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Article THE EVILS OF WAR. ← Page 2 of 3 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Evils Of War.
shares in the division of the booty . But when these were spent , - as they quickly were , they sunk into a more wretched state of poverty than before , eagerly wishing for a new war as the only , means of repairing their desperate fortunes , and clamouring against every person that would dare tp appear as an advocate for peace : and thus they increasedtheir sufferingsinstead of removing them .
. , At last they subdued the world , as far as it was known at that time ; ( for small , in the comparison , was the part then tenanted : by man ; the rest a waste ! J or at least subdued so much of it as was thought worthy of conquest . And then both the tribute and the p lunder of the Universe were imported into Rome ; , therefore , the hulk of the inhabitants of that city must have been exceedingly then
wealthy , had wealth consisted in heaps of gold and silver ; and likewise , the blessings of victory must have beeii felt , had it been capable of producing any . But , alas ! whatever riches a few grandees , the leaders of armies , the governors of provinces , the minions of the populace , or the harpies of oppression might have amassed togetherthe great majority of the people were poor and
, miserable beyond expression ; and while these vain wretches were strutting with pride , and elated with insolence , as _ the MASTERS OF THE WORLD , they had no other means of subsisting , when peace was made and their prize-money spent , than to receive a kind of alms in corn from the public granaries , or to carry about their bread-basketsand beg from door to door . Moreover , such
, among them as had chanced to have a piece of land left unmortgaged or something valuable to pledge , found , to their sorrow , that the interest of money ( being hardly ever less than twelve per cent ,, and frequently more ) would soon eat up their little substance , and reduce them to an equality with the rest of their illustrious brother beggars . Nay , so extremely low was the credit of these MASTERS with the t of their
OF THE WORLD , that they were trusted paymen interest no longer than from month to month;—than which there cannot be a greater proof , both of the abject poverty , and of the cheating dispositions of those heroic citizens of Imperial Rome . Now ° this being the undoubted fact , every humane and benevolent man , far from considering these people as objects worthy of imitaabhorrence and indi
tion , will look upon them with just gnation . ; and every wise state , consulting the good of the whole , will tak » warning from their fatal example , and stifle , as much as possible , the very beginning of such a Roman spirit in it ' s SUBJECTS . The case of the ancient Romans , thiis considered , suffice it to observe , that the wars of Europe , for the last two hundred yearsi but to the detriment of all
have ended to the advantage of none ; . Had the contending powers employed their subjects in cultivating and improving such lands as were free from disputed title , instead of aiming at more extended possessions , they had consulted their own and their peoples' greatness , much more efficaciously than l > £ all the victories of a Casar or an Alexander , u
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Evils Of War.
shares in the division of the booty . But when these were spent , - as they quickly were , they sunk into a more wretched state of poverty than before , eagerly wishing for a new war as the only , means of repairing their desperate fortunes , and clamouring against every person that would dare tp appear as an advocate for peace : and thus they increasedtheir sufferingsinstead of removing them .
. , At last they subdued the world , as far as it was known at that time ; ( for small , in the comparison , was the part then tenanted : by man ; the rest a waste ! J or at least subdued so much of it as was thought worthy of conquest . And then both the tribute and the p lunder of the Universe were imported into Rome ; , therefore , the hulk of the inhabitants of that city must have been exceedingly then
wealthy , had wealth consisted in heaps of gold and silver ; and likewise , the blessings of victory must have beeii felt , had it been capable of producing any . But , alas ! whatever riches a few grandees , the leaders of armies , the governors of provinces , the minions of the populace , or the harpies of oppression might have amassed togetherthe great majority of the people were poor and
, miserable beyond expression ; and while these vain wretches were strutting with pride , and elated with insolence , as _ the MASTERS OF THE WORLD , they had no other means of subsisting , when peace was made and their prize-money spent , than to receive a kind of alms in corn from the public granaries , or to carry about their bread-basketsand beg from door to door . Moreover , such
, among them as had chanced to have a piece of land left unmortgaged or something valuable to pledge , found , to their sorrow , that the interest of money ( being hardly ever less than twelve per cent ,, and frequently more ) would soon eat up their little substance , and reduce them to an equality with the rest of their illustrious brother beggars . Nay , so extremely low was the credit of these MASTERS with the t of their
OF THE WORLD , that they were trusted paymen interest no longer than from month to month;—than which there cannot be a greater proof , both of the abject poverty , and of the cheating dispositions of those heroic citizens of Imperial Rome . Now ° this being the undoubted fact , every humane and benevolent man , far from considering these people as objects worthy of imitaabhorrence and indi
tion , will look upon them with just gnation . ; and every wise state , consulting the good of the whole , will tak » warning from their fatal example , and stifle , as much as possible , the very beginning of such a Roman spirit in it ' s SUBJECTS . The case of the ancient Romans , thiis considered , suffice it to observe , that the wars of Europe , for the last two hundred yearsi but to the detriment of all
have ended to the advantage of none ; . Had the contending powers employed their subjects in cultivating and improving such lands as were free from disputed title , instead of aiming at more extended possessions , they had consulted their own and their peoples' greatness , much more efficaciously than l > £ all the victories of a Casar or an Alexander , u