The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-19
A bond of Pence.

II the Spectators and the Cubans in
New York could only get the well-bal-
anced people of this country to lose their
wits and believe that the battleship Maine
was destroyed through Spanish design,
and thereby cause a war, or come very
near to doing it, there would be much
rejoicing among those unpatriotic Amerl-
cans and patriotic Cubans But the men
who control the affairs at Washington,
and other persons of sound judgment,
know that it Is preposterous to suppose
that the Spaniards would be guilty of
such an act; an act which would be fol-
lowed by the ostracism of the perpetra.
tors by the civilized world.
The policy of the Spanish government,
as it is of our own government, is one
Of peace. No civilized nation desires to
see its soldiers and sailors slaughtered
by the thousands, as they unquestionably
would be in a war prosecuted with the
modern engines of destruction. The
Maine horror itself may be taken as an
Illustration of the terribleness of war.
With active hostilities going on between
two great governments, a similar ca
tastrophe might be expected at any time.
Indeed, such occurrences, in so
far as loss of life and destruction of val
ues are concerned, might happen whenever
the ships of the contendins parties got
within range of one another.
OF course, there are men in each of the
countries who see in a war possible op-
portunities by which they could advance
their fortunes. The very great majority
of such persons, in all probability, would
like Artemus Ward, be willing to sacri-
fee all of their wives relatives" and
probably their own also; but they would
not themselves go to the front. They
would want to secure government con
tracts, or make the laws. or occupy some
other position than that of actual fight
ers. Governments which go to war must
expect to suffer all the miseries of war;
and under modern conditions a great war
between powerful nations would be the
most terrible thing of the kind that the
world has ever witnessed. Therefore, war
should be engaged in only as the very last
resort, and after every possible means
of avoiding it with honor has been ex-
hausted.
The people of this country sympathize
with the Cubans IN their struggle for lib
erty; but there is nothing in the Cuban
affair which should involve the United
States in the controversy. We pity the
sufferings of the Cubans, but they are not
suffering more than the people of the
Southern states were made to suffer bv
the Northern armies during the war of
secession. In Cuba the Spanish govern
ment is following the policy of ending
war with war, and that is precisely what
the government of the United States did
in the South in the sixties. Spain has
nothing which we want, to be gained at
the cost of war. She has done nothing to
us to warrant hostility on our part. Should
we become involved in a struggle with
her, it would cost enormous numbers
of lives and millions of treasure. We
should be victorious in the end; but what
would we gain? Would the empty glory
of victory be worth the tremendous price
paid? N e
In these enlightened and progressive
times peoples should not fight and destroy
each other merely because they are of
different races, and to show their proves.
The wise men of the period agree that
nothing, really, is TO be gained by war.
AT the end of this Nineteenth century. the
greatest and best that the world has ever
enjoyed, serious talk of war should be in
dulged in with extreme reluctance in this
country, which is 'splendidly isolated -
aud has every reason to desire the contin-
uance of peace and progress. and nothing
whatever 10 gain from embodiment with
her neighbors.
The kindness of the Spanards in Cuba
shown to the survivors of the Maine, and
their demonstrated grief for the dead.
should serve TO, disarm all hostility on the
part of our people towards them. The
Maine horror should be made a bond of
sorrow and of peace, and not the occa-
| sion for hate and war