Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1904-03-18
WARS AND CENTURIES.
Belief That katisns Fight at BegInnIn Q
OF Each One Hundred Years.

The superstitious notion is extant
that there must soon be b great wal
because the opening years of every
century have always been thus mark
ed. Of course, if the latter were true
it would form no sufficient reason fol
war at this time. A century is not q
n ,tural division of time, as is a day, q
season or a year, but is entirely arti
fcial, and there is no more reason why
war should occur at the beginning than
at the middle or the end of it. How
ever. as matter of fact, the statement
is not true. as every one at all acquaint
ed with history should know.
The nineteenth century began with
the establishment of more general peace
than the world had known for many
years, and if couple of years later war
broke out it was only the renewal of
the wars that had marked the closing
years of the preceding century. The
eighteenth century began with wars,
but they were merely the continuation
of conflicts begun in the seventeenth.
The early years of the seventeenth
were marked with more peace making
than war making. The wars at the
opening of the sixteenth century were
prolongations of those in the fifteenth,
and were. at most, petty affairs. Those
at the opening of the fifteenth were
left over from the fourteenth. There
were no important wars in the first
years of the fourteenth century, save
those at ConstantinOple and between
England and Scotland, both legacies
from the thirteenth. No great war oc.
CURED in the first decade of the thirt-
eenth century or of the twelfth. At
the opening of the eleventh Mahmud
of GhanZi invaded India. The tenth
was marked with no new war, nor was
the ninth. The eighth was ten years
old when the Saracens invaded Spair.
The beginning of the seventh was
peaceful. The first years of the sixth
aud fifth saw Rome involved in war,
but war was then the habitual state of
Rome. The fourth and third began in
comparative peace. The second saw
no new war, but rather the ending of
the old struggle in Davis, and the fierce
conflits of the early years of the first |
century of our era we're merely the /,
continuation of those begun dozen |
years before. In all these last nine. |
teen centuries, indeed, not more than |
two are to be charged with having |
opened with new and important wars.
Of the centuries before our era, the |
first began in peace; the second with
nothing out the second Macedonian |
war; the third with the third Semitic
war; the fourth with no great struggle;
the fifth with the burning of Sardis
aud the battle of Lake Regillus. con-
of wars begun long before;
the sixth with Nebuchadnezzar's con
quest of Jerusalem, aud in the earlier
lCS3 6o ld1 d6 CilA OholOSy AAlOA LILO
us, there were no initial wars of mag
nitude.
The current superstitiun, then. is in
a noteworthy degree contrary to the
facts, instead of being invariably or
even generally marked with the out
breakings of great wars, the Begin
nings of centuries have in the vast
majority of cases been remarkably
free from such cdtastrophies. If we
we're to form any rule from historical
precedent, it would be, therefore, that
this year and the next few years should
be peaceful. But we shall make no
such prophecy, nor shall we expect this
exposition OF the fac.s entirely to de-
molish the fOolishly false superstition
which now so widely prevails. New
York Tribune.