The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-12-26
In English View of Confederate valOr.

From the London Saturday Review.l
In our present list of American publications are
included two works relating to the Confederate
war-one emapatiDg from a Northern, one appa-
reptly from a Southern source-each IN Is way
excellent, and both distinguished by a candid and
generous spirit too commonly conspicuous by its
absence in American accounts OF the great clyn
conflict. Mr.. Swlnton's volum y is strongly North
ern in tone, and the author shows his bias by
claiming FOR his section the victory IN seVeral Dat
ties which, whatever their ultimate results, GER
tainly terminated for the moment In ia ior OF the
South; yet he frankly acknowledges not only the
valor and devotion Of the Confederate scIulery,
and the skill OF their generals, but also the full
persuasion of the justice of their cause which AM
mated the whole Southern people, and the consci-
entious patriotism and unhesitating. sef-sacri1ce
of their military leaders. In no other Northern
history, so far e We can remember, have we met
with any passage displaying so cordial and honor,
able an appreciation Of the quality OF the defeated
enemy as the words which Mr.. Sw1nton uses in
describing the effect of the battle OF Gettysburg
on the subsequent course OF the war:
1.-THE thirty thousand put hors de combat at
Gettysburg were the very flower and etue OF that
Incompatible Southern infantry which, tempered
by two years OF battle and Infatuated to victory,
eoSuaned any soldiers that ever followed the eagles
to conquest
II we cannot say much for the style Of this SEN
tence, the temper which 1t evlnces Is sucn as 10
entltle Mr.. Swinton to a respect and commence
which We cannot extend to tue assertions or the
comments Of any other works on the Federal Sue.
And indeed the only serious fault we can hnd with
his narrative is a dlsp sition to underestimate the
immense disproportlon of numbers which, In
nearly every great battle Of the war, rendered the
task Of the Confederates so difficult, the chance II
defeat 30 serious, and victory, when achieved, at
once SO glorious and so often fruLess. 1t Is to
this disparity of force that we must chiefly ascrlbe
that peculiar feature of the war which is brought
in o strong relief by the construction Of MIR.
Swinton's work-namely, the fact that the battles
which he ranks as decisive were in several cases
either indecisive, so far as success on the field
was concerned, or were Northern defeats; while
armies gave to the Federals all the advantages
which, In q moro equal contest, could have been
secured by a brilliant victory. At .Antietam, at
Shiloh, at MurreesboroUgh, the Conf derates
gained all the honors OF victory. In the first, they
beat Lack an assaIing Federal army Of double
their own force; In the second, thew crushed the
enemy with whom they were first engaged, and
would have DESTROYED MN utterly but for the
arrival of an entirely fresh army, before which
thew withdrew at leisure, and III perfect order: the
third left them masters Of the field; and vet in
each case the issue of the campaign was alto
oether adverse, if rot absolutely disastrous to the
South. The Confederates were never strong
enough to press al advantage never in such a
situation that anything short OF the total rout of
the enemy would have aval!ed them. Dir. Swim
toms view Of the comparative importance and con-
sequence OF thSditferent battles OF the wat Is, on
the whole, we are inclined to think, a just one;
though We may doubt whether the battle OF the
Wilderness should have been included, or the cap
ture OF New Dreams omitted from the list. In MS
Judgment, the victory Of the South at Manassas,
or Bull Run, was decisive Of the duration OF the
war: if beaten there, the South would, he consid-
ers, have been speedily conquered. He omits to