The Soldiers' journal. (Rendezvous of Distribution, Va.) 1864-1865, 1864-07-27
The Dark Side of Revolution.

views of our present contest, because they
imagine so much more corrupt and
wicked than the patriots of the old Revolution
airy days, would do well to read the fourteenth
chapter of Lorenzo Sabines " Historical Essay"
in the new edition of his " American Loyalsts."
1t reads very much like series of pungent OBJ
servations on contemporary events although
none will dispute the accuracy and sound judg-
ment of Mr.. Sabine as historian. We make
few pertinent extracts. OF the prominent men
of the Revolutionary era, Mr.. Sabine says :
They great and good, little and bad, min
sled just elsewhere in the annals of
race" and he adds; sa4p
p" Still again, avarice and rapacity were SEEM
ingly as common then as now. Indeed, the
stock-jobbing, the extortion the forestallng, the
low arts and devices to amass wealth, that were
practiced during the struggle are almost incred-
ible. Washington mourned the want of virtue
as early as 1775, and averred that he trembled
at the prospect Soldiers were stripped of their
miserable pttance that contractors for the army
might become rich in single campaign. Many
of the sellers of merchandise monopolized arti-
cles of the first necessity, and would not part
with them to their suffering countrymen and to
the wives and children of those who were absent
In the field, unless at enormous profits. The
traffic carried on with the royal troops was inn
in it, and those who at the beginning of the war
would have shuddered at the idea of any con-
nection with the enemy, pursued it with avid
lty."
Washington himself, in one of his private let
ters, bears full testimony to the correctness of
this description = .o-.k.
4" From what have seen, heard, and in part
know" said he, g I should in one word say, that
idleness, dissipation, and extravaganza seem to
have laid fast hold of most; that speculation,
population, and Unsuitable thirst for riches
seem to have got the better of every other con-
sideration, and almost every order of men and
that party disputes and personal q9arrels are
the great business of the day."
The difficulty of raising troops was almost
nsurmountable in several of the States
Bounty jumpers and deserters as common
then as now, in proportion to the size of the
armies. Washington declared in a letter to his
brother that the States were sending him Off
GERS "not fit to be shoeblacks." With regard
to the troubles among officers, Mr.. Sabine
says:
eighteen of the generals retired during the
struggle; one for drunkenness; one to avoid
disgrace for receiving double pay; some from
declining health; others from the weight of adj
yanced years; others to accept civil employ
ments but several from private resentments,
and real or imaginary wrongs inflicted by Con-
gress or associates in the service. The example
Of the latter class pernicious since, when
heads of divisions or brigades quit their COM
mands for reasons chiefly entirely personal,
it was to be expected that regiments, battallions,
and companies would be left, in like manner,
without officers. Abundant testimony can be
adduced to show that individuals of all ranks
entered the army from interested motives, and