The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-21
all is settled. Arbitration instead Of bat

ted out the French empire, and the only
| aspirant for that throne who had any
| right Of expectation dies in a war that
| has not even the dignity Of being respect
| able. What is the leaf that England
| would like TO tear out OF her history
| The Zulu war. Down with the sword and
up with the treaty.
We in this country might better have
settled our sectional difficulties by arbitra-
ton than by tho trial OF the sword Phil
| anthropy said to the north; ''Pay down
! certain amount of money for the purchase
! Of the slaves, and let all those born after
| a certain time be born free" Philanthropy
! at the same time said TO the south: you
| sell the slaves, andSget rid Of this great
| national contest and trouble" The north
replied: 4 won't pay a cent" The south
/ replied: II won't sell" War! War! A mil
| lion dead men, and a national debt which
might have ground this nation to powder.
| Why did we not let william II. Seward,
of New York and Alexander II. stephens
| Of Georgia, go out and spend a few days
under the trees on the banks of the Poto-
| mac and talk the matter over and settle
it, as settle 1t they GOULD, rather than the
north pay in cost Of war four billion seven
hundred million dollars and the south pay
four billion seven hundred and fifty mill
lion dollars, tho destroying angel leav-
ing the frst-born dead in so many houses
all the way from the Penobscot to the
Alabama. Ye aged men whose sons fell in
the strife, do you not think that would
have been better? Oh, yes we have come
to believe, l think in tlhs country, that
arbitration Is better than battle.
/ may be mistaken, but l hope that the
last war between Christian nations is
ended. Barbarlans may mix their war
paint, and Chinese and Japanese go into
wholesale massacres, and Afghan and
Zulu hurl poisoned arrows, but l think
Christian nations have gradually learn
ed that war is disaster to victor as well
as vanquished, and that almost anything
bought by blood is bought at too dear a
price. 1 wish to God this nation might
be a model Of willingness for arbitration.
No need of killing another Indian. No
need of sacrificing any more brave Gen.
Clusters. Stop eXasperatlng the red man.
and there will be no more arrows shot
out from the adjustments. A general
of the United States army in high repute
throughout this land, and who, perhaps,
had been in more Indian wars than any
other officer, and who had been wounded
again and again in behalf of our govern
ment in battle against the Indians, told
me that all the wars that had ever oc-
Cured between Indians and white men
had been provoked by white men, and
that there was no exception to the rule.
While we are arbitrating with Christian
nations, let us toward barbarans carry
ourselves in a manner unproYacatiVe of
contest.
Let me put myself in their place: I in
merit large estate, and the waters are
rich with fish, and the woods are songful
with birds, and my cornfields are silken
and golden. Here is my sisters grave.
Out yonder, under the large tree, my
father died. An invader comes, and pro-
poses to drive me off and take possession
of my property. He crowds me back, he
crowds me on, and crowds me into a
closer corner, until, after awhile l say:
"Stand back, don't crowd me any more,
or I'll strike. What right have you to
come here and drive me off my premises?
1 got this farm from my father and he
got it from his father. What right have
you to come here and modest me?" You
blandly say: "Oh, 1 know more than You
do. l belong to a higher civilization. 1
cut my hair shorter than you do. I could
put this ground to n greal deal better use
than you do" And you keep crowding
me back and crowding me on into a closer
corner and closer corner, until one day /
look around upon my suffering family,
and fired by their hardships l hew you
in twain. Forthwith all the world comes
to your funeral to pronounce eulogium,
comes to my execution to anathematize
me. You are the hero I am the cuprt.
Behold the United States government and
the North American Indian. The red man
has stood more wrongs than 1 would, or
you. We would have struck sooner
deeper. That which is right in defense OF
a Washington home is right In defense CT
home on top of the Sierra Nevada. Be
fore this dwindling red race dies COM
pletely out, l wish that this generation
might by common justice atone for the in
humanity of its predecesso rs. In the day
| of Gods judgment, / would rather be
| a blood-smeared Modoc than a swindling
| United States officer on an Indian reser-
| vation One was barbarian and saw
| age, and never pretended to be anything
| but barbarian and q savage. The other
| pretended to be n representative of a
| Christian nation. Notwithstanding all
this, the general disgust with war and the
| substitution OF diplomatic skill for the
| glittering edge of keen steel is sign un-
| mistakable that 1.-THE day is at hand"
I find another tray of dawn in the COM
| preston of the worlds distances. What
| a slow snail-hke, almost impossible thing
| would have been the worlds rectifcation
| with fourteen hundred millions of popula-
ton and no facile means of communica-
| ton; but now, through telegraphy for the
eye and telephone intimacy for the ear,
| and through steamboating and railroad
| ing, the twenty-five thousand miles OF the
| worlds circumference are shriveling up
| into insignificant brevtyl Hong Kong is
nearer 10 New York than a few years
| ago New Haven was; Bombay, Moscow.
lance. Purchase a Geographic chart, and
| by the blue lines see the telegraphs OF the
land. and by the red lines the cables I'M
der the ocean. You see what opportunity
| this is going to give for the final move
| lnents of Christianity A fortress may
be months or years in building. but after
| II is constructed ii may do all its work
in twenty minutes. Christianity has been
planting its batteries for nineteen centu-
ries, and may so on in the work through
other centuries; but when those batteries
are thoroughly planted, those fortresses
are fully built. they may all do their
work in twenty-four hours. The world
| sometimes derides the church for slow
| ness of movement. Is science any
quicker? Did IL not take science five
thousand six hundred and ifty-two years
to find out so simple a thing as the cir
| culation of the human blood !?
With the earth and the sky full
Of electricity, science took five thousand
eight hundred years before It even guess
! ed that there was any practical use that
| might be made of this subtle and mighty
element. When good mon take possession
of all these scientific forces, and all these
| agencies OF invention. I do not know that
/ "a aH9r ~ 10 ttsnrH ;,