The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-01-19
LOST CAUSES

$40 the victor belongs the spoils"
but to the vanquished often belongs
the greater glory. 1t was SO when
the brave Belgians fought so stub
bornly and CALAMITY against impossi-
Bile odds when the Teuton military
machine swept over their land. And
IT has always been so since mighty
Hpmnibal met his match at last in the
willy Fabius The southern states
fce4ebrate today the 10th anniversary
Of the birth of one of the greatest of
1.-THE heroes of lost causes Robert d.
tLee-a great general whose ability
land nobility Of character are now as
fully recognized in thei North as, in
the South.
/ The name OF Lee is but one in an
Industrious company of.those who have
Fought and lost, and yet gained am
mUftal glory thereby Spartacus, the
old gladiator who led the slaves of
Rome in their great revolt, looms
more imposing in history than Crascus,
who at last, cut his army to pieces.
1sOf the vanquished heroes Of a lat
err day, Kosciusko, the Polish patriot,
! ranks among the greatest In his
/, young manhood he fought FOR the col
Ionists in the American revolution. On
| his return to Poland he became the
military leader sof the patriots, and at
Dubienka held a position for five days
with only 1000 men against is, 600.
Later he became dictator and COM
/ mander- in-chief Of the national
Movement, and fought vaHantly
I against superior numbers. Taken
prisoner at length, the Russian EN-
peror soon restored him to his lib
erty, and he died in Switzerland just
century ago this year, by the fall of
his horse over a precipice.
Louis. Kossuth, the leader OF the
Hungarian revolution in 184S, was an
other military leader who gained glory
in defeat. When his countrymen re-
VOTED against. the Hapsburg tyranny,
Kossuth was placed at the head OF
the Committee of National Defense.
Within a few weeks he had flung
aside the Austrians and advanced al
most to the gates of Vienna. In 1S47|
a, Hungarian republic was declared,
with Kossuth at it's head, but inter-
nal dissensions and overpowering odds
vanquished the brilliant leader. He
fled to Turkey. and the Sultan was
about to turn him over to the Haps-
burg vengeance, but France, Great
Britain and the United States protest
ed, and the Hungarian patriot found
safety on board an American frigate.
It is seldom that the hero Of a lost
cause has turned misfortune to such
good account as General Louis Botha,
who was commander-in-chief of the
Boer forces in the war with Great Bri-
tain, and is now the civil and mill
tary head of the Union Of South Afri-
ca, and as such has again proved his
military ability by fighting under the
flag Of his former enemy.
OF the hundreds who might be
mentioned as Of the company Of Lee
! and other vanquished heroes, the
blackAskinned Toussaint POuverture is
worthy of honorable mention. After
making himself the master Of the en-
tire island of. Haiti the "black Wash
ington' was at last taken a prisoner,
and died in confinement in a French
chateau.
Francisco Miranda, who died in a
dungeon in Spain little more than a
century ago, is South Americas great
est hero Of lost cause. He planted
the seeds OF the rebellion OF which
Bolivar reaped the harvest and the
glory. and was betrayed into the
hands of the Spaniards by the man
who was afterwards honored as the
greatest liberator.