The Butler weekly times., 1897-12-02

oOUtU. 1tS &!tlleS were fS enforced
nd assisted by GOO ships Of war,
manned by $4,000 sailors. 1t had
credit. which meant an ,
unlimited supply Of money. 1t had
manufactures 10 make everything
needed to arm and epuip-to supply
and maintain its armies and fleets.
II had railroads running in every
direction for the transportation Of
its troops, 50 that soldiers who were
lighting in Missouri one week could
be lighting in Virginia CT Tennessee
or Georgia the next week. 1t had
intercourse with the whole world
and could draw reci ui,s for its army
and navy from the whole world. The
South had none Of these advantages,
or had them only to limited extent.
But, notwithstanding all its advan,
tages, i. took the North four years
to crush the South, and then it did |
it by a grinding process and without
having gained a single decisive
victory.
Taking the troops in the field on
the Southern side, we hold that
those of no state acquitted them
selves with more honor and courage
than those of Missouri. The splendid
record made by the Missouriaus at
the battle of Wilson's Greek was an
ins piration to all Missouri com.
mands during the war. We are
borne out by the testimony Of
the commanders of the armies in
which they served, when We Say the
First aud Second Missouri Brigades
east of the Mississippi river, more
fully represented the chivalry and
lighting qualities OF those armies, in
the long list of battles from Shiloh
to the fall of Mobile, than the troops
from any other state. On the west
side Of the Mississippi river, the
Missouri troops were always 1t the
front, whether the fighting was in
| Louisiana, Arkansas or Missouri
, And when the end came they were
. the only troops in the transmissis
sippi department who opposed te
the last laying down their arms and
giving up the struggle-vho pre-
, felTed exile to surrender.
1T is the lesson of history tha
+ be people of any political commun
E ,ty who ara not able and willing t
+ defend their rights soon have n.
Z rights to defend. The talk in vogu,
. about the brotherhood OF man ant
II The cessation Of war does no grea
n harm, perhaps, as the expression
g of an abstract sentiment. Blu
: the hun lreds Of millions O
r. unwarlike people of India held il
n -uhjec.ion by a few regiments O
O British soldiers, and the helplessnes
c of that great inert mass of humanity
4 he Chinese people who have bee
n taught to despise war and look upo
- soldiership as the lowest of huma
!. cailings, show that, practically, th
IS sentiment is not only wrong bu
i, dangerous. Nations are as muc
}. dispose to appeal to the swor
t. day as in any age of the worl'
20 Europe Is bristling with armed me
>. from the Bospborus to the Britia
4 Chat n.i, and from the Baltic to Il
Mediterranean Sea, and the nstiol
@. nly withhold their hands from eae
h. others throats because in the mui,
"a tude of nationalities, the stronge
"a of them cannot foresee the result
90 a general war, if one should
it. ipsugurated.
. in the impending crash OF n
10 ,ion., in which Asia will be involve
&c as we'll as Europe, America 40 VI
It as Asia, Africa 40 we'll as America.
m- the United States will have to Ia
ho It's cbauces-the South as we'll
-, the North, and Missouri along wi
~ other states Is this q time, the
ny for Misssurians to forget or igno
er the lessons of soldiersbip taug
ty them by Price and Harmaduke, al
ho Shelby and Bowen aud Weightma
and thousands of other dead al
living heroes OF the war in viii
'u- s,ron ne men struggled valiantly +
lat the mastery To men OF southe
an s,npa,hies-men of the old phone
-,here il much of instructi,