Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1896-12-06

disturbed condition Of European Affairs,
81 urges the immediate necessity Of pre-
rGrs .Cr the struggle that Is certain TO
;l-
Heretofore faith in the potency OF cycles
t-- been supposed % abide only VII
Io0-orhists psychologists, and othe.
.sg--s INTO the occult. Their iI
rc-lcloa into official reports is
la--el innovation. yet when Z
Sag history Of the great natioi
D. tfe world IS carefully examined lt is
apparent that General Miles has builded
BIS advice upon undeniable foundations or
That wars should occur In cycles is not
81 s-ral.e when the matter is Investigated
a. tho passage Of time each nation accu-
rl4tcs q certain amount Of animOSlt.e-
against some other particular nation, an0
E-.e any individual one Of these auimosi-
ie7 does not amount to much. they be
come a serious matter IN the bulk. needing
SHY some particularly aggravating cause
10 weld The whole into one irritating mass
Ta.cl fires the nation into war heat
The United states has bad no war since
'la Indian battles Of lS73-twenty-thr
years ago. There have been Indian out
breaks since then. but they were Of small
Importance. Within the past hundred
years this nation on the whole, has been
peculiarly fortunate IN the matter OF war
age With foreign powers, the internal
rr-gg.fs Outnumbering the others. and
.tes' with the exception Of the civil war
D. $751; being comparatively insignificant
Tlrty-siX years elapsed between the
Revolution and the 1872 war and thirty
four years between the latter and the
war with Mexico. The war against the
Eartary States in 1893 was a small affair
D.. f|saA f.rr O D.
g among international wars. Fifty years
t4Fe elapsed since the Mexican war. ana
,arly thrty-two years since the close Of
'l- civil war. The Mormon struggle OF
1853 was brief. and the various Indian
vars while ferOcious. were Of short dura-
t-l Tho causes Of all these wars are
TO familiar TO require explanation here
Within the past century England has
Did more wars than any other two ma
tons the bulk OF them being due to the
British thirst FOR conquest end terri
oral agprandizement. Her wars, aside
Rom o. $50. are not numerous Napoleon
was responsible for the long struggle be
tween I& ard 1915; then there was
lapse o. score Of years, when the war
WITH Spain broke out. Eighteen years
passed and then came the Crimea, ana
since then her many struggles have been
and Africa that she has swallowed.
Germany had The war-fever badly I'm
TIE l.cade bounded by 1860 and 1870. II
la1 NAPOLEON TO contend with seventeen
years between 1888 and 1915, and this
s.r'e satated the martial spirit or the
nation until 1873 when the Prussian5
tstlci with the Danes Sixteen years
ifer Che Teutons again battled with their
Danish neighbors, and with such marked
f-ccoss that the Germans thir5ted TOT
rrw foes 70 conquer, and for time
satisfied their desire by the seYen-Weeks'
1ar with the Austrians In the summer or
l5E
The German war spirit was then al It's
height and eager % revenge Itself upon
Oh French for the many drubbings adj
nlDsfered bv Napoleon. But the master
by ERmarck held the nation IN check
crtl tte perfection OF military strength
c1rd he realized Then, when France
threw down the gauntlet IN 1870, and the
yain-ei0rOus Napoleon III imagined that
be- would rere0t the triumphs Of his great
ancestor. the united Germans made haste
% accept the challenge and in SIX short
months Invested France Of It's martial
r.ory.
Since 1870 Germany has practically had
peace and with the exception of Colonial
rprIsugs like the recent rebellion in
madagascar. France has been az peace
for the corresponding period. or course,
France has been the victim Of intcrnecine
strife many times during the past cen
Jury bat these are merely an ccccntrici'y
A" The French people. Aside from the
c'nGucsf OF Algiers. in 1872 the Napoleon
wars. and the 1870 struggle with Germany,
frances only other war was her part IN
'ne Crlmea Of 1854, when, with Turkey
~ England she allied herself against
Russia.
,o-Alined up. Russia has had peace since