The New York herald., 1864-05-15

TAs EsGhtans ouaIasiss % Ous uoIdisr>-
Their End ursncs and Tenacity.
For eight days the Northern and Southern
armies have continued their sanguinary strug-
gle in Virginia. Such q contest u without his
toric parallel. For eight hours the French sol
diery at Waterloo beat against the British lines
with magnificent valor Through those eight
hours the British lines firmly held their place
hardly an impression seemed to be made upon
them anywhere-and in the ninth hour the
French army, apparently as magnificent an
army as Europe had ever seen, melted away in
absolute rout. So 1t was at Blenheim The
army that represented the aggressive policy OF
Frances last great sovereign before Napoleon
was utterly destroyed in the afternoon of single
day. All the battles Of the war for the Spanish
succession were Of the same character-strug-
giles fought out and determined by one grand
collision of the respective armies. This was
also the character Of the battles Of the seven
years war and Of the thirty years war; 1t Is
generally the character Of oil battles fought by
European armies since the invention Of gun
powder, and battles that are continued on from
day to day are the rare exception In European
warfare.
In our present war We have the exact reverse
Of this. Battles continued through several
days are the rule, and the exceptions are those
that are ended in ono day. Fair Oaks was
battle Of two desperate days, aud carried
little into the third. Shiloh was also two
days battle. Murfreesboro was . three days
battle. The contest by which Lee and Jackson
drove the Army Of the Potomac from Its post on
In front Of Richmond, and hoped to destroy it.
continued for seven days, and was one series OF
onslaughts and repulses Of the most sanguinary
character. Gettysburg-the hardest fought
battle OF the century-continued through three
days. Our army repulsed there, on Its right
left and centre, assaults compared to which
the assaults Of the French at Waterloo lose their
great place In the history Of battles-assaults
such as no French infantry ever yet seen could
make-and our army, In an exposed position,
withstood An artillery fire as much more for
midable than the fire OF the French batteries at
Waterloo as the recent great improvements in
artillery could make it. 1t is handed down as
the crowning evidence Of the superiority Of
under the fire Of tho French artillery for
eight hours, and repulsed the advances Of the
French infantry made in that time; yet our
men stood for three days under fire certainly
not less severe, and repulsed repeated advances,
unquestonably moro impetuous and desperate;
and the only reason why Gettysburg did not
end In the same absolute ruin Of one army that
Waterloo did is because our antagonists were
better men than the French were, and did not
yield, as the French did, to the exhaustion and
depression consequent upon their great efforts
and their failure.
We leave out from the number Of cur con-
tinued fights Charlottesville and the series Of
battles between Pope and Lee. They were the
onslaughts OF one army against
widely separated parts Of another, and Illus
rate, not the fighting qualities Of our soldiers,
but the inability OF certain mon to handle large |
armies. The rest are stubborn struggles, main |
tanned day after day by the whole of one army |
against the whole Of another.
1Au~ NJ" w n"'S ~ -Sa a. A. vs-s 49,
series Of battles In Spottsy vania county, which
had continued for eight days at the last ac-
counts, and was not ended then For eight
days the tive armies have struggled, neither ono
able to gain over the other an advantage so do
cided as to end the contest, and neither Is
posed to relinquish it. Such q thing has not
happened before since the invention OF gua-
powder. In ancient warfare struggles were
sometimes protracted In this way, and the rude
ornaments Of antiquity doubtless contributed
to that result II took three days for the Ger
mans, under Hermana, to destroy the Roman
legions under Varus. and the Franks, under
Charles Martel, fought the army under
Abderrahman for seven days; but the
introduction Of firearms has changed that Yet
American soldiers maintain battle with the
same stubbornness against musketry and artil-
lery with which the aneients maintained II
against the short sword and the javelin; and
they are the only men In modern armies that do
so. Unquestionably the record Of this war
proves eur men to be the most tenacious and
magnificent fighters in the world, and this they
Will yet even moro decidedly show to those
European nations who have taken the sppor-
tunity offered by this war to infringe and tram
pie upon our rights.
The Annivsrsariss.
The anniversaries Of the religious societies
have been in full blast during the week. But
fev have paid any attention To them. the public
mind being too much engrossed bv General