The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-11-28

tErUugn Craln, ana Cnen bney Will nov sup
on the train unless they expect 10 90 clsar
through TO the last depot. Ono brave man
thls coming winter, rising amid the white
marble Of yonder Capitol bill. could Offer
resolution upon the subject of divorce
that could keep out Of the next century
much of the frse lovism and dissolutsness
which have CURSED this century.
Another thing that we need to get fxed
up before the clock shall strike 10 on that
night of centennial transition Is the ex-
puision Of war by the power Of arbitra-
ton. Within tho next three years we
ought to have and hope will have, what
might be called "a jury Of nations"
which shall render verdict on ali contro.
verted international questions. All civil
lized nations are ready forit. Great Britain
with standing army Of 10000 men,
France with standing army of $4,000
men, Germany with standing army of
100000 men, Russia with standing
army Of 900, 900 men, Europe with stand
ing armies Of about $500, 900 men, the
United States proposing standing army
Of 100000 men. What . glorious idea,
that of disarmament What an emancipa-
ton of nations and ceDturiesI The car
Of Russia last summer proposed 1t In
WOTlu Tohouuulu8 IuuNiodto' OlsurIu0-
Inentl What an inspiring and heaven de-
scended thought In some quarters the
czar's manifesto was treated wi It'll dsrisien,
and we were told that he was not In earnest
when he made 1t. know personally that
he did mean It, Six years ago he expressed
to me the same theory In his palace at Pc.
terhof, he then being on the way to the
throne, not yet having reached II. His
L.
expressed to me In his palace the same
sentiments Of peace, and bis wife, the then
empress, with tears In her eyes, said, In
reply to my remark, kIIYour majesty, there
will never DO another great war between
Christian nations" "Ah, hope there
never will BEL II there should ever be an
other great war, l am sure 1t will not
start from this palace"
Universal Peace.
What boon to the world II Russia and
Germany and England and the United
States could safely disband all their stand
ing armies and dismantle their fortrssses
and spike their gunsl What amounted
millions Of dollars would be saved, and,
more than that, what complete cessation
of human slaughterl What an improve
ment of the morals of nationsi What an
adoption Of that higher and better mani
festo which was cot to music and let down
from the midnight heavens Of Bethlehem
ages agol The world has got to come to
this. Why not make 1t the peroration Of
the nineteenth century, Are we going to
make present to the twentieth century
Of reeking hospitals and dying armies and
hemispherio graveyArdsp Do you want the
hoofs Of other cavalry horses on the breasts
Of fallen mon? Do you want other harvest
fields quilted with wheels OF gun carriagesQ
Do you want the sky glaring with confa-
grafton Of other honiesteadsf All, this
nineteenth century has seen enough Of
war. Make the determination that no
other century shall DO blasted with 1t.
During the first half of this century we
expended IS, 100000 to educate the Indi-
ans and $500, 600 900 to kill them. Accord
ing to reliable stdttstician, during this
century we have had the Crimean war
which slew 1856, 900 and cost 81 200, O00,-
600, and our American civil war, which
slew LOCO, 900 men, north and south, and
cost 90, 900, O00, 900, digging grave trench
from Barnegat lighthouse, New Jersey, to
Lone Mountain cemetery at San Francis
co. And you must add to these the Zulu
war, and the Austro .Prussian war, and
the Danish war, and the italian war, the
Franco Prussan war, Chino Japanese war;
Napoleonio war and the Americo-Span
ish war. What record for this boosted
nineteenth century! 1t makes all pande-
monium chuckle. 1t has called out all the
realms Of diabolus In grand parade, satan
reviewing them from platform Of fire as
the demons In companies and regiments
and briRades have passed with banners Of
fire and riding on horses Of fire, keeping
step to the roll of the grand march of hell.
In the namo of the God Of nations let tho
scroll Of blood be rolled up and put upon
the shelf, never to be taken down. And
by the middle Of next century let the
sword and the carbine and the bombshell
become ouriosities in a museum about
which your grandchildren shall ask ques.
tions, wondering what those instruments
were ever used for, but let no one dare tell
them but keep 1t from them an everlast.
ing secret, lest they too much despise our
nineteenth century and curse the memory
of their ancestors.
VIII 1t not be grand II on the first day
of tho twentieth century the last will and
testament Of the nineteenth century shall
be opened and 1t shall be found to read:
"In the name Of God, amen. I, the dying
century, do make this my last will and
testament give and bequeath to my
heir, the twentieth century, peace Of ma
tions; swords, which direct to be beaten
into plowshares, and spears, which must
be turned into pruning hooks; armories,
to DO changed into schoolhouses and for
trcsses to DO rebuilt into churches, and
order that greater honors be put on those
who save life than upon those who destroy
1T. And if amid the universal peace now
attained those two nations, Spain and
Turkey, do not stop their cruelties, let
tho other nations. banded together, extom-
porize a police force to wipe those coun-
tries off the map Of nations as a wet
sponge wipes from a boys slate at school
hard sum In arithmetic. This last will
sign and seal and deliver on the 31st day
of December, in the year Of our Lord 1900,
all the civilized nations Of earth and all
the gloritled nations Of heaven witness
ing"
But what we do as individuals, as
churches as nations, as continents, we
must do very soon, If we want the transit
ton from century to century to be wor-
thy transition, for hear the trumpets Of
the approaching century and the olatter-
ing hoofs Of the host 1t leads on.
A Historic Street.
For historical "reminiscences there is no
street In all the world like yonder Penn
sylvania avenue. Champs Elysees of Paris
is more brilliant; Princess street, Edin-
burgh, more picturesque; Inter den Lin
den, Berlin, more richly foliaged; Picca-
dilly street, London, more populous; New.
sky Prospekt of St. Petersburg stands for
more years; tho Corso Of Rome is lined
with more antiquities but for an intelli-
gent and patriotic American yonder nv.
enue has no equal for suggestiveness. The
other night, while thinking Of this SUBJ
ject, as to tho way in which we ought to
meet the new century 80 near at hand, !
fell into sort of dreamy state, in which
the chronology Of events seemed obliterat-
cd, and l saw on Pennsylvania avenue
two professions, which seemed to meet
each other as this century goes out and an
other comes in. As near as could tell in |
that dreamy state 1t was the last night of |
tho century and saw the spirits Of the
mighties In American history passing |
down tho marble steps Of the capitol on |
yonder hill and moving through that
y y