New-York daily tribune., 1861-05-18
WHAT II CIVIL WARE

1
| Americans so regard it, is derived from history
aud tradition, not from personal experience, Tor
we have had no civil war since the Revol iti"n.
| That contest with England was compl Gated by
another among ourselyes and the latter was in-
| finiiely more savage ard disastrous than the
| former. It's ferceness and the murderous hatred
with which it was waged have been too generally
overlooked by our historians, who have given
exclusive prominence to the British element of
the contest Hence we are measurably ignoraht
| of the details of the only real civil war which
! ever desolated our own coil, and form our esti-
| mate of the horrors of such contests from what
we read in English history, where civil war
was the chronic calamity Of centuries. The
wars of the roses and the bO der wars which
preceded the union of the crowns of England
! and Scotland are the standards of reference
| from which we derive most Of our ideas OF the
| horrors of domestic war, because these contests
! have been more miuutey described by historians
than our own. But they are false standards tor
estimating either tho duration Of the contest
now going on among us, or the misery II is
likely to produce. Those wars were waged un-
der circumstances widely different from those
which precpated, or which will distinguish tue
present one. Leaving out the causes which produced
them, il must be conceded that the key to the1r
almost une1ampled horrors is found III the fact
that both factions were of very nearly equal
strength. IL was certaiply SO in La Vehdee'
where, as well ms 10 England the contest wns
continued until one faction almost exterml-
~t.1 in bl,,d ,olutinn reached bV
expected dynastic union.
All these civil wars were protracied ia exact
proportion to the equilibrium Of strength among
the belligerents. All others have been short in
proportion to the disparity OF strength. Where
one faction was feeble, it was promptly crushed,
| and order was restored. Tie rebellion among
the Swiss Cautions few years since is striking
case in point. 1t bears strong resemblance to
our own. A portion of tho Cantons took up
arms against tie Government, but the stronger
| portion remained 10. al. Thy raised an army OF
| 10000 men, and before this Overwhelming force
the rebels melted away, returned to their ALE
/ glance, and in few weeks complete peace was
restored. The disparity of strength was seen,
/ a,knowledged and submitted to. But during the
different. From its very beginning there was "a
Ia ge party who opposed it. Even its lraders
rrpudlated the idea Of separation until Concord
| and Lexington Compelled them to entertain 1t.
! All the fathers of the Republic expressly ayo~ed
that even after blood had been shed, perfect
reconciliation could have been effected, and that
| It was all they desired When Congress was de-
bating over the Declaration Of Independence,
John Dickinson of Penns, lyabia, though eloquent
and decided with his pen in favor of the Whlgs,
opposed the Declaration so sturdily as to make
tho vote of Pennsy l,ania extremely doubtful.
Morton on whom the casting vote OF that State
| deyolyed is said never to base had a days peace
after deciding for Independence, and died the
pext year from anxiety and depression Of rprits
! in consequence. Jefferson declared that W illlam
| Hooper, a delegate from North Carolina, was q
rank Tory. Other prominent Wings fell off aud
/ became Tories. As the contest assumed de-
cdcd shape, party lines became more distinctly
/ visible. Az the Wbigs rushed to arms, 80 did
the Tories They mustered in every Colony, and
n close examination of the minor Incidents OF
! history will convince the reader that in some
they were more numerous than the Wings.
In this State they were very numerous. When
! Washington reached here in June, l776. the
Governor aud Mayor, with many leading cti-
IONS, formed plot to seize him. Some Of his
own body guard were equally implicated and
one Of them was hanged in consequence. In
! Queens County alone there were 300 Tories;
in Suffolk 800 appeared in one body, aud were
sworn 10 be faithful to the Grown. II was al
most as bad in Westchester and TryOn, while
the little town of Jamaica haibored G2. Indeed
the number Of those who opposed the Wings was
so great. that when, after the war had closed,
the Assembly passed bill prohibiting persons
! who had been in opposition from holding any
office under the State the other House rejected
it on tho ground that if it became q law, no
elections could be held in some parts of the
| State, inasmuch as there were not Wings enough
In certain sections TO preside at or conduct the
election meetings. While Massachusetts furnished
ca ,907 men for the army, New.York supplied
only l7,7ol, and fell short by over S2,OOO,OOO in
| her quota OF money for the cause. But this
wide. spread Toyism was not limited to New
York. 1t existed in all the States. As both
parties took up arms, every State became the
heater Of civil war.
1t ought not to be doubted that the bitterness
between Wing and Tory was the primary cause Of
protractng that Revolutionary contest. Had
both struck hands against the common enemy,
as the North is doing now, the struggle would
have been brief and comparatively bloodless. The