Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-05-16
The GOOD and Rrii of war.

Wa EAISAN
knowledge Of the mode Of quartering and
subsisting large bodies of men, some things
wire overlooked at first, or were less
promptly supplied than was desirable, and
some suffering was the consequence; but
these defects have been, or are being, rene
died and the machinery Of war is getting
TO work regularly and effectively.
Civilians, when they enlist, are moi prone
to reflect that they are entering upon a life
IS different as possible from any that they
have encountered. Their first camp expert
ence is apt 70 bring on a pretty severe fit Of
home-sickness. As the children of Israel, in
the early days of their pilgrimage rlonged for
the flesh.pOts of Egypt so they look back
with feelings Of regret upon many things
which they thought Indispensable to their
comfort, and wonder il they shall ever be-
come reconciled to their absence.
Man, however, is superior to all other ani-
mails in his capacity to adapt himself to
circumstances. A thousand things which,
in his ignorance of his own flexible nature,
he is accustomed to look upon as Of absolute
necessity, no finds only to have been de-
manded by artificial wants, of which he can,
without difficulty, divest himself. By im-
perceptible gradations he settles in his place,
his regrets pass away, and before he is fully
aware of it he has come in possession of
means of enjoyment; the full equivalents of
those from which he was separated.
Our young men who have entered the
army should look upon it as a school at
which much that is useful may be acquired.
The division of labor which civil society
permits, and in fact, requires, is inimicsl to
that robust personal independence which
constitutes the highest style Of character.
Good old Thomas Dick, who wrote q
goodly number of books upon moral and
religious subjects, SO dull that not a little
moral courage and rsliGJu devotion is
necessary to get through them, but whose
excellent intentions compensate, in part, for
the wordiness of his sentences and the pow
erty of his philosophy, painted a terrible
picture of the horrors, devastations, losses
and cruelties Of war. He drew up in ghastly
array long armies of figures enumerating the
dead entered into calculation to arrive at
the number of widows and orphans which
war had produced, and footed up startling
aggregates of the worth Of countries wasted,
cities overtbrown, property destroyed and
labor lost through hostile o~perations-to say
nothing Of the innumersble souls of men
sent untimely to their last account by the
same instrumentslities.
The case was a bad one in that point Of
view, without question; but it may be that
there are other aspects not quite so hideous.
How muchof human power has been evolved,
how much of true greatness developed, how
much Of native ability quickened and ex-
panded, and how much of progress promoted
and secured by war we are unable to show
in statistical aggregates but that something
has been done in this way by the 'scourge of
nations" it is impossible to deny.
Wal has its uses as well as peace. Until
humanity becomes more perfect than it is at
present it is probable that it is destined to
| vibrate between the one condition and the
other. We do not know that peace-any
peace that we can imsgine-is a perfect con-
diticn. Peace has its vices, its weaknesses,
and its falsehoods, which it does not fail to
imprint lss'ingly upon the characters Of
those who enjoy it generation after gener-
ution. These are loss of courage, of physical
force, of feelings Of personal independence
and selt-reliance, a sense of individual asd
collective inefticiency, and q conservatism Of
selfish interests and established conditions.
War comes in with a sharp but wholesome
surgery as a corrective. The world receive!
it as such. We mourn and Sigh according t
orthox foTmularies over its c~ruelties and de
vsstatious, and rush to the recruiting station
for fear We shall be too late to move with tn,
frat detachment. The flesh-as our clerica
colaborators would express it-becomes to-
strong for the spirit; or-as it looks to us
The spirit becomes too strong for the flesh
Name it as we viii, The active gets the bette,
Of the passive element Of our natures, over
tides it, puts it down, triumphs over it. W,
talk O little of tie benefits and blessings o
peace, and get away from them as fast a:
possible.
War cultivates the stronger and more
positive qualities of our nature. Society
under its vicissitudes undergoes a discipline
similar TO that which the individual soldier
encounters, and energies from the ordea
reduced in numerical, but increased ia az
g1egste power. There are more male child
rem born in times of war than in those O.
peace-an evidence of augmenting robust
tude, and proof that nature recognizes wal
&c -, aoapcv for tho mnrnuannnt nf hraaI.
and races. War il an eclectic; the feeble
sink under its hardships, while the strong
grow stronger by e~ncountering and van
gushing then-a thing of which after gen
erations reap the benefit in the form o
greater vigor, and increased capacity fol
arduous enterprises.
We are not, therefore, doing violence tc
cur natures in the alacrity which we mani
fest to take up arms, acting in response to it,
impulses. The call of our country is but the
echo of the demand for action within-thC
form which the spirit takes to express ii
impatience of inaction.
Thousands Of men along the Ohio border
care little on which side they fight, so that
they go 10 war. The side that in a civil
contentious moves frst-tuat makes the first
appeal TO the sctive and the bold-otheI
things being equal-enlists the numbers
President Lincoln made a million of soldiers
By a single brief proclamation, who scarcely
knew that they had any fight in them until
it flashed through the country-as electrical
in its effects, as in the mode by which il
was transmitted.
Humanity Goes well when it follows tn,
lead of its more positive elements. The re
suits are beneficial. When we speak of tn,
evils of war, we mean that some men will
get killed, Others become impoverished
We measure everything 6y our W mar