The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1895-12-31
1a wAn a NATURAL CONDITION.

Editor Astorlan:-
We hear a great deal nowadays about
universal arbitration, and UNIVERSAL us
armament and many good men ana Wom-
en- are prone TO believe that the last war
has been fought among civilized nations
and that the day is drawing nigh when,
as the poet lays,
There shall come a time when Brother
hood shows stronger
Than the narrow bounds which now dis
tract the world;
When the cannons roar and trumpets
blare no longer,
And the ironclad rusts, and battle nags
are furled;
When the bars of creed and speech and
race which sever,
shall be fused In One Humanity forever.
The longing for such a condition is in
itself a precursor and herald of the reign
Of eternal peace on earth among men and
nations in the good time coming. 1t Is
the longing of the human heart, the as
piration of all noble souls. the prophecy
Of religion, the sage's vision and the
philosophers dream, enchantingly beauti-
full, but as yet, nothing but a dream Of
a PARKWAY hope. The natural condition
Of men and Of nations, Is one Of strife,
and we nave 1t IN the authority of Holy
Writ, that here in this world, there shall
be no peace, or as Christ himself said:
II came not to send you peace, but a
sword"
All natural law proclaims the eternal
truth of the foregoing, in the bitter strug-
gle for existence that we see going on all
around us, and which no man every yet
escaped nor can escape. In this struggle
for existence, ending in the survival Of
A. - ~ 49, L---- -Aa 1-o H.
mated, and mankind is by reason of this
very struggle, made brighter and better.
What holds true of individuals, likewise
holds true Of nations. Whatever n man
possesses, whether 1t be material wealth,
or the food he eats, or the clothes that
he wears, or the religion he believes in,
or the ideas that he advocates, or his
wealth of brain, soul or intellect, one and
all, are acquired through struggling and
suffering, through war n strife, and in
maintaining them he has to do constant
battle for them. Let us not then be
idealists looking at what ought to be, but
let us take things as they are like men
Of common sense ought to do n must
do. Looking dow the lanes of history,
we see how slow and painful has been
the gradual ascent of man from a con-
dition of savagery to one of a high state
W - wv w NOANf Nh@N NAS
Israelites under Moses wandered forty
years in the wilderness ere in the wisdom
of God they were fitted to enter into Ca
a and so too, for forty centuries,
man has ruled by the blood-dripping
sword, the slaves of kings who claimed
to rule by right divine, until 1t dawned
upon the forefathers of the great Amer
lean republic, that was to be, that the
double duty of man to man, and man to
God proclaimed the divine sovereignty of
man, and for the first time in history,
a republic became possible ard the ''di-
vine' right Of kings was laughed at.
But 1t had taken nearly 1900 years to
learn that lesson and to understand the
innermost meaning of the words: "Call
no man master, but your Father who art
in heaven" and the republic had to be
born, through the smoke of battle,
through blood and tears and tribulations.
1t is safe to say that 1t will take another
1900 years at least, before war is abolished,
for In spite of all that can be said 10
the contrary, 1t is the natural condition
of the human race. Then, too, in times
of war, the noblest qualities of men are
often called into play and deeds Of dar-
ing, heroism, and self-sacrifice become
the beacon lights that illuminate with
imperishable glory the annals of the ra-
Take from American history the names
of Washington, Jackson, Scott, Grant,
Lee, and a thousand other names sug-
of deeds of valor, and 1t would
but Indifferent reading at best.
The finest record of nations has ever been
written in blood, n every forward step,
every forward movement, every great
epoch in the worlds history, and every
advance that has been made towards ma
greatness n renown, has been
on the blood-stained battle fields over the
of the myriads slain. 1t is with
as with men, whatever is worth
having, is worth struggling for, and cry
peace as much as we may. there is no
peace. Those who are crying for peace
through the press, in this, the present
contention Of our country with England,
mean well, but they lave failed to I'M
the lessons of history and the
truths of religion. The only permissible
reason for the existence of our great
and it's glorious republican form
of government, Is that of proclaiming and
conserving the rights of man, and to
contrive to be as she has hitherto been
the guardian angel of human liberty. 10
maintain that proud position, given to her
by nature and by natures God, the Unit
ed States of America will, If need must
be, fight her last man and spend her last
dollar, Notwithstanding the paint of those
who would barter away the mission and
the honor of the nation for a dishonora-
BILE peace. From the Atlantic to the Pa
cihc and from the Lakes to the Gulf:
1.-THE black form of night is retreating,
The white peaks have signalled the day,
And Freedom her long roll is beating,
And calling her sons to the fray"
GEO. JOHNSON.