The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-04-22
As wAGED WHAT Is WAR:

The more the South African war and
its horrors n cruelties are revealed
the more the reproach against Great
britain and the certainty OF a perpetua,
stigma upon it. The Dark Ages have
FURNISHED the moderns with the mos
lawful, shocking, devilish examples Of
Imisrule and barbarIsIns perpetrated
against the weak. But when a great
Ination in the beginning OF another cen
fury or at the close of the greatest and
most splendid of centuries as to ma
l~terial. educational and religious prog
lress, so far retrogrades as to go back
to medieval barbarities and atrocitie.
III simply and inevitably shocks all
really enlightened people OF whatever
name or country. Recent dispatches
show how awful and cruel the rule in
africa has been in many particulars
The Messenger yesterday gave the re-
port Of General De LeRey(we follow the
spelling Of a highly enlightened news
Ipapr) odd Of British barbarities that
were appalling, and it also gave what
Ia returned soldier tells in England of
butcheries he witnessed.
The New York Evening Post has this
lin a striking editorial headed THE
Gentle Art of War"
I'm South Africa Lord Kitchener has
been forced to end the miserable exist
|ence of two Australian officers who
themselves by killing clergy
men, women and children, and even
their own men. Today we have the
statement Of De La Rey, the humane
and able captor of Lord Methuen, that
the British have not only used Boer
women as shields, but have wantonly
killed others, whose names are given"
From time to time through the last
years letters have been received in
our country from American soldiers in
Philippines, telling Of extreme BAR
barites and many butcheries. General
Jacob H. Smith is under fire for his
barbarous orders, which he o shrinks
from and denies, but the proof is
against him. The Evening Post avs
I'VE print in another column a letter
from an American civilian of standing
and reputation now in Manila, for
whose integrity the Evening Post
and whose recital Of atrocities
cannot fail to stir deeply every true
American who reads it. Finally. in
yesterday. the secretary of
was severely criticised for with
the report of an American gov
Of a Philippine province. said to
be a major in the army. whose grave
charges against the troops in his dis
have already been referred to by
General Miles"
This is very shameful. Out in China
every nation represented by
had blame and shame for the
bad conduct Of the troops and the out
upon the Chinese. Referring to
the Philippine scandals the Evening
Post says:
I'VE are satisfied OF our own knowl-
edge that there are many officers in the
American army who feel deeply the
shame Of such happenings as have
been cited, and who would never lift a
finger to inflict the water-cure torture
or any other illegal punishment. But
we would call attention TO again
Is the inevitable Generalization which
attends every war. and particularly
every war against men of another civ
ilization or OF another skim"
Unfortunately war is 8 much like
hell that outrages occur constantly
and men like Generals Sherman and
Sheridan, two leading soldiers who are
greatly and are very dear to the
northern heart, conducted war in Vir-
ginia, Georgia and the CarolInas liter
Ally with barbaric intensity every
way worthy Of Attila or the Spanish
the Duke of Ava, in his CAM
paign in the Netherlands. There was
much less a gentle art OF war" Re-
terring to the great terrible SepCy mu-
tiny and outrages in India in 1856, pos
sibly as we have no history near US.
the Evening Post says that mortified
England was at the terrors OF the
Indian mutiny, at h frightful fate OF
women and children at the hands Of the
natives, there was still left a moral SEN
timent which protested in the name OF
Christianity against the atrocities COM
by English troops in the unholy
spirit Of revenge-the hangings, the
from guns and the wholesale
by means of which British
was restored in India"
With the advance OF alleged civiliza-
ton and the supposed Outstanding OF
the people arc far too prone to
favor war upon all occasions. and when
it comes those engaged are almost sure
to take on such a fierce spirit that war
Is made to appear greedy and cruel and
blind. The albe and influential New York
daily, more than 100 years old. says
with solemn emphasis: War General
Gordon, (the E~nglishman) said. is or
ganized cruelty, pillage, and murder.
1t is more han that 1t destroys public
dulls the hearts and souls
Of men, and in the long run
the best instincts OF humanity in both
those who take part in ii and those who
look on. OF this, in the year to come,
our Philippine wrong-ioing will be cited
an indisputable proof"