LETTER III.

ON THE REAL CAUSES OF WAR.

"From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members ?"

MY DEAR SIR,

THE legitimate and practical inference from my last letter is, that nations have been drawn into the greater part of the wars in which they have been engaged, not only without solid and justifiable reasons, but very frequently merely to gratify the wishes or resentments of ambitious, weak, or worthless men. Covetousness, jealousy, a desire to govern, and a thirst for military fame, acting upon minds unoccupied by correct religious or moral principles, have blinded the understandings of both princes and subjects, and rendered them not only ready and willing to shed the blood of others, but they seem to consider this as the most honourable of all employments; and are as desirous to excel in it, as if the honour of God, their duty to him, and their own salvation, depended upon their military prowess.

With minds inflamed and irritated by artful manifestoes, and by the specious harangues of statesmen and orators, Christians, instead of being ready

to pardon and forgive injuries, and thus obtain the friendly offices of other nations, agreeably to the dictates of prudence and duty, very frequently, for a trifling offence, demand satisfaction, with probably a threat that, if not conceded, it will be enforced. What is called national honour, is on no account to be sacrificed; and the risk of ruin is to be hazarded, rather than an insult forgiven. Thus nations are deluded into war; and war, when once begun, is generally continued, till the want of men or money compels one or both of the parties to give up the sanguinary contest, and generally, without either party obtaining satisfaction.

That wars have been, in many instances, entered into, on the most trifling occasions, and merely to gratify the malevolent passions of bad men, we have ample proofs from history; and the question of peace or war, in arbitrary governments, has sometimes hinged on very trifling or insignificant causes. A satirical expression of Frederic II. against three powerful women, as Monsieur Thiebault informs us, occasioned a long war: and a peace was produced by a mere billet from the same monarch to Maria Theresa*.

* The following story is extracted from the Herald of Peace, vol. i. N. S. p. 108.

"In the year 1805, some soldier of the commonwealth of Modena ran away with a BUCKET from a public well belonging to the State of Bologna. This implement might be worth a shilling; but it produced a quarrel, which was worked up into a long and bloody war. Henry, the king of Sardinia, for the emperor Henry the Second, assisted the Modenese to keep possession of the bucket, and in one of

Standing armies, by causing jealousy and rivalry between nations, have a greater tendency to promote war, than to maintain peace, and may be considered as one of the most powerful and operative causes of war; and wars must be frequent, so long

the battles he was made prisoner. His father, the emperor, offered a chain of gold that would encircle Bologna, which is seven miles in compass, for his son's ransom,—but in vain. After twenty-two years, imprisonment, he pined away. His monument is now extant in the church of the Dominicans. This fatal bucket is still exhibited in the Tower of the Cathedral at Modena, inclosed in an iron cage."

The following extract from the Courier, of Dec. 12th, 1827, shows that nations have not profited by experience.-Speaking of the late war between the Russians and Persians, it says:

"The original point in dispute between the prince Abbas Mirza and the late governor general Yermoloff, related to a small piece of pasture-ground near the lake of Gokcha,—of little value to either State; but as the probability of a war enabled the prince to obtain pecuniary supplies from the king, the dispute was purposely kept unsettled, while the patience of Yermoloff was exhausted, and possession was taken of the disputed lands. The king of Persia, urged by his favourite minister Alleyer Khan (who, on the capture of Tebriz, fell into the hands of the Russians), and excited by the fanatical exhortation of a priest from the holy palace, Kerbela, refused to wait the result of the reference, proposed by the Russian ambassador at his court, to St. Petersburg, and declared war. His Persian Majesty, by his precipitation, deprived himself of the right either to the assistance, or mediation, of Great Britain, and is now at the mercy of a powerful enemy thus wantonly provoked."

In an order of the day addressed, by the Russian General Paskewitsch, to the army of the Caucasus, dated Oct. 13th, 1827, he says:

"There is nothing in the vast dominion of Persia which can oppose their progress. Two provinces, eighteen standards, fifty pieces of cannon, two sardars, twenty khans, six thousand prisoners, twelve thousand persons removed who have thrown down their arms, with supplies of provisions and munitions of war, he enumerates, in conclusion, as the trophies of the campaign.”

as these armies are kept up. Lord Burleigh (I think) observes, that soldiers in time of peace are as useless as chimneys in summer. How very differently, my dear sir, do statesmen think now. The evils of war will, probably, at no distant period, become so apparent and so great, as materially to prevent its recurrence. This is certain, on the sure word of prophecy,-that when Christianity arrives at maturity, men will cease to learn war.

A great moral evil, and no inconsiderable cause of war, arises from the profession of arms affording to parents of the middle and higher classes an inducement to wish for war, as it enables them to place their sons in situations, where they may attain honour and wealth, without the vulgarity of trade. Young men, despising mercantile employment, and naturally adopting the prejudices of their parents, are led to wish for war: and whenever a peace takes place, hundreds of these have (what they consider) their just hopes and expectations blasted; and lament that the war was not continued a few months, or a year or two longer, that they might have attained another step in their profession, although this step might have cost the lives of thousands of human beings, and millions of national treasure: but it is surely to be deeply lamented, that young men, professing the Christian religion, should be placed in situations, where their interest may tempt them to entertain wishes so directly contrary to the first principles of that religion. That army-agents, army-contractors, army-tailors, cannonfounders, gun-makers, cutlers, and various other

But

"craftsmen," should incite men to war, may be ac counted for on the very principle, that the silversmiths of Ephesus contended for the worship of the goddess Diana. War brings no small gain to the craftsmen I have enumerated; for it is by war they "have their wealth." This, my dear sir, seems not unnatural in men who might be said to be the followers of Plutus, rather than of Jesus Christ. that the nobility of Europe, and particularly those of Britain, should, in a period distinguished for learning, science, and humanity, make the destruction of their fellow-creatures a trade to give bread to their younger sons, is wholly unaccountable on Christian principles. Nobles may perhaps excuse themselves on the ground that the ministers of religion set them the example; and it is a fact, that a large portion of the sons of the clergy are set apart to the profession of arms, and that not a few of them have thereby attained the highest rank, professional and civil. It seems difficult to account for this dereliction of duty on any other principle, than that, when men once depart from the plain precepts of natural and revealed religion, their hearts become insensibly "hardened through the deceitfulness of sin."

Granting that war arises from the causes I have stated, another inquiry, and that of great importance, presents itself;-From whence arise those lusts, or warlike propensities, which occasion war; and can these be subdued? My answer is, that, to a certain extent they arise from the errors of education, and that their influence may, at least, be greatly diminished. This must be the case, unless