WHAT is war? I believe that half the people that talk about war have not the slightest idea what it is. In a short sentence it may be summed up to be the combination and concentration of all the horrors, atrocities, crimes, and sufferings of which human nature on this globe is capable. But what is even a rumour of war? Is there anybody here who has anything in the funds,① or who is the owner of any railway stock; or anybody who has a large stock of raw material or of manufactured goods? The funds have recently gone down 10 per cent. I do not say that the fall is all on account of this danger of war, but a great proportion of it undoubtedly is. A fall of 10 per cent, in the funds is nearly ?80, 000, 000 sterling of value; and railway stock having gone down 20 per cent, makes a difference of ?60, 000, 000 in the value of the railway property of this country. Add the two-?140, 000, 000-and take the diminished prosperity and value of manufactures of all kinds during the last few months, and you will under-state the actual loss to the country now if you put it down at ?200, 000, 000 sterling. But that is merely a rumour of war. That is war a long way off-the small cloud no bigger than a man"s hand: what will it be if it comes nearer and becomes a fact? And surely sane men ought to consider whether the case is a good one, the ground fair, the necessity clear, before they drag a nation of nearly thirty millions of people into a long and②bloody struggle, for a decrepit and tottering empire,the nations in Europe cannot long sustain.
which all
Well, if you go into war now, you will have more banners to decorate your cathedrals and churches. Englishmen will fight now as well as they ever did; and there is ample power to back them, if the country can be but sufficiently excitedand deluded. You may raise up great generals. You may have another Wellington, and another Nelson too; for this country can grow men capable of every enterprise. Then there may be titles, and pensions, and marble monuments to eternize the men who have thus become great; -but what becomes of you and your country, and your children?
Speaking here, however, to such an audience-an audience probably, for its numbers, as intelligent and as influential as ever was assembled within the walls of any hall in this kingdom-I think I may put before you higher considerations even than those of property and the institutions of your country. I may remind you of duties more solemn, and of obligations more imperative. You profess to be a Christian nation. You make it your boast even-though boasting is somewhat out of place in such questions-you make it your boast that you are a Christian people, and that you draw your rule of doctrine and practice, as from a well pure and undefiled, from the lively oracles of God, and from the direct revelation of the Omnipotent. You have even conceived the magnificent project of illuminating the whole Earth, even to its remotest and darkest recesses, by the dissemination of the volume of the New Testament, in whose every page are written for ever the words of peace. Within the limits of this island alone, every Sabbath-day, 20, 000, yes, far more than 20, 000 temples are thrown open, in which devout men and women assemble to worship him who is the "Prince of Peace."Is this a reality? or is your Christianity a romance, and your profession a dream? No; I am sure that your Christianity is not a romance, and I am equally sure that your profession is not a dream. It is because I believe this that I appeal to you with confidence, and that I have hope and faith in the future. I believe that we shall see, and at no very distant time, sound economic principles spreading much more widely amongst the people; a sense of justice growing up in a soil which hithertohas been deemed unfruitful; and-which will be better than all-the churches of the United Kingdom, the churches of Britain, awaking as it were from their slumbers, and girding up their loins to more glorious work, when they shall not only accept and believe in the prophecy, but labour earnestly for its fulfilment, that there shall come a time-a blessed time-a time which shall last for ever-when "nation shall not lift up③ sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."- JOHN BRIGHTWORDSatrocities, cruelties. combination, union. concentration, essence. considerations, motives. decrepit, broken-down. deluded, deceived. diminished, lessened. dissemination, distribution. eternize, immortalize.
illuminating, enlightening. imperative, binding. obligations, duties. revelation, communication. romance, fiction. sufficiently, enough.
under-state, under-rate.
undoubtedly, certainly.
NOTES
① The funds.-A Government in want of money frequently issues bonds, which are sold to the public, and yield a certain rate of interest. A Government in good credit, like the British Government, can borrow money cheaply (at 3 or 3? percent.), while others have to pay much more. Government bonds were usually called The Funds ; and when it was said "The funds have recently gone down 10 percent.," the meaning was that the price of ?100 stock has gone down to ?90. The reason why a rumour of war makes the funds fall is, that war increases the national debt, compelling the Government to issue more bonds at any price they will bring.
② A decrepit and tottering empire.-The Turkish Empire, which in 1864 England andFrance assisted to repel Russian aggression.
③ "Nation shall not lift up," &c.-See Isaiah , ii. 4; Micah , iv. 3.
④ John Bright.-A manufacturer of Rochdale (Lancashire), and one of the most powerful speakers in the British Parliament. He was the chief associate of Mr. Cobden in the agitation which led to the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846. He has always been an ardent advocate of a peace policy, and he opposed the Russian War of 1854-56. The above speech was delivered at a conference of the Peace Society in Edinburgh. Born 1811; died 1889.