Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1854-04-28
From the London Time Of April fh
DURATION OF THE WAR.

DURATION OF THE WAR.
Let our younger read, rs carefully
note the visible signs and prepara-
tons for war Let them enter in
their diaries the regiments they saw
en- route for the East, the day they
babe good bye TO the uncle or brother
they were never to see again, when
they first heard of the Cars bluff
answer to our summons. the Queens
Message to Parliament, the addresses
in reply, and il they Glanced to wit
ness IT, the procession yesterday to
the Palace to present those addresses !;
nor can we omit the first Sunday
when they heard the prayer for time
OF war used in our churches. Let
them store these things in their mem
Dries, and ponder over them, for,
though it may be only few years,
in all human probability il will be
many, before they will see the end
of which this is the beginning Six
ty years ago, with great ardor and
temerily, we rushed into war with "a
people whom we had learned TO hate
and despise, standing at that time
alone among nations, beaten by US
out of their colonies and Dependent
cles, pent up within mountains and
seas, and under the perpetual surveil-
lance OF our fleets. Nevertheless,
that war, so begun, with so much en-
thusiasm, and with such confidence
ofrght on our part that hardly pull
pit but what sounded the alarm, last
ed near quarter of century, filling
Europe with disaster and convulslng
the whole habitabe world. We
have now to deal with continent
rather than State, and with large
section of the human race rather
than people. With our own num-
bers more than ever finite, aud with
materials. labor, and man himself
yearly more appreciated, we contend
with cheap and ineshans,ble mul
lilude. We wage war with Gov
eminent whose domestic system is
despolism and whose foreign policy
is conquest. In the former it has re-
fused 10 improve in the latter il has
scarcely known check. Sixty
years ago il was imagined that the
indignation and the sel6shness of all
Europe would concentrate all her ar
mics against devoted France, the one
common foe. Now there a,e thou
sands of miles Of frontier and an I'M
approachabIe and unknown interior
to be attacked. Our foe contains
within her bosom the seed-ploI of ma
tons, and still harbors the originals
of the very tribes that used TO menace
and conquer the civilized world
When some one observed the other
day that it had been long foreseen
that it must come 10 this, and that
we were only accepting task that
otherwise would have fallen on our
successors and proved above their
strength, that implies not merely the
greatness of the efforts required of
us, but The length of time during
which they will probably have to be
sustained. A few great blows, aided
by fortune, and by some return to
sanity in the councils of Russia, may
perhaps bring the war to an early de-
minalion. That is no uncommon
resolution of the difficulties which
despotic violence is apt TO bring on
the world. But il cannot be DISCUS
ed that the yasiness of the Powers
involved in the present war, the
depth Of the causes which have pro-
voked il, and the importance of the
principles at issue, all poriend con
test as long and as changefu as any
that have darkened the annals of the
world.
As usual, and as seems to be the
fate Of this country. ours will be not
SO much the painful endurance, as
The costly maintenance Of active
hostilltIes. We take a public and
active part in the affairs of the world
At large, and we hold il our vocation
10 do SO. Relying on our power and
Dur comparative immunity, we be-
friend the injured and chas,,se the
,ppressor. Once engaged in these
generous, though sometimes gratui,-
)us interferences, our honor forbids
Is to recede, and we find ourselves
pledged to crusades in support OF the
common liberty and jus,lce, and our
,wn national honor. That is our
Ease now. There is little likelihood
II our own shores being invaded, or
'ur commerce seriously damaged