states in war, (and it is to be recollected that either actual war, or a careful and ample preparation for it, is the ordinary condition of the European states,) is 4,578,430. And will any one say that the moral and religious interest of so vast a body of men is a concern too small to occupy the notice and to elicit the benevolence of the philanthropist? Let us remember that the soldier, corrupted as he is by immoralities, and stained by crime, is still a human being; that he has an immortal soul; that he has vast interests at stake; that he is subject, in common with others, to the great destinies of our race. Let us not turn from him with unmixed scorn and reproach, and haughtily leave him to his fate; but let us feel for him, and act for him, and pray for him, as for a brother.

We are aware that this view of the subject may not be so attractive as that which deals more in the horrible. It is certainly less exciting to the imagination; but we may well doubt whether it is less important. At any rate, it is a view which, in making an estimate of the great mass of evils attendant upon war, ought not to be overlooked, as has too often been the case.

55

CHAPTER FOURTH.

INFLUENCE OF WAR ON NATIONAL PROSPERITY.

IN endeavoring to give some idea of the evils of war, we do not feel at liberty to let pass unnoticed its injurious effects on the national wealth and prosperity. Wars tend not only to deprave the national morals, but to diminish the national resources. The sup

plies in the hands of the sovereign are at such times rapidly consumed; and hence it is necessary that constant draughts should be made upon the people; and those who would otherwise possess a competency, are often reduced to great want and suffering.

It is probably true, stood to deny it,

war.

and we would not be underthat some men are made rich by And this in a great degree accounts for it, that in seasons of war there are always some persons, and classes of persons, from whom larger and more generous views would be naturally expected, who aro opposers to the return of peace. Mr. Jay, who was sent as envoy to England in 1794, states, in his Miscellaneous Correspondence, that he was invited to partake of a public dinner, in company with about two hundred British merchants, who were concerned in the American trade. Towards the conclusion of the feast, being asked for a toast, he proposed what he considered a neutral one, as follows: A safe and honorable peace to all the belligerent powers; referring, probably, in particular, to the war then raging between France and England. "You cannot conceive," he remarks to his correspondent, " how coldly it was received; and though civility induced them to give it three cheers, yet they were so faint and single,

as most decidedly to show that peace was not the thing they wished. They were merchants." There are always such men to be found in time of war, some classes of merchants, some manufacturers, some speculators in the public funds, some agents engaged in furnishing the military supplies, — with whom the war may be supposed to be popular, because, such is their peculiar situation, they happen to be made rich by it; men who, in the language of Johnson," rejoice when obstinacy or ambition adds another year to slaughter and devastation, and laugh from their desks at bravery and science, while they are adding figure to figure, cipher to cipher, hoping for a new contract from a new armament, and computing the profits of a siege or tempest." But these persons are so few in number, scarcely one in a thousand of the whole population, that they are hardly to be thought of. We must look at the majority of the people, at the great mass; and not at a few grasping individuals, whose interests happen to lie in a different direction from that of the great body. And accordingly we may assert, with entire confidence, with the unimportant exception just referred to, that war cannot exist for any length of time, without certainly and rapidly bringing upon the nation engaged in it the deepest poverty and suffering.

In the FIRST place, the expense of supporting armies and navies is immensely great. M. Thiers, recently a distinguished member of the French chamber of deputies, estimates the annual expense of each soldier in France at 733 francs, or 131 dollars; of each soldier in Austria at 653 francs, or 117 dollars; of each soldier in Prussia at 1000 francs, or 180 dol

The expense of maintaining each English soldier he estimates much higher than the expense of an Austrian, Prussian, or French soldier. And whether

it be owing to this circumstance, or not, it seems to be the fact that, while other nations are greatly bur

dened and depressed by the expenses incident to the maintenance of large armies, England is burdened and borne down in a still greater degree.

Some

years since, a statement was made, in the London Weekly Review, of the wars in which England has been engaged, and of the expenses incurred in consequence of them, which is worthy of particular attention. "Of 127 years, terminating in 1815, England spent 65 in war, and 62 in peace. The war of 1688, after lasting nine years, and raising our expenditure in that period to thirty-six millions, was ended by the treaty of Ryswick, in 1697. Then came the war of the Spanish succession, which began in 1702, concluded in 1713, and absorbed sixty-two and a half millions of our money. Next was the Spanish war of 1739, settled finally at Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, after costing us nearly fifty-four millions. Then came the seven years' war of 1756, which terminated with the treaty of Paris in 1763, in the course of which we spent one hundred and twelve millions. The next was the American war of 1775, which lasted eight years; our national expenditure in this time was one hundred and thirty-six millions. The French revolutionary war began in 1793, lasted nine years, and exhibited an expenditure of four hundred and sixty-four millions. The war against Bonaparte began in 1803, and ended in 1815; during those twelve years, we spent eleven hundred and fifty-nine millions, -771 of which were raised by taxes, 388 by loans. In the revolutionary war we borrowed 201 millions; in the American, 104 millions; in the seven years' war, 60 millions; in the Spanish war of 1739, 29 millions; in the war of the Spanish succession, 32 millions; in the war of 1688, 20 millions: - total borrowed in the seven wars, during 65 years, about 834 millions. In the same time, we raised by taxes, 1189 millions, - thus forming a total expenditure of 2023 millions!"

According to a recent publication, showing the extent, population, revenue, and debt, of the principal states of Europe for 1829, the debt of Russia was, at that time, £35,550,000; of Austria, £78,100,000 ; of France, £194,400,000; of Spain, £70,000,000 ; of Netherlands, including Belgium, £148,500,000; of Prussia, £29,701,000; of Great Britain, £819,600,000. These enormous masses of debt were incurred in consequence of wars. Great nations have been reduced to the necessity of going from city to city, and of borrowing, on almost any conditions, the money of their merchants. And it must be recollected that, during the whole period in which these debts, incurred for military purposes, have been accumulating, the people, harassed and bleeding at every pore, have been compelled to pay excessive taxes for the same object. Can a nation in such a condition, burdened with such debts, resulting from war, and at the same time overwhelmed with taxation for direct military purposes, be regarded as otherwise than miserably exhausted and wretched? And can there, so far as the national resources and wealth are concerned, be any reasonable doubt as to the injurious and destructive tendency of wars? "England and France," says Bonaparte in one of his conversations at St. Helena, "held in their hands the fate of the world, and particularly that of European civilization. What injury did we not do to each other! What good might we not have done! Under Pitt's system, [he says nothing of his own guilt,] we desolated the world; and what has been the result? You imposed on France a tax of fifteen hundred millions of francs, and raised it by means of Cossacks. I laid a tax of seven hundred millions [probably meaning pounds sterling] on you, and made you raise it with your own hands by your parliament. Even now, after the victory you have obtained, who can tell whether