50 OPINION OF ERASMUS On these grounds it may be concluded, in the words of the Thirty-seventh Article of the Church of England, that "it is lawful for Christian men, at the commandment of the magistrate, to wear weapons and serve in the the lawfulness of defensive war is admitted. "Miles. Fas est occidere hostem, Carthusianus. Fortassis est, si impetat Patriam tuam. Tum pium videri potest pugnare pro liberis et uxore, pro parentibus et amicis, pro aris et focis, pro tranquillitate publica."-Familiaria Colloquia Des. Erasmi. In his dedication of his paraphrase on St. Mark's Gospel to King Francis the 1st, he states, that while wars are not to be undertaken rashly and unjustly, he would not "shake the sword from the hands of princes;" that a good prince may sometimes find it necessary to go to war; "that the Saviour took the sword from Peter, but not from princes;" that "the sword is not taken away from them, but its use is prescribed, being committed to them in order to guard the public tranquillity, not to gratify their ambition." "Non hæc dico, Rex Christianissime, quo principibus gladium è manibus excutiam. Est fortasse boni Principis aliquando bellum gerere, sed tum denique postea quam omnibus frustra tentatis huc adigit extrema necessitas. Dominus Jesus Petro gladium ademit, Principibus non ademit.-Habent Reges gladium suum ab Eodem permissum, ad terrendos malos et honorandos bonos. Non ademptus est Gladius, sed præscriptus est usus: habent ad publicæ tranquillitatis defensionem, non ad ambitionis præsidium.—Epistolarum Liber xxix.-See also Appendix No. 1. AS TO DEFENSIVE WAR. 51 wars. Hence also it may be inferred that a defensive war against unlawful invasion is justifiable. On the same principle, nations, in friendly alliance with each other, may lawfully combine against a common enemy, in a just cause, for their mutual protection, and may carry the war into the territory of their assailant. 52 DEFENSIVE WAR OF ALLIES 66 CHAPTER II. ...... It was great pity, so it was, That villanous saltpetre should be digg'd Out of the bowels of the harmless earth, Which many a good tall fellow had destroy'd If the general war between the allied powers of Europe and Napoleon can be vindicated as lawful and necessary, it must be on the principle stated at the close of the first chapter. The ambitious career of their unscrupulous and powerful adversary, was worthy of all condemnation. After he had established a military despotism in France, exercising the power, with the title of Emperor, having issued those paradoxical coins with "La République Française" on the one side and Napoléon Empereur," on the other; he compelled our ally, the King of Portugal, to retire from Lisbon to the Brazils, and placed the crown of Spain on the head of his brother, Joseph Buonaparte. In a series of campaigns Lord Wellington, commanding with consummate skill his highly disciplined and valiant army, defeated the French generals and AGAINST THE FRENCH. 53 their numerous forces in every battle. With the powerful aid, and animating example of the British, the Portuguese and Spaniards often fought bravely in Guerilla warfare, in the heroic defence of Zaragoza and other towns, and in general actions. Napoleon, leaving the Peninsular campaign to some of his most distinguished generals, led an immense force into Russia on that murderous expedition which proved the term of his victories. England, which had formerly withstood him alone, when by treaty or conquest he had combined nearly all other civilized nations in a hostile league for the destruction of her commerce, and her extinction as a great kingdom, had achieved the deliverance of Portugal and Spain; Lord Wellington then crossed the Pyrenees, and pursued Marshal Soult into France. As Napoleon approached, the Russians retreated. They paused to fight a terrific battle at Borodino, in which forty thousand of the French, and a greater number of their own soldiers were slain. The Russians claimed a victory, but retired towards Moscow. That great city was forsaken by its inhabitants, and 54 DEFENCE OF RUSSIANS wrapped in flames. Napoleon, for a brief space, remained in the palace of the Czars, amid burning ruins. The cruelty of the invaders, and the determined resistance of the Russians, spread desolation and horrors along the line of march, and the French soldiers, who had been promised repose and plunder at Moscow, found there a conflagration. After vainly boasting that he would revisit Russia, and destroy St. Petersburg, the imperial despot returned towards France. The Russian armies followed in the rear of the several divisions of the French army, whose retreat was a succession of defeats, in which multitudes were destroyed by the sword, and the rigours of a northern winter. Napoleon caused a bridge to be thrown over the Beresina, to escape the pursuit of General Witgenstein. He had scarcely passed the river with his guard, when that general fired on the French who were preparing to follow their Emperor. An order was given to blow up the bridge; the miserable soldiers uttered a shout of despair, numbers perished in the icy stream, five thousand were killed, and thirteen thousand taken prisoners, with their artillery, and nearly all the |