Indiana State sentinel. (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1863-10-26
senator sumner on war.


tions than the Hon Charles sumner. He gives
his party its Law and its Latin. He is, besides, a
man who talks much of virtue, SO that on all
ethical questions bis "ipse diTt' is not less con-
elusive than was that of Socrates to his disciples
From the speeches this great apostle therefore,
we propose, this morning, to show what his views
in reference to war have been, and at another
time how far moral Massachusetts, man can go
in opposing Administration when CARRYING on
n war.
On the 28th of May, l649, he delivered an ad
dress to the American Peace Society. on "The
War System of the Commonwealth of Nations, !"
which will be found i'm the volumes of "Oratons
and Speeches published by Ticknor & Fields,
He prefaced it bv several aphorsms, among
which was this of franklin:
ave daily make great improvements in natur
al-there is one / wish TO see in mOral-Philoso-
ply; the discovery of a plan that would induce
and oblige nations to settle their disputes without
first cutting one another's throats. When will
human reason be sufficiently improved to see the
advantage of thisf"
And this from Jean Panl:
"Only the toughest, harshest barbarism of past
ages-war-remains yet TO be vanquished by our
innate anti-barbarism. There is growing in
sight of its unlaw Witness"
And this of Emerson:
"War is on its legs, and universal peace is
barbarism, of liberal governments over feuda
forms The question for us is only, How sooni"
He then proceeds to argue that nations should
give up the system, and to prove 1.-THE business
of war cannot be other than a damnable pr0fes
sion-a trade of barbarism; and war itself is
certainly hell on EARTH" In the course of his
remarks he INDUCES in this curious reflection:
"Unhappy. Congress is expressly authorized
to declare war'-that is to appeal to the arbitra
~.
state that all giving aid and comfort to the enc
my shall be deemed Traitors Mark, now ,
what the Gospel has said: Love YOUR enemies:
if thine enemy hunger. feed him; if he thirst,
give him drink Thus shall obedience to this
positive Injunction of Christianity expose "a per-
son. under the war system, to the penalty OF the
highest crime known TO the law. Can this be a
Christian system?"
Not less characteristic is what he SAYS in an
swer to the question: 'Is the militia obnoxious
to the same unequivocal condemnationf' He
replies:
80 far as the militia constitutes part of the
war system, il is impossible to distinguish it from
the rest of the system. 1t is portion OF the
apparatus provided for the administration of inter-
national justice. From this character it borrows
the INV wholesome attractions of war, while, like
a North American Indian, it Gisports itself in
finery and parade OF the Latter feature will
only incidentally speak 1t war be Christian
Institution, let those who act its ministers
shroud themselves in colors cohgenial with their
dreadful trade"
His horror of the "inordnate expenditure by
which the war system is sustained' is still great
er. however. than his antipathy to uniforms, and
he indulges freely in exclamation points as he
dilates upon the two Thousand millions of dollars
which our Government had SPENT from the ad0p
ton of the Constitution to that time. "n breed
iEg and fattening a cloud of eagles and vultures
trained to swoop upon the land" "
After much more of the same sort, he proceeds
to consideration of the means by which this
system is to be abolished, and he gives the palm
to the device of our own Constitution. He SAYS:
THE United States of America are Federal
Union of thirty independent sovereign States
each having peculiar interests-in pursuance of n
Constitution which provides a high tribunal for
the adjudication of controversies between the
States"
1t is unfortunate that Mr.. Sumner did not
think of this in 1860 The South only asked that
which the Supreme Court had decided Was right
fully theirs. but Mr. Lincoln was elected upon no
other platform than pledge to override the de-
cisions of the Supreme Court
But Mr.. Sumner seems 10 have forgotten other
doctrines which it would be well for US if be would
remember:
"COming to our own country, he says, 81 find
many names worthy of commemoration in our
cause. No person, in ali history, has borne his
testimony against war in phrases of greater pun
gency and more convincing truth Than Benjamin
Franklin. There never has been,' he says, nor
ever will he, any such thing as a good war or
bad peace and he asks. When will mankind be
convinced of this and agree to settle their diff
culties by del;beraton? Were they do it even
by the cast Of a die, it would be better than by
fphtuO nd desfroving aach Othar "
But if this be dIsoyal. what is to be said of the
following assertion:
From franklin, while Minister OF the United
States at Paris, proceeded those Instructions,
more honorable to the American name than any
battle directing the naval cruisers Of our country,
among whom the redoubtable Paul Jones, if
they should encounter the returning expedition
of Capt. Cook. to allow il an undisturbed passage
And. still later. belongs to him the honor of in
Producing into treaty with Prussia clause for
the abolition OF that special scandal, private war
on the ocean.
Did Mr.. Sumner think of these things when
he voted for the confscatiOn act-a law that has
no parallel suce the times of William the Con-
queror. and the principles Of which were declared
by Chief Justice Marshal as contrary to the laws
of nations2 Or was he reminded OF them when
he read of the plundering of the libraries at
Beaufort aud the carrying off of the statues and
pictures at Baton Rouge?
But we have not space TO pursue our extracts
Military glory he prOn0unces ''more worthy of
the beasts of the field than of intelligent Chris
tian men" and he concludes by declaring TINT cat
last shall il be seen that there Can be no peace
that is not honorable. aud there can be no war
that is not dishonorable.' And yet this man, for
years past, has devoted all his energies to melting
animosity and hatred between the sections of this
country, and row that war has ensued the
suit of his efforts. be has done all in his power to
make it more barbarous and bloody than any war
since Louis XIV desolatod the PalatiDate. His
record certainly entities him to be the leader OF
the American Senatel-[ Philadelphia Age.
"A Philadelphia ssHeip.,-