voltaire on war

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World Affairs Institute

VOLTAIRE AGAINST WARSource: The Advocate of Peace (1837-1845), Vol. 2, No. 8 (SEPTEMBER, 1838), pp. 79-80Published by: World Affairs Institute

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1838.] Voltaire against War. 79dreams of a Minos and a Solon, or themilitary and monkishestablishments of a Lycurgus, is truly n abandonment of allregard to the only legitimateobject of government,?the happiness of man." *In a letter addressed to John Adams after the downfall ofNapoleon, he exclaims, " How miserably, how meanly has heclosed his inflatedcareer ! What a sample of the bathos willhis historypresent ! Bonaparte was a lion only in the field ;in civil life a cold-blooded, calculating, unprincipled usurperwithout a virtue ; no statesman,knowing nothing of commerce,political economy, or civil government. 1 once supposed hima greatman ; but now I set him down as a great scoundrelonly."

VOLTAIRE AGAINST WAR.Voltaire, though a bold and bitter enemy of that gospelon which alone we can rely for the entire abolition of war, hasnevertheless filled hiswritingswith strongdenunciations of thiscustom. " Famine, the plague, and war," he says, " are thethreemost famous ingredients in themisery of this lowerworld.Under famine may be classed all the noxious kinds of foodwhich want compels us to use, thus shortening our lifewhilewe hope to support it. In the plague are included all contagious distempers ; and these are not less than two or threethousand. These two evils we receive from Providence ; butwar, inwhich all these evils are concentrated,we owe to thefancy of two or threehundred persons scattered over the globeunder the name of princes and ministers. The most hardenedflattererwill allow, thatwar is ever attended with plague andfamine, especially if he has seen themilitary hospitals of Germany, or passed throughvillages where some notable feat ofarms has been performed.""When a sovereignwishes to embark inwar, he picks up amultitude ofmen who have nothing to do, and nothing to lose,clothes themwith coarse blue cloth, puts on them hats boundwith coarse white worsted, makes them turnto the right andleft,and thusmarches them away to glory ! Other princes,on thisarmament, take part in it to the best of their ability,

* Calumet, vol. I, p. 172.

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80 Voltaire against War. [Sept.,and soon cover a small extent of countrywith more hirelingmurderers thanJenghiz-Khan, Tamerlane and Bajazet had attheir heels. People at no small distance, on hearing thatfighting is afoot, and that, if theywould join, thereare five orsix sous a day for them, immediatelydivide into two bandslike reapers, and go and sell their services to the first bidder.These multitudes furiouslybutcher one another not only without having any concern in the quarrel, butwithout somuch asknowing what it isabout."" An odd circumstance in this infernalbusiness is,thateverychief of those ruffians as his colors consecrated, and solemnlyprays toGod, beforehe goes to destroyhis neighbor. If theslain inbattle do not exceed two or three thousand, the fortunate commander does not think itworth thanking God for;but if,besides killing tenor twelve thousandmen, he has beenso far favored ofHeaven as totally to destroy some remarkableplace, then a verbose hymn is sung."" All courtierspay a certain number of orators to celebratethese sanguinaryachievements. They are all very long-windedin theirharangues ; but innot one of all these discourses havethey the spirit to animadvert on war, that scourge and crimewhich includes all others. Put together all the vices of allages and places ; and neverwill they come up to themischiefsand enormitiesof one campaign.""Ye ministers of God ! bungling physicians of the soul ! tobellow for an hour or more against a fewflea-bites, but saynot aword about that horrid distemperwhich tearsus topieces !Burn your books, ye moralizing philosophers! Whilst thehonor of a few shall make itan act of loyalty to butcher thousands of our fellow-creatures, the part of mankind devoted toheroismwill be themost execrable and destructivemonsters inall nature. Of what avail is humanity,benevolence, modesty,temperance,mildness, discretion,or piety,when half a poundof lead shattersmy body ; when I expire at the age of twentyin agonies unspeakable, and amidst thousands in the same miserable condition ;when my eyes, in their last opening, see mynative town all in a blaze, and the last sounds I hear are theshrift " ' " ns ofwomen and children expiring among the

: j's Essay on Peace andWar, No. 25.

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voltaire on war

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