The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-01-25

Y ESDAY, JANAIAhI 20, !
| The Monroe Doctrine-TA Necessity OF .
| Foreign WsA.
| In the consideration Of the No nroe doctrine
and of the imperative necessity tn IT every Eu
ropean Power should be driven froA, this CONT
nent, we have urged the fact that this question
was natural point of agreement betw cen the
two parties to the present war; that 1t was
point on which the men Of the freedoml0ymg
and progressive North could meet the proAid
and brave men of the Southern States withon'
derogation to the high spirit of either, and
where both could join hands in the brotherhood
Of q common and glorious cause. This argu-
ment has been commented upon in truly
American spirit by one Of the more influential
journals Of the rebel capital. Thus the idea is
likely to be well considered in both sections,
and will therefore undoubtedly have good
effect
II is the idea upon whose adoption or rejec-
ton practically by the people the future Of this
great nation will turn. Foreign wars can be
recognized on every page Of history as the
definite force that binds communities into ma
tons, that forces into unity separate peoples,
that consoldates and strengthens the unity Of
those that hold loosely together, and that in
vigorates an already established nationality
with the grandest spirit War is severe regi-
men, fierce treatment; but like every other
severe regimen or fierce treatment, while it is
certain destruction to the puny-to those whose
vital current runs low-it is life and higher
organization, vigorous health, more per-
feet sympathy and oneness of all the parts in
those who can stand it. This is so true that,
great as the horrors Of war unquestionably are,
it is certain that there are times when it would
be wise craftsmanship to invoke war, with
all its horrors, as a proper stimulant for
national life. England has fought the battles
at any time without a foreign war, and Eng
land is the one country of the Old World in
which the national spirit of the people runs
highest. We may even say that Great Britain
is the one empire in which the people are most
closely knit together; and foreign war has GER
tainly done it all-uniting in common cause
Scot, Saxon and Celt, each once animated by
fiercer sectional spirit than the world ever saw
anywhere else.
But there is more than this in favor of what
we urge. National wars consolidate divided
peoples, as all history proves; but it is also
specially and particularly true that no people
ever came safely through great domestic or
civil struggle except by means Of foreign war;
Foreign wars either close or Immediately sue
coed all the great civil wars of history that
have been closed at all; and where such civil
struggles have not been followed by foreign
wars the people have dwindled, and
have never for centuries taken their places
abstruse historical problem that requires deep
research for its demonstration. 1t lies every
where on the surface-Greece, Rome, France,
England, Italy, all demonstrate it For ages
Greece was the habitation Of various and hos
tile tribes that only had q 6lmy bond of union
in the traditions Of the Trojan war. There
were Spartans, Athenians, Messenians, Thebans,
Arcadians, Bnotians, and so on; but all Of
sudden there comes the Persian war, and all
these cities become Greece, and all these sepa-
rate peoples have forgotten their chronic strifes
and call themselves Greeks. In that foreign
war they grew great; and that war was the
birth of Grecian glory. II was, however, too
short to have its full effect and upon its cessa-
ton the great Grecian people lapsed once
more slowly into LacedGmonians, Athenians
and Corinthians.
But the process is repeated so often in
Grecian history that it Is like game of open
and shut Alexander comes on the scene, and
closes the bitterest of all the discussions, up to
his tlme in foreign war that makes Greece
more truly one and greater than ever; and but
for his uptimely death, which deprived Greece
of the benefit of his achievements, we should
have heard much less of the proud power that
was able to triumph over Greece only through
the revival Of those internecne struggles.
Foreign wars also made the Roman people
of Marius and Scylla; and in the glories
of Pompey and Caesar all the old
bitterness was finally forgotten; England,
to come to later times, forgot her "Roses, }" only
while fighting the French; and, later still, it was
only in the glory Of Marlborough that the
Vranhes vi Charics, INC uiuihphs Vi OromWeh
and the meanness of James went for time out
Of sight France attempted to dethrone her
royal master, and thereupon the secession of
nearly the whole of the west of France seemed
10 threaten her existence. Never was there
fiercer civil war than that of La vendee, but
yet never did nation become more magnifi-
Gently knit into one Power than France was by
the foreign wars that the Revolution brought
about
There is always before our eyes one distin-
guished instance of the converse. Italy is the
European country whose centuries Of civil
strife did not end in q glorious foreign war,
and It is, consequently, the country whose
people, for the want Of common rallying