The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-04-13 00:00:00

CALLING OUT THE RESERVES.

Hen Majesty's Message to both Houses of Parlia-
ment calling out the Reserve Forces on the ground
that the present is a time of national emergency
which justifies so grave a step, together with the
debates which have arisen upon it, are eminently
suggestive of the manner in which hopes can be
dashed, predictions falsified, and expectations fail
ef realization. When the Prince Consort's idea
of an International Exhibition was carried out, at
which the arts and industries of all the civilized
world should be represented, thirty-six years had
passed since a great war had been known in Europe
Hostilities between nations had, it was true, not
been unknown, such as the war between Russia and
Turkey that ended in the treaty of Adrianople in
1829. But this was not to be compared with the
long and sanguinary conflict which ended in the
overthrow of Bonaparte. And so it was, on that
bright May morning in 1851, when her Majesty
and Prince Albert opened the Exhibition, the Queen
leading by the hand the Prince of Wales, and her
husband conducting the Princess Royal, the public
firmly believed that the time had come for the
fulfilment of the Scriptural prophecy that the
nations should learn war no more. That splendid
Palace of Glass in Hyde Park, glittering in the
summer suesiline, and filled with the marvellous
productions of human skill, was totally incom-
patible with the idea that at any future time
languages and peoples, kindreds and tongues should
be arrayed against each other in battle, and should
find no other way of settling disputes than by
eudeavouring to slay as many as possible of the
opposing forces. The aged Duke of Wellington
was in the procession. He was 82 years old, and
was regarded as the representative of a system
which empires and kingdoms were now too wise to
follow. The time had gone by when applauding
crowds would respond to the principle that Saul
having slain his thousands, and David his tens of
thousands, the honours of the day were to be re-
served for the latter. It was all very well for the
Assyrians and the Eyptians, the Jews and the
Philistines, the Greeks and the Persians, the
Romans and the Carthaginians to resort to the
argument of brute force; but the people were now
wiser, and had a more enlightened way of obtain-
ing an agreement. When a cause of contention
arose between two persons in civil life, they did
not proceed to settle it by sword or pistol, making
the matter depend upon a question of strength or
skill, but it was referred to regularly recognised
tribunals where both sides were heard, and judg-
ment was delivered according to the facts. That
was the way in which nations were to act in the
future, and wars would be totally unknown!
There are many now in middle life who can re-
member the sanguine hopes which were built upon
the building of the Great Exhibition, and we all
know how they have been frustrated. Within
twelve months the malitia was embodied in this
country—not a very practical comment upon the
existence of a time of perpetual peace. Another
two years found us actually at war, not with our
old enemy with whom we had struggled for 500
years just across the Channel, but with a Power in
the north of Europe whose ambition and aggrandise-
ment were viewed with alarm by our statesmen.
The war with Russia was brought to a close in
1856, and Europe had a breathing-time for three
years. Then France and Austria closed with each
other in a conflict short, sharp, and decisive, which
was ended at Solferino. Two years more, and
a series of the most destructive battles of any time
was begun on the other side of the Atlantic. Eng-
land had not been engaged in any thing like a
formidable civil war for more than 200 years; yet
here was the great, enlightened, and prosperous
Republic of the West commencing a contest irs
the field A hich lasted four years, and cost tens of
thousands of lives. Whilst it was in progress,
another war was got up in Europe, in which
Austria and Prussia fell upon Denmark. The
Anse:scan civil c Aliet had been terminated just
twe e months wle n 2rassia and Austria fought it
out dpon the vans of Bo4eutia. Four years after-
wards, France and Prussia wrestled in one of the
most deadly struggles ever engaged in between two
nations. Next came the war be ween Russia and
Turkey, which has just been brought to an end by
the ireaty o San Btefan.o, To say that it has
coss a hundred thousand lives would be to under-
estimate the awful sacrifice of humanity which has
taken place since the Czar ordered his forces to
cross the Turkish frontier twelve months ago.
The misery and suffering which it has caused has
not been equalled since the dark days when the
Visogoths swept down like a scourge upon some of
the fairest lands in Eerope. Such is the terrible
commentary upon the bright hopes and expecta-
tions of 1851 ; and the uppermost topics in the
minds of the English people of to-day are the
necessity for calling out the Reserve Forces, de-
clared, to be essential by the advisers of the Crown,
the fear of another war with Russia, and the
(segmentation of our national burthens consequent
Upon the preparations for war which have been
going on for several weeks past.
This summary of some of the principal incidents
in the history of the civilized world during the
past quarter of a century shows that during that
tune there has been more bloodshed than in the
whole of fifty years which preceded it. Of that
there can usfortuastely be little doubt, for al-
though during the first half generation of 1800
there were many battles, the loss of life was no-
thing in comparison with that which the destruc-
tion wrought in modern warfare. For instance, in
the last war with Russia, our battle-ships threw a
OMb. solid shot; the hoe viest of our ironclads can
now throw a shot of 1,,2001b5. We are no longer
content to call our ships after heroes such as
Agamemnon, Ajax. Achilles, or even our own
Nelson and Wellington. but we call them the
De vastatiou, tLe Fury, the Invincible, and the
Thunderer. A single one of these would sink a
whole navy such as we sent to sea in 1854, under
Sir Charles Napier and Admiral Lyons. The
nations have not therefore, devoted themselves
thoroughly, C3lllpl.2toly. and exclusively to.• the
devolopment of the arts of peace, as was predicted
hoped. and expected when then the nineteenth
century bad just turned tee corner. They have, on
the contrary, devoted en enormous expenditure to
the prosecution of the art of war. Formerly the
rivalry was between England arid France. If
Crance fortified Cherbourg, Engines(' would fortify
; it France ouilt a powerful ironclad,
Ehigletel e-oum have une still more so. And now,
if or. n Ltisn turns °et an eighty-ton on, another
i;roduee one of a leanelred tons; and 80; the
ri _ sssss on :sae afe yeer, lecade after de
'lt he eaui4o fs,A, by Great Britian and t e
ijuited States in iii7Z of Warring a CUM o dif•