These Are Frightful Figures; Frightful For The Capacity Of
Destruction They Represent, For The Heaps Of Carnage They Represent,
For
The quantity of human blood spilt they represent, for the lust of
conquest they represent, for the evil passions they
Represent, and for
the arrest of the onward progress of civilization they represent. But
it is not the figures which give the worst view of the fact - for
England still carries more guns afloat even than our well-armed
neighbours. It is the change which has taken place in the spirit of the
people of the Northern States themselves which is the worst view of the
fact. How far have they travelled since the humane Channing preached
the unlawfulness of war - since the living Sumner delivered his
addresses to the Peace Society on the same theme! I remember an
accomplished poet, one of the most accomplished the New England States
have ever produced, taking very strong grounds against the prosecution
of the Mexican war, and published the Bigelow Papers, so well known in
American literature, to show the ferocity and criminality of war. That
poet made Mr. Bird-o'-Freedom Sawin sing:
"'Ef you take a soaord an droar it,
An go stick a feller thru,
Guv'ment won't answer for it,
God'll send the bill to you!'
This was slightly audacious and irreverent in expression, but it was
remarkably popular in New England at that time. The writer is now one
of the editors of a popular Boston periodical, and would be one of the
last, I have no doubt, to induce a Northern soldier to withdraw his
sword from the body of any unhappy Southerner whom he had, contrary to
the poet's former political ethics, 'stuck thru.' But it is not the
revolution wrought in the minds of men of great intelligence that is
most to be deplored - for the powerful will of such men may compel their
thoughts back again to a philosophy of peace; no, it is the mercenary
and military interests created under Mr. Lincoln which are represented,
the former by an estimated governmental outlay of above $100,000,000
this year, and the other by the 800,000 men, whose blood is thus to be
bought and paid for; by the armies out of uniform who prey upon the
army in uniform; by the army of contractors who are to feed and clothe
and arm the fighting million; by that other army, the army of tax-
collectors, who cover the land, seeing that no industry escapes
unburthened, no possession unentered, no affection even, untaxed. Tax!
tax! tax! is the cry from the rear! Blood! blood! blood! is the cry
from the front! Gold! gold! gold! is the chuckling undertone which
comes up from the mushroom millionaires, well named a shoddy
aristocracy. Nor do I think the army interest, the contracting
interest, and the tax-gathering interest, the worst results that have
grown out of this war. There is another and equally serious interest -
the revolution in the spirit, mind, and principles of the people, that
terrible change which has made war familiar and even attractive to
them. When the first battle was fought - when, in the language of the
Duke of Wellington, the first 'butcher's bill was sent in' - a shudder
of horror ran through the length and breadth of the country; but by-
and-by, as the carnage increased, no newspaper was considered worth
laying on the breakfast table unless it contained the story of the
butchery of thousands of men.
'Only a thousand killed! Pooh, pooh, that's nothing!' exclaimed Mr.
Shoddy, as he sipped his coffee - in his luxurious apartment; and
nothing short of the news of ten or fifteen thousand maimed or slain in
a day could satisfy the jaded palate of men craving for excitement, and
such horrible excitement as attends the wholesale murder of their
fellow-creatures. Have these sights and sounds no warning addressed to
us? Are we as those who have eyes and see not; ears and hear not;
reason, neither do they understand? If we are true to Canada - if we do
not desire to become part and parcel of this people - we cannot overlook
this, the greatest revolution of our own times. Let us remember this,
that when the three cries among our next neighbours are shoddy,
taxation, blood, it is tune for us to provide for our own security. I
said, in this House, during the session of the year 1861, that the
first gun fired at Fort Sumter had a 'message for us;' I was unheeded
then; I repeat now that every one of the 2,700 great guns in the field,
and every one of the 4,600 guns afloat, whenever it opens its mouth,
repeats the solemn warning of England - -Prepare! prepare! prepare! I
think, Sir, I am justified in regarding the American conflict, as one
of the warnings we have received; and the third warning, that things
cannot go on in this country as they are, is a warning voice from
within - a warning voice from our own experience in the government of
these Provinces. On these internal constitutional difficulties existing
among ourselves, which were so fully exposed last evening by my hon.
friend, the President of the Council, I need say little; they are
admitted to have been real, not imaginary, on all hands. An
illustration was used in another place in explaining this part of the
subject by the venerable and gallant knight, our Premier, than which
nothing could be more clear. He observed that when we had had five
administrations within four years, it was full time to look out for
some permanent remedy for such a state of things. True - most true -
Constitutional Government among us had touched its lowest point when it
existed only by the successful search of a messenger or a page after a
member willingly or unwillingly absent from his seat. Any one might in
those days have been the saviour of his country.
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