The National tribune., 1883-12-27
CAMP FIRES OF OLD,
As Recalled After Twenty Years OIL
Peace.
by oOaraae John HeEtroy, Editor Toledo Blatse.-
TuE MIssIoN oF WAR.

II.
THE MISSION OF WAR.
II IL the pretty fashion to denoance war.
Pulling humanitarians aud sentimental theo-
rists turn many swcetiy- flowing periods in
| lanleutatiou of the horrors of battle and the
woes of mortal strife. Poets and preachers, and
| gentle-llearted women love to tell us that war
is relic of barbarisIn--batfle survival of the
uncurbed brutality of might, and the wounds
and DEATH the slaughter and wasting of cam
paigns, demonstrations of how near we are yet
| to the unreasoning feracity of the barbarian
and the beast of prey. They sign gently fer
| that glad day
/ when the war-drunls throb no longer and tia
bassle-fags are frTrled
In the parliament OF man, in the Federation OF
the world"
| These amiable aspirations do more credit to
their hearts than their heads. There is a grace
| full softness about them which is usually es-
! teemed the correct thing. War certainly is net
pretty. A battle is the strongest possible con-
/ trast to these fraterna reunions which are like
| the dew on Mount Hermon, and which, we are
| told, are the brightest flowers Of our civiliza-
| ton. A campaign is a terrible change from the
! calm succession of days in peaceful years. The
/ rife is q grave successor to the pen and piow.
/ But so are winters storms fearful change from
the joyful wedding Of earth and sky on per-
/ feet June day; so is the howl of the icy tenn
pest, the savagery of the biting cold, the mer-
| CHESS rigor of January an awful change from
the balmy softness of May, when every flower
! spangled acre is poem on love and peace aud
goodwill to men.
But how unmanly 1t is to bewail that we
cannot always have balmy Skies and mating
birds, and springing flowers. December is as
I necessary as July. The frosts come to destroy
the false and weak growths, and those which
have done their work, that the ground may be
cleared for better. They come to endow the
oak and the hickory with frinness and strength,
| store up sweetness in the fruit tree, and mel
low the earth to kindly fertility. So wars come
| to end the siothful summers of peace; to cut
! down choking wrongs which have grown up
like noxious weeds in August; to lift men out
of the dull ruts of commonplace sslfishness TO
shout in their ears how mean wealth is com
pared with honor; how contemplate the love
of money alongside the glory of self-sacrifee;
how ignoble are lands and riches and social
distinctions compared with the nobility Of pa
triotism and courage.
Wars come TO husk off the invidious sur
roundings Of place and circumstance, and show
us the real grain of manhood in every ones
nature. They are the tiIrashiag floors which
winnow out the wheat from the chat. When
we see Peace giving Us as her highest prod
ucts-such merras Vanderbilt, Could and Cyrus
Field-Ye. must think kindly of War which
makes Washington, Lincoln, and Geo. H.
Thomas ideal Americans.
patriotism DEVELOPED.
The preservation of the Union and the aboIi-
fion of slavery were not the only rich results
which vastly more than compensated for the
lavish expenditure in blood and suffering OF
our war. More valuable, if possible, than either
OF these, was It's elevation of national spirit
1t found us people with petty ambitions and
low, sordid aims. We were filing our days
! with little greeds of gaining dollar here and
, -
. the crucifxion of his higher instincts, gathered
together the most acres and the most dollars
; clean or unclean-was the biggest man in his
. township village. or State.
Peter Jenkins, who had shaved notes OF
swapped horses until he was worth couple Of
3 thousand dollars was looked up to respectfully
t as the great man of Scrogg's Corners. and John
Jacob Astor, German jew who had risen from
: carrying a pack as a peddler to the ownership
Of some millions in real estate, was known a.
one of the greatest men in the Nation. Highel
r flights than these were beyond the general con
ception.
The war came. Dollars and acres were for
gotten in the tide of noble aspirations tina
surged through mems hearts. No longer they
yearned to add field to field, and join house Il
house, but TO do, to die, if need be, in defens
: | of their land.
: Before the firing on FortSumter, John jacob
: Astor's wealth could, apparently, have bough
!. up whole communities-body and soul--aI
: that they had, and all that they valued. A few
months later it'could not have bought from tn
! man tho won them IN battle so small a thiny
: as the shonlder-straps of a second lieutenant
= We had awakened to sense Of the value o
I. the priceless worth Of manly virtues-a treas
ure that moths do not corrupt, nor tllieye
break In upon and steal.
Now, every village every township has an
Z other sort of greatest citizen-one who whel
of %,a1
!. level of the highest requirements Was not al
!. that the war brought to US cheaply purchases
! by all that the war cost us? / think so.
J shudder to think what would have been TIL
: condition of our society to-day if the stress 0
! mortal struggle had not come to purify it q
the lightning's fierce fires consume the foul wa
! pors arising from stagnation.
II THE CREED OF wAR.
q hold that all wars undertaken bya civilize
people for we'll purposes which have tn
9 sanction of their Judgment and consciences, an
,, TO secure which all other means have failed ar
J, among the most benefcent things vouchsafe
Q the world. No great war Of modern times ha
U failed to materially benefit the whole huma
70 race. Nothing since the coming of Christ ha
u done mankind more good than the much be
e walled French revolution and the Napoleoni
q wars.
WARS OF TIE FUTURE.
d And as believe all past wars have done
z grand work that could not have been done with
4 out them, look forward to future wars whicl
n ] know viii come with the greatest compla
n cency. / e-en look forward to this country be
q ing engaged in an armed struggle every tilirt
lie years IN the future as she has had one as oftel
b as every thirty years in the past. 1T seems t
20 take a cycle Of about thirty years betwee
10 wars to rpen disputes so that they require tn
d sharp surgery OF the sword. Nor does it alarr
" me that many Of these viii be social wars-tha
1t is, fights among ourselves. The Teutonic race
ID TO which we belong, and especially the English
re speaking family of it, has fought among them
ye selves in every age; but the outcome. like al
ie other transactions of this hard headed sensibl
j. race. has always been such Gs to much NOR
ID than repay the cost
y The student of history who examines the bi
ID Of rights which forms the cornerstone Of on
es libeltes viii not fail to see that every claus
init is the result of war fought by our Eng
lish, our German or our Dutch forefathers Q
our own, to widen the horizon of huma
w. rights. 1t required war to determine tina
every man has a right to be tried by jury
his peers, in the country where the alleged o.
Tense was committed. 1t required another {
H. l.