Without bravado, but also without the slightest trace of compunction or repentance, Rawlins related to me his personal experiences of the late campaign; these disclosures were mostly of a nature too atrocious to be repeated here, but two of them may well be

upon a not uninfluential class of people, who, themselves staying at home at ease, are eager to cry "War, war," at every opportunity, in total ignorance (I hope) of what war really is.

I have seen officers standing with revolvers to defend Hindu women and children from the bayonets of our own men. It is a foolish and wicked error to represent war as being carried on in a humane and civilized fashion, although certain courtesies are sometimes connected with it, which affect (almost mentioned as likely to make some impression solely) the chiefs on both sides. I am no mealy-mouthed member of the Peace Society-not I: but War is of the Devil; and almost every man while actually engaged in battle becomes pro tem. a fiend. I began this paper with the end of it in my mind, when I ventured to say that cruel men are sometimes brave men. One quarter, at least, of the patients that I have had under my care in the field were either naturally cruel, or had been rendered so-had been brutalized, that is, by the scenes through which they had passed: but not one of these was a coward.

man.

Upon one occasion, a number of Sepoys were condemned to be shot after an engagement, and a corporal and several men, among whom was Rawlins, were intrusted with this duty in the absence of a commissioned officer. There had been a dispute between Rawlins and the corporal as to how many men a bullet from a minié rifle could be made to pierce, so they tied these wretched prisoners close to one another, each behind each, and fired at the foremost man. bullet was found to pass through five men and wound a sixth, whereupon the sixth man took the foremost place in the next file, and the butchery proceeded.

The

The bravest man, physically speaking, who ever came under my care was John Rawlins. His audacity was conspicuous in almost every engagement, and it is not easy for a common soldier to make himself conspicuous in battle-unless, indeed, by running away. He would have been signally Later in the campaign, it was decided promoted more than once if his character (wisely, as I think) that for certain reasons could have permitted it, but his habits were connected with their superstition, condemned very insubordinate, and he got drunk when- sepoys should be blown from guns. A cerever he had the chance of doing so. He tain number having been again committed would have gone into a burning house, with to the tender mercies of another non-coma powder-magazine beneath it, for the cer- missioned officer of ours, and some men, tainty of obtaining a bottle of whiskey. He among whom again was my terrible patient, had absolutely no fear, neither of God nor the execution proceeded thus. The victims After passing scathless through the were placed with their faces towards the whole of the Rebellion, Rawlins was fatally guns, so that they might not be spared the wounded in a chance skirmish with some spectacle of the preparations for their own wandering Pandies after the relief of Luck- destruction, and when they shut their eyes now. His hurt was of such a nature that to avoid this, the guns were snapped, again there was no more hope of his life than if and again, so that each might endure the his head had been shot away, but he lived torture of half a dozen deaths before he acjust eight-and-forty hours afterwards. He tually met with death itself. was perfectly aware of his approaching end, and regretted it mainly because it would prevent him from killing more Pandies. From this man-truthful, because shameless -I learned more of the realities of war than I, as an officer, could by any possibility have seen with my own eyes. It is when Authority is out of sight that the most terrible incidents of warfare take place-those acts which earn for a dominant race the hatred of unborn generations.

Of the truth of these two dreadful incidents, I have no doubt whatever; and not less firmly do I believe that in all wars similar abominable acts are not only frequent, but common. Many men who would shudder at the very mention of such deeds, are only too eager to let slip the blood-hounds who act thus, and sometimes upon slight provocation. May these few pages, torn from the blood-stained book of war itself, give such persons pause. Their ignorant

voices may otherwise some day assist to | sented me with a very handsome jewel-casproduce that worst, because most gigantic, ket (with nothing in it, however), which had of all crimes, an unnecessary war. Sol-formed a part of his "loot" at Lucknow. diering-nay,-even victory itself is not all feathers and fanfaronade, my safely bellicose friends; though, as I have before observed, I am myself by no means a member of the Quaker body, nor at all likely to become so. The end of Rawlins was excessively characteristic. In his last moments, he expressed himself obliged to me for such care as I had been able to bestow upon him, and pre-certain limited sense-as Nelson.

"I got it out of the Kaiserbagh, sir," said he, "and a great deal of botheration it gave me. I had to kill three Sikhs first, who were exceedingly obstinate in giving it up." Now, if Mr. John Rawlins treated his allies in that manner, we need not wonder that he was not given to spare his enemies. And yet he was, without doubt, as brave-in a

MUSCULAR FORCE.-Physiologists are continually called upon to contemplate the most perfect adaptation of means to ends-a contemplation which, in its very nature, is a pleasure to every well-constituted mind. Works of art viewed with this idea lie open to criticism, for there is nothing like absolute perfection in art. In nature everywhere-how conspicuously is this set forth in every motion of our bodies. Locomotives and the other great engines of our age, calculating-machines, and other curiosities, excite our wonderment and surprise, and these muscular actions only do not because so familiar. Were they otherwise, we should hesitate to believe the power with which they act. The weight which a strong man will raise is enormous. With muscles weighing only a pound or two, and acting at a disadvantage, he will raise a weight of 300 lbs., and some even have lifted 800 lbs. Surgeons know that by muscles bones have been torn. But such efforts are only transient. There are others going on without our consciousness equally wonderful. In the ordinary act of respiration there is a resistance to be overcome equal to 100 lbs., and if we add 100 lbs. more for the action of the lungs at every respiration, the muscles have to move 200 lbs., and this from fifteen to twenty times a minute.'

From calculations founded upon the height to which a column of mercury can be raised, it appears that the muscles of a strong man, at the close of a very deep inspiration, must be capable of exerting a force equal to at least 1,000 lbs. Of sustained voluntary action a bird on the wing is a striking example. Consider the muscular force employed upon the outstretched wings, and yet for hour after hour, without cessation, Gould tells us he has pursued, for the chance of a shot, the Australian swallow, which is never seen to rest. Our own swift seems to sustain its flight all day long. For hours it never perches; for hours it is in the air, and proof against fatigue. The velocity with which the muscles will continue to act is astonishing. The fibres of the heart, when rapidly acting, in 1-7th of a second. Some 1,500 letters can be spoken by the voice in a minute, which gives for each contraction of the muscles of the tongue, etc., the

1-50th of a second. But such velocities hardly prepare us for what takes place in some insectsThe hum of the gnat varies with the rapidity of the vibrations of its wings, and we can tell their rate from the pitch of the note. When in an excited state the muscles of its wings must make their movements many hundred times in a second.

There is evidence conclusive of rapid motion in every word we utter; in every touch of the pen. I pause, ," the lecturer added, "on the threshold of these wonders. How these actions are combined, how they work towards a common end and the co-ordination of their effects, are not yet widely known, but I would try to teach them everywhere; -to cultivate the mind through the influence of the noblest truths."-London Review.

From The Spectator.
CIVILIZATION ARMED.

the Baltic forever, though her sixty millions of enemies were fretting for the attack. Armies of a million become comparatively useless, for no wealth can supply armies of a million with adequate artillery, and without it an inferior force is equally strong, and a great deal less difficult to move. Civilization has still many dangers to encounter, but a new Tamerlane is erased from the list. Peter the Great advised that when the hour struck, and Russia was master of Germany, a million of Tartars should be transported

THE scientific result of the new discoveries in warfare is still extremely uncertain. No man probably yet knows whether the means of attack will ultimately beat the means of defence, or whether new plates may not be discovered capable of resisting the new guns, whether steam rams may not supersede every form of artillery, or a new submarine shell reduce iron and wood once more to their ancient equality, by involving both in the same certainty of destruction. in boats and let loose on Western Europe. But the political results of all this progress seem to all observers beyond the reach of debate. Everything that is strong has been strengthened to a tenfold degree, and the fact includes at least three important changes in the course of human affairs:

Two iron-clad gunboats and ten thousand riflemen would now account for them all.

But

2. Popular movements must change their character, and the peoples adopt new means of resistence, for governments are growing inconceivably strong. None but an organ1. The military power of barbarism has ized government can employ or even confinally ceased to exist. Barbarians cannot struct the indispensable engines of war. make Armstrong guns or build iron-plated Garibaldi might purchase a steamer and cupolaed ships, or construct fortifications man her with followers whose courage made which can resist for a day the assaults of sci- her as formidable as a regular ship of war. ence and money. Human life, the only re- But what will courage avail against an ironsource of which barbarians can afford to be clad cupola ship? It will not stop a steamprodigal, would be wasted in vain against ram, or keep heroes from drowning when she batteries which can destroy men in masses. has struck them, and boarding is henceforth All the hordes of the desert could not ride impossible. Even despair could not face the down two British regiments, flanked by shower of steam two escape pipes would enArmstrong field batteries, or protected by able the Monitor to pour suddenly over her such a fire as the Warrior could maintain. decks. On land the disparity is equally Europeans may play with the empires of great. A people may obtain rifles, or forge Asia, for they can advance on them in irre- bayonets, or in some cases buy cannon. sistible strength, without dragging along only a government can provide shells which also irresistible numbers. Ten thousand cost £5 apiece, and cannon which demand English or French men, separately trained, armed with the Enfield or Whitworth rifle, supported by Armstrong batteries, and with the sea kept open by iron fleets, might traverse Asia from end to end without resistance fighting population can be, but what can except from the climate, or delay except from the commissariat. The vast horde whom Mr. Prinsep believes a Mongolian chief is collecting for the invasion of India could not stand against a picked regiment, or retreat in safety from shells which do execution three miles from the battery which discharges them. As a consequence, wealth of men has ceased to be a proportionate but separate armies at one and the same source of power. Russia could not defeat Sweden unless equally well armed, and equal armaments will depend upon revenue, and not population. If Sweden were richer or more lavish than Russia she might defend

separate mills and elaborate processes to enable them to bear the charge. Yet without these battle will soon be a waste of life. The Magyars are as brave as a

fifty thousand Magyars do against even half their number of Austrians equipped with artillery which destroys them before they can reach the guns? The peoples, like the barbarians, have only numbers, and the power of numbers is at an end. Its only utility now is to enable the government to strike many points at once, to move many small

hour. If the soldiers obey, slavery, as far as armed resistance is concerned, may become perpetual, and Europe fall once more under a military caste. It was gunpowder which introduced freedom, but the govern

ments can now clothe themselves with an ultimate check on taxes voted from year to armor to which that of the knights was year. When they are appealed to for money, weak, an armor which rays out death, and the power of controlling all these new and keeps its owners as safe within its range as tremendous weapons passes to their own the magicians of ancient legend within their hands, and they will stand once again the enchanted halls. We might almost despair equals of regular governments. Their first of freedom, but that, fortunately for man- necessity now is to make the revenue theirs, kind, the invention brings its own cure. to vote nothing except year by year, to buy The new artillery doubles the military effect their freedom with money, as Englishmen of passive resistance. Every invention in- have purchased it, and leave to the wouldcreases the necessity for a vast revenue, and be despot only weapons he cannot keep up, a vast revenue cannot be raised without the soldiery who, without those weapons, are consent of the payers. They have only to re- powerless, and frontiers which, without fuse the taxes, and government falls to pieces. money, he cannot hope to defend. Already The dues can be levied, of course, under finance is the difficulty of despotisms. excessive penalties, but governments need Henceforward it may be its impossibility. more than this. The dues must be levied What can a Czar do when over a continent cheaply, and military collection costs more the people refuse to drink the liquor which than it ever yields. Except as a punitive alone supplies him the means of keeping his measure, collection by soldiers is only soldiers together? schoolboy finance. The dues, too, cannot 3. Lastly, the existence of all small powrise to their required level without order, ers has become more difficult and precarious. and excessive oppression destroys order in Up to the last few years the minor power its commercial sense as completely as con- had always one tremendous resource. If the quest. Ferdinand of Bourbon, till Gari- people desired independence the sovereign baldi took his first-class ticket, was really could rely on a levy en masse, and no invadmaster of Naples. He could have doomed ing army can equal a population in number. any individual Neapolitan to the torture Bavaria or Belgium, Portugal or Piedmont, without a chance of resistance. But, had could, under the levée en masse, meet their he required the resources which would con- invaders in equal strength, with equal arms, struct an iron-clad fleet, he would have been and with a courage exalted at once by patrias powerless as any American president. otism and despair. Prussia did meet NapoThe country, with all its energies repressed, leon just in that way. But the use of the could not have found the money; and had levée en masse is rapidly passing away with he staked all on one throw, and confiscated the use of numbers, Charging en masse on all movable capital, its collection would have Rodman guns will be barbarously useless cost all the proceeds of that impossible work. If Belgium cannot keep up the artiledict. An Armstrong shell will not reveal lery necessary to meet the artillery of the buried coin. The peoples retain the power French Empire she might almost as well of the purse, and the power of the purse is disarm. That particular state rich, patriotic, doubled as well as that of the armies. and ready to bear taxation, in full accord Kings cannot make war to-day on the prin- with its government, and supported by ciples of Frederick the Great or of the strong allies, probably could maintain the French Convention, for "with bread and necessary appliances, but a poor state could iron" you can not any longer get to China. not. Canada, for example, separated from You will be stopped by the first republic England, would not have a chance. She which can use shells costing five pounds could meet the United States with an army apiece. Freedom, therefore, has lost noth- as brave and perhaps as numerous as her ing, but its tactics must soon be changed. own, but it would be only to throw away It is useless to introduce arms into Poland, life. America, unchecked by England, or store up powder in Central Russia. The would fill the lakes with iron gunboats, and popular leaders must look to the revenue, send a Monitor up the St. Lawrence, pour organize fiscal resistance, inculcate absti- endless batteries into West Canada, and renence from taxable articles, suspend trade main victorious by the mere power of money. when force is employed, and rely for their | Valor would not prevent the Monitor from