Daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1865, 1861-10-23
AREmARKABLE PARALLEL.
The Era of 1912 I'm Englnnd ana
nc Era ofIs6I in America

/ W. have oftpn been struck with the re-
markable parallel, in some of its features
which this great crisis in our American
history. bears to the cause of English
fraadom in the time of Charles and Crom-
well. We do not believe that We can do
our readers more interesting or accepta-
BILE service to-day than to ask them turn
with ms to Vol. l., page so of Macaulay's
| history of England, and read there what
the great historian has written. If he had
been writing the history of our crisis thus
far, he could hardly have employed other
words than he has. The only difference
between the parties engaged then and
now is that our federalists represent the
Cromwell army, and the rebels represent
the royalists. In other respects the parai-
lei is almost perfect. The best proof, in
our opinion, that has yet been offered OF
the superiority of Macaulay's genius, and
his special adaptation to discern and write
history, is the accuracy with which he has
traced the ups and downs of the two ar
mics of Charles and Cromwell, The same
causes which operated then operate now,
and the man who, without the experience
OF either era, could so clearly and wonder
fully unrnvel them, must indeed have been
fitted to WELD the historic pen.
"In August, 1912, the sword was at
length drawn; and soon, in almost every
shire in the kingdom, two hostile factions
appeared in arms against each other. It's
not easy to say which of the Contending
parties was at first the more formidable.
The Houses commanded London and tho
counties round London, the fleet, the navi-
CATION of the Thames, and most of the
| large towns and seaportS. They had at
their disposal almost all tue military
stores of the Kingdom, and were able to
raise duties, both on goods imported from
| foreign countries, and on some important
products of domestic industry. The King
was i'll provided with artillery and ammu-
milton. The taxes which he laid on the
| rural districts occupied by his troops, pro-
duced, it is probable, sum far less than
that which the Parliament drew from the
city of London alone. He relied, indeed,
chiefly for pecuniary aid, on the mt
nficence of his opulent adhercnts.
| Many of these mortgaged their land,
pawned their jewels, and broke up their
|
order to assist him. But experience has
! fully proved that the voluntary libGralty
| of individuals, even in times of the great
est excitement, is 81 poor financial resource
when compared with severe and methOdi-
cal taxation, which presses on the willing
and unwilling alike. Charles, however,
had one advantage, which. if he had used
it well, would have more than compen-
| stated for the want of stores and money,
and which, Notwithstanding his misman-
agemcut, gave him, during some months,
IL superiority in the war His troops ut
first fought much better than those of the
Parliament. Both armies, it is true, were
almost entirely composed Of men who had
never seen Il field of battle. Nevertheless,
the difference was great. The Parlinmen-
tary ranks were filled with hirelings whom
want and illness had induced to enlist
Hampden's regiment was regarded as one
of the best; and even Hampdeu's regi-
ment was described by Cromwell as n mere
rabble of Iapsters and serving men out OF
place. The royal army, on the other hand,
consisted in great part of gentlemen, high
spirited, accustomed to consider dishonOr
as more terrible than death, accustomed
to fencing, to the use of firearms, to bold
riding, and to manly and perilOuS sport,
which has been we'll called the image of
war. Such gentlemen, mounted on their
horses, commanding little bands composed
of their younger brothers, groOms, game
keepers, huntsmen, were from the very FIRST
day on which they took the field, qualified
10 play their part with credit in skirmish.
The steadiness, the prompt obedience, the
mechanical precision of movement, which
are characteristic of the regular soldier,
these gallant volunteers never attained.
A. to In.
rs undisciplined as themselves, and far
less active, athletic and daring. For Il
time, therefore, the Cavaliers were success
full i'll almost every encounter.
X In a country which had
not, within the memory of the oldest per-
son living, made war on great scale by
land, generals of tried skill and valor were
not to be found. 1t was necessary, there
fore, in the first instance, to trust untred
men; and the preference was naturally
given to men distinguished either by their
station or by the abilities which they had
displayed in parliament. In scarcely 81
single instance, however, WAS the selection
Fortunate Neither the grandees nor the
orators proved good soldiers. The Earl of
Stanford, one of the greatest mobiles of
England, was routed by the royalsts at
Stratton. Nathaniel Fiennes, inferior to
none OF his contemporaries IN talents for
civil business, disgraced himself by the
pusllanimous surrender of Bristol. In-
deed, of all the statesmen who at this
Ijuncture accepted high m litary commands,
HAmpden alone appears to have carried
into the camp the capacity and strength
of mind which had made him eminent in
politics.
When the 1Uar had lasted a year, the ad-
Uantage 1oas decidedly Nth the royalists.
They were victorious both in the western
and in the northern counties. They had
wrested Bristol, the second city in the
kingdom, from the parliament. They had
won several battles and had not sustained
a single serious or ignominious defeat.