The Substance of a Pamphlet, Entitled a Solemn Review of the Custom of War; Showing That War Is the Effect of Popular Delusion, and Proposing a Remedy - Softcover

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated.1832 Excerpt: ... AN EXAMINATION, &c. When we retrace the history of Man, from the savage to the civilized state, we see him at first the slave of corporeal wants, and scarcely conscious of the possession of reflective powers, gradually emerging from the obscurity of ignorance and barbarism, and exerting his newly awakened faculties in the discovery of truths which tend to raise him to the dignity of an intellectual being. We see the inventive arts, originally confined to the manufacture of the simplest necessaries, elevated, by the combined force of genius and industry, till they contribute to the production of all that can gratify or enlighten humanity. We contemplate the mind of man--once barren as the desert heath, over which he roamed in search of foodadorned by the culture of succeeding generations, and become capable of comprehending within its limits a vast extent of knowledge; penetrating into the mysterious operations of nature, measuring the distances of the heavenly bodies, and raising its speculations beyond the boundaries of visible existence, to the regions of infinity. We rejoice in tracing the development of mental energies,--we seem to behold human nature emulating the perfection of a superior order of beings, and we exult in the name of Man. But while we would fain indulge without restraint the pleasing emotions of admiration of the past, and hope for the future, our attention is painfully and irresistibly attracted by one gloomy cloud, that overshadows the picture--one dark thread interwoven throughout the varied tissue of history--one deep and bloody stain, that pervades the whole current of human; affairs. Yes, the Savage has forsaken his abode in the rockstemples and palaces have arisen on the ruins of hovels--the day spring of religious truth has dis...

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