New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-12-31
Britain at the Year End.

relief. In more than century there has
been no such period in British history,
no such span Of defeat, disappointment,
of great sacrifice and tremendous effort
which have outwardly brought so little
Of reward.
What has happened TO the British is
not TO be mistaken by Americans who re
member or know their Civil War history.
After the first few months Of surprise and
bewilderment the North settled down TO
It's great work of making armies, Of pro-
viding all'that was lacking-and all was
lacking-for the conduct of great war.
Men, money, the best of brains and of
hearts in our country were dedicated to
the task. By the time the Civil War
was a year old the North had splendid
armies, made up Of the bravest and the
best in its population. Yet who can for
get the bitter defeats that followed? Who
can fail 10 recall-thinking of British
misfortune-the disasters of the PENN
sula, of Second Bull Run, the lost chance
of Antietam, the shambles Of Fredericks-
burg, the disappointment of Chancellors-
vile, all of which came after the North
had an army and the men of the loyal
states had gone out to the field by the
hundred thousands?
The price that we in this country paid
for long years of neglect Of national de-
fence and of selfsnness the British are
having. Not all the devotion, the sacri-
flee. the bravery that responds in every
nation to the call of duty can make good
in month or year the sloth, the negli-
gence. the forgetting of decades. But
there is nothing comparable to the bitter
ness that comes when a nation has done
its best, when it has made the supreme
sacrifice. and for this there Is only the
sterile response of defeat and ever grow
ing casualty lists.
Thus from February TO December the
toll of British loss and the record of
British defeat and failure have grown
steadily; incompetent commanders, lncom-
plete preparations, follies Of selfish poll
ticians and mistakes of eager but ignorant
patriots have continued. From Neuve
Chapelle to the Dardanelles fasco the
British have known the deepest humilia-
ton and suffered from that depression
which must come when the steady martyr
dom Of the bravest and the truest sons Of
the nation seems all in vain.
Yet, If there be any word Of encour-
agement which Americans, to whom Brit
ish fortunes and British success have q
real meaning, can give to the nation
which shares their speech and tradition,
It must be TO repeat the history of the
great experience of the United States-to
point TO the fact that all the disappoint-
ments, defeats and temporary failures in
our own terrible war grew out of pre-
cisely the same causes that underlie pres
ent British failure and in the end were
not fatal to the cause for which the North
fought.
For three years of our great conflict the
generalship and the fortune Of war were
with the South. For three years no sac
rifce, no courage, no devotion of the men
of the North seemed of real avail. Yet
at last, when discipline, training and lead
ers had come, there was an end to defeat
and a reward for all the striving. There
was a reward out Of proportion even TO
the striving, for our country was saved
and our work for democracy continued.
There is every outward sign that the
time is at hand when the same reward
will be for the British. Many thousands
Of Americans have never despaired of
Allied success In the Great War, because
they believed that victory for Germany
would be a negation Of all that was noble
and worth while in human existence.
Now, for these Americans, who look for
ward 70 Allied victory with hope and
with faith, there is unmistakable evidence
Tat victory is no longer doubtful, that
German defeat is not merely assured, but
no longer far of.
Il may be Of some small comfort TO the
British people TO know, also, that for
Americans who preserve an affection for
Great Britain there Is a very firm belief
that the great test of war will prove for
England the greatest good that was con-
ceivable, and that there is visible TO us even
now evidence that the future for the Brit
ism Empire has been immeasurably In
creased by the Things that British sub
jects have done in the last seventeen
months. We Americans, like the French,
have fought national wars; we have
fought struggles upon our own soil, and
IL is only half century since the artillery
Of the enemy reached the environs Of our
own capital, since our fields and our cities
were In ruins. and fire and sword had
swept through thousands Of square miles
Of our states.
Out Of that terrible furnace Of our
rational war, Of war that called for
the last nau and the final effort our
,wn country1came forth nobler and a