The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1906-01-25

what was destined to shake the continent
of Europe. And notwithstanding all the
bloodshed, and the inevitable hardships of
war, the France of today is significant tes
imonial to the efficacy of armed force as a
medium for the conversion of an enslaved and
taxburdened peasantry into the most pros
porous rural class the world has ever known,
and that which is true of France is, to
greater or lesser extent true of other sec
lions of Europe.
The Thirty Years WARRIOR instance
which terminated with the Treaty of West
phalia, (164S) not only obtained the indie
pendence of H holland, and of Switzerland but
it also gave religious freedom to unnumbered
millions and, incidentally, determined the
physical outlines of the map of modern
Europe. War insured peace and freedom to
the popu1ace Of Sardinia, of Naples, and of
Sicily; contributed to a united Italy and
made it something more than a geographical
expression. War re-established freedom in
the land of Plato, and of Pericles, and the
French Revolution of 1S4S struck a respon-
sive chord in Germany, causing the Teutonic
love of liberty to blaze forth and-as Carl
Schurz says-(McClure's for january de-
mand: civil rights and liberties, free speech,
free press, the right of free assembly, equality
of the people with legislative power, respon-
sibility of ministers, self-government of the
communes, the right of the people to carry
arms, the formation of a civic guard with
self-elected officers, ETC., in short, that
which was called constitutional form of
government on a broad dem ocratic basis"
And war (1S66) gained long-needed reforms
and a constitutional government for the
Hungarians.
The respondent himself, if I mistake not,
ows allegiance to a nation conspicuous for
her great power, and worthy of our con-
sideration account of the rem arka able
progress she has made in the various avenues
of human endeavor, and did desire to
barrass the gentleman I should ask him to
tell us what war has had to do with Eng1and's
development, her progress, her safety, and
her strength Someone has said: 1.-The world
requires not so much to be informed as to be
reminded" and, assuming that this is true of
my opponent, shall remind the gentlem
that had it not been for the Norman Conquest,
(1O66) and the consequent blending of the
Norman with the Ang1o-Saxon blood, Eng
land would never have emerged from obscu-
rity, and she could notify her own intrinsic
power-have established permanent con-
stitution.
And. in this connection, let note that
war (Runnymede, 1919 gained for England
the great Magma Charta, which ever since
has been the groundwork of English liberty,
and to war (Lewes, 1868 she owes the
nucleus of her present parliamentary system,
after which legislative bodies were
modelled. Lord Towards defeat of
the "Invincible Armada" (15SS) not only
made England mistress of the seas, BUTT also
delivered Europe from the power and am
bition of Spain-insured the ultimate indie
pendence of Holland, and stimulated the
Huguenot, or Protestant, movement thru
out France. Again; the Bill of Rights, which
granted to the people all for which they had
so long, and so valiant1y commended, ter
minated revolutionary war which had been
prosecuted for period of eighty-fve years,
and, with the establishment of consti-
tutional monarchy, nothing further was
heard concerning the divine rights of kings,
taxation without the sanction of P arliament,
or of Star Chamber court procedure. In
view of these facts can the gentleman on the
other side of the question consistently
tend that war has retarded civilization?
am sensible of the fact that the American
Revolution is, of all historical subjects the
one most annoying for my friend to discuss,
and, indeed, it calls for little discussion
at this juncture; in fact, Judging of what the
respondent is by what he appears to be,
have faith to believe he will admit, however
reluctantly, that civilization was decidedly
the gamer when war rescued the American
Colonies from British subsection and, by in
surfing their independence, laid an indestruc-
tib1e foundation for the greatest nation on
the face of Gods earth. And in the abolition
of slavery civilization owes to war it's great
est victory in the cause of hum anity. And
speak now not alone Of the black slavery,
which was abolished thru the medium of our
own civil war, nor of slavery such as
flourished when Rome was at the zenith of
her power, but of the slavery of intervening
periods-such, for example, as existed in
France prior to the French Revolution, when
hundreds of thousands of human beings were
actually sold with the land on which they
were born-land described inhabited
estates" AS a writer abbott, think) has
phrased it 'Descriptively serfs'' they were
actually slaves" and human beings only in
sight of Him that gave them life. Is it not
evident that any agency which abolished
these conditions was agency of civiliza-
ton? Why of course it is!
Now the force of general prejudice on the
question at issue is so great that have felt
justified in descending to the root of the mat
ter, in order to show the utter absurdity of
my opponents contention that civilization is
not indebted to and, with history in my
hands, feel that I may, with impunity,
challenge the gentleman to point out any
PERIOD however short, when war was not a
strong rampant against imminent dangers,
and powerful remedy applied to intolerable
evils.
And just here let me make my own posi-
ton Enthusiastically clear. While I contend