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CHAPTER XXVI.
SOME CONSIDERATIONS ON WAR IN DEMOCRATIC COMMUNITIES.
When the principle of equality is in growth, not only among a
single nation, but among several neighbouring nations at the same
time, as is now the case in Europe, the inhabitants of these different
countries, notwithstanding the dissimilarity of language, of customs,
and of laws, nevertheless resemble each other in their equal dread
of war and their common love of peace.[1] It is in vain that
ambition or anger puts arms in the hands of princes; they are
appeased in spite of themselves by a species of general apathy and
good-will, which makes the sword drop from their grasp, and wars
become more rare.
As the spread of equality, taking place in several countries at once, simultaneously impels their various inhabitants to follow manufactures and commerce, not only do their tastes grow alike but their interests are so mixed and entangled with one another, that no nation can inflict evils on other nations without those evils falling back upon itself; and all nations ultimately regard war as a calamity, almost as severe to the conqueror as to the conquered.
Thus, on the one hand, it is extremely difficult in democratic ages to draw nations into hostilities; but, on the other hand, it is almost impossible that any two of them should go to war without embroiling the rest. The interests of all are so interlaced, their opinions and their wants so much alike, that none can remain quiet
- ↑ It is scarcely necessary for me to observe that the dread of war displayed by the nations of Europe is not solely attributable to the progress made by the principle of equality among them; independently of this permanent cause several other accidental causes of great weight might be pointed out, and I may mention before all the rest the extreme lassitude which the wars of the Revolution and the Empire have left behind them.
