The Democratic press. (Eaton, Preble County, Ohio) 1860-1865, 1861-08-29
[Froh ID London UaflN Nnnsl

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During the agony OF our Indian rebellion,
when the fate Of an Empire trembled in the
balance, and the proud heart of England,
was shaken with anguish, the sympathy of
Europe, in the presence of a calamity in
which the whole of Christendom seemed to
partake, was all but universally expressed.
Over the narrow seas q gallant people
watched our varying fortunes, with that fra
ternal interest which brave men feel in the
actions of the brave; faint and few indeed
were the mutterings of unmanly and malig-
nant cXultation, at the tragic vicissitudcs of
a mortal struggle which history shudders to
recall.
But among our kinsmen across the Allan
tic it was not mere interest that was felt for
England at that terrible moment, or com
mon hnman sympathy; it is but the simple
truth to say that the heroes and the victims
of Lucknow and Cawnpore were honored
and lamented by the people of the United
States, and the trials and exploits of Eng.
lish courage and endurance treasured up as
the immortal part of an indiyisible inherit
ance ofblood, language and renown.
When the day of trials and trouble ZONES
again for England, we trust it may not be
remembered that the most powerful, and
therefore most responsible, ofEnglish jour
nails celebrated the issue of the first great
battle between the army of the United States
and the army ofthe Southern rebels as a loss
of all, "even ofmilitary honor" to citizen
volunteers who had fought for nine hours Of
a summers day against overwhelming odds,
for a cause as sacred as law and order, as
precious as national liberty and unity
Our contemporary would fain, it should seem,
endeavor to reduce The conflict to the dimen-
sions of a border raid Or a barbarous brawl.
This is not onlyto caricature living facts;
ii is to gire the lie to history. Grill war ii
acas that made The ancestors of tie men acho
fought at Butts Ran greatand free though
no doubt, there were disinterested persons
in those days who condemned the ~"sense-
less and bloody strife by which our fore
fathers dearly purchased, at the cost of their
lives, all that their descendants now enjoy.
Civil war, too, though, no doubt, it was
sometimes "a senseless and bloody strife"
has done something for the strength and
grandeur, if not for the freedom of France.
Had England displayed that "humility and
contentment which facilitate peace in the
days of the Stuarts, or France in the face Of
the coalition of old mouarchies, we know
not if France would now be greater or Eng
land freer, but assuredly there would be lit,
tie enough upon which to congratulate the
survivors of either revolution.
The cynical selfshness with which the
public opinion of England is so often credited
by foreigners has never found a more exal-
ted expression than in these reckless utter,
ances. Nor are these opinions. ever in
their own sense, d discerning or acute.
Already is clear that the results of the
action of the DIST we're not SO disastrous to
the Federal army as to forbid altogether a
Southern advance this year.
The victory of the Southern army was
due no doubt to superior skill inits leaders,
but the choice Of defenSice position and tile
a%rriUal Of timely reintorccmcnts must be Ia
ken into account on the a side; and the
panic that decided theissue of the fight is
anincident not unparalleled in the annals
of European powers. The losses both in
~ and in material of the Federal forces
siderable as was atfrst report
are not so cOn.t of tbo
ed. On the other hand, w. '0f'
war is infinitely enlarged.
And the protraction of the contest is all
in favor ofthose who have the largest re-
serve of men and means. A defeat Of the
North shuts the door to compromise, or to
acquiescence in any terms the South can