fellow-creatures, but for
the prevention of that bullying and bloodshed which would be ever going
on in this world, were it not for those who train themselves in order
to be able to stop it. The Taiping rebellion, which caused the death of
millions of innocent creatures, is but a specimen of what might go on
throughout the world did not skilful, well-trained soldiers throw in
their lot with the side of law and order. Had the Chinese Government
only possessed an able general, and a proper army, that rebellion would
never have made such headway as it did. And had they not received the
services of such an able soldier as Gordon proved to be, the rebellion
might have been indefinitely prolonged, and might have broken up the
Empire of China.

In less civilised days the percentage of persons who loved fighting for
its own sake was undoubtedly larger than it is now. The more civilised
we become, the more we learn to value peace and to dislike war. But
even in a civilised nation like the English, there is a certain
percentage who really love fighting for its own sake; and besides
these, there are many who do not actually love it, but think they ought
to do so, as they are in the army, and so they cultivate a style of
talking as if they really liked it, and thus they mislead others. In
the case of Gordon there was an entire absence of either the one or the
other spirit. He did not love fighting for its own sake, and he would
probably have looked upon a person who did as a survival of a former
age. As for the latter class he had an utter abhorrence of all shams,
and he took every opportunity of speaking out of the honesty of his
heart. "People have little idea how far from 'glorious' war is. It is
organised murder, pillage, and cruelty, and it is seldom that the
weight falls on the fighting men--it is on the women, children, and old
people. Consider it how we may, war is a brutal, cruel affair."
Speaking of some of his men killed and wounded in a skirmish, he says,
"I wish people could see what the suffering of human creatures is--I
mean those who wish for war. I am a fool, I daresay, but I cannot see
the sufferings of any of these people without tears in my eyes."

It is worthy of note that some of the ablest generals who have lived
and died in the latter half of this century have held similar views.
The great Duke of Wellington remarked, as he crossed the field of
Waterloo, the evening after the battle, that "nothing exceeds t