Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1866-11-23

w
it would not take IL
in fact. Let, then, tho
that will fill up this blo
it would be shameful to
with railways, grovel ~
slams, what will you haveV
ing and killing Austrians,
ans, Hanoverians and SaXoifS
the account Saxons, Hanover
ans, Badeners and Austrians, w
have gained by shooting and kiln
slams All of you glorying in the
name Of Germans, would you the le
the taxes imposed upon you on your
to your firesides Would you be more
Was France more free when, in 1913, b.
counted 135 Departments instead of only
the S6 of 1859?
A most regretable inversion of ideas has
occurred. The people have made a mistake.
Before asking for peace, which they might
have obtained, they asked for liberty, which
they have not procured. Before asking for
liberty they should have asked for peace.
They should not have consumed their
strength in irritating debates upon long
drawn questions of authority, instead of di-
recting all their energies to one point, ex-
pressed in single, word, -disd,3ndment
That is to say
No more blood split in the ditch of the
ages No more taxes hampering consump-
ton. crushing labor and perpetuating power
ty No more public deficiency reports each
year No more loans contracted other than
by way of advance on works of pnblic util-
ity or health, yielding directly or indirectly
more then their cost ! No more communes
without schools and without roads No
more forests no more mines without the
most favorable means of working them !
No more water-courses not turned to any
1A,,,, txritl, aha
capital to encourage it ! No more arms
without occupation No more work below
the just and advantageous limit: for if there
are consumers who are not producers, there
are no producers who are not consumers
No more antagonism between the guaran-
tors calling themselves the Government,
and the guaranteed calling themselves the
governed No more parties serving as the
fulcrum of fault No more dangerous in
tervcntons No more distant expeditions
No more revolutionary explosions No
more political nstablity.-Gnawed by the
canker of standing armies, the real degcn-
eratiug symptom Of humanity, the Govern
ments having the same interest in .disarm-
ing as the people, it is difficult to comprc-
hend why the thing has not been done long
since, without recollecting that not single
step of progress, not a single movement TO-
ward perfection could fasten itself on any
branch of trade, without the impulsive force
lent by competition struggling against the
risihertie ofroutine, the latter,t too, being oft
ener victorious than vanquished.
The immobility and powcrlessness OF Gov
crnments are explained in the same way.
No rivalry forces them to make their ma
chinery more perfect and less costly. Thus,
the only thing they know is to oppose
monstrous army with an army still more
monstrous, and, should complaint arise, TO
| stine il under seVerties that reduce it to si-
| lencc.
What are armies good for? They only
| serve to create the risk of war and keep it
up. If you would diminish the latter, dim
insh the former. If you would suppress
the one, suppress the other. "Oh bloody
ditch Shall we not find one sovereign in
Europe or one minister, who will make it
the glory of his life to fill and close thee ~
1t is impossible not to heed with the ut
most respect an utterance like this, so full
of feeling, earnestness, and practical logic
coming from one of the most gifted and eX-
perienced pens in the world written at the
centre of the highest modern civilization,
and in the very effulgence of an Imperial
military throne. 1t has its echo in the
hearts of millions upon millions in the elder
hemisphere, and, on this side of the globe,
there will be few but wandering swashbuck-
lers and adventurers to galnsay 1t. Similar
voices are uplifted in every European Cap
itol. Through them the people speak-the
people of all lands and tongues-and they
viii be heard, or the day is at hand when,
on the intended battlefield, armies recruited
from the ranks of toiling men and placed in
hostile array over against each other, will
fling down their weapons to the ground and
fraternize. When that day comes, the reign
of tyrants. demagogues, and deceivers of
! the Nations will be past and gone forever.
|, Let us, then, by all just arts and appli-
ances, endeavor to hasten the time We
! can do so here, no better than by cherishing
those principles of fraternity, forbearance,
and good mutual understanding, which will
render the resort to brute force one of the
barbarsms discarded forever from our rec
ord The spread of Christian ideas, the in
terchange ofsentiment and cvility, the mag
netism Of commerce and the charms of mu-
tual profit, will soon smooth away asperi-
ties and make the crooked places straight.
Then, and then only, will poverty cease,
comfort return to earth, and the designs OF
Providence approach accomplishment.
| Mercantile Journal