New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-05-13

IS differentiated from the bow
The play OF new forces is as evident IN
the moral and spiritual world as in the
world Of the mind and the body. Forces
for good and forces for evil are everywhere
evident, each acting with hundred or a
thousand fold the intensity with which Il
acted In former ages. Over the whole earth
the swing OF the pendulum grows more
and more rapid, the handspring coils ana
spreads at a rate constantly quickenins'
the whole world movement is Of constantly
accelerating velocity.
WcTld's Speed Too Great.
In this movement there are signs OF much
that BODIES III. The machinery is so highly
geared. the tension and strain are so great,
the effort and the output have alike so IL
creased that there is cause to dread the
ruin that would come from any great acc
dent, from any breakdown, and also the
ruin that may come from the mere wearin :
out of the machineitself The only previous
civilization with which our modern cIFiiiza- :
ton can be in any way compared is that
period of Greco-Ronan civilization extend
ing, say. from the. Athens of Themistocles
20 the Rome of Marcus Aurelius- Many or
the forces and tendencies which were then
luxury and refinement, wide material con-
quests, territorial administration on vast
scale, an increase in the mastery of me-
chanical appliances and in applied science
all these mark our civilization as they
marked the wonderful civilization that
flourished in the Mediterranean lands
twenty centuries ago; and they preceded
the downfall of the older civilization. Yet
81, III a-,d of
are quite as striking as the similarities
The single fact that the old civilization
was based upon slavery shows the chasrn
that separates the two. Let me point out
one further and very significant difference
in the development Of the two civilizations.
a difference so obvious that it is astonish-
ing that it has not been dwelt upon by men
of letters.
One of the prime dangers of civilization
has always been its tendency to cause the
loss of the virile fighting virtues. of the
fighting edge. When men get too comfort
able and lead too luxurious lives there -
always danger lest the softness eat like an
acid into their manliness of fibre. The bar
barian. because of the very conditions OF
his life, is forced TO keep and develop GER
tain hardy qualities which the man o.
civilization tends TO lose, whether he BE-
clerk. factory hand. merchant or even q
certain type of farmer.
Efforts to Remedy the Conditions
Now I will not assert that in modern
civilized society these tendencies have been
wholly overcome; but there has been &
much more successful effort to overcome
them than was the case in the early civil
izations This is curfously shown by the
military history of the Greco-Roman period
as compared with the history Of the last
four or five centuries here in Europe and
among nations Of European descent. IN
the Grecian and Roman military history
the change was steadily from a citizen
army to an army of mercenaries. In the
DAYS of the early greatness Of Athens
Thebes and Sparta, in the days when the
Roman republic conquered what world 1t
knew the armies were filled with citlzeh
soldiers. But gradually the citizens refused
to serve in the armies, or became unable
to render good service. The Greek states
described by Polybius, with but few excep-
tions. hired others to do their fighting foS
them. The Romans Of the days Of Angus
tus had utterly ceased to furnish any cav
airy, and were rapidly ceasing to furnish
any infantry, to the legions and cohorts
When the civilization came to an end there
were no longer citizens in the ranks of the
soldiers The change from the citizen army
TO the army of rnercenaries had been COM
pleted.
pisappearance of Mercenary Troops.
Now, the exact reverse has been the case
with US in modern times few centuries
ago the mercenary soldier was the prlnci-
pal figure in most armies, and in great
numbers of cases the mercenary soldiec
was an alien. In the wars of religion IN
France. in the Thirty Years War in Ger
many in the wars that Immediately there
after marked the beginning of the breakup
of the great Polish kingdom, the regiments
and brigades of foreign soldiers formed a
striking and leading feature in every army
Too often the men of the country in which
the fighting took place played merely the
tgnobIe part Of victims, the burghers and
peasants appearing in but limited numbers
in the mercenary armies by which they
were plundered. Gradually this has all
changed. until now practically every army
is a citizen army. and the mercenary has
almost disappeared. while the army exists
on a yaster scale than ever before IN his
tory This is so among the military mon
arches of Europe.
The Spirit of the Civil War.
In our own Civil War of the United States
the same thing occurred peaceful people az
we are At that time more than two gen
erations had passed since the War for IN
dependence During the whole Of that
period the people had been engaged in no
life and death struggle: and yet when the
Civil War broke out, and after some costly
and bitter lessons at the beginning, the
fighting spirit of the people was shown 20
better advantage than ever before The
war was peculiarly a war for principle. a
war waged by each side for an IDEAL and
while faults and shortcomings were plenti-
full among the combatants, there was COM
paratively little sordidness OF motive or
conduct In such a giant struggle, where
across the warp of so many interests Is
shot the wool of so many purposes. dark
strands and bright. strands sombre and
brilliant, are always intertwined; inev-
ftabIy there was corruption here and there
in the Civil War but all the leaders OF
both sides and the great majority OF the
enormous masses of fighting men wholly
disregarded and were wholly unfnfiuenced
bv pecuniary considerations. There were,
of course, foreigners who came over TO
serve as soldiers OF fortune for money or
for love OF adventure; but the foreign born
citizens served in much the same proper
ton as and from the same motives as. the
native born. Taken as whole. il was. even
more than the Revolutionary War. true