The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1891. The Chilian Revolt

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 28, 3 September 1891, Page 2

The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1891. The Chilian Revolt

The absolute defeat by the/insurgents of President Balmaceda, and his consequent flight into the Argentine Republic, whence he had already sent his wife and family, gives us hope that this terrible internecine war, which has been the cause of so much bloodshed during the past seven or eight months, will now be brought to an end, and peace aud good Government be restored. It is sad to reflect that in this enlightened age the greed or ambition of one unscrupulous man should be permitted to cause so much pain and sorrow to the innocent, and the unoffending ; but it would appear that the desire to kill and destroy our fellow men is so strongly ingrained in one and all, that it requires but one man to hold up the banner of war, when thousands are attracted as^ ai c moths to a lamp. Like the war tf6r.«e " He said among the trumpets Ha, ha ; aud he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of tho captains aud thtfsbouting." Some philosophers have believed war to be the true state of nature, and they do not appear to havebeen very far wrong. No pretext is ever too small or too trifling to made au .excuse for biuodehoJ when two

parties or two nations are placed in opposition to each other. It is not so many years ago since politicians aud statesmen in England were wont to settle their personal differences with an exchauge of pistol shots, and this agreeable custom obtains to this day on the Continent of Europe. The readiness with which the Chilians went to war whether as insurgents or loyalists, with the gallantry they ex hibited in battle, gave ample proofs that the desire to live a humdrum life of peace and quietness had no existence whatever in their minds. That both sides displayed the usual cruelty, and inhumanity is only iv keeping with what generally happens in war. It is impossible for man to be engaged in slaying his fellow men, and exercising the peaceful virtues of philanthropy at the same time. The two things are not compatible ; yet scores of writers seem to think that they are. It seems we must submit to the inevitable, and accept war in some form or other as a part of the life of every man and nation. Let the widows mourn and the orphans weep, for they are but the natural consequences "of an apparently natural series of events. We may, and in fact do, pity them, but our pity in that direction, has no appreciable effect in creating a love for peace.