On the record
If blood must be shed, better for a year than for an age.
Source
gutenberg.orgEditor's note · Context
Sumner suggests that if violence is necessary, it is better to confront it quickly rather than prolong suffering.
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It is true, doubtless, that there are various races of men; but there is but one great Human Family, in which Caucasian, Ethiopian, Chinese, and Indian are all brothers, children of one Father, and heirs to one happiness.
But so long as War exists as an Institution this terrible inconsistency must appear.
As the Brotherhood of Man is practically recognized, it becomes impossible to restrict the feeling within any exclusive circle of country, and to set up an unchristian distinction of honor between civil war and international war.
Again I repeat, so long as the War System prevails under the sanction of International Law, these painful incongruities will be apparent.
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