The Sully County watchman. (Clifton, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1894, 1888-11-24
SOME HORRORS OF WAR.
Won Moltke, De Maupassant and T. w. Higgin-
son on the Subject

Won Moltke, De Maupassant and T. W. Higgin
son on the Subject.
The noblest plea for peace ever heard
was from the Veteran Victor Hugo in
1878, and IL it be said that il is easy for
the beaten side to be pacific, it must be
remembered that his views on this sub
ject long preceded the Franco Prussian
War, writes Colonel Higginson in Har-
per's Bazaar. Contrast his noble attitude
with the words with which typical
German-Von Moltke, who has been
called by a Frenchman "a man with q
genie j. answered the delegates of peace
congress. "War," he said, in substance,
"a holy thing, of divine institution; it is
one of the sacred laws of the world; it
nourishes among men all the high and
noble sentiments-honor, disinterested-
ness, virtue, courage-and keeps them, in
word, from sinking into the most hideous
materialism." And how well and brave
ly he is answered by typical
Frenchman, the gayest and most !au-
dacious of Parisians, Guy de Maspass-
ant! In his last graceful, and for a
wonder almost inoffensive, little book,
"Sur L Eau," the record of yacht
ing trip, he bursts ont into indignation
after visiting the finest of French men
after visiting the finest of French armed
vessels and says: when l simply dwell
on that one word, war there comes over
me a wild horror as il men talked to me
of sorcery, of the Inquisition or anything
remote, obsolete, abominabie, monstrous,
contrary to nature" We speak with con
Tempt OF cannibals, he says, but if it is
atrocious to kill men for food, is it not
worse to kill them merely for the sake of
killing? Then he gives briet, short
sketch of a battle, set off by his etchers
with formidable glimpse on the oppo-
site page, or the field after victory.
Then he quotes Won Moltke's words, and
proceeds to comment on them thus:
SOLDIERS are the scourges of the world.
We are all striving against ignorance,
against every kind of obstacle in order to
render our miserable existence lees severe
Men, philaDthro pists, scientists, spend
their existence in toll, seeking out what
ever can aid, bless and relieve their
brothers. Absorbed in their usual toll,
they go On accommodating discoveries, EN-
larging science, giving to intellect each
day some new resource of knowledge and
adding daily to the prosperity, the com
fort and the strength of their native land.
War comes, aud in six months the gene
rails have annihilated twenty years of
genius, labor and patience. And this Is
what is called by Won Moltke, the avoid
ance of the most hideous materialism."
Then he goes on: ITO enter foreign
country; TO kill a man who Ia protecting
his own house, and is not, like you, in
military uniform; to burn the houses of
wretches who have no more food; to de-
stroy or steal all property; to drink wine
found in the cellars; to assault helpless
women in the streets; to burn an enor-
nous quantity of powder, and leave BE-
hind only misery and the cholera-that is
what is called the avoidance of a hideous
materialism!" 1t must be owned that
here the cynical, worldly Roman Catholic
Freachman seems on far higher moral
ground than the iaborious, devout Prot,
estant German; and yet Won Moltke
ought consistentiy.to hate war more than
De Maupassant, for .he very reason that
he has seen more of it. The time Is
passed when Arguments for peace from
the aide of humanity could be set aside
as merely childish or womanish. il is to
the greatest military nation of all history
that we owe the terse motto, summing up
all personal experiences: "Dulce belium
inexpertis"-war is sweet to those who
have never tried il.