W A R 



its note ; its only ufe was to alarm tlie family by barking, 

 if any perfon approached the houfe. See Dog. 



WAPPER, in Ichthyology, a name given by fome to the 

 fmaller fpecics of the river gudgeon. 



WAPPING'S Creek, in Geography, a river of Nevy 

 York, which runs into the Hudfon, 7 miles S. of Pough- 

 keepfie. 



WAPPO, a town of Africa, on the Grain coaft. N. 

 lat. 4° 59'. W. long. 8^20'. 



WAPPOCOMO, a river of Virginia, which runs into 

 the Potomack, 9 miles E.S.E. of Fort Cumberland. 



WAPSTENO, a town of Swedilh Lapland ; 1 15 miles 

 N.W. of Umea. 



WAPUWAGAN Islands, a duller of illands near 

 the coaft of Labrador. N. lat. 50° 2'. W. long. 60' 14'. 



WAR, Bellum, a conteft or difference between princes, 

 ftates, or large bodies of people ; which, not being deter- 

 minable by the ordinary meafurcs of juftice and equity, is 

 referred to the decifion of the fword ; or, it is that ftate ia 

 which a nation profecutes its right by force. 



Hobbes's great principle is, that the natural ftate of man 

 is a ftate of warfare ; but moft other pohticians hold war to 

 be a preternatural and extraordinary ftate. 



War may be confidered, fays archdeacon Paley, with a 

 view to its caufes and to its conduit. The jujlifying caufes of 

 war are deliberate invafions of right, aad the ncceflity of 

 maintaining fuch a balance of power amongft neighbouring 

 nations, as that no fingle ftate, or confederacy of ftates, be 

 ftrong enough to overwhelm the reft. The objefts of juft 

 war »re precaution, defence, or reparation. In a larger 

 fenfe, every juft war is a defenfive war, inafmuch as every 

 juft war fuppofes an injury perpetrated, attempted, or 

 feared. 



A defenftve war is oppofed to that which is offenftve ; and 

 as in the former cafe, the fovereign power of a nation takes 

 up arms to repel the attacks of an enemy, fo, in the latter, 

 arms are taken up in order to attack a nation that lived in 

 peace with the others. War is fo dreadful an evil, and fo 

 deftruftive in its progrefs and effefts, that it Ihould never be 

 undertaken without the ftrongeft rcafons. Humanity is 

 fliocked at a fovereign who, without imperious neceflity, 

 lavifttes the lives of his moft faithful fubjcfts, and who ex- 

 pofes his people to the havoc and mifcries of war, when 

 they might enjoy an honourable and falutary peace ; and if 

 this want of love for his people be accompanied with injuftice 

 towards thofe whom he attacks, what guilt does he incur, 

 or rather what a dreadful feries of crimes docs he commit ? 

 The flaughtcr of men, the pillage of cities, the dcvaftation 

 of provinces, are his crimes. He \i rcfponftble to God, and 

 accountable to man, for every perfon that is killed. The 

 violences, the crimes, the various difordcrs attendant on the 

 licentious tumult of arms, pollute his confcience, and 

 blacken his account, as he is the original author of them 

 all. — May this faint fltetch, fays the excellent Vattel, affeft 

 the hearts of the leaders of nations, and in military cnter- 

 prifes fuggeft to them a circumfpec\ion proportional to the 

 importance of the fubjcft ! Vattel ftates the following 

 triple end as the diftinguiftiingcharafteriftic of a lawful war : 

 I. To recover what belongs or is due to us. 2. To pro- 

 vide for our future fafety by puniftiing the aggrefFor or 

 offender. 3. To defend ourfelvcs from an injury by re- 

 pelling an unjuft violence. The two firft are the objefts of 

 an offenfive, the third that of a defenfive war. Camillus, 

 when he was going to attack the Gauls, concifely rcpre- 

 fonted to his foldiers all the caufes which can juftify a war: 

 " Omnia qux defendi, rcpetique et ulcifci fas eft." Liv. 

 1. ix. c. 49. 



Vol. XXXVII. 



WAR 



The infuffident caufes, or unjuftifiable motives of war, 

 according to Paley, are the family alliances, the perfonal 

 friendlhips, or the perfonal quarrels of princes ; the mternal 

 difputes which are carried on in other nations ; the juftice 

 of other wars ; the extenfion of territory, or of trade ; the 

 misfortunes or accidental weaknefs of a neighbouring or 

 rival nation. There are tiuo leflbns of rational and fober 

 policy, fays this excellent writer, which, if it were poflible 

 to inculcate into the councils of princes, would exclude 

 many of the motives of war, and allay that reftlefs ambition 

 which is conftantly ftirring up one part of mankind againft 

 another. The firft of thefe lefTons admonifties princes to 

 " place their glory and their emulation, not in extent of ter- 

 ritory, but in raifing the greateft quantity of happinefs out 

 of a given territory." The enlargement of territory by 

 conqueft is not only not a juft objeft of war, but, in moft; 

 inftances in which it is attempted, not even defirable. 

 What commonly is gained to a nation, by the annexing of 

 new dependencies, or the fubjugation of other countries to 

 its dominion, but a wider frontier to defend, more inter- 

 fering claims to vindicate, more quarrels, more enemies, 

 more rebellions to encounter, a greater force to keep up by 

 land and fea, more fervices to provide for, and more efta- 

 blifhments to pay ? And in order to draw from thefe acqui- 

 fitions fomething that may make up for the charge of keep- 

 ing them, a revenue is to be extorted, or a monopoly to be 

 iuforced and watched, at an expcnce which cofts half their 

 produce. Thus the provinces are opprefled, in order to 

 pay for being ill governed ; and the original ftate is ex- 

 haufted in maintaining a feeble authority over difcontentcd 

 fubjefts. Do opulence and extent of dominion always con- 

 ftitute the happinefs of ftates ? Among the multitude of 

 inftances that prefent themfclves to notice, let us confine 

 ourfelves, fays Vattel, to the Romans. The Roman re- 

 public ruined itfelf by its triumphs, the excefs of its con- 

 quefts and power. Rome, the niiftrcfs of the world, when 

 enftaved by tyrants, and opprcft'ed by a military govern, 

 mcnt, had reafon to deplore the fuccefs of its arms, and to 

 look back with regret on thofe happy times when its power 

 did not reach beyond Italy, or even when its dominion was 

 almoft confined within the circuit of its walls. Dr. Paley 

 mentions two cafes in which the extenfion of territory may 

 be of real advantage, and to both parties. The firft is, 

 where an empire thereby reaches to the natural boundaries 

 which divide it from the reft of the world. Thus we ac- 

 count the Britifti Channel the natural boundary which fepa- 

 rates the nations of England and France: and if France 

 poftefl"ed any counties on this, or England any cities or pro- 

 vinces on that fide of the fea, the recovery of fuch towns 

 and diftrifts, to what may be called their natural fovereign, 

 though it might not be a juft reafon for commencing war, 

 would be a proper ufe to make of viftory. The other cafe 

 is, where neighbouring ftates, being feverally too fmall and 

 weak to defend themfelves againft the dangers that furround 

 them, can only be fafe by a ftrift and conftant junftion of 

 their ftrength : here conqueft will effeft the purpofes of 

 confederation and alliance ; and the union which it produces 

 is often more clofe and permanent, than that which refults 

 from voluntary aflociation. 



Tlie fecond rule ot prudence, to which we have above re- 

 ferred, and which ought to be recommended to thofe who 

 conduft tlie aft'airs of nations, is, " never to purfne national 

 honour as diftinft from national iiiterejt." " The dignity of 

 his crown, the honour of his flag, the glory of his arms," 

 in the mouth of a prince, are ftatcly and impofing terms; 

 but the ideas they infpire are infatiable. The purfuit of 

 honour, when fct loofe from the admonitions of prudence, 

 4 S becomes 



