The dollar weekly bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1862-1864, 1863-07-16
Picture of the MiseIies of War, by DR.
Samuel Johnson, the great English

Picture of the MiseIies of War, by DR.
Samuel Johnson, the great English
author. .-.-.,....... ....-.....
The following extract is from a political
pamphlet written nearly century ago by
DR.. johnson, in opposition TO schemes of
conquest to be consummated by war; How
wonderfully the great writer depicts the
miseries of war, aud its inconsequential eff
fec,s in bringing about any political good
On reading this extract, one is almost tempted
to think that the great moralist saw by pro-
phetic inspiration and forecast the madness
of the people of the United States in prose-
cutting the lamentable and horrd civil war
now so 6ercely ravaging the land. be
glories of "paymasters and agents, con-
tractors and commissaries," which, besides
the death of multitudes and the expense OF
millions, was the fruit of the English wars
deprecated by the author, have their exact
counterpart in the certain results of our civil
war, only with aggravated evils and horrors
the ravage and ruin of the country-the
destruction Of national credit by an i'm
measurable load of public debt-tLe i'm
povershment of the people-the incurable
hate engendered by sectional war-the i'm
notation of millions of lives-and the in
calculable wealth of jobbers, contractors,
robbers and villains of every hue, swindled
from the government by means OF the war:
"It is wonderful with what GOODNESS and
indifference the greater part of mankind
see war comm euced. Those that hear OF it
at a distance or reGd of it in books, but have
never presented its evils to their minds, COLI
slider il as little more than splendid game,
a proclaim alton, an army,a hattie, a triumph.
Some. indeed, must perish in the successful
field, hut they die upon the bed OF honour,
resign their lives amidst the joys of con-
quest. and, filled with England's glory, smile
in deathi mo-
"The life of modern soldier is i'll repre-
sented by heroic fiction. War has means OF
destruction more formidable than the can
non aud the sword. Of the thousands
and ten thousands that persisted in our late
contests with France and Spain, very
small part ever felt the stroke of an enemy;
the rest languished in tents and ships,
amidst damps and putrefaction; pale, torpid,
spiritIess, and helpless; gaspiug and groan-
ing, unpitied amOug men, made obdurate
by ,ong continuance of hopeless misery, and
were at last whelmed in pits, or heaved
into the ocean, without notice and without
remembrance. By incommodious encamp-
ments and unwholesome stations, where
courage. is useless and enterprise impractlc-
able, fleets are silently dispeopled, and
armies sluggishly melted away.
'Thus is a people gradually exhausted
for the most part, with little effect The
wars of civilized nations make very slow
changes in the system of empire. The pub
lie perceives scarcely any alteration but an
increase of debt; and the few individuals
who are benefited are not supposed to have
the clearest right to their advantages. |
he that shared the danger enjoyed the profit.
and after bleeding in the battle, grew rich
bv the victory, he might shows his gains
without envy. But at the conclusion OF
ten years war, how are we recompensed ior
the death of multitudes and the expense OF
millions. but by contemplating the sudden
glories of paymasters and agents, contractors
and commissaries, whose equlpages snlne
like meteors, and whose palaces rise IKE
exhalations?" .f-t ~