World Affairs Institute

WAR AGAINST WARSource: Advocate of Peace (1847-1884), New Series, Vol. 2, No. 13 (JANUARY 15, 1870), pp.186-187Published by: World Affairs InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27904563 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 14:09

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

World Affairs Institute and Heldref Publications are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to Advocate of Peace (1847-1884).

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.28 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 14:09:40 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

186 THE ADVOCATE OF PEACE. January, 1870.

THE ADVOCATE (JE PF AC E.

BOSTON, MASS., JANUARY 15, 1870.

O?B FOREIGN RELATIONS.

These are represented in President Grant's Message to Congress as friendly with all nations, and quite satisfactory in every case except that of England in the matter of her treatment of us during our Rebellion. This vexed question still hangs in dispute and doubt; nor is it likely ever to reach a final settlement without a good deal of discussion and difficulty, and yet with the moral certainty that it will not in any event lead to war. With such men as are now

at the helm of our own government, we can have no fears on

this point ; and the only hazard is, that the foreign, more

especially the Irish element so widely diffused among us, and so bitterly hostile to England, may in time throw the reins of power into hands that would gratify their hereditary vengeance by involving the two countries in war.

This fear is reasonable, and should prompt to as speedy a settlement of the pending controversy as possible.

44 It is now evident," says a reliable correspondent, "that neither our

minister abroad, acting in conjunction with the Secretary of State, nor the latter acting on the sole authority of the cabinet, will alone settle the question. This will need to be done during a session of Congress, in order that the temper of leading members may be known. The sense of the Senate must be informally ascertained in advance on the Alabama question to justify a settlement. A large portion of-adopted citizens are earnestly opposed to any arrangement, however favorable to the Untied Stoles, as they hope that the democracy will at no distant time obtain possession of the national government, and that their numerical strength in this party will enable them ultimately to wield our forces in open hostilityto Great Britain. Much caution will be used, therefore, by those who are to make and those who are to consent to a treaty. If John Bright shall be accredited to our government intrusted with this mission, the enthusiasm created by his presence here will be so warm and universal as to produce a settlement, if settlement be possible." That it is possible, we have no doubt whatever. The parties may not, indeed, agree between themselves* but will, in the last resort, submit the matters in dispute to a friendly arbitra ment.

Mr. Stjmnrr's Positions?Are seen, alike from the

President's Message, from the correspondence of our Secre

tary of State with our Minister in England, and from the action of our government in adhering to our traditional

policy of rion-intervention towards the Cuban rebels, to indicate and develop the settled course of the administra* tion. It is well that we have such a Nestor of peace in a

position of so much influence.

Cuban Belligerency?Is not likely to be endorsed by our government :

?' The recent debate in the United States Senate, will serve to set the question of the recognition of the Cuban insurgents in its true light before the country. Senator Carpenter said all that could be said in favor of our

government thus manifesting its sympathy for the Cuban cause ; but he was weak just where he ought to have been

strong, in showing the actual claims of the insurgents according to the requirements of international law. If any

thing is clear on this point it is, that -our government has no right to extend its recognition of belligerency to any feeble demonstration or rising against the authority of any other government with which we are at peace, no matter

how just may be its cause. Belligerency means war, and

war \snot a riot, an outbreak nor even a rebellion. As Mr.

j Sumner states it, H isjneceesary for recognition tbat 'the

insurgents shoulS ?orae up to the level of an independent ! people.' The ?ubau rebellion would appear to have de ! generated to ? mere guerilla contest."

The Russian Army.?The policy of the Czars to fuse the

different races of the empire, the Poles, Lithuanians, Great

Russians, White Russians, &c.,ipto a common whole, so that

at last there ?hould be but one army, with the same history and

the same-aspirations, has been successful. The Russian soldier

is as Russian as the Jew is Jewish. One of the most useful branches of the Russian army is the

Cossack. The Cossack tribes have free democratic constitu

tions, and retain their freedom on condition of giving military service when called upon. The Cossacks, on the line of the Cau

casus, supplied a force of 18,000 or 20,000 men to act against the Circassians. They captured and made wives of many beau tiful Circassian women, and now the mingled race is the hand somest in Russia. Whde the Cossacks of the Don furnish a

large number of cavalry regiments for the standing army, every man is under obligation to serve with arms and horse if called

upon. Government, of course, never makes so extr?me a de

mand upon them, but a very large proportion of them has been

more than once called forth. The Cossack is essentially a horseman. He and his little

animal can make extraordinary and continued marches. He is

used to harrass an enemy, to intercept convoys, to break up beaten batallions, and all the services usually furnished by the

lightest cavalry. When acting as a vidette, he may be seen

standing erect on his saddle to survey the surrounding country, and watch against an insidious foe. He and his animal can

live where ordinary troops would starve. He is an excellent

hand at pillage, and the sight of a strong man mounted on a

small horse, galloping swiftly with its nose low down so as to

pick its way without falling, soon becomes a terror to a beaten

arm)-. With all his freedom, the Cossack is strictly obedient

to military orders, which is the case with Russian soldiers gen

erally. They know nothing of, what is going on in the world

outside of their own country. For them there is but one na

tion, one Emperor, and one religion.. What is commanded must be done, whether it be the storming of a fortress, the

protection of a port, or the execution of offensive civil laws. If a general war were to break out immediately in Europe,

the Russian armies would almost certainly be defeated in every battle, unless led by some military genius. The one necessity for modern war ? the breech-loading rifle? is to be found only in the hands of a very small number of the infantry. In field

artillery great advances have been made. Rifled guns have

been furnished to the whole army. The number of horsed guns is 972. But few large guns are found in the Russian service

and the home establishments are not yet capable of producing others. ? London Times.

WAE AGAINST WAR.

Such is the title of a popular work, by M. Larrieu, lately

published in France by the friends of peace. From an in

troduction to it by the London papers, we cut some ex

tracts : ?

"It would formerly have been deemed little short of mad ness to enter upon a public opposition to war : now it would be considered still greater folly to undertake its advocacy. Formerly, even amongst the most civilized people, war was

regarded as the foremost, the noblest, and the most natural

employment of human energy ; but now, wherever there is

any pretension to a condition superior to barbarism, it is

only sanctioned as a sad necessity, which must occasionally be submitted to, but of which no one cares to assume the

responsibility. Formerly, in short, war was deified, now it is anathematised. A great conquere r used to be called a hero; the dtye are coming when he will be branded as a curse.

" M ?ny and various are the causes which have con tributed to this great change. Formerly it was not customary

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.28 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 14:09:40 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Jan?art, 1870. THE ADVOCATE OF PEACE. 187

to estimate costs and expense. * War/ it used to be said, 4 is not a business ;

' buf? now men have begun to take ac

count. They have cast up their bill of ? glory,' anc* have

discovered that it was a bill of insolvency. "Inquiries are bow raised respecting the real advantages,

even under the most favorable circumstances, of wha$ is conventionally termed a successful war. Attention is being awakened to the certain, necessary, and absolutely inevitable costliness of all war whatsoever, whether successful, un successful. ? We are giving some thought to the number of men killed, the diminution of population, the obstacles to industry, the losses of property and the destruction of har vests, plantations, and public buildings involved by war ; and the result of all our investigations ami calculations demonstrates that, of all the sources of misery, and suffer* .

ing which afflict humanity, there is none so actively and in evitably fatal as war.

** A foreigner was regarded by our ancestor,? as being neces sarily a rival, and even a natural enemy. The chief and avowed object of political action was tg, promote self-inter est at the expense of other countires.; :But races are now

becoming better acquainted with one<auother. Nations are

becoming increasingly united by links^of commerce, science, and intermarriage, and are experiencing as a fact that the world is not an object of prey to b? fought for, but a com mon patrimony for mutual possesion and improvement The minds, as well as the persons of men, are being brought into closer mutual contact ; barriers of separation are fall

ing ; intercourse and union are rapidly extending ; and the entire globe, thanks, under God, to steam and electricity, is becoming a vast net-work, the meshes of which, everywhere interwoven, cannot henceforth be broken in one part with out general suffering. *' War used to be a duel ; but in our own day science has advanced, and brought to perfection not only the arts of production, but those of slaughter. She has reduced war to a mere mechanical operation. **4 It is scientific butchery!' a contemporary writer ex claims. We now make use of killing-machines. We de liver to them the flower of our youth, and they give them back to us corpses. We have only huge executions, charac terized by horror alone. The soldier, the officer, the gen eral, are now no more literally than f>od for canwrn.

Thought and feeling revolt with disgust in the face of these vast and stupid butcheries.

Further, the conviction of human fraternity has made progress. Formerly it was limited to the frontiers of one's own country,"

44 but now it has passed those bounds, and

nations are felt to be included in the obligations which used to be deemed binding only on individuals. It is being ad

mitted that, after all, there are not two codes of morality, one for individuals and another for communities, but that human societies, like their members, are subject to obliga tions of mutual consideration and respect. The conviction has gained ground that robbery and murder do not change their nature by the change of scale or of name, and that if a man who lies in wait for another by the wayside, to at tack him, is an assassin and a thief, so likewise a hundred thousand armed men who invade an unoffending country to massacre or take captive its inhabitants, are only brigands on a large scale. War is condemned, but not yet suppressed. It is de

tested, protested against and scorned; nevertheless, it is submitted to, and too often, alas ! with resignation. We hope that it may disappear, and yet are not quite sure that our hope may not be a rash one I Yes, we actually hesitate too often, respecting the propriety of avowing the hope boldly. Hence the campaign against war continues to be regarded by so large a number as one of those well-inten

tioned undertakings which practfca? men wijlingly relin quish to Quixotic enthusiasts^ This prejudice must be got rid of, and there is .onjy oneway to do it,?to attack those whom it enthralls through,-their own weakness. It is to show them who are tliejre^l champions of this struggle which they shrink from, and upon what grounds, under what auspices, with what Authority, and with what source of con fidence those who ay^ain it have entered upon it, and feel themselves warran$c]jn anticipating eventful success. ' Be bold ! ' said a ministe? once to some reformers who solicited his open advocacy of their caui?e, * be bold, and we will join you !

' So a multitude of secret friends are exclaiming to us

daily, ' Prove t?uit you can be successful, and that we may

safely avow ou^Sympathies with you?' However, be this

as it may. our ranks continue to increase, and our issue of

peace publications is being well maintained. '* In the first part of our peace series we treated of the subject of ir??r in its several aspects. We showed the im mense cost-involved by the foolish and unproductive strifes of nations? ^iheir consequences and results. We proved that,

by an inevitable and fatal connection, slaughter produces slaughter, as hate perpetuates hatred, and that famine and disease are the certain accompaniments of war. We exam ined the influence of modern armaments as regards possible collisions in the future, and demonstrated the importance, both in the interests of internal and foreign security of im mediately abandoning the aggressive system which has been so fatally prevalent amongst all nations, for a system truly defensive and exempt alike from its dangers and its ex penses.

From arguments and facts we now appeal to names. Who are you?

' We are asked. Who are we? We are the Monteequieue, the Voltaires, the Rousseau^, the Bec

carias, the Bentharas, and the Diderots. We are the Bas t?ate, the Comtes, the Dunoyers. the Chevaliers, the Says, and the Cobdens. We are the Montai^ncs, the Erasmuses, the Labruycres, the Franklins, and the Turgots. We arc even the Napoleons and Louis the Fourteenths; the Bos suets and the Boileaus ; the Holbachs and the Kants ; the Saint Simons and the Fouriers ; the Cousins and the Gratrys, the Berangers and the Chenters. We are the whole body of those who calculate and deliberate, and of those whoso names carry weight in the material, moral, religious, scien tific, and even military traditions of mankind. We are the witnesses of the past and the precursors of the future With us is the voice of wisdom and experience, the testimony of all who have lived, thought, felt and suffered, of all who have enlightened mankind as well as of those who misled them. Divided as to all other matters, but united on this point, listen to that which, from the depths of our tombs, and from the height of our renown, we cry, as with one

voice, to the human race. Listen to those of your contem

poraries and of your ancestors, more illustrious than your selves, to deliver to all who are attentive, this solemn charge, which is already beginning to meet its echo in every language and in every region?* War against War! 9

OUR WESTERN CORRESPONDENCE.

The last Sabbath of October was spent in Lockport, TH., some thirty-five miles south of Chicago. I was accompanied thither by Mr. M. H. Poyson, whom I had recently met in Chicago, and engaged to act as an agent of the American Peace Society. Mr. Poyson has lectured much on the sub ject of temperance, and is one of the best speakers in the West. He was formerly connected with the British army, and was re se at at the taking of Luckuow, India, at the time of the Indian mutiny, so that he knows from an actual

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.28 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 14:09:40 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions