THE MILITARY AND NAVAL SITUATION, AND THE GLORIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS OF OUR SOLDIERS AND SAILORS.. I. THE COURSE AND CONDUCT OF THE WAR'. A wise maxim of the greatest general of antiquity prescribes that we' should esteem nothing done till all is done; but it is probable that its intent is rather to point out the danger of that indolent dwelling on the deeds of tte past which shuts out of view the duties and demands of the present, than to discourage (especially when a great task is laid upon a nation) such a retrospect of what has already been accomplished as will inspire courage for carrying it through to the end. The country has lately passed through that trying experience which- history shows is sure to come upon a people plunged into a great war,- a period when the first popular enthusiasm having died out, the bur-- dens and the bereavements of the war are brought keenly home to all,! and a reaction of general despondency results. In this mood of the public mind men forget that while they have suffered the enemy also’ has suffered in an equal or even greater degree, and that too, perhaps, without the same ability to sustain his losses; they forget while dwelling on their own defeats, that every victory they have won has been an equally sore defeat to the enemy. When this time comes then comes the test of the mettle of a people. If weak they sink under it; but the great-minded rise up stronger for the ordeal. The feeling of depression which but lately prevailed regarding the seemingly indefinite prolongation of the war, and which is still felt by some, is a singular repetition of an experience which ^as frequently been felt by other nations conducting a long war. It has often happened that men on the very eve of the conclusion of a war have locked upon it as promising the longest duration ; and it will be in the memory of many that just previous to the termination of the Uri- mean war, even as sagacious an observer as Mr. Cobden had just concluded proving in a pamphlet that it was certain to be prolonged for many years. It thus frequently happens that war, which in its practical execution deals so largely in deception, is itself the greatest of deceptions. When after years, perhaps, of strife, great armies still confront each other, it is hard to penetrate its outlet or issue ; but some sudden turn of affairs precipitates the catastrophe long preparing and in the flames of a Waterloo, a Cannse, or a Pultowa, fabrics and sys- tems seemingly firm-rooted and imperishable go out in ashes and nothingness. At the outbreak of the rebellion the public mind became possessed with illusive anticipations that the war would be $ short one—that our victorious columns sweeping the rebels before them in their tm-
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