Jonathan Dymond
(Being Chapter 19 of Essay 3 of The Essays on Morality)
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APPENDIX: CHRISTIANITY THE TRUE REMEDY FOR WAR(1)
OPINIONS OF EMINENT MEN.
BISHOP FRASER.--"War is not the triumph of righteousness. It is the triumph of brute force. Call anything be conceived more unchristian, more irrational, than the present mode by which international quarrels are commonly adjusted?"
DR. CHALMERS.--"The mere existence of the prophecy, 'They shall learn War no more,' is a sentence of condemnation on War."
ROBERT HALL.--" War is nothing less than a temporary repeal of the principles of virtue."
SYDNEY SMITH.--" God is forgotten in War: every principle of Christianity is trampled upon."
JOHN WESLEY.--"Shall Christians assist the Prince of Hell, who was a murderer from the beginning, by telling the world of the benefit or the need of War?"
DR. ADAM CLARK.--"War is as contrary to the spirit of Christianity as murder."
HENRY RICHARD.--" I will venture to say this, that if all the ministers of Christ's Gospel were with one voice, constantly, courageously, earnestly, to preach to the nations the Truce of God, and were to denounce War, not merely as costly, and cruel, and barbarous, but as essentially and eternally unchristian, another War in the civilized world would become impossible."
LORD CARNARVON.--"You have no right to divorce your system of politics from your system of morals. There are no two sides to that silver shield."
DUKE OF WELLINGTON (to Lord Shaftsbury.--"War is a most detestable thing. If you had
seen but one day of War, you would pray God that you might never see another.
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INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION:
A PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLE.
OPINIONS OF EMINENT MEN.
GROTIUS, in his great work, De Sure Belli ac Pacts, says of Arbitration:--"Christian kings and States are bound, above all others, to adopt this expedient to prevent War. Therefore, it would be useful, and in some sort necessary, that the Christian Powers should appoint some body in which the disputes of any States might be settled by the judgment of the others which are not interested."
WILLIAM PENN says:--"The Princes of Europe should establish one Sovereign Assembly, before which all international differences should be brought, which cannot be settled by the Embassies."--Essay on the Peace of Europe.
LORD RUSSELL.--"On looking at all the wars which have been carried on during the last century, and examining into the causes of them, I do not see one of these wars, in which, if there had been proper temper between the parties, the questions in dispute might not have been settled without recourse to arms."
EARL DERBY (when Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, 1867).-"Unhappily there is no International Tribunal to which cases can be referred, and there is no International Law by which parties can be required to refer their disputes. If such a Tribunal existed, it would be a great benefit to the civilized world."
RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE.--" I am fully convinced that there is reserved for this country a great and honourable destiny in connection with this subject. If we are to become effective missionaries of these principles, we can only derive authority by making them our own, and by giving to them practical effect by acting on the principles of moderation, goodwill, and justice. If we do so, then every year will add more and more weight to the abstract doctrines we preach."
SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTE (when Secretary of State).--"It is our sincere and earnest belief
that the interests of this country and of the whole world lie in the direction of a peaceful instead
of a warlike policy. We firmly believe that the differences between nations may best be settled by
the counsels that prevail in time of peace, and not amidst the excitement and clash of War."
Since the Peace of 1815 there have been about sixty instances of Arbitration for the settlement of International disputes, some of them involving great and difficult questions. In all of these cases a satisfactory and permanent settlement was effected.
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SOME OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE MODERN WAR SYSTEM.
DESTRUCTION OF LIFE FROM WAR IN 25 YEARS (1855-80).
Killed in battle, or died
of wounds and disease
CRIMEAN WAR 750,000
Italian War, 1859 45,000
War of Schleswig-Holstein 3,000
AMERICAN CIVIL WAR--
The North 280,000
The South... 520,000
War between Prussia, Austria,
and Italy in 1866 45,000
Expeditions to Mexico, Cochin China,
Morocco Paraguay, etc. 65,000
FRANCO-GERMAN WAR OF 1870-71:
FRANCE ............... 155,000
GERMANY 60,000
RUSSIAN AND TURKISH WAR OF 1877 225,000
ZULU AND AFGHAN WARS, 1879 40,000
Total 2,188,000
Killed in 25 years of nineteenth century "civilization!"
If the execution of two or three criminals justly excites horror, what should be the feeling
produced by the contemplation of such an awful sacrifice of human life in millions upon millions,
and often amid circumstances of unimaginable horror.
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THE COST OF RECENT WARS (1855-80)
Crimean War 340,000,000
Italian War of 1859 £60,000,000
American Civil War--North 940,000,000
--South 460,000,000
Shleswig-Holstein War 7,000,000
Austrian and Prussian War, 1866 66,000,000
Expeditions to Mexico, Morocco,
Paraguay, etc. (say only) 40,000,000
Franco-Prussian War 500,000,000
Russian and Turkish War, 1877 210,000,000
Zulu and Afghan Wars, 1879 30,000,000
£2,653,000,000
This vast sum is equal to £2 for every man, woman, and child in the world! It represents a mass of wasted labour and money, which might, ff wisely directed, have been an untold blessing to the nations.
It has been computed that the actual workers in Great Britain, even in time of Peace, work every
day of the year to pay the interest of the National Debt, twenty-six minutes; for the maintenance
of our armaments, thirty minutes a day; for the cost of collecting the taxes, four minutes a day; for
the rebel of the poor, nine minutes a day; for local taxes, nine minutes a day; for the cost of civil
government, twelve minutes a day. Adding these together, we find our labourers working every
day of the year one hour and thirty minutes, or nine hours per week, for the payment of our
national and local taxes. Very nearly two-thirds of this time is occupied in producing the cost of
our War system, that is, of our National Debt and of our Armaments.
NOTES
1. War: Its Causes, Consequences, Lawfulness, Etc. Manchester and London: John Heywood, 1889, pages 85-88.