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INAUSPICIOUS

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Feb 22, 1899

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 25, No. 8.

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INAUSPICIOUS.

By William N. Glenn

It is argued in support of the expansion of American jurisdiction, that it means the spread of civilization, of peace, of Christian principles. But the query naturally arises, Why is it that, as the domain widens, there is such a demand for an increased standing army—from 30,000 to 100,000 men—in time of peace. The peace that has to be thus enforced and thus sustained can not be a Christian peace. The civilization that annihilates the uncivilized is not a Christian civilization. When the Prince of Peace came to bring "peace on earth, good-will to men," He did not come with an army equipped with carnal weapons. He came "not to destroy men's lives, but to save them." It is decidedly inauspicious for our pretension of Christian civilization when we have to force our institutions upon others with shot and shell, and maintain them at the point of the bayonet.
It seems not a little strange that a hundred years ago so-called "American institutions" were established at immense sacrifice by the American colonies cutting loose from the "mother country," while to-day the popular idea of perpetuating those institutions is to return to the methods of the Old World, from which revolt was necessary in order to establish civil and religious liberty. The man who, of all others, is now receiving the most glory for the extension of the jurisdiction of the American flag is Admiral Dewey, and his latest utterance in regard to the best policy of maintaining our claim as a civilizing power is in these words: "After many years of wandering I have come to the conclusion that the mightiest factor in the civilization of the world is the imperial policy of England."
Have the principles of civil and religious liberty, upon which the United States Government was originally founded, proven a failure as a governmental policy, a civilizing influence? or are the people departing from those principles in the mad rush for external glory? W. N. G.