Page:The Prime Minister by Hall Caine.djvu/30

6  Yes, reprisals, reprisals, reprisals!  Frightful! If war comes now it will be the most awful tragedy the world has ever witnessed.  Twenty millions of dead—that's the least we can look for.  More—far more! Think of the development of physical force during the years of peace.  Yes, nobody can say what the consequences of war will be now. All past records are useless.  Utterly useless! Whole continents may be wiped out in a year, a month, nay, a week for all we know.  Yes, yes! Man has made his Frankenstein, and now God knows if it will not destroy him.  [Who has been listening in silence.] Gentlemen, let us not lose our strength in sentimentality. War is always terrible, and it may be even more terrible in the future than it has ever been in the past. But are we to buy the temporary ease and safety of our bodies at the lasting peril of our souls? In this age