The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1870-09-25

War IL . great enlikhtener, mot neselI |
bf combatants, but Of spectators also. The 1
that IL now proceeding on theC
tinent has made both France and Prussia
aware of q great deal most useful for them
to know. It has taught them lessons that
cannot well be learned in time and manner
Of peace. And among the group of neutral
Powers which stand around Observantly,
considering when to strike into the fight,
or by what contrivance to keep clear of it,
pies modest place. Her gaze is eager
and her heart is sad. Intent upon the
present ana apprehensive of the future, she
asks herself a question of supreme impor-
lance, and she is sorely troubled with the
answer.
The case, in point of fact, is thiss Eng
land sees that the character of war is
radically changed. War does not now
mean, as it did till recently, mere trial
of strength between two bodies of men,
the professional fighters paid by@rival ma
tons to enforce what they believe to be,
or what they choose to call, their rights.
1t has come to mean huger and MINOR. more ter tha
nations themselves. The ''soldiera" of a
country used to fight its wars, but the men
of country fight them now. England
sees it clearly. She knows her liability
to be drawn into war in spite of all that
prudence or love of peace may do to keep
OuO VI ASuGAuks AAcuCO LuO aSoAVntAuB
question Of the day in England.
There is abundant proof at hand that no
ordinary preparation will suffice for Eng
land in face of the existing circumstances.
She can only hold her place, or any place
in the line of the greater Powers, by grand
and singular effort Of organization. This
assertion is not ours alone. 1t is the clear
concurrent sense of England's prominent
men and her chief organs of opinion "
abiding further in the columns
of this journal to the facts brought out last
month in the House of Commons, we may
here pause a moment to give some brief in
dication of the truth as Englishmen perceive
"Does military organization exist in this
country z" Lord Elcho asked in his letter
to the Times of Monday. "Have our gov
ernors ever rightly appealed to the patriot
ism of the people and tried upon that sure
foundation to organize our military strength
and array the war power of our nation Y"
To the second Of these questions he roundly
answers "NO," and to the first he says
having tried it by the only proper standard,
the actual military organization of foreign
nations-that /" the present vast expendi-
ture is worse than waste, for it lulls in u
false and fatal security"
The Lord Mayor of London spoke lately
at Guildhall on this point of military de-
ference. Addressing an audience Of the
volunteers, he told them that the time for
"playing at soldiers" was past; that the
seething cauldron of war might boil over
at any time; and that the national task
should be to "impart into the character of
a citizen all the habits of order, all the quiet
discipline and obedience of the soldier
|Overpowering all other cares and superior
to ali other concerns, is the real and imni-
nent danger of war, according to the Lon
don Standard. 1t pictures "London
threatened with sack a foreign army
bivouacked in Hyde Park squadron OF
Uhlans ordering dinner at the Charing
Cross Hotel; and foreign Cuirassiers can
tering down Constitution Hill )" and it
dolefully laments the incompetency Vi
England, in this time of deadly peril, t.
4 make even as good warlike show as littl.
Switzerland.
Simply expressing the "contemptible
unreality" of the English military system
the Pail Mall Gazette declares that is the
duty of every subject to defend b4e country
when called on; every man within certain
limits of age who does not come under the
prescribed list of exceptions should bt
compelled to serve his time in the militia
All this speaking and writing points ou
the way to the adoption of a military Regime
which is recommended by the Times in very
plain and extremely forcible language
After grand preliminary flourish abou
livers itself of the following set of sole
military axioms, which we take the trouble
to extract, with literary accuracy ia the be
lief that they will not be quite devoid o
interest to our readers:
"From the. beginning of the world, or
at least, of history, it was always held tina
a man must be ready to fight with the bes
weapon at his command"
"The art Of self defence is q necessar
part of the achoie duty of man."
" Every man should be more or less a sol
, der" a.
"No reasons, except those founded o
false security, blindness to change, indolemc
or pure folly, can be given why every ma
should not have certain degree of militar
training"
t "Everybody must be trained to defen
4 his country in some capacity or other.
He must at all euents be made a soldier, an
producible in the hour of need"
: The Times tells out the simple truth, an
}, presents the machinery of reform in som
f. plain and ready principles, which appea
. to us both sound and suitable. We shoul
~ be sorry to say one word against the vs.
u lidity of axioms SO perfectly in unison wit
II those which we ourselves have always hel
q and spoken. Internationally years az
! the patriotic Davis wrote in this journal
"To carry arms is the first right of mai
for arms are the guardians of propert.
d honor and life To carry arms
= the ultimate guarantee of life, property an
y freedom. Disarmament al
J. slavery were convertible terms in ever
y age. Arms and liberty a
'r synonymous" What Davis taught SO lor
d ago the Times enforces and extends to-da