ON WAR. [To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPE,TATOR", Sin,—As
you have allowed a correspondent to call attention to " Raskin's Words on War," perhaps you would admit
these words of the Rev. Fred. W. Robertson, of Brighton, on the same subject :—
"Men will ever distinguish war from mere bloodshed. Carnage is terrible. Death—and reeking Hospitals, and ruined commerce, and violated homes, and broken hearts—they are all awful. But there is something worse than death. Cowardice is worse. And the decay of enthusiasm and manliness is worse. And it is worse than death, aye, worse than a hundred thousand deaths, when a People has gravitated down into the creed that the wealth of Nations' consists, not in generous hearts—in national virtues— and preference of Duty to life; not in MEN, but in silk and cotton, and something that they call 'Capital.' When War is not prolonged, the kindling of all the higher passions prevents the access of the baser ones. A Nation split and severed by mean religious and political dissensions suddenly feels its unity, and men's hearts beat together at the mere possibility of invasion."—(Lecture on the Influence of Poetry.)
To these might be added Massinger's :—
"If ere my son Follow the war, tell him it is a school Where all the principles tending to honour Are taught, if truly followed—
To dare boldly
In a fair cause, and for the Country's safety, To run upon the cannon's mouth undaunted; To obey their leaders, and shun mutinies ; To bear with patience the Winter's cold, And Summer's scorching heat—
Are the essential parts make up a Soldier."
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