The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1877-09-28
THE MILITARY SPIRIT.

WV '''fff 'f'N''' '''f'fff'l Nl'''' ~ fNN''N
10 possess III energy and intelligence
which is the foundation OF other traits
equally useful and necessary War Is
not pastlmo, Il requires selCdeniol,
industry, energy, strength and sacrifice,
No lazy, inert inefficient people cyor
made good warriors, Neither do We
hear Of them as reyolutoniaing COM
merce or as pushing II into new and
distant fields, II has been the history
Of the race that those nations exhibit.
ing the highest military traits have
been the most earnest and successful in
trade. The Jews were warlike peos
pie so long M they maintained their
nationality, but since they have ceased
10 keep up the war spirit of the people,
they have wandered over the earth
houseless and homeless The Greeks
and Romans maintained their intellec-
tual superiority only 80 long as
their armies stood in the van OF
war, Peter the Greats first success
was won on the field of Mars,
the second trcnched ON Neptune's do,
main, and in the workshops Of Russo,
Frederick the Great was a great capN
tain, and his military powers presup'
posed the possession Of all the other
qualities which were necessary TO de-
yelop him into one of the grandest ruiz
ers who ever conducted nation to
power and triumph. Napoleon, the
emperor OF conquerors, was political
economist, who stamped greatness in
all respects upon unworthy, becauseun-
willing France. The Code Napoleon
is monument to his fame, more endur.
ing than the memory of his proudest
battles, only the man who won Ma
rongo, and who triumphed at Austen
lita, was capable of restoring to France
what she had lost by the revolution.
The Russians have been u century in
preparing themselves for their great tri-
umph over France, They only sue
ceeded when the arts, science and com
MERGE had made them competent and
worthy. Military greatness is inseparable
from the very qualities which will make
II nation great in all other respects.
Coming down to our own day and
country, the pride felt in the early tri-
umphs of the soldiers of the revolution
has developed our citizens into nation
renowned in commerce. invention,
agriculture, literature and war. The
same spirit which held the frozen and
starved heroes Of Is together at Valley
Forge, afterward crowned them with
civic laurels in their struggles with the
western wilderness.
Would we perpetuato their virtues;
would we keep alive for all the future
the spirit which has civilized christian
lied and peopled continent within
the last three centuries We must do it
not by crushing out the military spirit,
which went before as the dOa},te courier
of civil progress. Since our late terrible
civil war, the men who were most eff
oent then US soldiers, are the most eff,
cient and successful now as civilians
lie who lacks the spirit to strive foi
success and triumph on the battlefield
will not win it in the cotton or wheat>
field.
The lad who puts feather in his cap
and who improvises q drum by raidins
on the cooks dominions, is nearly Ger,
tain to be heard from in another char,
acter before he lies down to rest In
government Such MS ours, whore large
standing army is too expensive a luxury
and where we may be called ON at any
time to defend an extended and ex
posed frontier, our only hope is in tn,
latent military spirit of the masses
Especially is this true now, since
our ultra civilization has brought with
it some OF its invariable attendants o
disorder, anarchy and dissatisfaction
The safety of government, of society, O
property and life, depends upon the
military strength and spirit of the peo
pie for where lawlessness bands itself
for work, the law must band for de-
Tense