Its soldiers are obliged to protect the hearthstones, the property, the families, the independence and liberty of their native land.

At such a time war assumes a character of sanctity and grandeur.

The flag, blessed by the ministers of the God of Peace, represents all that is sacred on earth; the people rally to it as the living image of their country and their honor; the warlike virtues are exalted above all others.

When the danger is over, the opinion remains, and by a natural reaction of that spirit of vengeance which confounds itself with patriotism, they love to bear the cherished flag from capital to capital.

It seems that nature has thus prepared the punishment of the aggressor.
It is the fear of this punishment, and not the progress of philosophy, which keeps arms in the arsenals, for it cannot be denied that those people who are most advanced in civilization make war, and bother themselves very little with justice when they have no reprisals to fear.
Witness the Himalayas, the Atlas, and the Caucasus.
If religion has been impotent, if philosophy is powerless, how is war to cease?
Political economy demonstrates that even if the victors alone are considered, war is always begun in the interest of the few, and at the expense of the many.