Los Angeles herald., 1891-01-26
MONDAY, JANUARY 2e, 1891.
A ROMANTIC CABRERA C0NFEDER-
ATE PARTIZAN LEADER.

A ROMANTIC CABRERA CONFEDER-
ATE PARTIZAN LEADER.
We have lately devoted some spare
moments to the reading of the memoirs
of Colonel John s. Mosby, the partizan
leader Of the war of the rebellion. We
have no intention Of writing a book re-
view in this article, and yet it will be
altogether devoted to Mosby's book,
with such incidental reflections as may
be appropriate to the subject. 1t has
generally been remarked, that men OF
affairs are not happy in the methods of
their attempts at book-making. This
remark applies as fully to Grant, the re-
nowned generalissimo of the union
army, as it does to Mosby, the romantic
exemplar of partizan warfare on the
southern side. 1t not only applies to
Grant and Mosby, but t. all great lead
ers in war, with the signal and singular
exceptions of Julius Caesar and Napoleon
Bonaparte, two celebrities who were
unquestionably the finest takers that
ever lived. Cicero admitted that if
Caesar had had time to devote his atten-
tion to purely forensic efforts his own
pre-eminence as an orator would have
been threatened-would, perhaps, have
had to be surrendered. The charming
conversations of the Count de las Casas,
and the discursive notes of DIR. O'Meara,
also aiming to reproduce fragments OF
the conversation of the great Napoleon
at st. Helena, show that that unrivaled
conqueror and lawgiver was the most
brilliant conversationalist of all times.
It is probable that if he had been ac-
corded time and opportunity, in addi-
tion to the Code Napoleon, he would
have written even brighter books than
Caesar.
Not only have most military men been
incapable of writing history with the
grace ami succinctness of Xenophon, the
graphic and electric movement of Caesar,
or the luminous perspicuity and detail
compelling sorcery Of Napoleon the
First, but even the grand necromancers
OF science have failed to achieve distinc-
tion in the making of books. Charles
Lamb, in his Ella essays, under the head
of "books that are not books" has writ
ten something indescribably interesting,
and has succeeded in relegating to OBJ
scurity many pretentious treatises. The
mere fact that book is properly printed
and bound, and has all the verisimili-
tude of thing of wisdom or worth,
counts for nothing. 1t may be bad
book, as book per Sc, and it may vet
be invaluable to the public. Warm
hagan Won Ense, the intimate friend
and the literary executor of Alexander
Won Humboldt, said that that illustrious
savant had every fault which the maker
of book could have. He did not know
how to divide his work into chapters,
his chapters into paragraphs, or
his paragraphs into sentences.
Yet, none the less, the Cosmos
and other works of Alexander Won Hum
boldt stand very high indeed, and their
worth and estimation will increase as
the years roll round.
Colonel John s. Mosby has at least
one thing in common with Alexander
Won Humboldt-he does not know how
to make book At the same time his
"reminiscences are absorbingly interest
ing.
A century from now the south will oc-
cupy in the annals of the United States
precisely the relation which the Stuarts
held in the history of Great Britain
when the author of Waverley began his
series OF matchless novels. No one, at
the time Scott began his wizard narra-
tives, cared anything for the Duke of
Cumberland, the brutal victor of CulIo-
den. The chevalier Prince George en-
crossed all the eclat and romance of the
day-an aureola which was afterwards
transmitted to the brow of "Bonnie
Prince Charlie" Success counts for
little when the wand OF genius essays its
work.
Mosby's "reminiscences abound in
striking passages of individual daring
and gallantry. With an incredibly
small force, which often melted away to
nothing, and was again swollen to fig
ure which made it terror to the whole
federal army, he created partizan force
which was of incalculable value to the
confederate army. The distorted and
nearly always false accounts of his
movements which figured in the reports
of the commanders of corps in the union
army, and in the correspondence of rep
resentatives OF the press at federal head.
quarters, show too clearly to admit of
doubt that Mosby's work was OF most
substantial benefit to the confederate
cause. If there were any doubt of this
fact, the frequent concentrations Of the
partizan leader by General j. E. B.
Stewart and General Robert E. Lee
would remove it.
Mosby started as private, and his
conspicuous gallantry, daring and ac-
tivity soon cnt out career for him,
whose usefulness the confederate mill