The Peril of the Republic of the United States of America - Percy T. Magan

or of the honor of the flag, or of national glory. In a
democracy acting through universal suffrage, and
being the government of public opinion informed
and inspired by discussion, every influence is
unhealthy that prevents men from calm reasoning.
And nothing is more calculated to do that than
martial excitements which stir the blood. We are
told that war will lift up people to a higher and
nobler patriotic devotion, inspire them with a spirit
of heroic self-sacrifice, and bring their finest
impulses and qualities into action, This it will, in a
large measure, if the people feel that the war is a
necessary or a just one. But even then its effects
upon the political as well as the moral sense are
confusing. When the fortunes of war are
unfavorable, almost everything that can restore
them will be called legitimate, whether it be in
harmony with sound principles or not. When the
fortunes of war are favorable, the glory of victory
goes far to justify, or at least to excuse, whatever
may have been done to achieve that victory, or
whatever may be done to secure or increase its
fruits.
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