The Wanderer’s Return, p. [304].
EVENING XXV.
THE PRICE OF A VICTORY.
“Good news! great news! glorious news!” cried young Oswald, as he entered his father’s house. “We have got a complete victory, and have killed I don’t know how many thousands of the enemy; and we are to have bonfires and illuminations!”
“And so,” said his father, “you think that killing a great many thousands of human creatures is a thing to be very glad about?”
Oswald. No—I do not quite think so, neither: but surely it is right to be glad that our country has gained a great advantage.
Father. No doubt, it is right to wish well to our country, as far as its prosperity can be promoted without injuring the rest of mankind. But wars are very seldom to the real advantage of any nation; and when they are ever so useful or necessary, so many dreadful evils attend them, that a humane man will scarcely rejoice in them, if he considers at all on the subject.
Os. But if our enemies would do us a great deal of mischief, and we prevent it by beating them, have we not a right to be glad of it?
Fa. Alas! we are in general little judges which of the parties has the most mischievous intentions. Commonly, they are both in the wrong, and success will make both of them unjust and unreasonable. But putting this out of the question, he who rejoices in the event of a battle, rejoices in the misery of many thousands of his species; and the thought of that should make him pause a little. Suppose a surgeon were to come with a smiling countenance, and tell us triumphantly that he had cut off half a dozen legs to day, what would you think of him?
Os. I should think him very hard-hearted.
Fa. And yet those operations are done for the benefit of the sufferers, and by their own desire. But in a battle, the probability is, that none of those engaged on either side have any interest at all in the cause they are fighting for, and most of them come there because they cannot help it. In this battle that you are so rejoiced about, there have been ten thousand men killed on the spot, and nearly as many wounded.