The morning call., 1893-12-13
THE WAR AT RIO.

IIUm ilIo dCCOuntS WHICH appear III tDe
Rio NeluS. paper in the English language
published at Rio de Janeiro. the war be-
tween PeixotO and Mello partakes of the
nature of an opera bouffe campaign.
Fierce fighting went on for a whole week,
and the only people who were Injured were
a quiet non-com batant who was shot by
stray ball as he was walking home. and a
hack-driver, who picked up a shell. buried
1t in his garden and struck it with his
spade, whereupon the she'll exploded and
wounded him. Launches passing between
the ships of-war and the Armacao shops
are fred upon from the shore, but no one
is ever hit. One of the hottest engage
ments OF the war took place the day before
the NetcS appeared No one was hurt on
either side, but gunner firing his piece at
too great an elevation blew his own hat
off. An heroic deed was performed by
lieutenant and six students of the mill
tary school. Parceivng an lnsurgent
steamer off the coast they rushed to the
beach, knelt down and fired their carbines
at 1t; it was we'll OUT of range. and was
therefore not seriously injured by the fire;
but the intention was none the less gallant.
The war, in fact, seems 10 surpass the
character. IL is a sham war. in which
neither persons nor property suffer. When
the two combatants are tired of firing over
each others heads it will come TO an end.
1t has been hoped that naval encounter
might give the world lesson In moderu
gunnery; but If the battle-ships FIRE at
each other with real shells somebody may
get hurt, and this, it appears. would be
contrary 10 the rules of the game.
South Americans never did carry on war
in earnest until the battle which over
threw the dictatorship in Chile, and that
example seems to have disgusted them
with the new practice. Their martial ar
dor is satisfied when two bodies of men
meet in some field or some WOOD, and blaze
away all day. with list of casualties at
night footing up: killed. o.; wounded, 0;
missing, 80 per cent Of the force engaged.
The fashion extends to the Mexican bor-
der. There was a revolution the other
day in Costa Rica; the existing govern
ment was Overthrown and a new govern
mept set up in its place; the only loss of
life was the death of an abdominal citzsn
who was returning home from his cafe,
and was shot by chance ball through the
stomach.
Il may be question whether this way
Of carrying on war may not be as sensible
as the way older nations follow. At the
present time questions of principle and
questions of boundaries are settled by the
issue of battle which NAV be won by the
genius of the general engaged or by some
accident The Rhine became a German
river throughout its course simply because
the French had no general who could com
pare in ability with Won Moltke. Italian
unity became a fact because the Aus.
trians had no soldiers who could compete
with the generals of Napoleon the
Third. In each case the result was pro-
duced by causes which had no connection
with it. History was shaped by extra
neous accidents. II Grouchy had come
up at Waterloo, and Blucher had not, the
empire Of France might have lasted till
he King of Rome was prepared to succeed
his father, and popular libertg in Europe
might have been dream 10 this day. II,
then, the result of waIs. which may be de-
fined as the establishment of political priu-
ciples and of national boundaries, depend
on accidents INDEPENDENT of the issues for
which the wars are undertaken, why not
save the lives lost in real battle and settle
the questions by sham battles as the South
Americans do?
a humorous writer. commenting on the
march of the military art, once said that
the battles of the future would be fore
gone conclusions from :he time the armies
reached the battlefield. The contending
generals would compare their forces and
their guns, and the one who was the
weakest would surrender without fuss or
ado. Ii wars ever reach that stage the
tactics of the South Americans may not
seem so ludicrous.