Civilization claims to introduce the elements of peace, happiness, and
prosperity into the structure of society, and to transform the sword and
the spear into the harmless implements of husbandry; yet with a swifter
pace the engines of war increase, man thirsts as fiercely for the blood of
his fellow-man, and the dormant spirit of destruction is as ready to
illume the torch, as in the reckless times of past history. Even in this
enlightened age we are constantly reminded of the truth and force of the
remark of Hannibal: "No great state can long remain at rest. If it has no
enemies abroad, it finds them at home; as overgrown bodies seem safe from
external injuries, but suffer grievous inconveniences from their own
strength."
The motives of self-aggrandizement by force of arms appear to be innate in
human nature. We see men maintaining monstrous ideas. We see great armies
singularly swayed by single minds, in defiance of truth and reason. The
soldiers of Catiline fought to the last gasp, and perished to a man,
embracing the eagle of Marius--"Marius, who sprang from the dust the
expiring Gracchi flung towards heaven," and who first dared attack the
aristocratic nobility, and defend the down-trodden rights of the oppressed
plebeian. There are mysterious laws, which seem to regulate the expansion
and the decay of the human families. There are unseen forces which now and
then impel vicious men to their own destruction.