THE NATIONS ARE ANGRY

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, Cal. · Feb 3, 1887

THE NATIONS ARE ANGRY.

THE following from the Interior of January 20, 1887, gives an excellent view of the condition of Europe. The word of God says that under the sounding of the seventh trumpet "the nations were angry." Assuredly this is the case now. And when the elements do break loose, with such immense armaments, and such multitudes of soldiers, what can the result be but destruction upon destruction? Whether it comes sooner or later the certainty is that it must come, and it can only be as described in Jeremiah 25:32, "A great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth." And yet in the presence of these things men will preach peace and safety, and the speedy coming of a glorious millennium of peace on earth!

"The outlook in Europe is not more pacific than it was a week ago, despite the peaceful talk of the powers most interested. With profound peace everywhere, six out of seven great governments, which ought to know what they are doing and why, are arming as if war were only a question of to-morrow. True, the French premier talked peace on Friday and Austria and Germany on Saturday, but if they are only preparing for peace, it is becoming more expensive than warfare in Napoleon's time. The French war minister has made the grant of $30,000,000 for the reorganization of the navy, and still more for the army, a condition of his retention of office, and during the last sixteen years the republic has expended $2,800,000,000 on its military establishment alone.

"In the same period Germany has spent $1,016,000,000 on her army, to say nothing of the enormous outlay on her fleet, and yet the disparity between her own expenditure and that of France has alarmed both Bismarck and von Moltke. Despite the emphatic pledge given when the first septenate was voted, they demand its renewal, and so anxious are they for additional soldiers and new batteries that they have antedated the bill. They have done this, too, while admitting that the empire can hardly bear the weight of its armor, and that the increase of the army in time of peace must enormously augment the financial burden.

"Austria, hesitant always where outlay is concerned, has obtained a credit of $20,000,000 to buy new rifles, while Russia is steadily increasing her armament and strengthening her weak point—the commissariat. Italy, economical to a degree, is depleting her treasury by extra military preparations, and declares that she is even now so ready that her commissariat arrangements are fully completed.

"Turkey somehow finds money for war material, has 150,000 men in Macedonia, and is drafting into its ranks the youth of Asia Minor and Syria and the manhood of its European provinces. Lastly, England, whose people do not want war and do want relief from taxation, has risked the downfall of its government rather than not propose the estimates necessary to place it on a war footing.

"All these governments are arming themselves without a popular panic anywhere, and in a time of the most profound peace are exhausting themselves with enormous preparations for war. Doubtless it may be said that they are always doing so, and that mere armament counts for nothing, but there never were so many causes for war in Europe as now, nor so many reasons for ending an intolerable situation.

"France has been arming steadily for sixteen years with one plain object in view, and Germany, which dreads nothing so much as a war on its own soil, may at any time prefer to precipitate itself on the republic. The Czar who, in a trying time for his dynasty, stands discredited by public defeat, has undoubtedly considered his way out through a war with Austria, and considered it, too, with favor. Other governments, while not daring to lessen their military preparations, may choose to try the fortunes of war, rather than face continuously the dangers which they may anticipate from the hatreds and discontents of whole peoples.

"Even should the nations not mobilize, the question of maintaining European peace by converting every great country into a vast barrack is becoming a financial and industrial problem. The nations are impoverishing themselves with warlike preparations, and the weight of military establishments on a peace footing is rapidly wearing Europe out. Armament cannot go on forever, and even if it can, with the military systems of every nation marking perfection, the question of peace or war must soon be determined by money and population. With every nation equally well armed, and equally scientific as regards war, the turn of the scale must ultimately rest with the heaviest battalions and the largest aggregate of capital."