42o POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



the precise angles and force with which these shells may be sent up 

 into the air that they may fall upon that particular spot which is 

 thronged with men, and, exploding there, send havoc among them. 

 Great God ! am I at liberty to devote my faculties to the infernal 

 work?" 



That is a voice from Dunfermline of weighty import. I found it 

 recently and rejoiced that, when a child, I had often seen the man 

 who wrote these words. 



Wyclifs opinion may have arrested the young men's attention: 

 " What honor falls to a knight that kills many men ? The hangman 

 killeth many more and with a better title. Better were it for men to 

 be butchers of beasts than butchers of their brethren ! " 



Or John Wesley's wail may have struck deep in the hearts of some 

 fit for recruits : " You may pour out your soul and bemoan the loss 

 of true, genuine love in the earth. Lost indeed! These Christian 

 kingdoms that are tearing out each other's bowels, desolating one an- 

 other with fire and sword ! These Christian armies that are sending 

 each other by thousands, by tens of thousands, quick to hell ! " 



It may be from eminent soldiers that young men have received 

 the most discouraging accounts of the profession. Napoleon declared 

 it c the trade of barbarians.' Wellington writes Lord Shaftesbury, 

 " War is a most detestable thing. If you had seen but one day of war, 

 you would pray God you might never see another." General Grant, 

 offered a military review by the Duke of Cambridge, declined, saying he 

 never wished to look upon a regiment of soldiers again. General 

 Sherman writes he was " tired and sick of the war. Its glory is all 

 moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard 

 the shrieks and groans of the wounded, who cry aloud for more blood, 

 more vengeance, more desolation. War is Hell." 



Perhaps some have pondered over Sir John Sinclair's opinion that 

 ' the profession of a soldier is a damnable profession/ 



The professional soldier is primarily required for purposes of 

 aggression, it being clear that if there were none to attack, none to 

 defend would be needed. The volunteer, who arms only to be better 

 able to defend his home and country, occupies a very different position 

 from the recruit who enlists unconditionally as a profession and binds 

 himself to go forth and slay his fellows as directed. The defense of 

 home and country may possibly become necessary, although no man 

 living in Britain or America has ever seen invasion or is at all likely 

 to see it. Still, the elements of patriotism and duty enter here. That 

 it is every man's duty to defend home and country goes without saying. 

 We should never forget, however, that which makes it a holy duty to 

 defend one's home and country also makes it a holy duty not to invade 

 the country and home of others, a truth which has not hitherto been 



