Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-06-29 00:00:00

THE NORTHERICTIMES, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 29, 1859

the requisite armament& , It is ,with regret,
therefore, at such a moment as the present, though
without surprise, that we see the Society of Friends
again publicly pronouncing its anathema against
any such preparation, even for purposes of national
defence. "We observe with pain," says its Yearly
EPistle, just published, " that arrangements are
being extensively made in various localities to
organise rifle clubs and volunteer corps. Great is
the force• of example," it continues, "and the
seductive influence of companionship; and some who
in their moments of serious reflection would refuse
to take the• life of a single- fellow creature even to
save their own, may, either through the excitement
of emulation, or the want of moral courage to with-
stand a sneer, be tempted to enter• into pursuits,
the object of which, is to acquire dexterity and
certainty in the destruction of human life." Here is
a palpable misrepresentation. of the case. The
object is, "to acquire dexterity and certainty in
the means of resistance. The destruction_ of human
life, it is true, is a consequence of the conflict in
such resistance but it is not " the object "—it is
rather the effect of such means.. " If; says a great
moral philosopher, " the cause and end of war be
justifiable"—and surely to defend one's country.
" all the means that appear
end are iustifiable. This is the

at any rate, must be so,----'

ssary- to the

principle which defends these extremities to which
the violence of war usually proceeds ; for since war
is a contest by force b etwe en. par tie s who. acknowledge

no common superior, an,

ince it ii:

es not in its

place limits to the operation of force, it has naturally
no boundary but that in which farce terminates
the destruction of life against which the force is
directed." Now, this is not only the light in which
moral philosophy views the question, but it is that

in which plain common sense, or we are much mis-

taken, must regard it also

When, however, the Epistle of the Society of
Friends denounces such a war as that which has
been provoked in Italy without any sufficiently

justifying cause, we can quite go along with it
When it says, "we mourn over the destruction of
human life, the devastation and the wickedness of
every kind which, upon a tremendous scale, must
result from it, even if limited to the nations already
engaged in the conflict,"—and. that, "whilst thank-
fully rejoicing that our beloved country has hitherto
been preserved from taking part there, and that the
language used by our own Government. and by
statesmen of all parties has been favourable to the
continuance of a pacific policy, we cannot reflect
without solicitude upon the contagious tendency of
war, and upon the symptoms so widely prevalent of
a spirit prompt both to take and to give offence, and
which no professions of international amity, how-
ever sincere, can adequately counteract,",--in all this
we say, they have our humble but hearty
But its very next following;remark, that "if
war is to be prevented, the spirit from which war
proceeds must be excluded," is a complete answer,
we cannot lint think, to its wholesale and indis-
criminate objections to all war—whether its causes
and motives are justifiable or unjustifiable. And
this answer is greatly strengthened when it adds,
that "great indeed must be the change before our
fellow countrymen generally, and the subjects and
citizens of other professedly Christian States, are
brought to admit that all war, defensive as well as
offensive, is unlawful." Until that change ceme, we

concur-

rence.

must be prepared to treat war as, it is,—to resist
wanton aggression, t• repel deliberate invasions of
our national rights, and to aid in maintaining such a
balance of power as may best, upon the whole, pro-
mote the common peace of the nations.

If it is not with reference to such views as we
have here endeavoured to assert, it yet has so forcible
a bearing upon them, that an able contemporary,
alluding to the supposed presence of the hon. member
for Rochdale in the new

kdministration, so perti-
nently remarks,—" It is as the most conspicuous
member of the Peace Congress that the. nominal
President of the Board of Trade is famous abroad.

The. group of nations which, following in the wake of

France, sets a permanent value on no distinction but

military glory, and knows no magic so potent as that
of the call to arms, was thoroughly roused and
startled. by what to them was the most astounding
of paradoxes. The. prophet - of• Peace was in
their eyes a prophet indeed—the teacher of a
novel creed, the assailant of the most fundamental
beliefs of mankind. Surrounded with all the
attractions of the mysterious and unintelligible,
he was a person to be remembered if laughed at,
and to be talked 'of •if despised. Mr. COBDEN,
therefore, is a European celebrity—celebrated as
the inventor of the theory that it is wicked to fight
under any provocation whatever. A Cabinet which
includes his name has hoisted the drab flag, and
may interfere in any international dispute it pleases,
with the certainty of being regarded as a harmless,
well-intentioned busybody. Europe will make up
its mind about the policy of the British Ministry
as positively and as unhesitatingly as it would be
sure to do about the intentions of the Emperor of
the French if one fine day he were to gazette PIERRE
LEROUX as Minister of Public Instruction, or M.
PROLTDHON as Minister of State."