The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-07-17
Disarmament-Paris.

A new journal, LIE Disarmament,
comes forth from Paris. It is under
the auspices of the Church of Rome.
It wisely opens it's columns to men o1
all creeds and parties. Its first mum.
ber contains letters from w. E. Glad.
stone, Emiles CASTELAR,, Simon, and
Fredric Passy'
The conductors of this anti-war
journal begin their campaign thus:
Men of Europe! In view OF the
fact that at the present time, the ma
tions of old Europe have for their
frontiers, lines of soldiers, and that
multitudes of men, without clearly
knowing why, are preparing for mu'
tual destruction, we think the hour Is
come when we should proclaim the
unrecognised rights of humanity.
Just as if no account were taken OF
the wishes of the populations, 1t Is
said, with truth, that an imprudent
remark, any incident whatever, q
word, or q mere nothing, may trans
form fertile plains into q human
slaughter-house. In this way millions
of men would, under compulsion, and
without explanation, be sent to death
like cattle. Do we live, then, still ID
the terrible times when, for the salts
faction of two or three ambitious
chiefs, their unhappy subjects were
required to massacre each other?
dIs the will of the mass Of the peo'
ple sovereign or not? Either the
three hundred millions of men who
inhabit Europe have the hearts OF sla'
YES, or war will cease. If they do
not desire war, yet it takes place, then
war is made by them, in spite OF them,
and against them.
We DSs0smemeaat, organ OF the
popular will, always demanding uni
versal Peace, will declare everywhere,
without distinction of country, these
signal truths, that there may be wars
which are glorious for the great, but
never for the humble; that the
wretches who let loose this plague
hold mankind in contempt, and that
the men who suffer it are by that very
fact to be despised; thus if cannon
shot is the last word OF kings, then
simultaneous disarmament Is the last
word of the people.
The question then arises whether
we are pursuing a chimera, and Wheth'
er disarmament is utopia9 That is
an objection constantly thrown in our
teeth. We reply that as war Is as
detestable as it is stupid, the real uto'
pia is to regard it as eternal. Nations,
as they develop, end always, after
more or less successful efforts, IN get
ting rid of that which does not deserve
to exist. The day, then, will come
when the guns in our arsenals will
share the lot of those in front of the
Hospital of the Invalides. Our sons
will find them in museums as they
find other curiosities of the savage
life. 1t is a question of time, but II
will come. The car Of civilization
moves slowly sometimes, but it never
goes back"
.sMen of Europe! we are running
ourselves! TO make war we must pay
the tax of blood; to maintain the
armed peace we must pay the TAX OF
money. In these times, when starV-
ing people multiply, the military ma
chine seeks to absorb all the nation 8
wealth. In his letter, Mr.. Gladstone
says: that so long ago as 1872, Sir
Robert Peel regarded the ornaments
of Europe as excessive, and as danger
GUS to peace. What, then, would this
statesman have thought Of the arma-
ments of 1892"
"The French peasant is paying taxes
In order to arm soldier to kill the son
of a German pesant, and the German
peasant is paying taxes to arm Ger
man soldier to kill the son of French
peasant. Both are therefore paying
for the murder of their sons. Inas-
much as, after the war which menaces
us, and in comparison with which 9TH
er wars were but child's play, the con-
uueror, whoever he be, can exercise no
mercy, the nations are preparing for a
deadly struggle. Each desiring to
crush her neighbours at any price, 1t
will be a rivalry Of madness, but one
which will cost dear indeed. we
spend each year a thousand millions OF
francs (e4O, O,OOO,OOO) for swords, rifles,
and cartridges. And moreover, our
greatest hope is that all this material
may not be used! But one fortieth
mart of the above sum would provide