"I have been told so very frequently; but that is not to the point. I
ask what difference it would make whether the North or South
should succeed."

"Then why go to war? Why not let the South, secede peaceably? What are
we doing here?"

"Indeed, Jones, you may well ask such questions. War is always wrong;
going to war is necessarily a phase of a shortsighted policy; every
wrong act is, of course, an unwise act."

"Even when war is forced upon us?"

"War cannot be forced upon you; it takes two nations to make war; if one
refuses, the other cannot make war."

"I have known, for a long time, Doctor, that you are opposed to war on
the whole; but what was left for the North to do? Acknowledge the right
of secession? Submit to insult? Submit to the loss of all Federal
property in the Southern States? Tamely endure without resentment the
attack on Sumter?"

"Yes, endure everything rather than commit a worse crime than that you
resist."

Here Lydia, reappeared, charming in a simple white dress without
ornament. "Good-by, Father," she said; "Mr. Berwick, I must bid you
good night."

"Yes, you are on duty to-night," said her father. "Jones, you must know