New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-01-16
puYucAL AND MORAL COURAGE.

deteruine the sen.ieut portion OF our being. and
decide the character Of the individual. The
more delicate texture (.peaking empirically. for
We 60 Tot here aim TO be technically seienuhc,)
Of q vomsa's nervei renders her more sensitive
and lea. u,sgeou. than 5 man; and though Jean
H.chettes. Joan d'Ares and Mol Pitchers are
duly celebrated in history, yet the want Of servs
or COURAGE in woman does not imply the lesst
deprecias;op Of her moral character or social
re,pectsbity. she lie still the delightful COM
papiop. the intense friend, the lyrical liver, the
pious mother. Bat for man to want nerve
| Ont upon the coward His club-whether Of
fashion or FIRE engine-is shut against him. The
ball. room beauty unfortunately is engaged, and
cannot danee-or converge for she moment even,
with one wanting the courage, if required. to
defend her. Inpublic, in private, he isa marked
nen-a poltroon.
In this estimate Of character the civilized man
differs not from the savage The state Of society
which in its form sntedstes any known or recorded
in the East i, that of our own Indians. Here we
have, fresh to the eye, life Thousands Of years
earlier and simpler than that of Persisn B,csrian
or Egypti-n; and without the difficulties or
doubts of wOrming our way through the gloon
and confusion Of past ages, We behold a prinASive
accomplishing with the genus of the times
| before letters were known or laws were sung
AID AZ such, we find one worship governing and
shaping all the spirit and action of its lite-and
that is the worship of physical courage. True, this
courage is 80 mixed up with cunning and double
dealing that some doubt its genuine charic-
ter; bu, race vbose strongest sarcasm on man
hood is to say that il has the heart ofa woman
which presents US with the tremendous military
tests of the Msndans or tie funerapyre song of
the SiOux-possess something so much like P lck
that il looks real, and as such we take it to be.
The warrior of these Indians il a-in-all witd his
tribe. Wien be does not fight, be hunts, lOlls or
loafs. and woman is his slave, be scornng even
10 drsg home the bear or the elk he has destroyed
But there is, even among the Indians, non COM
batant-a f. low who has shown a want Of nerve;
and for the manner in which this creature is
treated, read the authorities on Indian affairs.
If he do not commit suicide, it is simply for this
want of nerve.
A striking instance Of the fact that our est
mate Of humanity 10 nowise more elevated than
that of the savage or the barbarian s found 10
the recent case Of Lord Forth, the son Of the
Scottish Earl of Perth, neither parsonage being
mythical The son, but youth as yet, having
shown a want Of courage at Alma and Inkerman,
was sent home in disgrace, by Lord Rsglau-his
father refusing to see him. HereuPon there
bursts forth throughout society a general cry of
scOrn and indignation against the young man.
His father, responsible for fifty per cent. Of the
!, blood in bis veins, leads the way in condenning
him; the club doors are banged in bis face; fair
creation is pelI-mell with aria tongue aIin.t
him, and the journals solemn and gro:esque,
hurl forth the fatal word-co ward.
Paradise is guarded with swords" says the
Koran, and there is q responsive thrill in our
being to the herO-we mean not the neT-fanged
hero. the man who wrote good dictionary or
invented spinning jenny under diiiculties vast
and terribie-but the old IIomeric hero-the
fiahtipg man, which is what the word hero means,
and nothing else. But having made this acknowl-
edqmeut to the bear and bulldog elements OF our
nature. and the bear and bull dog social state in
which we are yet involved, cannot little word
be said in defense of this youth or of any man who
in confronting the face of death on the battlefield
or A riot or before a furious beast, lie overcome
with fear Are we quite sure that this quality
Of mere phy,icsl Indifference to Danger i; 50
indispensable that he who has il not is less than
man. and deserves to be thrust ont from all
sympathy and respect Is the brute element to
be ranged so high above the Intellectual aud
moral that. lacking it, the latter deserves only
contempt and the stigma Of perpetual shame
Shall it SO perfectly suffice for the condemnation
of the individual that when he has not the one,
we need no longer ask wether he possesses the
other Is the bully the only true type OF man
hood Such is the theory Of the world. 1t is
one. sided, false and cruel theory.
No man ia responsible for his own natural con
stitution. Whether born bold or timid, be Is 40.
! bis own work His nature is determined by inhu
ences quite beyond his control. Some men
are, no doubt, quite reckless of danger, but that
is DO more special merit of theirs than that they
have red or black hair Others, and they sre the
great majority, are cautious and careful never
netdlessly to peril life or limb, and they are so
because such is their constitution. Others agsiD.
ike Lord Forth, carry this caution to the ex
IRENE of tmidity and fearfulness. Each Of these
classes Of men ha: bis peculiar qualities and uses
and each fOrms part Of that Infinite variety
which is the glory of Man. To insist that all
shsll be meaiured by one standard and that
standard proper TO the brutality OF savage times
is absurd and unnatural. II would blot from tne