by their own fault a considerable portion of the enjoyment of their lives. In this impatience and anxiety for their future comfort he would probably ask, again, if they had any notion of any generous end, for which they were born; for it is impossible they could suppose that they came into the world to destroy one another. It would be replied, that they could not be ignorant of the true object or end; for the same religion, in which they believed, and which was said before to have been given them by a Spirit sent from heaven, inculcated, that they were sent there on a life of trial, and that in a future existence they were to give an account of their conduct, and were to be rewarded or punished accordingly. The same religion, it would be replied also, inculcated, notwithstanding their fightings, the utmost benevolence from one towards another. It wished so much every one of them to live peaceably, that it enjoined it as a duty rather to put up with an injury than to resent it; and it carried its benevolence so far, that it made no distinction between others of the same species, who spoke a dif VOL. III. G a different language, or lived in other districts or parts of the same world. But here the Superior Being would interrupt. What! he would say, Are they not to resent injuries, and yet do they go to war? And are they not afraid of fighting in this manner, when they are to give an account of their conduct in a future state? It would be replied, No. They have their philosophers among them; and most of these have determined, that in this particular case responsibility lies at the door of those, who employ them. But, notwithstanding this, there are others living among them, who think otherwise. These are of opinion, that they, who employ them, cannot take the responsibility upon themselves without taking it from those, whom they thus employ. But the religion of the Great Spirit no where says, that any constituted authorities among them can take away the responsibility of individual creatures; but, on the other hand, in the most positive terms, that every individual creature is responsible wholly for himself. And this religion does not give any creature an exemp tion tion on account of any force, which may be used against him; because no one, according to its precepts, is to do evil, not even that good may come. But, if he be persecuted, he is to adhere to that which is right, and to expect his reward in the other state. The impossibility, therefore, of breaking or dissolving individual responsibility, in the case of immoral action, is an argument to many of the unlawfulness of these wars. And they, who reason in this manner, think they have reasoned right, when they consider, besides, that if any of the beings in question were to kill one of his usually reputed enemies in the time of peace, he would suffer death for it, and be considered as accountable also for his crime in a future state. They cannot see, therefore, how any constituted authorities among them can alter the nature of things, or how these beings can kill others in time of war without the imputation of a crime, whom they could not kill without such an imputation in time of peace. They see in the Book of the Great Spirit no dispensation given to societies to alter the nature of actions which it has pronounced to be crimes. But the Superior Being would say, Is it really defined, and is it defined clearly in the Great Book of the Spirit, that if one of them should kill another he is guilty of a crime? It would be replied,-not only of a crime, but of the greatest of all crimes; and that no dispensation is given to any of them to commit it in any case. And it would be observed, further, that there are other crimes, which these fightings generally include, which are equally specified and forbidden in the Great Book, but which they think it proper to sanction in the present case. Thus all kinds of treachery and deceit are considered to be allowable; for a very antient philosopher among them has left a maxim upon record, and it has not yet. been beaten out of their heads, notwithstanding the precepts of the Great Book, in nearly the following words: "Who thinks of requiring open courage of an enemy, or that treachery is not equally allowable in war* ?” Strange the Superior Being would reply. They seem to me to be reversing the order of their nature, and the end of their exist * Dolus an virtus quis in hoste requirat ? ence. ence. But how do they justify themselves on these occasions? It would be answered, -they not only justify themselves, but they even go so far as to call these fightings honourable. The greater the treachery, if it succeed, and the greater the number of these beings killed, the more glorious is the action esteemed. Still more strange the Superior Being would reply. And is it possible, he would add, that they enter into this profession with a belief that they are entering into an ho nourable employ? Some of them, it would be replied, consider it as a genteel employ; and hence they engage in it. Others, of a lazy disposition, prefer it to any other. Others are decoyed into it by treachery in various ways. There are also strong drinks which they are fond of; and if they are prevailed upon to take these to excess they lose their reason, and then they are obliged to submit to the engagements, which they had made in a state of intoxication. It must be owned, too, that when these wars begin, the trades of many of these little beings are stopped; so that, to get a temporary livelihood, they go out and fight. Nor must it be |