4 The Conservative
MARCH WINDS.
O , the roaring , boisterous , loud March wind !
How It bows the gaunt tree tops !
How It sweeps the fields till the dry stalks
clash !
How its voice in moaning drops
Till it shrieks and wails
O'er the mournful talcs
That it tolls in the chimneys tall I
With turbulent might
Roars the wind at night ,
With furious , wrathful call.
O , the merry , frolicsome , wild March wind !
How it blows across the plain
With a rush and whirl and a cheery cry
Like the ring of a guy refrain !
O , it thrills dull hearts
Till their sloth departs
And the toils and the hopes grow bright.
"Again to the strife
With a fresh now life ! "
It sings in the spring's clear light.
There's a gentle tone in its soft low voice
As the March wind slowly creeps
Through the quiet air , with a call so faint
O'er the place where the snow drop sleeps.
O , it moves along
With a subtle song !
When it lingers among the firs
To whisper that spring
Will their new leaves bring ,
Each tree in its rapture stirs.
MAUY FRENCH MORTON.
Candid people
WAR AND PEACE
IN HISTORY. are as ready to
concede as to con
tend , and perhaps they are nearly as
liable to fall into error by the one as the
other. What an opponent grants , is so
apt to be assumed as undoubted truth ,
and the minimum of the particular
truth in question , that both sides are apt
to rest in it ; not making the reflection ,
that candor of the spirit does not secure
understanding of the matter , and that
we may err by wishing to appear
reasonable to another , even as we may
by undue confidence in ourselves. We
seek our advantage in both cases , and
incur the dangers of that pursuit. The
Americans before 1776 admitted the
sovereignty of England , and passionately
disclaimed the wish to cast it off ; but a
little later , found their destiny in inde
pendence. Luther in the beginning of
his controversy freely allowed that John
HUBS was in the wrong ; on examining
further , he had to retract his admission.
A more common instance is the testi
mony , freely borne by persons of sense
and humanity , that war , though it may
be hideous , yet has been essential to
the welfare of the race ; the source Jor
means indeed of all the good we have
attained. Far more is this triumphantly
proclaimed by approvers of war. Let
us examine the position a little , by the
broadest lights of history. We will
search no far off nooks or by-paths , but
review the most important steps and
eras in the progress of mankind.
In a first general survey we have to
observe , that wars have been the most
Wars. striking phenome
na of history , first
seizing and last possessing our attention ;
so that in remoter annals we often know
of nothing but the wars ; and on them
the emphasis is always likely to fall.
Also , that they have been enormously
frequent , only less so than diseases
have ; so that among the more active
nations , nothing happens at all , but in
some close proximity or sequence of a
war , which thereby may be looked upon
as its cause. That every advance of
man has had a war before it , may be as
true as that it had a wind before it ;
whether any more significant than that ,
will depend on further understanding.
A little more of the understanding , is
what we would attempt.
The best as well as the greatest thing
that has come into our world is Jesus
_ _ , Christ and His
The Savior. . . . . .
Christianity. This
came by no means of war. In origin ,
ministration and implanting , this had no
relation with any work of arms , beyond
the fact that it came to a world inces
santly convulsed with these. Even so ,
it appeared in form and time as to be
least concerned with military strife. As
our two chief poets , Shakespeare and
Milton , each has noted , at the approach
of the era "The time of universal
peace is near ; " "No war , or battle's
sound was heard the world around" if
not literally true , it was at least rela
tively so. It is not the question whether
the Gospel absolutely proscribes war , as
it seems to do , or not ; the Gospel itself
as a historical outcome , has nothing to
do with war. In its golden ages , it
brought forth every virtue that is even
credited to war , and all at the highest ;
patriotism itself was not wanting , where
a country other than the Church and its
own Kingdom was possible ; but until
the dross of earthly gain obscured that
gold , violence was not heard in its land ,
wasting nor destruction in all its borders.
Sadly it may recognize that such things
are still to be , that even itself has
brought not altogether peace on earth ,
but a sword , of keener edge than steel ;
yet it will take no carnal sword , as it
can perish by none.
Next to Christianity , the brightest
and most beautiful dispensation of the
older world , is the
Greece. . . .
civilization of
Greece. Of this in its many phases , all
the rest is so far surpassed by Athens ,
taken along with her original Ionian
race , that this race and state may be
viewed for the whole. At once a shout
of triumph may be almost heard to
arise from the other part : "And what
did these achieve , until a great war had
set them going ? It was the glorious
struggle with Persia that made Athens
what she was , and did more for her than
a thousand years before. Marathon
and Salamis are the title-deed of her
estate , and all the perfection of her arts ,
her wonderful works of literature ,
oratory , polity , philosophy , sprang
directly from that national experience ,
and they never could have been without
it. That war began the culture of the
world. " As this is perhaps the cardinal
example for the sanction and necessity
of war , among all that history presents ;
as it is likely to conae in for most promi
nent mention by those who derive all
human progress from the sword , it may
be well to explore the facts of the case a
little more thoroughly. Crowing is
louder than simple speaking , but it does
not tell so much. We shall find that
the Persian war was indeed a very
heroic business ; that it did something ,
and perhaps a good deal , toward the
development of Athenian life ; we shall
find also , that the more is known of that
whole history , the less will grow the
relative importance of this famous epi
sode. It is in the sentence , and a
significant clause of the sentence ; but
we have as usual been laying too much
stress upon it. Greek especially suffers
from emphasis laid on a mere acute
accent.
What was the cause of this transcend
ent excellence on the part of the Attic
, race ? The primal
Excellence of Fence. , . _ .
differences we can
not search ; but the great difference of
circumstance , leaving that mark which
is the other name of character , was that
the whole early history of this people (
was comparatively one of peace. Their '
Attica was off the track of the great
migrations and collisions ; it was not a
most attractive part of Greece ; however
"pure the air and light the soil , " it was
not of the most gorgeous or fruitful to
allure invasion. The people fabled that
they had sprung from the soil itself , a
symbol of their unmolested growth. In
the bosom of tranquillity , as compared
with others , they advanced and almost .
matured their wonderful progress.
Another of their typical myths related
that when two gods contended for their
special service , one brought forth a warhorse -
horse ; the other , Pallas Athena , an olive
tree , which as an emblem of peace , was
held superior , and its giver therefore
became their peculiar and namesake
deity. What then had they achieved in
this earlier period , beside enchanting
legends ? First , the greatest name per
haps of all literature , which always
means far more than mere enjoyment
of the ear ; for Homer is Ipnian , the
earlier form of Attic. In common re
pute the great minstrel of war , he leads
through scenes of battle to a close of
peace ; war in the abstract is made hate
ful by his muse , his general terms for it
are terms of abhorrence ; his war-god is
a brute and bully , and by a strange
deep touch of genius , something of a
coward ; those whose natural offices
promote the arts of peace , are the true
divinities of his Olympus. Then , of this
people had already come perhaps the
greatest of all legislators , Solon ; there
seems none of all the ages , whose lawgiving -
giving has been so wise , so exalted , so
powerful and enduring in its effect on a
