The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1890-06-04

when the weavers paraded Inc streoh
and entered buildings to destroy the
machinery OF those who, because OF their
new inventions, could undersell the
rest They were Witnessed in 1881 at the
trial Of Lord George Gordon, when there
was d religious riot. Again In 1719
when the rabble cried: Down with
the Presbyterians! Down with the
meeting -houses!" There always. have
been, and always will be, in great com
munities, class Of people that can not
govern themselves and which ordinary
means can not govern, and there are
exigencies which nothing but the sword
can meet. Aye, the militia are the very
last regiments that twill be safe to dis
band.
Arbitrament Will take the place OF
war between nation and nation, and
national armies will disband as o con-
sequence, and the time will come-God
hasten itl-when there will be no need
Of an American army or navy, or Rus
sian army or navy. But some time after
that cities will have to keep their ar
mories, and arsenals, and well-drilled
militia, because until the millennial
day there will be populations with
whom arbitrament will be as impossible
as treaty with cavern Of hyenas or q
jungle Of snakes. These men who rob
stores and gives garroter's hug, and
prowl about the wharves at midnight,
and rattle the dice in gambling-hells,
and 60 armed with pistol or dirk, will
refrain from disturbance Of the public
peace, Just in proportion as they realize
that the militia of city, instead Of be-
ing an awkward squad, and In danger
Of shooting each other by mistake, or
losing their own life by looking down
into the gun barrel to see II 1t Ia
loaded, or getting the ramrod fast in
their bootleg, are prompt as the sun
rise, keen as the north wind, potent as
thunderbolt, and accurate, and regular,
and disciplined, in their movements as
the planetary system. Well done, then,
say to legislatures, and governors, and
mayors, and all officials who decide upon
larger armories and better places for drill
and more generous equipment for the
militia. The sooner the sword can safely
go back to the scabbard to stay there, the
better; but until the hilt clangs against
the case in that final lodgment, let the
sword be kept free from rust, sharp all
all along the edge, and its point like a
needle, and the handle polished, not
only by the chamois of the regimental
servant, but by the hand Of brave and
patriotic officers, always ready to do
their full duty. Such swords are not
bathed in impetuosity, or bathed in
cruelty, or bathed in oppression, or
bathed in outrage, but bathed in heaven.
Before l speak Of the doom Of the
sword, let me also say that 1t has de-
veloped the grandest natures that the
world ever saw. 1t has developed cour-
age-that sublime energy OF the soul
which defies the universe when 1t feels
itself to be in the right 1t has devel-
oped self-sacrifce which repudiates
the idea that our life is worth more than
any thing else, when for principle ID
throws that life away, as much as to
say, 1t is not necessary that I live, but
1t is necessary that righteousness tri-
umph. There are tens Of thousands
among the Northern and Southern vet
erans of our civil war, WHO are ninety
five per cent. larger and nightier in soul
than they would have been had they not,
during the four years Of national agony,
turned their backs on home and fortune
and at the front sacrificed all for
o principle. 1t was the sword which on
the Northern side developed Grant, a
Mcclellan, Hooker, Hancock, Sher-
man, a Sheridan, and Admirals Farragut
and Porter, and on the other side Lee,
q Jackson, a Hill, Gordon, and the
Johnstons, Albert Sydney and Joseph
E., and Admiral Semmes, and many Fed
erals and Confederates whose graves in
national cemeteries are marked "Un-
known" yet who we're just as self-sac-
rificing and brave as any Of their major
generals, and whose resting places all
up and down the banks OF the Andros-
coggin. the Hudson, the Potomac, the
Mississippi, and the Alabama, have re-
Gently been showed under with white
flowers typical Of resurrection, and
strewn with red flowers commemorative
OF the carnage through which they
passed, and the blue flowers illustrative
Of the skies through which they as
cended.
But the sword is doomed. There is
one word that needs 10 be written In
every throne-room, in every war Office,
in every navy yard, in every national
council. That world is Disarmament
But no government can afford to throw
its sword away until all tho great gov
ernments have agreed TO do the same.
Through the influence Of tho recent con-
vention Of North and South American
governments at Washington, and
through tho peace convention to be held
NEXT July In London, and other move
ments In which prime ministers, and
kings, and queens, and sultans, and
czars shall take part, all civilized nations
will come TO disarmament, and II q few
barbarian races decline TO quit war, then
all the decent nations will send out q
force Of continental police TO wipe out
from the lace OF the earth the miscreants
But until disarmament and consequent
arbitration shall be agreed TO by all the
great governments, any single govern.
ment that dismantles It's fortresses, and
spikes It's guns, and breaks its sword,
would simply invite its own destruction.
Suppose, before such general agreement
England should throw away her sword;
think Won France has forpottan Mntar.