Clemson University - Taps Yearbook (Clemson, SC)

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THE CLEAISON COLLEGE CHRONICLE. 337 resign ourselves to the tranquil existence of the hermit and recluse, of old ; for life, as God means it for us, is a great battlefield where the two mightiest protagonists wage an inevitable war which will cease only when the essence of things are dissolved on that great day in the universal love of God, whose dwelling of light, truth, and love is alone free from the din of incessant strife. This battle of the soul, against darkness, doubt, des- pair, and the devil, as man began to recognize man as a fellow and comrade in the struggle, became the animat- ing principle of whole bodies of men, and sent them in armed battalions into the field of struggle for rights, lib- erties and common country. War had its origin in the early morning of history, when men banded themselves together for mutual protection. That the Old Testament is permeated with a warlike spirit needs no proof. Jehovah is known as the Lord of Hosts, and his commands to his people more frequently involve bloodshed than compromise. Did he not impose the extermination of the Canaanites upon his people as a sacred duty ? And all through the ages that have taught us that we are obeying his commands when we uphold a righteous cause. I need not tell you of the many wars of the dark ages in which the great concrete foundations of Christianity were laid : when Goth and Hun and Vandal invading the empire with fire and sword, came only to be conquered, and christianized whole armies at a time ; nor of the Cru- sades by which the coarseness of the West was brought into contact with the culture of the East; nor of the various other wars that have been factors in the advance- ment of civilization. Let me hasten to speak of later wars that have benefitted humanity, — of a revolution in England ' s colonies, that not only saved civil liberty in

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336 THE CLEMSOX COLLEGE CHROXICLE. morality of war ? It has been so universally conceded that war is a curse, and that the progress of civilizatiion is slowly eradicating this evil, that many people have accepted this view as the only genuine one to hold. Yet there is so much to be said in favor of war, that I shall endeavor to throw out a few hints which may suggest the conclusion, that war is not only necessary but moral. I would have you turn your eyes upon God ' s handi- work around you and observe the lessons therein set forth. See the silver stream as it flows gaily onward, and note the pebbles in its lucid depths whose surfaces have been worn smooth and round by the liquid war upon their faces ? See the giant oak in yonder forest whose very strength has sapped the life-blood from the stubby growth around ! Turn to yonder cloud and see it as it gathers unto itself, drifting clouds, growing larger and heavier until the whole sky is darkened. Then note the awful majesty of the heavens, as the thunder clouds burst and the rains fall, here and there blasting a noble tree, and spoiling the fair face of nature, but yet refreshing the thirsty earth, so that it may yield its fruits. Thus nature ' s self doth teach us how to war. Ascend the scale a little, and learn how savage beasts exist upon weaker animals around them. Yet still higher, and note the daily battle of man for bread — how he slaves and toils and fights for his sustenance ; how he crushes the weaker man in his eagerness for supremacy. This struggles when organized becomes war. I would have you also reflect upon that moral warfare which is the essence of our nature — the struggle between the principles of good and evil, continually taking place within the breast of each one of us. If war is really the great accursed, and to be shunned on every side, then life itself, in the world must be accursed, and we must

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338 THE CLEMSON COLLEGE CHRONICLE. England, but laid the foundations of a magnificent com- monwealth in the New World. Americans fought for liberty. Were they justified ? The glad answer of over seventy millions of people, in the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, is, Yes ! a thousand times, yes ! War has followed, and must ever follow, when one part of a nation denies the inalienable rights of the other part; and so, less than half a century ago, the world was made to tremble, at a struggle between two parts of this natiou which had itself been founded by a war. Sons of the same country grappled at each other ' s throats in support of a cause that each thought to be just. Could either have refused battle to the other ? If the North had not fought for the idea of union which she firmly believed in, or the South not boldly maintained, before the world, rights under a constitution which her representatives mainly had helped to frame, — could the men of either section grasp the hands of the men of the other without a blush of shame ? No ! war, bloody as it proved to be was neces- sary to settle the differences when once they were brought prominently forward in the public consciousness. And to-day the heroism of both armies is the common heritage of the republic. Nor could the unparalleled prosperity of both parts of the nation, since that struggle, ever have been, or the cordial feeling that we may now safely pre- dict, ever have existed, without that struggle ? The Puritan of the North and the Cavalier of the South were cast in different moulds, and it was impossible for two such types of character, so widely divergent in customs and traditions, one or the other of which has stamped its impress on every State of the Union, to dwell together in peace. The contest had to come ; but in that meeting the two discordant elements were welded together into one homogeneous people, and pitiable indeed is he who