Prospects for War and Peace
By T.
WHAT IS THE PROSPECT? IS IT PEACE OR WAR? ANY one who is in a normal condition would much prefer peace to war. Indeed, war is the one thing that is the most horrible that the human mind can picture. And especially is war with modern weapons a terrible thing to contemplate. A soldier returning from the Philippine war tells of a church building that was literally packed full of Filipinos. The American soldiers fired a couple of shells into it, and, having taken the range with a range finder, they caused both shells to explode right in the meeting-house. He said that he did not think a single individual survived the wreck of the death-dealing missiles. Is there a prospect that wars will cease? or is it likely that we will soon have some of the greatest fighting that the world has ever seen? A little survey of the situation may help in reaching a conclusion. England believes stronger in colonial expansion to-day than ever. Her colonies are helps in the expansion of her trade, and in this commercial age, anything that will help the merchant is eagerly sought out and cultivated. The facts all seem to indicate that England is seeking to dominate the whole of South Africa, and possibly the entire continent. And in pushing her claims in that field she is not averse to war. It is only necessary to mention the great preparations that the Britons are making for the war in the Transvaal, to show that this is so. And it is not alone in South Africa that England is ready to advance her colonial claims, but she has her eye on the far East as well. Notwithstanding all the talk about settling disputes by arbitration in these times, England reads her ultimatum to the Boers in the little South African republic, and pushes preparations for war in case of a failure to accept her terms. In this respect she does not seem to be very much ahead of those more ancient times, when everything had to be settled by arms, and when arbitration was not talked of as it is now. Russia is an even more aggressive power than England. She is not only building railroads into the far East, and acquiring and fortifying forts there, but she has her eye on Southeastern Europe and many parts of Western and Central Asia. Russia is increasing and strengthening both her army and navy, with a view of not only maintaining her present empire, but of extending it. Certainly where the idea of empire is so strong, we can not look for any permanent peace. Germany is also seeking to gain a foothold in the far East. She has acquired her seaport in China, and, according to the international fashion, is fortifying it as strongly as the devisings of modern times can suggest. There is no power that seems to be watching things among the nations with a more jealous eye than Germany. The German papers are saying that the "Fatherland" must closely observe the movements of England in South Africa, and if the opportunity is presented, the Germans are exhorted to step in and embarrass England all they can. Taking a general view of the condition of things in Germany, it does not augur for the peace of the world. The French try to have a colonial policy, and would doubtless do something worthy of special mention in that line if they were not so severely broken up over their domestic affairs that they have but little time for anything else. Every one knows that France is in no condition to aid in a general establishment of peace. The United States has a war on its hands in the Orient, and it is all because she desires to have a hand in the dividing up of the spoils that will come to the nations of Europe in the dismembering of China. Both the navy and the army in this country have come to the front very prominently during the past year and a half, and there are no indications that she will refuse to fight for any peace that she may wish to dictate. And so we may turn our eyes to any quarter of the globe and the indications are all for war and not for peace. Even the little republics of South America are in a constant turmoil, and there is scarcely a week in the year that they are not either in civil strife or at war among some of their neighbors. There is just one quarter from which we may look for peace. The Prince of Peace has promised to return to this earth, and everything indicates that His coming is very near. When He comes He will forever establish the peace that He has already given to every one who has learned to trust Him. The Master has given us His word, and He says, "These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace." We may have peace in Him now, and enter into the everlasting fruit of it at His coming. But there is peace nowhere else for the inhabitants of this world. Any one who looks at the situation as it is to-day among the nations must be convinced that the universal war foretold by the prophets can not be very long delayed. T.