Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1866-11-28
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What War. IlecIdes.

From the london Times ]


There must be something strangely at
tractiYe in the story Of Waterloo That
single battle has aetdally a literature OF Its
own. The original accounts The various
commanders, British, Prusslan and Dutch,
with the circumstantial narratives of eye
witnesses and observers III both armies
! would fill a goodly shell, aud these materials
have been repeatedlyanalyzed and digested
in later times by writer's on both sidesof the
\ Channel. In fact, the most recent specf-
mems Of this literature have been contribute
ed by France. Our neighbers seem to be
drawn by someirresistible attraction to the
history of that memorable day, nor need
! we much wonder at the fact. They fought a
good fight, and therewer incidents enough
In the engagementto furnish every endura-
BILE explanation of the defeat. We ourselves
should say, as a conclusion from all the. re-
| cent discussions, that Napoleon undertook,
1 of course unaVoidably, more than he could
i perform. U lJ5 ~. ...y.I-.l ui
1 His design was to fall with his single
| army first upon one of his enemies and
then upon the other, and crush them both
| in succession. But this he could not aG-
| complish. He did succeed by his strategic
| skill in separating Blucher from yelling
| ton, aud in fighting the former Generalbe-
fore the latter could join him. But he did
A not succeedin 80 beating the Prussians
that they could not renew the fight two
days afterward, nor could he then drive
the English from their position before the
| Prussians came up. That appears to us
| the fair moral to be drawn from the argu-
ments and descriptions OF NJ. Thiers and
| Victor Hugo, and we do not think it dis
i creditable TO the French. Napoleon's con.
| cepton was too gigantic. He and his SOL
| diers did more than any other General,
perhaps, or any other troops could have
| done in thus striking right and left alter
| nately, but the enemy upon either arm was
| too much forJhim. There is, however, a
moral deeper than the strategical moral to
be drawn from these undying histories.
| The battle of Waterloo has been regarded
and described as one of the decisive battles
of the world. Is that description juhtiti-
able? Itiwas certainly natural. Nobody
can wonder at the feelings with which the
/ intelligence Of this great victory was re-
ceived at the time and recalled for many a
wear afterward. Not only was it fierce
| stand I'D fight between rival nations under
| their most renowned commanders, but in
one sense it was really decisve.s 1t ter
| minated the great wars of the French rev.
olution,W After Waterloo the, land had
peace. A generation of wars then, came
4 to an end, and new era of peace and pro-
! press commenced. But that is not what
we mean by one of the decisive battles of
| the world. In that sense q decisive battle
| is battle which decides some great issue
once and for all, which crilshes one cause
and sets llp another, which turnsthe stream
of history into affixed and permanent chan
mel, and which stands out as a landmark in
such views for all time. .
| 1t was decisive battle in which Charles
| Martel beat back the Saracens, and saved
i Europe from their predominence. Mara
thon and Pharsalia were decisive battles,
| and we know what came Of them. But
what came of Waterloo? Beyond the forty
years peace, secured by the exhaustion OF
| the world, what followed upon the victory
of June l5, 1915? we can tell what was
thought and believed to follow. We be-
/ lieved, all of us, that we had rescued Eu-
rope from another series Of battles which
| Napoleon would have brought about,
1--we ho,Lght that zoe had put an end to French
rerolutiofs and its principles that zee had re-
stored to the dynasty Of che ,Bouroons IN
FYttuce, and ertinguished the Empire and the
dupdsty by acIlich it had, been created. How
much of all this has come TO pass? Did
we really turn the stream OF French his
tory into its old channel and obliterate
every trace of the new channel in which 1t
had been running? Did Waterloo really de-
eide the issues between the ideas or Ma
poleon and the ideas of the old Monarchy
| Did ii, in fact, decide anything at all 6egopd
the reldtiUe strength Of theJ0rces engdgeaf yr,
| We say without hesitation that less de-
cisiye battle, in the true political sense OF
the term, was never fought. Instead of
stemming and turning a mighty current,
itset up nothing but a little porous dam
which was washed away by the stream be-
fore dozen years were out. The treaties
which followed have been torn to shreds,
and more remains Of the Thirty Years
War than of the Waterloo campaign. The
restored Bourbons were driven out OF
France again, twice, over. =. The; prescribed
d,y,,aStu came back again and relgnS aotC A
truer picture of France could notbe. given
than bv saying that what we now see iSothe
very reflection of what might have been
seen, allowing for differences or conditions
half century ago, II we had either never
fought the battle of Waterloo or had lost
it. 1.-The present ruler of France, is occu-
pied in applying, as far as circumstances
will admit, the principles to Which long
and atlast bitter experience had guided his
ancestors. -,,,,,. .,,.... Co.,
Assuming, as sforarguments sake wei may
that Napoleon in 1916 had really seen the
folIies of his fierce and unscrupplous ca
reer, it would follow that tohat zoe .tough
AGAINST then acdS simply ,uhdt zoe regard acttt;
out objection no,o. Wearenot imputing any
want of wisdom to the statesmen of thOst
times. They reasoned by their lights, anC
they could form no other conclusion thar
they did. They could not be expected t
believe in the transfiguration, OF the re
morseless conqueror into the man of peace
His own countrymen could not believe it
They were as little willing,lto accept bin
as we were, and M. Theirs admits that thei
incredulity was justitiable, Possibly, in
deed, even the man of Eloa was not yet en-
4 tirely the man OF st. Helena, but tits a
least certain that he was nolonger the maj
of Preshurgh or Tilsit, g r.,t -.,..i.,
N His dreams of European monarchy haC
been dispelled; his career OF conquest wa
over, and he would have been glad enough
!, to have been left undstqrbed. But it wa
:, too late, and Waterloo decided that'po fresl
trial should be allowed him. 1t decided
| however, nothing else. T.. AL the Historical
part OF the question had been decided be
I fore in the SHOWS of Russia or the plains Q
: CASTLE. There, IL anywhere, was the de
( cisive battle of those wars. At Waterlo,
/ the disturber ofthe worlds peace was pun
! ished, but that is all. The ideas ,cfich Il
] represented survived I. thes dynasty tohich h
= founded rose again, and The ruins on 1ohich III
! throne had been raised it Iods found beyond Oh
| Do,ber to reconstruct. Under such cirlum
/ stances, we think the celebration of Water
! Hoo might, as well be discontinued, Th
. victory was q splendid military achieve
I ment, but the policy which the war ex
pressed was no enduring or successful
! policy. 2 The battle was a battlewhichs sol
| diers NAV we'll lremember,s but it decide