asm.

asm. I admit that in some particular idiosyncrasies, as for instance in that of Cromwell, or of Mahomet, this heterogeneous mixture may have been combined; but even then, these contradictory elements, like oil and vinegar, required a constant state of mo tion, and of action, to preserve their coalescence; in a state of inaction, and of repose, it was no longer an union, but the policy invariably got the ascendency of the enthusiWilliam the Third, on the contrary, and Washington, united three great essentials, courage, coolness, and conduct; but enthusiasm is the last thing I should impute to either of these men. If we look into White's Institutes of Tamerlane, or more properly speaking, of Timour the Lame, we shall find that there never was a character who had less to do with enthusiasm, than this Tartar hero, nor that despised it more. His whole progress was but one patient and persevering application of means to ends, causes to consequences, and effects to results.Without the slightest particle of any thing visionary or enthusiastic in himself, and with a certain quantum of contempt for these

qualities in others, he commenced his career. by being a lame driver of camels, and termimated it, by reigning over twenty-six independent principalities."

"There are some ideas afloat on this subject, that I cannot help conceiving to be both ruinous and wrong. I shall not despair of producing my own convictions on this subject with that portion of my readers, who think with me, that every war of mere ambition, aggression, or aggrandizement, is an evil both hateful and degrading; who think it a nuisance that ought to be abated, and who abominate every thing appertaining thereto, or connected therewith. Considered in the abstract, and unconnected with all views of the causes for which it may be undertaken, surely war is an evil that none but a misanthrope could conscientiously rejoice in, or consistently promote. But all men think not thus. There are minds, and powerful ones too, endowed with a right feeling, on every other subject, who seem to labour under some mental hallucination on this. In the first place, I am so unfortunate as not to be able to discover those marvellous efforts

of talent, gigantic combinations of power, and exundant fertility of resource, which some would persuade us are essential to great commanders, and confined to them alone. But setting aside the truism, that fortune, though blind, has often led the most sharp sighted hero to that victory which he would have lost without her, what qualities are there in a conqueror, which have not been held in common by the captain of a smuggler's crew, or a chief of banditti! The powers of these latter have been exhibited on a narrower stage, rewarded by a less illustrious exaltation, and recorded in a more inglorious calender. With some few exceptions he is the ablest general, that can practice the greatest deceit, and support it by the greatest violence; who can best develope the designs of others, and best conceal his own; who can best enact both parts of hypocrisy, by simulating to be what he is not, and dissembling that which he is; persuading his adversary that he is most strong when he is most weak, and most weak, when he is in fact most strong. He is not to be ever serupulous as to the justice of his cause

for might is his right, and artillery his argument; with the make-weight of courage thrown into the scale, there are few requisites for a Jonathan Wild, or a Turpin, that are not equally necessary for a Tippoo, or a Tamerlane. The difference is less in the

Thus the callous

things, than in the names. effrontery of the one, becomes the coolest presence of mind in the other; fraud is dignified by the title of skill, and robbery with that of requisition. To plot the death of an individual, is a conspiracy, but to confederate to destroy a people, is a coalition; and pillage and murder seem to lose their horrors, in precise proportion to the magnitude. of their scale, and the multitude of their victims. But a consummate captain must have courage, or at least be thought to have it, for courage, like charity, covers a multitude of sins; and he is by common consent allowed to sport with the lives of others, who is supposed to have no value for his own. But the time is fast approaching with many, and now is with the few, when mere military talent, abstractedly considered, and without any reference to the ends for which it is to be

displayed, will hardly secure its possessor a glory more long lived than a gazette, or a memorial more splendid than a sign-post. The fact is, that posterity has and will appreciate the merit of great commanders, not by the skill with which they have handled their tools, but by the uses to which they have applied them. But suppose we were to grant that the art of cutting throats were a very difficult art, yet even then the merits of this art must be measured, not by its difficulty, but by its utility; and the value of the remedy must be adjusted by the propriety of the application; but in resorting to such a remedy as war, I suspect it will be found that all the difficulty of such phlebotomy belongs to the patient, but the facilities to the surgeon. Mere martial glory, independent of all considerations as to the necessity and the justice of our arms, is now fast descending with many other worn out fooleries, to the tomb of all the Capulets, where, attended by bankrupt agents, disgorged contractors, and starving com saries, let us pray that with all due m honors, it may be speedily buried and balmed; let hireling poets indite its dinge, ad