The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1862-08-29
SOLON ROBINSON.
The Chief Dangers Of Going TO
War.

The New York Times says, the most Sc
rious business before the peaceful commu-
mites of the loyal States is the filling up Of
the draft for 500. 900 men, now made per-
emptory by the published orders from Wash
ington. This work should be done with
dignity and dispatch; and to the end that
it may be, few suggestions will be offered:
Drafting is the fairest mode that can be
resorted to for filling up the ranks Of our
armies. All citizens able to go to war owe
an equal duty to defend the Government
that protects them. Hitherto only the more
patriotic and self-sacrificing have risked the
dangers of battle. The careless, the selfish
and the doubtfully loyal have not borne any
of the burdens of the fight. They have
never intended to take part in ii if they
could avoid it. 1t is the draft only that will
reach these classes. There is still a very
large class Of truly loyal men who could not
easily 90 to war, however willing they may
have been, and who perhaps have been even
more useful at home. This latter class has
always been willing to take the field when
ever it was absolutely necessary; and the
order of the draft shows that, in the opin-
ion Of the Government, that time has come.
The draft, then, works no hardship, disap
points no truly loyal man, and is . bugbesr
only to those classes who hesitate about do
ing anything to aid the nation in the strug
gle. So far, then, from meeting the draft
with apprehension and unfriendliness. it
should be received as . justi6able and wei
come war measure.
1t will undoubtedly prove very inconve-
nient for many thousands Of citizens that
will be drafted to leave their families and
their business, and take the field at the
present time But the drafted man should
remember that fully eight hundred thousand
citizens have freely offered themselves to the
Government, most of them for three years
or during the war, before he was called upon
at all to contribute his services. And fur
Their, that, under the draft. his term of SER
vice will expire in nine months, leaving the
weight of National defense still upon the
already overtaxed three years volunteers.
And yet not one Of these men who have en-
gagged to bear arms for three years was un-
der any greater obligations to 60 TO war
than any one Of those who will now be taken |
by draft.
There is vague popular apprehension
that to go to war is to be, almost necessari- |
ly, killed in battle, or manned for life by |
shot or shell. 1t is true that war is a haz
ardous game, the sole aim Of which is the |
destruction of life; and man must accept
that fact with a manly spirit in entering
upon bis career as soldier. Yet it is also /
true. as the history Of nearly all campaigns
most fully proves, that deaih wounds in
battle is not the great peril Of soldier He
is in far more danger in morals and in body, |
from vice and from the diseases incident to
camp life, than from the weapons Of death
in the enemy's hands.
The Sanitary Commission published re-
port recently on the comparative mortality
among soldiers. from disease aud from |
wounds received in battle, that is very sur
prising. II states that ..the statistics Of ar
mics clearly reveal the fact that much |
larger number of soldiers die from disease |
resulting from uniavorable hygienic circum
stances than from wounds inflicted 10 bat
tle." And many instances are given in /
English and French military history to prove
it. Sir David Brewster mentions that the
Ninety second Regiment lost more officers
and men In four months from the climate OF
Jamaica than by the hand Of the enemy. 10
an active war of twenty one years. 10 the
progress Of which it was twenty six times in
battle The whole number of officers and 1
men sent to the east by the French during
the period OF two years (Crimean war; was
3o9. e68. Of this number 200, 600 were un-
der treatment q, the ambulances and hos
pitals. viz: so. 900 for wounds and l so 900 !.
for diseases. SERVE, an intelligent invest.
gator, writes: The losses occasioned byf
the most murderoas bates do not equal
one fourth of the total losses TO which an
army is ordinarily subjected" In the large
French army of 309. 263 sent to the Crimea,
as before stated, there were 60 ,229 deaths.
OF these. only $500 were killed on the
battle field, or not afterward heard from
Tins there were eight deaths from other
causes in this brave and world renowned
French army, where there was death
in battle. +
We remind the public Of these facts. not
to give them ths idea that war il not dan
gerous and bloody business. but to assure