---
title: Improvement Era
description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930.
authors:
  - Nicholson, John
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - magazine
  - improvement-era
periodical: Improvement Era
volume: 1
number: 11
published: 1898-09
publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations
publisher_place: Salt Lake City
language: en
type: magazine
reference: 'John Nicholson, "The Present War and the Coming Struggle," *Improvement Era* 1, no. 11 (September 1898): 785–792.'
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera111unse
  transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers.
  identifier: improvementera111unse
start_page: 785
end_page: 792
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1898-09)
  source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera111unse
  publication_year: 1898
  note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1898, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright.
---

# The Present War and the Coming Struggle

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Vol. I. SEPTEMBER, 1898. No. n.
THE PRESENT WAR AND THE COMING
STRUGGLE.
BY ELDER JOHN NICHOLSON.
It is evident, to the writer, that the present war between
the United States and Spain is, from the standpoints of revelation and reason, but one of a series of like events that will
lead up to the most tremendous upheaval in history.
Without further preliminary, a quotation from a "Revelation on War," given through the Prophet Joseph Smith,
December 25th, 1832, is herewith introduced:
"Verily, thus saith the Lord, concerning the wars that will shortly
come to pass, beginning at the rebellion of South Carolina, which will
eventually terminate in the death and misery of many souls. The days
will come that war will be poured out upon all nations, beginning at that
place.
"For behold the Southern States shall be divided against the Northern
States, and the Southern States will call upon other nations, even the nation
of Great Britain, as it is called, and they also shall call upon other nations,
in order to defend themselves against other nations; and thus war shall be
poured out upon all nations."
The fulfilled portion of this prediction is (1) The opening of a series of wars, beginning at the "Rebellion of South
Carolina," which would bring the South and North into con-
57

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flict. (2) The South should call upon Great Britain for assistance against the North. (3) The present war is evidently
one of the series referred to in the revelation.
The facts of fulfillment are, that at Charleston, S. C, at
1:15 p. m., on December 20th, i860, a convention of that
state unanimously passed the following ordinance:
"An ordinance to dissolve the union between the State of South Carolina and other States united with her under the compact entitled 'The Constitution of the United States of America.'
"We, the people of the State of South Carolina, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain, and it is hereby declared and ordained,
"That the ordinance adopted by us on the 23rd of May, A. D. 1788,
whereby the Constitution of the United States of America was ratified, and
also all acts and parts of acts of the General Assembly of this State ratifying amendments of the said Constitution are hereby repealed, and the Union
now subsisting between South Carolina and other States, under the name
of 'The United States of America' is hereby dissolved "
On April 12th, 1861, the first shot of the Rebellion was
fired at Fort Sumter, South Carolina.
During the progress of the bloody struggle which
followed, Messrs Mason and Sliddell were commissioned
and sent by the Confederacy to the court of St. James, London, to solicit assistance for the South from Great Britain.
They sailed on the British ship Trent, from which they were
forcibly taken, as prisoners of war, by officers of the Federal
navy. They were held until released on demand of the British government, on the ground that the deck of a British
ship is as sacred and inviolable as the soil of that country.
The two special -messengers to Great Britain fulfilled their
trust, by making an application for assistance for the South,
but the request was declined.
A prophetic enunciation can have no stronger proof of
its correctness than is furnished by a detailed fulfillment.
The War of the Rebellion was caused by a division of
magnificent proportions, on the question of slavery. One
section of the country insisted that the hideous institution
should be maintained, while the other was equally pronounced
in favor of its abolition. Its existence was threatened and
the South attempted to withdraw from the constitutional contract in order to perpetuate it. Freedom triumphed, and

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THE PRESENT WAR AND THE COMING STRUGGLE. 787
slavery, the bane of the American Union, was wiped out of
existence forever.
If this elimination had not been, by the operation of
divine Providence, accomplished, the Republic would have
been, in the later development of human affairs, pointed at
by the nations as the most conspicuous instance of political
and social incongruity of all history. No government has a
just claim to be called free while a portion of its people is
subjected to the most abject condition of servitude and held
as personal property, like goods and chattels, and as the
beasts of the field.
Slavery could not endure under a system of free institutions. By parity of reasoning it is merely an extension of the
same principle to hold that despotic forms of government
and the free form, of which that of America is the most perfect, cannot become perpetual on the same planet.
The ideal popular system is here. An extensive conflict,
sooner or later, between the despotic and the free, is inevitable, and one or the other must succumb. The one is a
constant menace to the peace and existence of the other.
The trend of human progress is toward the popularization of
rule. The process of adjustment by the operation of eternal
justice, "which goeth its rounds and claimeth its own," is now
in conspicuous activity. A crisis in human affairs is approaching.
If it had not been for the War of the Rebellion and its
triumphant issue, this country could not have engaged in the
present war with Spain, for, however despicable might be the
Spanish rule in her colonies, she could not, in that regard,
sink below the subjecting of her colonial subjects to absolute
slavery. But the destiny of America—the center of human
liberty—is to be an example to all peoples of the beneficent
and progressive effects of free institutions. She can now,
purged from the taint of slavery, assume the proud prerogative of chief champion of the oppressed.
The present war with Spain is in line with our internecine
struggle of the sixties. It is for the uplifting of humanity.
Hence the unparalleled success of the arms of the United
States thus far, and the reasonableness of the deduction that

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it is but one of a series of disputes which will culminate in the
awful spectacle of a world in conflict.
Every inch of ground wrested from the grasp of despotism is an acquisition to the ranks of freemen, provided the
people can be readily educated upward to a point when they
can comprehend the benefits of popular government; hence
the United States should be slow to relinquish any possession
over which the American flag has been floated during the
present strife. The broad principle of liberalizing the world
ought never to be lost sight of in the settlement of international disputes. No egoistic upstart who professes to have
fought in the sacred interests of freedom should be permitted
to inaugurate a dictatorship. Such characters use the name
of liberty to enable them to leap into power at the first opportunity, and plant the heel of the oppressor upon the necks of
the people. When one tyrant is dethroned it is a crime to
permit him to be supplanted by another. Despotism wears
the same hideous aspect in an Aguinaldo as in the Spanish
dynasty. When the original despot is removed the people
should be shielded from ambitious interlopers, and educated
under a protectorate until their understanding is sufficiently
ripened to enable them to intelligently decide what shall be
their own political status, by plebiscite. Should their
decision be to enter our glorious Union, welcome them with
open arms, as in the case of the Sandwich Islands. Should
aspiring enemies of freedom forcibly interpose to prevent,
crush them, without hesitation.
Joseph Smith held and expressed, in his delineation of
the "powers and policy of the United States Government,"
the most lofty views concerning the mission of our country,
as will be seen by the subjoined sample:
"And when a neighboring realm petitioned to join the Union of the
sons of liberty, my voice would be, Come: yea come Texas; come Mexico;
come Canada; and come all the world—let us be brethren; let us be one
great family; and let there be universal peace. Abolish the cruel customs
of prisons (except certain cases), penitentiaries, and court-martials for
desertion; and let reason and friendship reign over the ruins of ignorance
and barbarity; yea, I would, as the universal friend of man, open the prisons; open the eyes, open the ears and open the hearts of all the people, to
behold and enjoy freedom, unadulterated freedom.

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THE PRESENT WAR AND THE COMING STRUGGLE. 789
It will now be appropriate to refer to the unfulfilled
portion of the first quotation embodied in this article. It is
to the effect that Great Britain shall reach a point in her career
when she will be under the necessity of calling for assistance
to aid in her defense against other nations; ' 'and thus war will be
poured out upon all nations."
The initial point of the wars which were to culminate in
a universal struggle was, as heretofore shown, the "Rebellion
of South Carolina." A war of the same genius is now in
progress between the United States and a foreign nation.
The former conflict cleansed the interior of America's own
social and political platter, and thus prepared her to undertake the enforcement of the same elevating principle beyond
her own domain. She now assumes the role of an externally
aggressive force and insists upon the establishment and
adoption of institutions in harmony with her own, outside of
herself, albeit still on this continent.
If this line of policy be her duty and she is in the right,
as claimed, from a humanitarian standpoint, where, in this
respect does her obligation end? Humanitarian ground is
common, and therefore cannot be confined to the little island
of Cuba. The applicability of the principle is world-wide.
Its exponents and devotees are necessarily aggressive.
America having gone outside of herself in this respect, she
has taken an advanced step toward the liberation of the
world. The time must come when the flag of freedom will
float over the earth, if the nations have to be smashed in the
process of attainment of that glorious object.
In the nature of things the two extremes of government
must drift apart sentimentally and actually and then drift toward each other in conflict. Each division has one absorbing
interest opposed to the other—the extension and perpetuation of the species of government peculiar to itself. Hence
when public journals speak of the friendly attitude and sentiment of Russia, Austria or Germany toward our nation or toward Great Britain, they are egregiously mistaken. There
can be no genuine international friendship where no affinity
of system exists. The one class must wish that the other
were wiped out. Certainly this must be the American senti<!-- page:790 -->ment, because every patriot of cosmopolitan quality must be
imbued with the humanitarian wish to see despotism dethroned and humanity disenthralled.
Every foot of ground lost to tyranny must be a source of
regret and anxiety to every despotic government. It is not
improbable that this truth may find some degree of illustration before the full conclusion of peace is reached between
America and Spain.
A separation between the free and the despotic among
the nations has begun already. It was conspicuously prominent some time previous to, during, and ever since the late
Greco-Turkish war, in the complete isolation, by the other
great European powers, of Great Britain. The latter anticipates, with a sentiment of unqualified certainty, that the time
will come when she will be confronted by her most momentous dilemma. This is, that she will have to choose between going down without fighting or run the chances of
maintaining her prestige by fighting, almost single handed—
unless America shall find it to her advantage to join issues
with her—the combined forces of Europe. In her hour of
peril she will surely look in some direction for help against
the frightful odds pitted against her, and thus verify the unfulfilled portion of the quotation which appears in the introductory part of this article.
But even should she have to meet the gigantic issue alone,
that mighty mother of nations will not falter in making her
choice between heroic resistance and ignoble surrender.
Should she go down under an overwhelming force of numbers
the descent would be characterized by one of the most determined and sublime struggles of the ages. Should her
overthrow be consummated it would be a black day for the
race, and the United States particularly would lose her only
international friend. But surely it cannot be, in the coming
upheaval among the powers of the earth, that tyranny shall
triumph and freedom be trodden in the dust.
The God of nations has said, "Behold, I, the Lord, delight in the freedom of all peoples," and liberty is essential
to the spread of the Gospel of His Kingdom, which must be
carried to every nation, kindred, tongue and people on the

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THE PRESENT WAR AND THE COMING STRUGGLE. 791
earth. Despotic governments are barriers to the spread of
this divine message. Iron-handed rulers admit no religious
innovations into their empires, and the slightly more moderate
among them place harassing restrictions around their subjects
which hinder the dissemination of religious truth. Before
the divine proclamation can become world-wide, these
obstacles must be removed, and the spread of liberty, by the
dethroning of tyranny, is the logical process for clearing the
earth of such obstructions. Despotism is the foe of human
development. The masses which have lived under it for
centuries have made comparatively little progress, while the
civilizing power of liberty finds its most wonderful exemplification in the youngest of all the great empires—the United States.
The war of freedom, already inaugurated, will accomplish
a great purpose, but will finally degenerate into a war of desperation, the providential result of which will be the survival of
the fittest, by the process of elimination. This final struggle will
be accompanied by destructive elemental disturbances. Man
is under God, the head of this creation. When he is in conflict with himself, on an extensive scale, a sympathetic agitation in his environments occurs. These conditions will
prepare the way for the real dawn of freedom, correct understanding and righteousness. There are immense masses of
humanity sunk so low in the moral scale, that they cannot be
reached and uplifted, in mortality, by any moral or educational
force. Removal is the only process by which the earth can
be cleansed from the accumulated moral filth of centuries.
Divine Providence will provide the remedy, for the earth must
sometime wheel into line with the laws of the universe, and
be purified and pacificated.
When the prophets spoke of the tremendous events of
the latter-days, they must have foreseen the conditions that
would make the fulfillment of their utterances possible. This
includes both ancient and modern prophetic statements. The
verifications of their delineations of the future could not have
occurred in any age preceding the present. While the
nations were segregated by time and distance, there could not
be a universality of war, or unlimited commotions among the
hosts of men. Now, however, the nations are virtually one

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family. Their quarrels are the disputes of a world. Time
and distance are practically annihilated. We live in an age
when not only can rumors of war be floated over the globe in
the "twinkling of an eye," but gigantic struggles, involving
humanity as a whole, could be precipitated with marvelous
speed and spontaneity. The whole situation is a startling
proof of the fact that God, in this and other ages, has spoken
to humanity through mediums of his own choosing, according to
the law of adaptation. The present unparalleled situation could
not have been grasped by uninspired man, either in the remote
ages of the ancient seers or in the earlier part of the present
century, when Joseph Smith gave it a perspicuous delineation.
The sum of the present and approaching situation, as
viewed by the writer, is that a series of events of great moment had its initiative in the War of the Rebellion, and that
the current conflict, of the same humanitarian character, is
but one more picture of the great panorama, to be followed
at intervals by others, of widening magnitude, until the
climax of a world involved in war shall be reached. In
the coming struggle the natural antagonism of opposite
forms of government will figure extensively. But the closing
scene of the greatest and most terrible drama of modern history will be a war of desperation, accompanied by destructive turbulence of the elements, to be economized by the
Almighty in cleansing the earth, by elimination. The subject
has been the theme of the prophets of all times. In no other
age than this could their enunciations of the facts of future
history have been fulfilled. The present and future are pregnant with events of tremendous importance. The prospect
is, in some respects, forbidding, but it is illuminated by a
promise that, in the remoter distance, there shall be a fulfillment of the greatest and best of human anticipations. After
the darkness of the dismal night, the day of righteousness
will break upon the world; the vision of the prophet and
dream of the poet will become a reality, and "every man in
every place, shall meet a brother and a friend."
NOTE:—As the war with Spain is liable to terminate before this number of the Era reaches the public, it appears necessary to state that the
writing of the foregoing article was concluded on July 26th.—The Author,