Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1864-05-12
WAR AS TEST OF NATIONAL CHARACTER

1t is justlysremarked by Prof GOODWIN SMITH
(than whom, it is known, the cause of our Gov
eminent has no more jealous friend in England)
that the best index, after all, of the influence of
religion is the national character and the severest
tests Of national character are pestilence and civil
war;" The history of every nation confirms the
truth of this observation. The national character
conspire to give tone and complexion to civilized
society, and among all these elements the most
formative and potential is the religion of the peo-
pie. And Of this religion, considered as power
in the State, there is no criterion which more
surely tests its vitality and genuineness than pes-
thence and civil war"
How pestilence proves the strength and preva-
lence of the motives drawn from world to come"
may be read in the pages Of Thucydides deserb
ing the plague in Athens, of De Foe describing
the plague in London, or Of Boccaccio describing
the plague in Florence. The whole circle of let
tiers contains no pictures more graphic in point of
literary art instructive in point of psyche
logical interest for the light they shed on the ten
denotes of humanity under the stress of great tenn.
poral calamities.
1t is not difficult to conceive or explain the
influences which, in such time, counteract
the sway of spiritual forces. Familiarity with
suffering and death bunts the scnsibilites of men,
while, contemp oraneously with this process of
hardening, the zest for sensual indulgence is stmu
lated by the prospect of its speedy interruption
IL e. o
was the motto Of the Epicureans, and all men are
Epicureans precisely in proportion to their eman-
cpation from the restraints imposed by considera-
tions of virtue and piety. In time of storm and
impending wreck portion of the ships crew shall
be seen to put calm and simple trust in Divine
Providence, while another portion may betake them
selves to the pantry of the steward and the whis-
key casks. The difference in the resorts proves
radical difference in moral character revealed in its
full development by the hour of calamity.
And So in a time of civil war; as Prof Smith
remarks, the moral quality of mems souls is tried
by the fires through which they are called to pass
In some the elements of goodness are melted away
by the fervent heats of the ordeal, leaving little
DuJ u iooiuuum VI ufoSS Auu DaseT mettle. In
others the elements of goodness are annealed
into more ethereal tenn per and fused into
a greater tenacity Of composition. The military
causes of Generalization are indeed many and OBJ
vous, and it is precisely in proportion as they
overcome, or are themselves overcome, that thew
reveal the stamp Of the character and bring its ten
denotes into higher relief. 1t is in reference to
these causes of Generalization that one of our re-
ligious contemporaries, the New York "Church
journal" holds the following language
"That wars productive Of unmtgated evil s what
no reasonable man will assert They the most salient
features IN the history Of nation They are the points
nj which the whole nation lie made to feel more intensely
TO suffer more intensely to rejoice intensely than at
any other points in the national existence They tend to
draw men out OF themselves and out Of the sordd and
narrow round Of daily life and the toll for daily bread,
and make them feel the greater and nobler lite of the
nation as whole They call forth splendid acts Of daring,
Of self sacrifice, OF devotion to the interests Of others
They ode the beacon lights to which succeeding ages look
back, and which grow brighter and brighter with the lapse
OF time other events Of contemporsneous history around
hem die away steadily into the dark night Of comparative
oblivion They enter into the oratory the poetry, the
school books the politics and daily struggles Of the times
that come alter and thus become great educating power
forming the national mind and character All this and
much more, might be said and truly said and all deyout
minds will comfort themselves with these meditatons
aud render renewed thanks TO Almighty God for the won
derful goodness and mercy by which Heaud none but