Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1863-01-08

the New YORK Evening Tost, upon d PdihPh-
let recently published showing an important
and very instructive historical parallel to the
are worthy of most careful perusal by all,
and especially by those who are inclined to be
respondent as to our success in the great con
test in which the loyal people of the Union are
engaged. ''How Free People Conduct
Long War; is the title of the pamphlet, and
its author, Charles | Stille, proposes to show
it by parallel between the conduct of the
English people during the Peninsular war,and
the conduct Of our people now. The simila RI
ty between the opposition of that day and that
which seeks to embanass the administrafin lion in
the prosecution of the present war Tor the
| preservation Of the Unon is especially notice
| able.
| The author inds that the English were by
turns unduly eated and depressed, that COM
| plants of incompetence and mismanagement
were constantly made and the Administration
violently attacked, that burdens of taxation
| were heavier, tae finances more disOrdered and
| the sacrifices made by the people greater
than anything Of the kind ever known in any
| war:
| The best minds in Great Britain were in ut
! ter despondencv. Sir Walter Scott wrote to
| Mr.. Ellis "These cursed, double-cursed news
| (from Spain) have sunk NY spirits so much
| that | am almost at disbeleving a Providence.
The spring-tide may, for aught |
| know, break upon us in the next session OF
| Parliament. There is an evil fate upon us in
| all we do at home or abroad" So Sir James
Macintosh writing to Cent? at Vienna Il
believe, like you, in resurrection because L
believe in the immortality of civilization; but
| when, by whom, and in what form, are ques-
tions which | have not the sagacty to answer,
| and on which have not the boldness to haz-
| ard conjecture The race of man
may reach the promised land, but there is no
assurance that the present generation will not
| perish in the wilderness" "No man in his
| senses" said Sir Francis Bnrdett, ''could en-
tertain hope of the final success of our arms
| on the Peninsula Our laurels were great, but
| barren; and our victories in their effects were
| defeats
This was the prevailing tone. Of a nation
lately confident, exhilarated and jubilant; uni
versal dsarust seized the public mind; the
clamors against the cabinet and against the
| generals in the field were violent and endless !;
and nothing bat the constancy of few states
| men and of the great commander Wellington,
enabled The nation to persist IN It's designs. 1t
was, doubtless, owing as much to their dlvls-
ions at home as to the inherent difficulties of
the undertaking, that the English arms did not
succeed in driving the French from the PENN
| sula until after five years Of stupendous and
| heroic exerton.
A singular similarity, by the. way,
between the opposition of that day in England
and the opposition in tins country, is shown III
an extract from the AaauaI Register of 1912.
| Describing the pretentious character Of the
faction, as the opponents Of ministerial abuses,
| the historian remarks that those persons i'll
| this country who profess to have the greatest
adherence of ministerial tyranny ard oppres-
sion look with the utmost coolness on the tyr
amy and oppression of Bonaparte. The reg
ular opposition does not mention it with that
| adherence which might be expected from
them; but the leaders of the popular party in
| Parliament go further. They are almost al
ways ready to find an excuse for the conduct
! OF Bonaparte. The most violent and uniusti-
! liable acts Of his tyranny raise but feeble in
| dlgnaton IN their minds, while the most tri-
| fling acts OF Ministerial oppression are inveigh
| ed against with the utmost bitterifess. Ready
and unsuspecting credenee is given to every
| account of Bonapartes success; while the ac-
| counts of the success of his opponents are re
| ceved with GOODNESS and distrust'
The finances of England We're ia a worse
| condition than her military operations.
| The bank was in a state Of chronic suspension:
| the buying and selling of gold We're prohibited
to the public under severe penalties ;.and vet
| every gold guinea which was sent bV the COY
| ernment to the army in Spain (and nothing
| else would answer the purpose Of money in
that country cost thirty per cent. premium.
| Discomfort, amounting in some cases to open
violence, was general among the working clas-
ses, who at the outset were scarcely less vio-
lent in their approval of the war. The public
| debt had been increased enormously, the taxes
We're rising more steadily than the tides. which
| do have an ebb, exports and imports were ial-
| ling off, Napoleon had almost paraly2ed her
| continental trade and the annual demands up
| on the Treasury were four hundred and fifty
millions of dollars. England was in a state
of distress, not of prosperity, as we are, and
| yet she managed not only 10 meet but to sur
ylve the crisis, and to gain from it an increased
| vigor Of life. =
Perhaps the majority of our people do not
need to be reassured. If they were made of
the stuff which we trust they are made of, a
| dozen years like the last would not cause them
to give up their determination to maintain the
J integrity of the national territory aHd the SUI
| premacy of the constitution. But there are in
every community weak and timid persons who
are disheartened by every reverse, and whose
| evil forebodings have a c rtain effect upon 9TH
ers. To assure such persons we may briefly
refer to the examples of heroic times. Net to
90 much beyond modern history, the courage
and constancy of the Dutch in their struggle
with Spain, the spirit of the Pumtans in the
| civil wars with England, and the sublime for
| titude of our fathers in the wars of the revolu-
tlon, may teach us that, if need be, we can
bear much more than we have borne, and have
suffered nothing yet tit to shake the resolution
of free and gallanr people.
Ii we were to measure what we can do by
what we have already done, despite the mex
perience, the mismanagement and the treach-
| cry by which we have been baffied, the war
| would be ended and the rebellion utterly sub
dued i'll less than three years, and who that
| knows the nature of that for which we are con
tending, would not fight on three times three
| years to secure 1T ? They err greatly OF seek
to deceive, who declare that we have aecomp-
lished nothing, and that we stand relatively to
the rebels where we stood year and a half
| ago. When the President, by his proclama-
tion of the 18th of April Of last year, called
the nation to arms, eleven states had seeded
and we had scarce flag left flying in them all
beyond the battlements Of Fort Pickens and
the reefs Of Florida.
Look at the map and see what we have since
done. We have retaken New Orleans and
Norfolk, recovered the whole sea-coast, from
the Mexican frontier to the Capes Of Virginia