ Sire,” says the Priest of the Southern Army, “ thy
prayer is granted. Lead me to the altar to be slain
as a substitute for yonder Northern King. For it
becomes my office well thus to die, not only for my
King, not only for my people, but even for our
enemy also. Therefore sacrifice me as a substitute.
I am a willing victim, and wait to be offered up.”
“Nay! nay!” say the soldiers of the Southern
Army,“ but neither shall our Priest be thus slain, for
we are equally ready to die as a substitute for our
beloved and holy Priest as the Northerners are
ready to devote their lives for each other.” “ Then,
says the Southern King, if all are thus ready to be
sacrificed to save each other, what am I—who am I—
that I should be less ready to be sacrificed as a
substitute for not only my people and my Priest,
but also the people, the Priest, and the King my
enemy. But if I thus suffer to save all, then hearken,
0 King of the North, give ear, 0 ye priests and
�12
people, both of the North and South. When I with
my blood have thus bought you, ye are then no
longer your own but mine, and therefore it becomes
from henceforth your duty (as much as though you
were new-born creatures) to know no will ana do
no will but mine. This ye have one and all confessed
to be your Duty in your readiness to sacrifice and to
be sacrificed yourselves as substitutes for the saving
of each other. And if I become the substitute for
all, I become the Saviour of all. For unless I become
the substitute for all, ye are all under a bond, a vow
to suffer for one another; and by that vow thus self
imposed, ye must suffer, if ye would not be thought
cowards, hypocrites, and liars. If, therefore, I thus
suffer as a substitute for you, I not only save your
blood, which is the life, but I save your honour,
without which life is worthless. But since without
me you are devoted to die, and cannot be saved, and
with me as a substitute your blood and honour would
be saved, it is evident that I am made an instrument
of The Almighty to save or to destroy, so that,
humanly speaking, I am made to be a Vicar of The
Almighty to save these people, if I am willing to do
so by the sacrifice of myself as a substitute.
“ But hearken, 0 King of the North ; give ear, 0 ye
Priests and people, both of the North and South,
there is ‘ One ’ greater than myself, One who loveth
mercy better than sacrifice, One whose Spirit is allmighty, eternal, and infinite in Goodness. And in
answer to the prayer of the Northern King to this
infinite and all-mighty Spirit of God, I give heed and
therefore neither sacrifice myself nor ask you to
sacrifice me ; and in exercise of the power you have
entrusted to me to kill or to make alive, I say live,
and follow my example in also giving heed to this
all-mighty, loving, and merciful Spirit of God, by
loving one another as I now agree to love this
Northern King as a brother ; and instead of fighting,
�13
turn your swords into reaping-hooks, and strive to
emulate one another in deeds of love alone. For
when we act thus, there is no necessity for either my
blood or your blood to be shed, because God loves
all, and is best pleased when wejlove one another. ”
“OBSERVATIONS.”
And what is more welcome to the soldier than
peace, with its innumerable comforts, blessings, and
joy to his father, mother, wife, child, and friend ?
For the soldier has little or nothing to do with the
making of wars—and he has little or nothing to do
with the cessation thereof. He is simply a machine,
to be taken up or laid aside at the will of others, as
to them seems most expedient to gratify their ambition
or covetousness; for he has neither a voice nor a will of
Bis own in the matter ; he neither marches, nor fires,
nor halts of his own will—but lives or dies wholly as a
bond-slave at the will of another ; so that when it is the
will of his Commander to rest, it is also the soldier’s
duty. f or the will of the Commander is the law of
the soldier, whether to slay or be slain, or to rest in
peace. And when an army is thus ready to shed
the last drop of its blood for the safety and glory
of its country, surely the King and Priests thereof
are unworthy of such an army, if they are not as
true to the army as the army is true to them. But
if the King and the Priests are as true to the army
as such an army would be to them, then they would
leave nothing undone to save it from losing one drop
of blood; because such an army would be offering
to shed its own blood to save their blood, on the
assumption that nought else than such a sacrifice
could avail. But if aught else could be done, then
Kings and Priests should value the blood of that
�U
army as they value their own, and be exceeding
jealous that not one drop should be shed need
lessly, or they would be wholly unworthy of
it. And since Kings and Governors both commence
and terminate Wars—it is evident that they are re
sponsible for them, and should therefore be as jealous
for the blood of the soldier as for their own ; and
were it so, Wars would cease. For, if the Kings and
Priests on either side had to fight without aid from
their respective armies, they would be jealous for
their own lives, and would, from fear of evil, make
peace, and with their peace, their country would
likewise have it. Then let Kings, Governors, and
Priests preach peace, and also ensue it themselves
in the spirit of this Vision, and Wars and the
sacrifices of blood therewith will vanish from the
face of the earth.
CONCLUSION.
In this Vision the Priest is made to set the first
example. In the world the Priest professes to be a
Minister of Peace—but the Priest at Rome, though
claiming to be Infallible and Vicar of the Almighty,
is only seeking to establish self. Now, it may be
admitted that War is only right when waged with the
assent of the country, and the approval of its repre
sentatives. And since Priests claim to be those
representatives, therefore, when the Priest is good,
having the Spirit of Jesus, and a Christian in heart,
it would be impossible for him to approve of War.
But the Priest already professes to be a Christian,
and therefore if he is not one, whilst he professes to
be one, he is a hypocrite. And if he justifies War to
establish his religion, then his religion cannot be
Christ’s, and must be evil, or he could not justify
and approve of evil.
�i5
But when the Priest justifies the doing of evil in
the name of Christ, he is a liar and murderer; for no
one but a liar could justify the shedding of blood in
the name of Christ. For evil deeds of themselves
prove the doers thereof, and the instigators thereof most
especially, to be evil; and he that justifies evil as
necessary to establish his religion, is of all men the
very Prince of Evil (2 Cor. xi. 14 ; Rom. iii. 4). And
when Priests seek to establish themselves by enlisting
the zeal of one nation to destroy another for the sake
of enforcing its own creed, what are such Priests but
a curse to humanity ? for, instead of allaying strife,
as in this Vision, such Priests, as spirits of evil, fan
it, and stir up religious zeal to shed the blood of those
who refuse to accept a blind Faith as their religion;
since Faith, without either knowledge, reason, or
wisdom, is either folly, idolatry, or superstition. And
can this be for Christ’s glory? Jesus murdered no
one; but blind Priests and Pharisees in envy incited
the people to murder Jesus, and then others, to excul
pate themselves, at one time accused their neigh
bours of it exclusively, and so made the Crucifixion
a stumbling-block to them; and at another time, in
order to justify them, they imputed it to “ The
Law, Destiny, and God,” and, by thus justifying evil
in the name of God, made it foolishness to the Gen
tile. They justified the Crucifixion in order to
escape falling like lightning from the heights to
which they had exalted themselves, because they
Would not confess in sackcloth and ashes, with St
Paul, that they also were chief of sinners for having
betrayed, denied, doubted, and deserted Jesus. And
although St Paul was especially converted to open
them eyes to this truth, they denounced Paul’s teach
ing as nought—nothing, false (Acts xxi. 24) ; and to
prevent their own teaching being exposed their fol
lowers have ever continued to denounce, murder, and
persecute those who dare to doubt, to examine, and
�16
require a proof of the truth of their teaching. And
thus men are used as swords and tools to establish
the reign of this Spirit of Evil; whilst others again
delude the people to look on, as though an Almighty
Being in Heaven wished it should be so, and would
miraculously interfere if He did not; but people here,
there, and everywhere, as servants, are all-mighty for
good or evil upon earth—and when they cease to do
evil, evil will cease. Then let the people refuse to be
the bond servants of an Evil Spirit at Rome or else
where, using the name of Religion, and even of Paul,
Jesus, and God, to hound men on to murder one
another in order to establish his own supremacy on
Earth and in Heaven. He that exalteth himself shall
be abased (Luke xiv. 11; xviii. 14). But let us seize
this blessed moment of liberty and of peace vouch
safed so mercifully to ourselves to commune with one
another, and take the beam out of our own eye, and
so contribute finally to overthrow the Spirit of Evil,
and establish in the place thereof a spirit of pure
religion, which shall influence one and all, from the
highest tothelowest, throughout all Nations,to rise as
one man, or as one family, to allay strife, as the Priests,
the people, and the Kings rose in the Vision which
I have pictured ; and although this Vision is only an
ideal, yet the ideal is only reality in the distance.
Then let each one, from the highest to the lowest,
among Priests, Kings, and people, give heed them
selves to the spirit of love in the Priests, people, and
Kings of this Vision, and, so far as in their power
lies, assist the preacher to publish it throughout this
Nation, and all other Nations, if their spirit assures
them that the spirit of it is the Spirit of God.
�POSTSCRIPT.
Christia/ns of England—In Revelations we read that
O,n Angel said to the Christians of Ephesus,
“1 have somewhat against thee.”—Rev. ii. 4.
Then,
Has the Lord somewhat against the English Church also ?
For if England, whilst so mercifully blessed with
peace, liberty, and knowledge (as a talent to be em
ployed to alleviate the sufferings and increase the
happiness of mankind), leaves anything undone which
would hold out any possible chance of enabling her,
as a good Samaritan, to heal the wounds and mitigate
the sufferings of her neighbours in this hour of their
agony, can she, any more than the Priest and Levite in
the parable, have credit for being the friend of either
God or Man ? But if she were to act as the
Priest and Levite, why should she have this blessed
talent ? Why should it not be taken from her ? And
why should not her temples be wiped away as useless
(2 Kings xxi. 13), and a clean fallow made thereof,
such as was made of the Temple at Jerusalem of
such Priests and Levites ? And as the Temple
of their successors, at Rome, is being disestablished,
not, however, for looking on only at human suf
fering, but for inciting the Catholics, through the
Press (‘ The Monde,’ &c.), to destroy, in the
name of God, a Protestant Nation as infidels,
who, nevertheless, do not reject God as their King,
but only reject the doctrines of those who imagine
the nature of a Good Being to be evil, in order to
exalt themselves as God (Isaiah v. 20).
And can we assert that the Catholics and Pro
testants in England do not each, in their hearts, wish
for the military and political supremacy either of
France over Germany, or of Germany over France,
�i8
for the purpose of more effectually establishing the
religious supremacy of their own faiths ? If it be
so, each man will be responsible to God; and if it
is so, we are participators in our hearts, at least,
in the guilt of Rome—and are not Christians,
Because it is not the spirit of Christianity to destroy,
but to go between sinners, in order to save the one
from being murdered, and the other from committing
murder—as Jesus went between the blind Priests and
the poor sinful woman, for Jesus sought not to establish
the supremacy of either—but only to bring those who
were at War, to be at one with one another, and so
bring them to God, who loved them both; and, there
fore, would have them also love one another (1 Peter
iii. 18 ; John xvii. 11, 22; xiii. 85).
But whilst France and Germany are at deadly strife
with one another, appealing to God for the success of
their own arms, and for the supremacy of their own
rival religions of Protestantism and Catholicism,
what is England doing ? For England is equally
divided within herself upon these two religions, that
this war is their war ; and this agony their warning to
take the beam out of their own eye. Whether then is
England looking well nigh idly on, or opening her
Temples freely, that they who have aught to say, as
Ministers of God, may say it, in order to obtain the
voice of the people, as the voice of God, upon their
rival religions, whilst momentarily favoured with
peace and liberty, in order that they may become
the instruments of God to heal the strifes of others,
after having healed their own. And if England is
not using this power to enable the Ministers of the
God of Peace to commune freely, whilst Germany
and France are shedding their blood like water,
and unable to commune freely, is she doing her duty
either to God, to France, or to Germany? For if
England, when educated and at peace, will not use
her liberty, peace, and knowledge to effect unity at
�T9
home, how can she expect God to hearken to her
prayers and give peace to others ? Bnt if France
and Germany are expected by ns to hearken to the
voice of any one coming to them in the footsteps of
Peace—then let the people of England give heed to
the voice of snch an one, who is knocking at the door
of their Temple and crying through the Press, for a
hearing, yet cannot obtain it. For if they will not
secure a hearing to such a messenger, how can they
expect that a Witness of God and Minister of Peace
should be heard in either France or Germany ? But
we profess to pray that such an one may rise there ;
and hope that he may be listened to. Then, let the
people, of England set the example, and stand by any
who rise on their behalf at home. For we not only
mock God in offering prayers to him, but provoke
him to withdraw the talent of peace and liberty from
ourselves, if we refuse to practise what we preach to
others. Then, let us all rise in the spirit of th is
Vision to work out our own salvation (Phip. ii.
12). Rise, to follow, and look not back, like Lot’s
wife, lest evil take the hindermost (Luke ix. 62).
For our God, our religion, our country, our neighbour
and our adversary require us to act in the spirit of
this Vision, even for the salvation of ourselves. Then
let us, in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount,
strive, whilst it is day, to be reconciled to our brother
and to our adversary, both at home and abroad,
before we enter the Temple of Peace to offer our
worship. This is the command of Jesus; and if we
ourselves give not heed to him, why should God give
heed to us ? (Matt. v. 23 ; John ix. 4.)
August 20, 1870.
IS THERE NOT A CAUSE?—1 Samuel xvii. 29;
Job xix. 25.
�LONDON:
PRINTED BY C. W. REYNELL, LITTLE PULTENEY STREET
HAYMARKET, W.
�
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Victorian Blogging
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A collection of digitised nineteenth-century pamphlets from Conway Hall Library & Archives. This includes the Conway Tracts, Moncure Conway's personal pamphlet library; the Morris Tracts, donated to the library by Miss Morris in 1904; the National Secular Society's pamphlet library and others. The Conway Tracts were bound with additional ephemera, such as lecture programmes and handwritten notes.<br /><br />Please note that these digitised pamphlets have been edited to maximise the accuracy of the OCR, ensuring they are text searchable. If you would like to view un-edited, full-colour versions of any of our pamphlets, please email librarian@conwayhall.org.uk.<br /><br /><span><img src="http://www.heritagefund.org.uk/sites/default/files/media/attachments/TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" width="238" height="91" alt="TNLHLF_Colour_Logo_English_RGB_0_0.jpg" /></span>
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Conway Hall Library & Archives
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
Text
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Original Format
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Pamphlet
Dublin Core
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Title
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The voice of a peacemaker on war; shewing in an ideal picture, or mental vision, how men, by their religious sacrifices and professions of duty to God, are bound to make peace and be at one with one another
Creator
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Headley, T.G.
Description
An account of the resource
Place of publication: [London]
Collation: 19 p. ; 18 cm.
Notes: From the library of Dr Moncure Conway. Printed by C.W. Reynell.
Publisher
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The Author
Date
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[1870]
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
G5294
Subject
The topic of the resource
War
Pacifism
Rights
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<img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /><br /><span>This work (The voice of a peacemaker on war; shewing in an ideal picture, or mental vision, how men, by their religious sacrifices and professions of duty to God, are bound to make peace and be at one with one another), identified by </span><span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk">Humanist Library and Archives</a></span><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
Format
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application/pdf
Type
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Text
Language
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English
Conway Tracts
Peace
War