Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-08-30
The Lessons Of Defeat-A Comprehensive
English View Of our Disaster.

English View Of our Disaster.
The London Spectator thus comments
upon the effects of the repulse of the Federal
forces at Stone Bridge
The Northerners have lost their first bat
tle-lost it as completely as IL is possible for
O nation to lose battle, and il only remains
to consider whether they have not lost more.
The prevalent opinion in England is obvi-
ously that they have; that they have lest
the confidence which is the beginning of
victory, and have betrayed qualities--want
of discipline and contempt for subordina.
tion-which will make success forever i'm
possible. A panic is not an uncommon event,
but panic like this, it is said, indicates
something more than mere want of cohe-
sion, proves either that the soldiers have no
heart for the work, or that as Sir Henry
Lawrence used to say of the Sikhs, they are
not yet civilized up to the point when the
soldier can trust that his right hand man is
not scheming to run away. That view is
not unnatural in men accustomed only to
watch armies whose reverses are shrouded
in secrecy, but it is, we believe, widely re-
moved from the truth.
We question if the panic, mad aud dis
graceful as it certainly was, proved any
thing, except that the army is not yet in
ured TO battle. The troops, in their mad.
dest excitement, did nothing which was
not done by the Frenchmen, who, within
five days drove the first infantry in Europe
back from the hill of Valmy. They actu-
ally screamed as they fled from the bayouets
they were SO soon to despise. These Amer
leans are as excitable as! Frenchmen, aud,
| like them, want only sharp drill to become
as good soldiers as any in the world. In
| this view the magnitude and even the char.
acter of their defeat will do much to smooth
| the path of the drill. master. The habit of
yaporiDg talk, which is the worst Of the ma
tional characteristics, and which rises some
| times as in Gascons, almost to a national
mania, bas blinded them to their own de-
fects. That very intelligence too, of which
! President Lincoln is 80 proud, tends to fo5
ter insuhordination, to produce a habit of
criticism fatal to discipline, until, as in the
| French army, ft gives way to tho instinct of
military organization.
The new spirit will come fast enough. and
General Beauregard seems inclined to afford
plenty of leisure for its development. In
stead Of attacking Washington at once,
while the army is still demoralized, he has
moved upon Harper's Ferry, obviously with
the idea Of rousing Maryland, and placing
a ring of combatauts around the capital.
His neighborhood, and the humility
which will, we may hope, follow defeat,
will hasten the reorganization of the
Federal army, which has already CON-
menced. There are men in abundance,
more perhaps than is good for the work to
be performed. Large armies are difficult to
feed, even in America, and one of the thou
sand reports accounts for the defeat at Man
assss by the state of the commissariat. Large
half trained armies, again, are almost un-
manageable, and General Scott would prob.
ably exchange the whole of the forces at his
command for thirty thousand drilled SOL
diers, accustomed tu action, and with all the
g. IL -.
ment. The men, however, are there. Con-
gress shows no want of courage or zeal, aud
if the Government has out one tithe of the
energy it claims for ITSELF it ought in q
month to have thirty thousand men with
some decently competent General at theiI
head, ready to take the field.
The demoral zation of the old army car
scarcely be Of the kind which renders troops
useless for future service. Volunteers, il
more readily dispersed than regular soldiers
do not suffor so severely from reverse, ant
unless the men are of temper Americans
, never displayed, they will be only too cage
to retrieve a humiliation as complete as i
was unexpected. The North lacks sadly
general trained to success but Mcclellan ha
won the confidence of his men, and Genera
Fremont, who attended the last Cabine
! Council, has at least reputation to lose
The most evil effect of defeat, nations
lea as from England after Coruuna, an
while hope is still vived nineteen million
of people can repair more than the loss of
= single battle. They will do it all the NOR
= easily because the better journalists are q
last convinced of their folly and, with tn
! Tribune at their head, have acknowledge
the error of urging General Scott, and form
3 ally promised to abstain from criticism.
The effect of the loss is, indeed, tremend
, | Tt xui1I ife he xvhola Snutb q
only victory could have done, thrown bacl
the Generals who have half rescued thu
border States, and perhaps bring two mil
} lions of allies up to the side of the rebels
But the center OF American power is still
untouched and all these losses are nothip
! If they do but evoke the desire to, obey
which is the essence of fighting strength
=. Unless history is a record of misleadin
; precedents, the American Government wi
in a month be stronger for its defeat Ths
it should be so must be the wish of ever
EuglishmaD, for the consequences of defee
must be disastrous to human freedom.
!: The South, in possession of Washington
B and once recognized as power, would be i
the best position to realize its dream of cor
: quest and spoliation. The army which la
q defeated the North, or even driven it bac
from its soil, would overrun Mexico as easiI
7 as the first conquerors of the country. Ono
i master OF the silver mines, and a gres
I. taxable population, the Southern leader
! might in few years organize an army whic
u nothing on the American continent coul
withstand, and which would speedily brin
T abouta new calamily-the armed inteferent
= of Europe in Central America. Such apowe
u while unopposed, might re open the slav
: trade, and would certainly so extend u
a area of slavery as to render its extinction q
L but impossible. The first barrier against
J misfortune so terrible to the world is Il
strength of the American Government, al
however annoying its failure, or howey
" deep our disgust at its tone, it is with tn
q Government that the sympathies of all fir