The Portland daily press., 1865-03-01
The limited States Christian Commission.

The United othbeS OlflstlAn OoNWise
Perhaps there can be found no better evil
dence of the true temper Of the Loyal people
in our present struggle than is Iurnlsned by
their active, untiring and most emclent efforts
for promoting the health and well-being of the
soldier If Is true that the expenditure of life
has been enormous, and in many instances
needlessly wasteful. 1t is said that more lives
bava baen lost in this conflict than In the
great civil wars of Greece, Rome and Eng
land put together; but this has been from the
Ignorance, the unskillfulness, or the obstlnacy
of commanders, not through any spirit Of
recklessness on the part Of the people. On
the contrary, never was the soldier SO thought.
fully, SO tendeily cared for,--not only his &C
tual needs, but his feelings and his very whims
are considered constantly by those at home =
This lis, far more than victories or conquests,
that makes the glory of our land to- day, that
even in the midst of the fierce passions kin
died by.civil war, the voice of humanity has
still been heard. The angel of mercy has
moved side by side with the angel of death /;
and the sick or wounded rebel-bis guilt for
gotten in his sufferings-has shared with the
loyal soldier the ministrations OF the charita-
bic. or the hendish return which has been
made for such kindness we will not now
speak.
Conspicuous among the instrumentalities
which have been active in forwarding this no
BILE work, should be placed the organization
named at the head of this article. Resolute,
patient, indelatigable, shrinking from no toll,
yielding to no obstacle it has labored steadily
on in It's unobtrusiye benefcence, binding up
the broken limb, and soothing the broken
heart, and the vast aggregate of the blessings
it has conferred will never be known save to
Him whose spirit inspired the work.
From the Report of the Maryland Commit
tee OF this Association, now before us, and an
examination of which has suggested these re-.
marks, we learn that during the year ending
Sept.l, 1854, there have been distributed by
the Baltimore Office alone, 4, ll3 cases of cloth
fog and other comforts, II $50 bibles, with i'm
mense stores of other reading matter, the
whole value of articles distributed amounting
to $4,000. Two hundred and sixty-fve dis
tressed families of soldiers have been relieved !;
SO hospitals. and other stations, forts, camps
aud prisons have been visited, and their sur
geons and ehaplains aided by the delegates of
the Commission. Every field of battle, every
raiders" route, every burnt hamlet and shot,
riddled vessel that could be heard of has been
sought out; wherever there was bloodshed,
danger or pain, in fever-stricken wards and in
the demoralizing winter camps, there the
agents of the Commission have been found
miaistering to the physical and spiritual well
fare of the soldier, and emulating His sacred
example who "went about doing good"
Certain persons of more zeal than judg-
ment have striven to institute invidious COM
parsons between the Christian Commission
and the U. S. Sanitary Commission, some pre-
ferring the former and others the latter
There is not the slightest reason for such com
parsons. The organization of the two socie-
ties, and the instrumentalities which they en-
ploy are somewhat different. but they both Ia
Dor in the same spirit, with the same devo-
ton, for the furtherance of the same noble
end-the good of the soldier. They are twin
sisters of mercy and of love, differing only
9as one star differs from anotherE in glory"
and the brightest page in the history of this
great struggle will be that which records their
patient endeayors, their generous sacrifices,
and the unnamed and unnameable blessings
which have been the fruit of their Christ like
work