Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1865-03-30
The Great Civic Wars-A HistOri-
cal Review and Contrast.

The present conflict IN this country Is one
of those which are usually called "civil wars"
and although nothing of the kind has ever be-
fore been carried on on the same stupendous
scale, yet there are plenty of precedents for it
One of the earliest of these is the famous
Ptlopennesian War, which began B. C. 1872,
and lasted q years, between States of Greece,
which, had they adopted the idea Pericles and
been united under one general head, might
have formed u nation of marvellous grandeur
and influence. But the doctrines CT "Statr
Sovereignty or autonomy prevailed and
after twenty-seven years of warfare, foreign
invasion closed the combat
In the Monthly Religious Magazine for Feb
ruary, there is an interesting historical review
of civil wars on the subject of the Peloponr
neslan war, the writer says -
This long and deadly warfare could not have
been prolonged through twcnty-seven years
except for the fact that both Sparta and Ath-
ems were based on slavery The slaves titled
the soil-the citizens waged war. Slavery not
only supplied the munitions, but it gave to the
war savage terocity and brutality Athens
alone had four hunnred thousand slaves to six-
ty thousand frecmen.
But Sparta was made pre-eminently barba.
rous and inhuman by the habit of domineer-
ing over slaves. During the progress of the
war, fearing an insurrcclion among her Hclots
at home, she proclaimed liberty to such us
would come forward and Join her armics--
Two thousand brave men sprung up to the
word ''liberty," and presented themselves =
They We're never heard of more They were
led off secretly and massacred; and, by this
fiendish treachery, the olgarchs rid themselves
Of such slaves US would be most likely to prove
a dangerous element at home T1.
1t is curious to contrast the numbers en-
gagged in our war with those engaged in the
great wars OF the past.
We select two decisive battles. One of
these was fought in the harbor of Syracuse
In an expedition against Sicily, Athens had
strained every nerve, and equipped magnfi-
cent feet and army. They sailed out of the
Pireus with sound Of trumpets peans and IL
bations of wine from gold and silver cups
This great army consisted of 5000 heavy,
armed infantry. 1t was reinforced by anoth-
er Of about the same number. When gath
cred at Syracuse they nu bered in all--heavy
armed infantry, natives of the island and slaves
who were light armed and only employed as
skirmshers--20, 900 men This, in the Ian
guage Of Thucydides, made her power ''stupen-
dous, /" and her resources "beyond calculation" !"
The final and decisive battle was that of
Aigospotami, when Athens lost her>leet, and
nearly her whole army was surprised and taken
prisoners. The numbers engaged in battle
are not told, but the number Of prisoners, who
were native Athenians, is recorded as three
thousand, which seems to have made up the
bulk of her army in the last decisive engage
'A'slag t9 NOW AND THEN. ''a .l#
AS to the number engaged, the little State
| Of Massachusetts has furnished more men in
our present struggle, than fought on both sides
! in the great English rebellion. 1t has sent
more men into the field than julius Caesar
commanded to gain the empire of the world;
more than all the troops of Helas put togeth-
er in the long struggle that rent her in pieces,
when her sun went down in blood. The State
of New York has equipped more soldiers than
| all the troops Of Cesar and Pompey put to-
gether, though drawn from every province,
from the Euphrates to the pillars of Hercules.
The whole army Of Cromwell would only serve
as skirmishers, or as detail for, a raid" from
| the army Of Grant or Sherman. His great
military fame was gained by managing TWEEN
ty-fve thousand men; and its marches and ev.
olutions were within an area less extensive
than the State of Virginia. rr9 /
* THE ENGLISH REBELLION
The great civil war Of England, known as
the "Great Rebellion" was also conflict be.
tween the oligarcbs and the commons; called
again the Cavaliers and the Roundheads;
called again, more appropriately, the King and
his Parliament 1t divided England horizon.
tally-the King and the lords and the bish.
ops on one side, the commons on the other;
and it decided the question forever whether
constitutional government was o possible boon
to the English race ,.-..s
The war opened in l642, and continued sew
en- years i would probably have been fin
ished in half that time, but for the, hesitancy
and half measures of Essex, the first parla
mentary general. The first conflict of Edge
hill has its exact parallelin Antietam. Itwas
drawn battle; both parties laying all night
on their arms; but in the morning, Hampden
came up with four thousand fresh men. JUL
| Us Cesar would have followed up gu .ckly the
I L. ~ j y