The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1870-10-18
Lessons of the European War.

Lessons of the European War.
Carnage-ruin - exile revolution
the misery of hundreds of thousands of
heart-broken families, this is the history
Of midsummer
Yet, in the midst of such desolation. it
seems as if we were passing one of the
great crises in which the real history of
the world improves and and advances, in
which human happiness for all after GEN.
turies is involved in which an endless Sc.
ries of human rights is at once conceded
and, in word, in which for all men
higher life begins. This is not too much
much to say of the results now apparent
of the war.
These results are gained by the super
ior administrative force of the German
governments, and the superior quickness,
constancy, and endurance of the German
rank and file These qualities have been
shown in military system which treats
each man as the equal of each other man
IL rights and responsibilities; calls all
men to arms, and makes the son of a
prince serve by the side of coal-heaver,
if need be. For fifty years, meanwhile,
the same system has been giving to the
son Of the coal-heaver the same advan-
tages in education as the son of the prince,
and has compelled him to use them also,
a detail which Americans may admire
and initiate.
Simply speaking, then, the German
system, in peace and in war, rests on the
recognition of the worth of the individual
man; of Gods child. because he is Gods
child There have been men, and books,
and pulpits, which have been proclaiming
this for years one book which has pro.
claimed it for many hundreds of years,
and one Teacher who proclaimed it eigh.
teen hundred years ago. 1t is a pity
that such battles as Sadowa, and Sedan
must take place before the nations
will learn that lesson; but taught it is in
those battles. At the very moment that
the Catholic priesthood Of this country
under the orders of an infallibe pope, is
begging us to trust to them the public ed
ucation Of our children, the havoc of these
battle-ields is teaching what becomes o.
nations who have trusted to education
thus administered. And this is not sim
ply on the plane of brute physical force
The talent that administers, the foresight
which is ready, the loyalty which dies
these are the gifts you gain for war Of
for peace; when you say to nation, a
Luther said to the German nation, "Yot
are all children Of God, no priest cal
save you, you must save yourselves"
Substantially the same thing was taught
was taught in the conflict of our own wa
war With the immense disadvantages o
conducting the contest within the enemy
territory, with the corresponding disad
vantage result. from the very ambiguous
condition of conquered territory, the
Northern States tired out and over
} whelmed the Southern States, whose ar
! mics were well led. brave and persistent
, Why? Because the Northern States di,
, and could put arms into the hands O
every man; and the Southern States di
not dare arm their laborers One beliey
ed in the worth of the individual mar
5 and the other did not believe in it. Tn
7 issue was the same issue as that of Soda
4 or Sadowa.
c 1t is impossible for the most thought
| less man, or for the man who most dis
=, likes TO believe in Universal Laws whic
1 gives to right victory, to get away froI
r the lessons in this business of the middl
? of July.
: On the 18th of July, the bishops ofth
: Roman church united in the final vote {
f St, Peters which announced to the worl
d that the Pope of Rome is infallble-th
d infallible head of the conscience of mar
! kind. On the day after that sublin
$ blasphemy, which disowns all individu,
is human rights. and denies the ioundatio
d of the gospel, the last attempt at neg
g. tiations between France and prussi
d failed. On the 18th war was declare
and accepted. 1t was war between II
Emperor, who had throughout sustainC
10 the pope in his temporal supremacy al
i. his claim to iafallibility, and the chi
" Protestant Sovereign Of Europe. TT
= first public act Of an infallible pope WI
= the attempt to mediate between ther
> The contest was really the contest of Il
n council Of the Vatican. reduced to IL
es plane OF arms. On one side, this theol
of Caesar, that there shall he one chi.
er whom all others shall obey on the 9th,
n. side, this theory of Christ, that no man
II an officer, unless he shows that he c;
serve. The battle-felds Of IIagucndu,
>, Gravelotte, and of Caligan are to be II
a ticed in history as the first comment
as as the logma of infallibity. The well-d
loved son of the church, the protector
~ : the pope, the head Of the Latin races
p their inevitable contests with nations tn
~ -, believe in Christian freedom this ma
=, in six weeks after he gives his aid to tn
announcement of the infallibility Of
great confederate, finds himself prison
he in the hands Of the enemy whom he h
ed insulted And this by no accident of W,
IN but by the direct working out of the T.
on theories of human nature, on one of viii
nd Romanism, and on the other of viii
he Christianity, depends 1t is i'll reser
re- for an infallible pope to learn bis part
the same lesson.