The Enlightened Nineteenth Century. TO THE EDITOR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2356, 20 April 1899, Page 23

The Enlightened Nineteenth Century. TO THE EDITOR.

| Sir,— Enlightened — sq it 'is called, and so j perhapß in some respects ifc is, -for many wonderful things have been brought to light dur.ing its weary span, and the searchlights of civilisation have ben thrown, on many dark corners of this grey old earth ; yet through it alt is preserved that very essence of harbar- ' ism,, the very blackest relic of heathen ages*. Take up any newspaper of the day, and \Vhafc do we find is its most absorbing topic.?— - Wars ! Wars and rumours of wars — thus *it goes on still, as'jt has~ done- through the teng vista of countless ages since- the first murderer Cain slew His brotlier. .Husbands,' fathers, brothers, lovers, — men, made in God's ' own. image, whose >every wwe tingles', with the joy of being, whoge- every pulse throbs: with , the love- of .life,—^.re sent forth* in batches to beshpt down- like rabbits, to- settle disputes,of,which they v know-'lit'tle and earr, less. And ttiefr wonieukind at horne — what 1 of them? — the leaat noticeable, because the. least noticed side of the horrors of war ! Scant is their comfort;, they needs "•-must be content with having their broken hearts' stickingplastered together with the' knowledge that theii lost ones died in their country's cause. It seems incredible that in this So-called enlightened nineteenth century other mean." have not been discovered to replace this wholesale murder in settling the disputes of nations. Progressive this century may bo, but enlightened? — no ! Certainly the modes of warfare are different now to those of bygone days. In the ware of old men were slam with' the good broadsword, cut down with the battle axo or picked off with arrows; — now they are " stormed at with shot and shell," while the deadly grape carries not only death but mutilation in Its wake. In the days of old, ships qf war fought their noble fights broadside on, with victory to the best; now the treauherouH feorpedo sneaks up with its deadly charge,, like a, stab in the back. And here again it seems to me incredible that men of mighty mindß should bend the whole power ,of their giant intellects to the discovery of new and more cruelly ingenious means for tho destruction of their fellow creatures; yet how rarely do we pick up the newspapers without finding, recorded the discovecy of a new exploHive or gun which outdoes all its predecessors in its devilisfc- wocE? Surely the God-begotten genius of man .was- neves destined for such. uses. When . the day comes .that " swords are beaten into plough-snares," when battles are. fought,, not. with shot and shell on the bloddy battlefield,, but by silvertongued diplomats in royal courts, when one and all, ruler and' ruled alike, acknowledge with humility the ' One Supreme Power, — then, and not till then, can we- call' our century enlightened. — I-am, etc., E. R. M. Kurow, April- 17.