“When we speak of general war, we don't mean real progress on the road of freedom, the real, moral, and social advancement of man, achieved by force. This may be the intention, but how rarely is it the result of general war! We mean this:—That the face of nature is stained with human gore—we mean that taxation is increased and industry diminished—we know that it means that burdens unreasonable and untold are entailed on late posterity—we know that it means that demoralization is let loose, that families are broken up, that lusts become unbridled in every country to which that war is extended.”

—  William Ewart Gladstone

Speech at Manchester (12 October 1853), quoted in The Times (13 October 1853), p. 7.
1850s

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William Ewart Gladstone 121
British Liberal politician and prime minister of the United… 1809–1898

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