Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1863-03-26
HOW A FREE PEOPLE CONDUCT
fa i.sia isa A. LONG WAR. iio3 sd1 81
A cHlPTER FROM ENGLISH HISTORY.
BY CHARLES J. sTILLE.

pastime Of our vacant hours, is The record of the
onward march Of Humanity towards an end -
Where there is no belief in such end, and there
fore no advance toward it, no STRINGS ofa Divine
Word in peoples bosom, where not as yet the
4 beasts heart has been taken away, and mans
heart given, there history cannot be said to be-
They belong not therefore to History, least of all
TO sacred History, those Babels, those cities of
confusion, those huge pens, into which BY force
and fraud ,the early hunters of men. the Nimrods
and the Sesostriscs' drove, and compelled their
fellows: and Scripture is only most true to its idea
while it passes them almost or wholly in silence by,
while it fingers rather the plains Of Mamre with
the man that believed God and il was counted
unto him for righteousness than. by .spopulous
No." or great Babylon. where no faith existed but
IN the blind powers OF Nature and the brute forces
ofthe natural man.-Trench's Hulsean Lecture on
The Unity cfihe Scripture. $50 81 alH t's'ts
We have known hitherto in this coun-
try so little of the actual realities of war
on grand scale. that many are beginning
to look upon the violent opposition to the
government, and the slowness of the pro-
gress OF eur arms, as signs of hopeless
encouragement History. however, shows
us that these are the inevitable incidents OF
oil wars waged by q free people This
might be sbundantly illustrated by many
remarkable events in English history.
from the days of the Grea. Rebellion down
through the campaigns of the Prince of
Orange and Of Marlborough. to the wars
which grew out of the events Of the French
Revolution. War is always entered upon
amidst a vast deal of popular enthusiasm,
which is utterly unreasoning. 1t is the
universal voice of history. that such en-
thusiasm is wholly unreliable in support
ing the prolonged and manifold burdens
which are inseparable from every war wa
ged on an extensive scale, and for long
period. The popular idea of war is spec ly
and decisive victory, and an immediate oc-
cupation Of the enemy's capital, followed
by treaty of peace by which the objects
of the war are permanently secured
Nothing is revealed 10 the excited passions
Of tho multitude. but dazzling visions of
national glory, purchased by small pri-
vations, and the early and complete sub
jugation Of their enemies. 1t is, therefore,
hot unnatural that at the first reverse they
should yield at once to an unmanly depres-
sion. and giving. mp all for lost. they sho d
vent upon the government for its condu ct
OF the war, and upon the army anil It's gen.
erals for their failurs to make their dreams
Of victory realities, al abuse as .unreason-
ing as was their original enthusiasm.
Experience has taught the English pso.
PIE that the progress of war never fc;-
tils the popular expectations; that although
victory may be assured at iast to patient
and untiring vigor and energy lii its prose
cntion, yet during the continuance of
long war there can be no wellfounded
hope Of a uniform and constant series of
brilliant trinmPhs in the field, illustrating
the profound wisdom Of the policy Of the
Cabinet; that. on the contrary, all war.
even that which is most successful in the
end. consists rather in checkered fortunes.
Of alterations Of victory and disaster, and
that its conduct is generally marked by
what were evidently. when viewed in the
light ofexperience. blunders SO glaring a.
doptcd by the government, or in the STRAIT.
egy of its generals. that the wonder is.
success was achieved at all. The English
have Thus been Taught that the true charac-
tsristic of public opinion in its judgment
of a war should be. not hopelessncss or
impatience Of immediate results. but rath-
er q stern endurance-that King quality Of
heroic ecnstancy which, rooted deep in
profound conviction Of the justice of the
eause. supports a lofty puolie spirit equal
ly well in the midst eftemporary' disas.
ter and in the hour of assured triumph.
We have no such experience here. Our
people are perhaps more easily excited by
success, and more readily depressed by re-
verses. than the. English. and il Isl, there
tore, worth while, to consider how they
carried on war on grand scale and for o
protrsctel period. If will be found. if we
mistake net, that the .dspunciations, of the
goyelnment.. SO common among Us of .lste,
and the .complaints of the inactivity of the
army. have their exact counterpart in the
history of the progress of all the wars + in
which England has been engaged since the
days Of the Great Rebellion. He. who
draws consolation from the lessons of the
/ past. will not. we think, seek comfort in
vain when he discovers that in all those
wars in which the government and the ar
my aave been so bitterly assailed Except
that Of tie American Revolution), Eng.
land has at last been triumphant. 1t i
worth while then to look into English his.
tory to understand how war is successfully
carried on notwithstanding the obstacles
which, owing to perverted public opin-
ion. exist within the nation itself These
difficulties. although they inhere, in the
very nature Of free government. often
prove, as We shall see. more fruitful oil
embarrassment to the favorable prosecu-
tion Of war than the active operations oil
:, the enemy. 7'' 10 't'''''-'. I'D 'i,s'F.al
We propose to illustrate the PROPOSE
tions which we have advanced by Study
OF the series Of cam paigns known in Eng
lish history as the Peninsular War. We
select this particular war because We think
that in many Of its events and in the poll.
! cy which sustained it, there are to be OBJ
served many important, almost startling
parallelisms with our present struggle
We have, Of course. no reference to any
similarity existing in the. principle which
produced the two wars. bot rather to ths
striking resemblance in the modes adopted
by the Two people for prosecuting war on
grand scale, and for the vindicstiou Of .
principle regarded As Of vital importance
by them. 20. 1rsi'IH''a 'i'in'f box
" The Psninsplar War on the part b
England. ss was contepded by the minis
! try during its progress, and as Is now mi
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