The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1894-08-16

PROVIDENCE.
BY MEMBER OF CLASS &.

| think it was Napoleon who said: "Provi-
dence is always on the side Of the heaviest bat
talliOnS.' which was proven untrue in some of
his marvellous victories. notably those last glOrl-
Gus rallies of the early part of 1911, and in his
crushing defeat
Strategy in choosing place and time OF battle.
and tactical skill and rapid perception on the
part of the commanding general during the |
fight have neutraliZed. from CreSSy down, the |
weight of many a surplus battalion.
But it is not for this reason alone that deny
that the South was defeated by numbers. For
at the very last there was an abundance of fight
ing material still left to make a cng-draWn and
ugly quarrel had they had equipments NUM-
tons and food to any fair and reliable extent.
The iron Duke-the great Wellington, was. in
my opinion, a greater tactlclan and strateglSt
than any general of modern days, but lacking
that personal magnetism to sweep mems senses
away and work marvelS such as GuStaVuS Adolf
plus and Napoleon could. He, when asked
what was the first requisite of victory, replied
laconcally: Boots; the second and third re-
quisites, he replied, were also boots
| With an army we'll shod and sound of foot he
slipped out of many bad position to take up
ground he knew thoroughly and willing to
receive battle on, and his browning glory was
Waterloo, chosen and studied by him as the
most favorable place between Paris and Brus-
sells on which TO meet the veterans of France
with the inyncible Napoleon at their head.
There the wonderful strength of the position and
the thorough knowledge of Napoleonic tactics
enabled him TO not only withstand the surplus
weight of che opposing. but the inferior quality,
as soldiers. of fully ore third his force. With
Hugomont and La Haye Sainte to protect his
that the overwhelming battalliOns could not be
hurled upon him with one fell swOop, which was
the BOnaparte coup.
| But it is the great "SeceSh'' war [ am now
here to consider and have cited these two grand
masters of the art to point my moral and adOrn
my tale.
Had Albert Sidney johnson not been killed,
the battle of Pittsburg Landing would have been
won by the South. Grant would not have come
to the 'front.' (for he fully deserved ignomnous
defeat to have been SO surprised) and the posi-
bilities of the war would have been completely
altered But Providence had not only finger
but a whole hand and arIA in this war pie. The
maker and ruler of men had decided that in no
civilized land should men be longer chattel.
Had the South such statesmen as it had brave
soldiers and able generals the slavery question
would never have been allowed to be the bone of
contention. On the pure question of states rights
to split from the old Federation and confederate
on newer and more rational territorial lines, the
sympathy of all Europe except perhaps of Rus
STA, was with the South, and France and. / be-
eive, Austria, stood ready to acknowledge their
belligerant rights had England joined them.
England. too, believed in the constitutional
rights of the several states to Secede from the
old and form a new federation. but neither
government or people could lend support. as a
people, to those who believed in holding fellow
man in bondage as an article of traffic. Lin
) coins master mind grasped the situation and
? by the proclamation of liberation knocked the
king bolt out of the confederate supply wagon
and the end advanced with rapid strides to cul-
, inmate with the surrender of Lees starved, rag
, ged and munitiOnless heroes. When Henry the
Fifth, OF England, preparing to meet the
the overwhelmingly numerous army of France
} at Agincourt he took good care that his men
: fought after a hearty meal.
No! 1t was not numbers that conquered the
South but bad cause. The wrong will some
times triumph for season; but in the end
right light and truth will lift themselves up out
of the carnage to turn defeat into victory.