Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1863-07-24
From the New Yorx.Old Guard.
The Streng tn Of Armies.


for the glory of my majesty" was tau CHI
this lesson at last. when all his mightiuess
crumbled, and left him to share the fate Of
the beasts of the field Babylon builders,
in all ages of the world, have seemed to be
es ecially blind to this rule of Divine Prov.
/ ideuce, that s.the battle is not always to the
strong" The passion blinded Nebuchad
nezzars in the British House of Lords scorn
ed the warning words Of the great and sa
l-sacious Pitt, when he Numbered into their
ears, my Lords, you cannot conquer Amer
lea !" But time and the fate of battles set.
tied the business quite another way thar
they bclive, until they had wasted millions
of treasure. and many brave British lives te
boot. Right boldly did many of the great
est men in England warn the Government
that the course it was pursuing would sure
| ly result in its own humiliation and shame.
Now, it is time to think Of these things a
}little, and, measuring he events of the past
terrible year, take council Of history aud
our own experience, to see whittier we may
be drifting on this tide Of blood May it
not be possible that, in the end, we shall
have nothing to show, for all We have suf
fered, but the blood we have she'd and the
debt we have amassed ever cur own hea ds2
May it not be possible that We shall come at
last to acknowledge the wisdom and patriot
ism of the following words Of President Lin
colin in his inaugural address
Suppose yon go To car, 5od fdHaot
fqht aImoys and 'rhth, nffer much loss on
boM sides. and no grin on either, you cease
fighting, the idemial questions as to terms
At Intercourse are again upon yon.
Has net your experience satisfied us that.
possibly, there may be something in, these
words worth our needing? Have we for
gotten how soon we were to end this hSrri-
BE REBELLION With the Is eco men FIRST call
ed into the Eela {? We were sure that it
was to be all over in three months, and.
therefore, our first army was only enlisted
Cor that time Then came the demand for
800, 600 more! That was to do the bust
ness in nc tire Soon the world was as
;Gnnded to be told that we had an army Of
$50 900 brave men in the field That sur,
", would make short work with the accurs-
& | rebellion! But no; we bad soon to make
another call; so that ali the men We have
had in arms since the beginning of our
troubles cannot be less than 800, 0g0. Alas,
tHU years Of battles of blood have passed.
and we are soon to sohscrips 100000 more!
Where shall ee BE able to stop? When
these 500, eco are raised and properly train
ed for the service, will !heir addition to the
army mere than supply the loss we shall
suffer between this time and that?. Is it
probable that, with this addition Of 600, 200
more, our effective force will be greater in
four months from this time than it rs at the
present moment
The way re ars going on, we siiaIi need
new enlistment of 800 000 men every four
months to keep our army up to the stand
ard of It's present effective force. And even
then, if the policy and spirit that now rule
in Washington continue to the end Of the
present Administration. we shall have sent
two millions more of otir bfaae men to die
in the battle in vain; for the Union will
never be saved while this war upon the do
nestle institutions of the revolted States
contiuues Before Secession will be con-
qnered in the South, Abolition must be con-
qrere1 iii the North AS long as we put
our trust in nothing else but the might Of
the sword, we shall fail. God will surely
teach US this hard lesson, too. shat "she bat
tic is not always TO the strong God and
our brave forefathers taught England that
lesson so cffeciually, that neither the Brit
i,h nation nor the world has forgotten how
And that. somehow, seems to be the teach
inga of History. BATTLE IS NOT AL
wA9ss To THE STRONG" God is mightier
than battles and holds the fate of the weak
and the strong alike in the hollow Of his
hand
Sir William Tempe, in his Essay on
Heroic Trtue," says -'sThe second OBJ
servation l shall make on the subject of vic
tory and conquest is, that they have in gen
eral been made by the smaller numbers over
the greater; against which ! do not remem-
Der any exception in all the famous battles
registered in story, excepting that of Tam
erlane and Bajazet, whereof the first is said
to have exceeded fourth part in humble
though they were SO vast on both sides that
they were not very easy to be we'll a5coun-
ted.
This seemingly odd remark of Sir Will
lam Temple we believe to be verified by the
records Of history.
To commence pretty near the beginning
Of historick battles, we may learn tAsat the
nansber Of persians under King Cyrus was
but Handful Of men, compared with the
mighty hosts Of Assyrans, over which they
were fnaily Completely victorious. And
then afterwards the Macedonians, who beat
the Persians. were never over forty thou
sand strong, while their enemies were six.
hundred thousand.
The little Athenian army of 10, 600, fight
ing for their liberty and independence, drove
back, and overcame $780, Persians at
Marathon.
In all the famous victories Of the Lacedc-
monians they had never over II, 600 soldiers
at any TIME, though their enemies had often
twenty times that number.
Almost every one Of the celebrated yicto-
ries Of the Romans were achieved over far
greater numbers.
The Caesars armies, whether ia Pharsalla,
Gaul or Germany, were III no proportion to
those he conquered.
The army Of Marius was never over 40
600, while that of the Ciinbels, which fEe
conquered, was 800, 900.
The famous victories of Etius and Bell
~ I n