New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-07
RIGHT AND WRONG Run MAD.

In discussion of Art and War. with in
cidenfal references to Christianity, current
writer SETS forth the amazing dictum that III
",var can ever be Just. then every war Is holy
.,var on one side at least. II not. then every
"var is 2 simple iniQuity" We call this amaz-
ing because IT is bewildering, all but incom-
prchensihlc, that such fallacious notions should
Inc entertained hv men otherwise Of parts ana
of excellent PIN. Yet we know qul'e WEI"
that they are held. and that to a considerably
wide extent. and that from them proceed OIL
the one hand much Of the Jingoish talk that
disQuets the nations, and on the other the
major part of that i'll conceived peace talk
which is really one Of the greatest foes ana OBJ
staces To peace.
The trouble with such theorists is that they
insist upon regarding war as n sort OF lusus
natnra. an extraordinary and unnatural thins'
not subject 10 nor to be judged by the COM
mon rules Of human nature when the iacf Is
that. with all its horrors it is one Of the most
familiar and most Characteristic things III the
world. and Is Just as much under the general
laws of humanity and The common principles
of ethics MS a falling apple is under the law oil
cravitation 40 one i'm his senses would dream
of applying the dictum we have quoted 10 other
things, Of saying for example. that II man
can eyer he Just, then every man must be a
holy man: or if any deed of man can ever be
lust then every deed must be a holy deed.
Technical logic and general common sense re-
volt against H. Yet such 4 proposition IS every
whit AZ reasonable and rs tcnabc as that con
corning war Nor IS the latter saved by the
qualifying phrase ION AT least one side. There
are deeds Of men that are hcnetceni - D)th
actor and object: others that are hcnciiceni 10
only one of them: and others still that are
bencfccnt 10 neither. And SO il is with wars
which are after all nothing more nor less than
The deeds Of men We need not cite examples
They will readily occur 10 every student Of his
tory. There have been wars which were need
less. which were fought on insufficient grounds
i'm which the purposes Of both parties We're
malcfc and which therefore We're not just nor
holy on either side but were "simple inquty.
There have been others in which one side was
IN the right. and IFS cause was just and holy
while the other side was altogether evil And
we are not prepared to deny that there have
been some i'm which, Whatever outsiders may
have thought both combatants according to
their lights intclliccntly and conScicniiouSy
believed themselves 10 be in the right: and thus
so far as right is matter Of subjective con
viction. both were right
War is dcplorablc But 50 are many other
things which are natural and inevitable. There
are we know those who reckon all evil unnatu-
ral War. disease pain. death itself they tell us,
are products Of pcrvcrSon the wages Of sin.
II man lived i'm strict accordance with the laws
Of Nature or Of God. he would suffer none Of
them Doubtless thar is in a measure true. Sin
brings it's penalties The drunkard and the
/ libertinc and the Quarrclsome man must suffer
woe. And yet evil likewise hcfalls tho good.
/ Nay hut among the beasts Of thc field. even
those that have never been contaminated by
/ contact with man. there are violence and OPP
preston and disease and pain and death. Even
/ i'm the placid vegetable kingdom these things
prevail And heat burns and cold freezes.
/ floods drown and hurricanes wreck. lightnings
seattle and earthquakes swallow. all without
/ the least regard 10 mortal yOlition or 10 mortal
/ sin Even beyond the limits of this puny globe
other far greater spheres come i'm collision in
mutual destruction or freeze into eternal death.
There is no quarter Of this world and there is no
aspect Of all The universe in which We do not
perceive the doing Of violence. That is not 10
say that all violence is commendablc. nor that
all war is Just. NOT yet that We are not inccs-
sanity 10 strive for the lcssening Of wars IN
frequency and savagcness Just as we are to
T lessen SO far as I'm us lies the dcstructivcnc~S
Of floods and hurricanes. II is 10 say that war
is 10 be measured by natural rules which will
7 show n 10 be not always altogether good and
not always altogether evil. To say that war
alone of all the deeds Of man Is either wholly
right or wholly wrong IS simply right and
wrong run mad.