The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1889-09-20


WarI Wari A million dead men, and
a National debt that might have ground
this Nation to powder.
Why did we not let William H Seward,
Of New York, and Alexander II. Stephens,
OF Georgia, go out and spend few days
under the trees on the banks Of the
Potomac and talk the matter over, and
settle it as settle they could, rather than
the North pay in cost OF war four billion
seven hundred million dollars, and the
South pay four billion seven hundred and
fifty million dollars. the destroying angel
leaving the first born dead in so many
houses all the way from tie Penobscot to
the Alabama. Ye aged n en-, whose sons
fell in the strife, do you not think that
would have been betteTI Oh yes! we
have came to believe, / think, in this
country that arbitration is better than
battle.
may be mistaken, but hope that the
last war between Christia nations IS
ended. Barbarians may mix their war;
paint and Afghan and Zulu hurl poi
soned arrows, but 1 think Christian na
tions have gradually learned that war is
disaster to victor as well as van pushed,
and that almost any thing bought by
blood is bought at too dear a price. l
wish to God this Nation might be a model
of willingness for arbitration. No need
Of killing another Indian. No need of
sacrificing any more brave General Gus
ters. Stop exasper4ting the redmen,
and there will be no more arrows shot
out from the reservation. a General of
the United States army, in high repute
throughout this land, and who, perhaps,
has been in more Indian wars than any
officer, and who has been wounded again
and again in behalf of our Government
in battle against the Indians, told me
that all the wars that had ever occurred
between the Indians and white men had
been provoked by white men, and that
there was no exception to the rule.
While we are arbitrating with Christian
nations, let us toward barbarians carry
ourselves in a manner unprOyOcatiVe of
contest
1 inherit a large estate, and the waters
are rich with fish, and the woods are
songful with birds, and my corn fields
are silken and golden. Here is my sis
ter's grave. Out yOuder, under that large
tree, my father died. An invader comes,
and proposes to drive me of and take
possession of my property. He crowds
me back, he crowds me on, and crowds
me into a closer corner, and still closer
corner, until after awhile 1 say:
stand back; don't crowd me any moro,
or Pill strike. What right have you to
come here and drive me off of my prem
isesY got this farm from my father, and
he got it from his father. What right
have you to come here and modest me?"
You blandly say: "Oh, know more than
you do. 1 belong to a higher civilization.
1 cut my hair shorter than you d.. 1
could put this ground to a great deal bet
ter use than you do"
And you keep crOwding me back and
crowding me into a closer corner and
closer corner, until one day look around
upon my suffering family, and, fred by
their hardships, I hew you in twain.
Forthwith all the world comes to your
funeral to pronounce eulOgium; comes to
my execution to mathematics me. You
are the hero; l am the culprit. Behold
the United States Government and the
North American IndianI The red man
has stood more wrongs than 1 would,
you. We would have struck sooner,
deeper. That which is right in defense
of a Brooklyn home or a New York home
is right in defense of home on top of
the Rocky mountains. Before this dwin-
ding red race dies completely out, [
wish that this generation might by
common justice atone for the inhumani-
ty of its predecessors. In the day of
Gods judgment l would rather there be q
blood -smeared Modoc than a swindling
United States officer on an Indian reser-
vatiOnl One man was a barbarian and
! savage, and never pretended to be any
thing but barbarian and savage.
The other man pretended to be a repre-
! sentative of a Christian nation. Not
withstanding all this, the general disgust
! with war, and the substitution of diplO-
matte skill for the Glittering edge of keen
| steel, is a sign unmistakable that "the
! day is at hand"
1 find another ray OF the dawn in the
! compression Of the worlds distances.
| What a slow, snail like, almost impossi-
! bic thing would have been the worlds
rectihcatiOn with one thousand four hun
| dred million of population and no facile
| means of communication; but now,
| through telegraph for the eye and tele-
! phonic intimacy for the ear, and through
| steamboating and railrOading, the TWEEN
| ty-five thousand miles of the worlds cir
! cumference are shriveIing up into in-
| significant brevity. Hong Kong is near
| er to New YOr X than few years ago
/ New Haven was; Bombay, Moscow,
/ Madras Melbourne within speaking dis
| lance. Purchase a telegraphic chart,
/ and by the blue lines see the telegraphs
of the land, and by the red lines the
| cables under the ocean. You see what
| opportunity this is going to give for the
| final movements of Christianity. A
| fortress may bs months or years in build
ing, but after it is constructed it may do
/ all its work in twenty minutes. Chris
/ tianity has been planting its batteries for
| nineteen centuries, and may go on in the
work through other centuries; but when
! those batteries are thoroughly planted,
| those fortresses are thoroughly built,
| they may all do their work in twenty
] four hours.
/ The world sometimes derides the church
for slowness of movement. Is science
] any quicker? D id it not take science five
thousand six hundred and fifty-two years
to find out so simple a thing as the circu-
lation of the human blood. With the
| earth and the sky full of electricity,
science took five thousand eight hundred
| years before it even guessed that there
was any practical use that might be made
of this subtle and mighty element When
good men take possession of all these
scientific forces, and all these agencies of
/ invention, 1 do not know that the
/ redemption of the world will
be more than the work of half
| a day. Do we not read the
/ Queens speech at the prOroguiug of Par
Lament the day before in London? If
that be so, is it any thing marvellous to
believe that in twenty four hours di-
! vine communication can reach the whole
| earth? Suppose Christ should descend
| on the natiOns-many expect that Christ
| will come among the nations personally
/ suppose that tomorrow morning the
Son of God from a lowering cloud should
| descend upon these cities. Would not