Sonnet-Light. THE ocean, like a mighty monarch, sleeps; D. ON THE SUPPOSED NECESSITY FOR, AND UTILITY OF, WAR. Preliminary Observations. WARS have hitherto borne so prominent a part in sublunary events, that we are from childhood accustomed to consider them as indispensable occurrences. We are, in this respect, in the situation of the youth, whose thoughts are still strongly tinctured with the fretful passions, the petty broils, and the other childish incidents of early life, and who has yet to acquire the knowledge of, as well as a relish for, the more manly and rational pursuits of a maturer age. We reflect on the transactions of past times, and are enabled, by the obscure but sufficient light afforded by history, to trace society to its elements; we observe a cloud of complicated events, in which the worst passions of the human heart have ever possessed the principal part; it does not escape our notice, that even in the present day, although partially illuminated by some very striking instances of superior refinement, many nations are still lingering in all the miseries of benighted barbarism, and from which many more have only very recently emerged: we discover in all this so many omens and seeds of future contentions, that we cannot, without a considerable effort, bring ourselves to consider the prospect of an eventual state of permanent peace as a subject of rational hope. Our difficulty on this head is solely attributable to a common defect in our judgment regarding a point of a peculiar description. An opinion has generally prevailed, founded, probably, upon a misinterpretation of certain passages of Holy Writ, that a very short period is destined to intervene before the final destruction of the terrestrial globe. It has occasionally been successfully shown, that many of the texts alluded to have reference only to the life of individuals; and there can be no doubt, that our comprehension of the whole has sometimes been vitiated by the application of our own narrow views of futurity, to the vast and mysterious designs of Omnipotence. The fact alone is known to us, that a term is fixed for the existence of the material world; but we possess no legitimate grounds for believing that that term will be, in reference to our notions of time, a short one. On the contrary, there is every rational indication of its being so protracted, as to remove it, by almost infinite gradations, from any comparison with that period of which we have already had experience. Conformably with this notion, the world may be regarded as yet existing in a state of infancy, and that numerous ages are still to elapse during its passage to maturity. Nor is this only an idle speculation, fruitless of use and advantage. A comprehensive mind will see at once, that, in conjunction with a rational theory of the progress of civilization, it removes an immense weight of objection respecting the conduct of Providence, and is particularly calculated to afford us much consolation in the consideration of the subject before us. The world in its non-age-while toiling in the trammels, and undergoing the appropriate discipline of that state-has still to experience the action of a superior civilization: a very insufficient, or a very dissimilar progress, among the several divisions of which it is composed, is necessarily productive of discord and wars; but which may reasonably be expected finally to cease, soon after the mighty work has been achieved of moulding the numerous detached members into an homogeneous form. By thus attributing a portion of the evils of the present and past time to the intemperate sallies of the youthful state, we in some measure vindicate the dignity of the human nature, and restore it to that rank which, notwithstanding its temporary humiliation, has been evidently assigned to it by the Almighty Creator. The gloom of despair is dissipated. We thenceforward look towards the more manly and rational times with feelings of consolation and pleasure; when the feverish passions which surround the paths of unwary ignorance shall be greatly diminished in force, and no longer successfully oppose the access of the higher terrestrial enjoyments. But the state of warfare is not only acquiesced in with complacency as a habit and custom,—it is frequently defended and recommended on the score of necessity and utility. The ground thus taken is worthy of some scrutiny; for if the validity of the position could be satisfactorily established, it would of course destroy the inferences of a directly contrary tendency, deducible from the acknowledged progressive improvement of society. The whole weight of the question will be found, upon consideration, to rest upon the comparative amount of that improvement. Wars may unquestionably be both necessary and useful in certain stages of civilization; but having, in the course of this disquisition contended for the proposition, that the whole human population is gradually moving towards the higher stages, to which all nations will infallibly at different periods arrive, it is only incumbent upon us, in support of our peculiar views with respect to the probability of an eventual state of permanent peace, to prevent the plea of the necessity and utility of wars from attaching to those higher stages. Before a due degree of refinement take place and prevail universally, wars may, from the various causes we have already enumerated, be truly said to be necessary; and it cannot be denied that they have frequently been used as instruments in the hands of a wise and overruling Providence, divinely skilled in diverting the evil passions of man to the promotion of its beneficent designs, to accelerate the great work of general improvement. But it will be our business to show, that after such a state of refinement has been attained, the necessity and utility of wars must finally cease. To assist this inquiry by a natural and single division, we shall separately consider the supposed physical and moral necessity for, as well as the alleged positive and accidental utility of, a durable state of war, or of its continued recurrence, with occasional peaceful interruptions, to the end of the world. 1. By the physical necessity of war is understood the principle of population, by which mankind are supposed to be driven, from the mere want of sufficient food and room, to the destruction of each other. 2. The moral necessity has reference to the passions, from the forcible action of which wars are commonly defended, as the natural result of an original defect in our mental constitution. 3. Wars are said to be positively useful in stimulating the dormant energies of the human mind, and in their consequent effect of inpelling it to the discovery and improvement of the arts and sciences. 4. To the accidental utility of war belong the occasional displays of the higher, or more splendid, feelings of humanity,-courage, fortitude, magnanimity, generosity; which, in critical and trying situations, peculiarly incident to war, are presumed to be called into action more frequently than in the other numerous transactions of life with which we have hitherto been conversant. In adverting separately to each of these points, which are repeatedly urged on the side of those who are disposed to judge of future events by a comparison with the past, we shall confine ourselves to a few brief observations,in conformity with the practice we have heretofore pursued, of avoiding the ambitious aim of exhausting our subject, and of purposely leaving many obvious deductions from our premises to the reflections of the discerning reader. Chapter I. On the supposed Physical Necessity for War. It must always have been known to every mind whose attention has been seriously directed to the economy of Nature, that population has a tendency to exceed the means that can be provided for its support. A vague conviction must at the same time have been felt, that the full operation of this principle is perpetually retarded by various circumstances. Disease, and the too certain play of the restless and malignant passions, were generally, in times of semi-barbarism, alone sufficient to prevent the inconvenience of excessive multiplication: in the occasional temporary failure of these instruments, and in the absence of the opportunity or inclination for emigration, famine was inevitable; and it was during such an emergency that the ignorant vulgar felt all the bitterness of a natural train of consequences, the sure succession of which was previously, but slightly, apprehended by the philosophic but inexperienced mind. What was to the ancients only the object of a nameless perception, brought to their cognizance either as the result of a painful experience, or as a matter of transitory and uncertain speculation, has been elaborately developed in modern times. The fact has been more definitely brought into view, that the fruits of the earth, although, from their nature, capable of increase to infinity, are necessarily limited in amount, according to the extent and quality of the soil in which they must previously be planted or sown. The animal kingdom is in this respect in nearly the same predicament as the vegetable; but with this difference-that the latter is passive in the operation of reproduction, and cannot, by the force of individual feeling, act in resistance to the general law; while the former is under the influence of a selfish bias, which, without due correction, urges each individual member to the pursuit of present gratification, unrestrained by a consideration of public expediency. The brutes multiply without thought; but the evil of a redundance of their species is effectually guarded against by the interposing hand of man: man himself, however, before he acquires a high polish in the course of his social career, has little or no protection against the perils of an over-crowded population, and the consequent everrecurring visitations of famine, save from those fearful circumstances of vice and misery which, upon other grounds, can only be held to be the authors of his torment and reproach. The whole of the question regarding the principle of population rests upon the simplest foundation; and it has often been a subject of wonder that it could have given rise to such elaborate discussion, and variety of opinions respecting it, as have been recently experienced. The naked enunciation of the doctrine of the contrary action of two natural principles was, however, too certainly calculated to alarm pious, unreflecting minds: it appeared to inculpate the conduct of Omnipotence; and left, as it generally has been, by its advocates, unsupported by all the qualifications of which it is susceptible, it has perhaps unavoidably provoked contention. If a third principle the naturally certain progress of mankind, since the introduction of Christianity through the higher stages of civilization-had at the same time been sufficiently developed, all the difficulties which appeared to attach to the subject would have fallen to the ground. An indirect, and therefore inadequate allusion to this principle, has indeed been made by the invention of a check to redundant population, which has with sufficient propriety been termed the moral restraint. But this check is evidently inoperative in the state of barbarism, and the lower gradations of civilization. The motives which assist in its formation emanate from the purest sources; and while its necessity marks in a peculiar manner the cares and trials to which man is subject, the fact of his power to avail himself of it, after a due course of cultivation, may be pointed at as a strong evidence of the native dignity of his character. A considerable triumph over the selfish principle, and the persevering practice of the more difficult virtues, are included in the notion of a moral restraint upon excessive population; and its predominance is therefore a sure indication of a high state of social improvement. The doctrine of a progressively increasing civilization provides the only certain operation of the check alluded to, which consists in the general prevalence of prudential considerations in virtuous minds, by which gratifications immediately attainable are sacrificed for the prevention of disproportionate evil consequences. Through its influence, the number of marriages is circumscribed within reasonable limits; and the danger is effectually removed of population pressing too closely upon the means of subsistence. As its existence in any eminently useful degree requires a very extended cultivation of mind and of virtuous habits, the question of the amount of its power involves that of the rank attained in the order of civilization. In a state of comparative barbarism, the preponderating check upon population is that which has been denominated positive, whose elements are vice and misery, including therein war and its concomitant ravages and crimes as we recede from that state, the weight of this check is overbalanced by the other, until at length, in the last stages of civilization, the latter will almost wholly predominate. We are not, then, compelled at all times to resort to the scourge of war for the means of repressing a redundant population; a far less exceptionable agent will be alone sufficient for this purpose in the mature age of the world. In that better era too, the attention of men, in relation to this point of human economy, will be directed, less to divert an evil, than to improve the blessings which are connected with a well-replenished land. In this department of providential government, as well as in all others, virtue is not permitted to be fruitless of reward even in this life. Much of the dreaded evil of a population, inconveniently extensive, may be reduced by the progress of moral improvement, previously to any marked operation of the preventive check. By a superior application of the powers of industry, assisted by an advanced state of the arts, and a more improved system of government, the means of subsistence may be increased in an immeasurable degree above what has been hitherto experienced. Notwithstanding the gloomy anticipations which have recently been so absurdly and falsely mixed up with this subject, it may safely be prognosticated, that this source of consolation will long survive the fell operations of devastating war. A direct argument, against the plea of the existence of a physical necessity for war, is offered in the palpable inconsistency of such an order of Providence with the benevolence of the Divine mind; but we are aware, that it may be alleged, that we are really ignorant of the designs of the Almighty, and cannot therefore pronounce with certainty of such inconsistency. The inference involved in this allegation is not unsusceptible of a satisfactory answer; but the subject would lead us into a too-lengthened detail. The extreme improbability of the continued necessity for the recurrence of scenes abhorrent to humanity must be already apparent to the reader; and we trust that we have sufficiently indicated the path by which the same useful results, which are supposed to require the agency of war, are produced in a far superior way, by less exceptionable means. Perhaps there is no subject more calculated to display the wisdom of Providence than the one we are now considering. War, the source of indescribable misery, appears to be indispensable in that stage of society, in which the VOL. XVI. 4 R human mind is permitted to slumber in a state of listless apathy, or before its dormant powers and virtues have been duly called into action. An inexorable law proportions the fruits of the earth to the merits of the consumers; and when the virtues are rare and slender, it is no wonder that, under such a plan of distribution, one half of the population must be destroyed, to secure an adequate provision for the other. Upon the aggrandizement of mind, brighter prospects expand into view. A population, truly virtuous, and intent on attaining its destined rank in the scale of creation, can never become inconveniently abundant: a natural law, equally steady as that which assigns to a vicious ignorance a commensurate portion of misery, perpetually directs its course by the lights of reason and religion. Such a population may, without inconvenience, be incomparably more numerous than the world has yet experienced: that it will be proportionably happy is a coincident conclusion-if the summit of human happiness consists, as it unquestionably does, not in a total dispensation from all cares and solicitudes, nor ever in the enjoyment at the same time of all the innocent gratifications; but in the freedom from vicious propensities, and the undisturbed possession of those moderate and sufficient blessings with which an indulgent Providence condescends to embellish our road to a more perfect futurity. The dispute relating to the numerical increase of mankind has occasionally involved the consideration of the comparative advantages, in a moral and statistical view, of a numerous and a scanty population. We would apply to this question the same criterion as to the one last noticed. The character or quality of the particular population, upon the utility of which we are called upon to decide, is evidently an indispensable consideration. An ignorant and vicious population, mischievous by inclination, can scarcely be too limited in number: its increase cannot be cou templated in any other light than as the growth into more fearful dimensions of a formidable engine of tyranny and oppression. Noxious as it must be, in a moral point of view, its tendency is also to impoverish and exhaust, instead of being instrumental to the promotion of the true power and real happiness of a state. On the other hand, a truly civilized and enlightened people, subservient as they will infallibly be to the prudential ordinations of Nature, can at no time, notwithstanding their acknowledged prolific disposition, become too numerous: their numerical growth may be confidently considered as a public good, as the certain means of individual as well as general prosperity,-as an inestimable accession to the number of useful moral agents, endowed with an infinite variety of intellectual powers, as an increasing sort of contributors towards the perfection of the universal mind, and to the wealth, strength, and dignity, in the first instance, of their own peculiar habitation and country, and, indirectly, of the whole human race. The reflections deduceable from this subject are fraught with valuable political lessons. Security, wealth, respectability, power, the great objects of statesmen, are only to be obtained by a wide stretch of liberality both in feeling and action. The people must be enlightened and made happy,they must be free. In their state of ignorance and wretchedness, they are so dangerous as to be only kept down to that level which safety requires by the continual pressure of the most grinding expedients, in which are mingled every thing that can be conceived of criminality and horror: they are then not only terrible to their rulers and neighbours, but destructive to each other. Their increase is portentous of famine, of misery, of devastation; and which, could they permanently endure, would fully satisfy the gloomy conclusions of the writers who inveigh most on the evils of redundant population. A people truly free, a people consequently essentially good, increase in value, in political weight and importance, as they increase in number. In this state, they will not tolerate injustice and oppression they will insist upon and obtain the blessings of an enlightened government and of rational institutions; but they will, in return, guarantee the undisturbed enjoyment of the full measure of right to every individual, |