On being informed of the death of his son, Harry Percy, Northumberland goes into a frenzy, vowing to unleash terrible rage upon the perpetrators. He says:
But let one spirit of the first-born Cain
Reign in all bosoms, that, each heart being set
On bloody courses, the rude scene may end,
And darkness be the burier of the dead.
—WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Henry IV, PART 2, ACT 1, SCENE 1
THE GOLDEN AGE
Not for national or personal aggrandizement are we to combine—far be it from us! But we need the invincible strength of union for righteousness and peace, the sheltering power under which no man need suffer wrong and the resources of great Empires may be developed for the good for all….
The energy, the inventive genius, the self sacrifice and wealth of the world can surely be set to a better task than by perfecting the engines of war by which to crush out in agony our brother man? For war is no abstract term—it is the bloody holocaust of thousands of brave men…and the bitter heartbreak of more thousands of desolate women….
And yet it can only be “By Mutual Consent.” Peace and goodwill must be no veneer, but right through the heart of the nations and their rulers, before strong defence can be abandoned as a slur on the good friends and neighbours of any land.
—S.J.C., England’s Welcome
(ON THE CORONATION OF GEORGE V)