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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
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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
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Speculation
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Duty
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Tho Dyer's Hand........................................... 0
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BY REV. P. H. WICKSTEED, M.A.
Going Through and Getting Over
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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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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
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2018
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Conway Hall Ethical Society
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Title
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The peril of war : a discourse delivered at South Place Chapel, March 31st 1878
Creator
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Conway, Moncure Daniel [1832-1907.]
Description
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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.
Publisher
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[South Place Chapel]
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[1878]
Identifier
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G3341
Subject
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Pacifism
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<a href="http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/"><img src="http://i.creativecommons.org/p/mark/1.0/88x31.png" alt="Public Domain Mark" /></a><span> </span><br /><span>This work (The peril of war : a discourse delivered at South Place Chapel, March 31st 1878), identified by </span><a href="https://conwayhallcollections.omeka.net/items/show/www.conwayhall.org.uk"><span>Humanist Library and Archives</span></a><span>, is free of known copyright restrictions.</span>
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application/pdf
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Text
Language
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English
Morris Tracts
Pacifism
Peace-Religious Aspects-Christianity
Russia
War-Moral and Ethical Aspects
War-Religious aspects