CAPTAIN SWORD AND CAPTAIN PEN.

" THE object of this poem," says Mr. HUNT, "is to show the herrors of war, the false ideas of power produced in the minds of its leaders, and, by inference, the unfitness of those leaders for the government of the world." The poem constructed with this end in view is an allegory, wherein Captain Sword is the embodied idea of military commanders in general, and Captain Pen repre- sents the press. The poem opens with a picture of the " pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious war," in an army marching out for a campaign. The next scene takes us to a battle; the third to a ball given to Captain Sword after his victory; whence, as a contrast, we are carried back to the inconceivable horrors of the abandoned battle-field. The military gentleman is then shown drunk with success and power; and Captain Pen appears upon the stage.

Now tidings of Captain Sword and his state Were brought to the ears of Pen the Great ; Who rose and said, " His time is come."

And he sent him, but not by sound of drum, Nor trumpet, nor other hasty breath, lint with questions of life and death, But only a letter calm and mild. And Captain Sword he read it, and smiled, And said, half in scorn, and nothing in fear, (Though his wits seent'd restored by a danger near, For brave was he ever), " Let Captain Pen Bring at his back a million men, And I'll talk with his wisdom, and not till then."

Then replied to hi.. messenger Captain Pen, " bring at my back a world of men."

Out laugh'il the captains of Captain Sword ; But their chief look'd vex'd, and said not a word, For thought and trouble had touched his eats Beyond the bullet-like sense of theirs ; And wherever he went, he was 'ware of a sound Now heard in the distance, now gathering round, Which irk'd him to know what the issue might be; But the soul of the cause of it well guessed he.

Indestructible souls among men Were the souls of the line of Captain Pen ; Sages, patriots, martyrs mild, Going to the stake, as child Goeth with his prayer to bed ; Dungeon-beams, from quenchless head; Poets, making earth aware Of its wealth in good and fair ; And the headers to their intent, Of metal and of element; Of flame the enlightener, beauteous, And steam, that bursteth his iron house; And adamantine giants blind, That, without master, have no mind.

In short, Captain Pen, besides changing the world at large, corrupts the soldiers of his rival; and though Captain Sword offers to govern according to the new lights, it is determined to be neither right nor prudent to trust him ; and he is thrown aside to rust.

What had he with his worn-out story, To do with the cause he had wrong'd, and the glory ?

No: Captain Sword a sword was still, He could nut unteach his lordly will, Ile could not attemper his single thought, It might not be bent, nor newly wrought ; And so, like the tool of a disused art, He stood at his wall and rusted apart.

'Twas only fer many-sued Captain Pen To make a would of swordless men.

The lighter parts of the poem may be judged of from the spe- cimens given. In the higher, Mr. HUNT is not successful. The singular and microscopic observation which renders him so happy in his descriptions of every-day life, and sometimes so touching when alluding to domestic scenes, is not truthful, but lowering, if applied to subjects which require to be characterized by broad and massy and striking features. The object he had in view, too, has stood in the way of his success. In showing the horrors of war, lie minutely and rather coarsely paints the physical sufferings of the wounded; and, instead of exciting indignation, raises horror and disgust. It is no answer to the objection to say, that what lie has described may be found in the reality. It is neither the whole truth, the predominating truth, nor the general impression left upon the minds of those who mix in, of those who look upon, or .of those who read of a battle. The combatants forget the physi- cal sufferings of the comparative few around them, in the excite- ment of the action—the certaminis gaudia : the lookers-on, if' we can .fancy such, see nothing but the splendid though misty coup dcetl, which while it imposes upon the eye, astonishes the mind

at the effects of the scientific exercise that not only trains men to meet fate unshrinkingly, but even controls their passions at such

a fearful moment, and enables them to parade in the very teeth of death. Some of these things operate upon the reader ; who looks too with admiration at the skill of the generals, and at the courage,

endurance, and devotion of the men. To say that this ought not

to be, is merely saying that man ought to be other than he is ; but the business of a poet is to deal with nature as lie finds it. The

common opinions and feelings of man, the universal admiration of what poets have called the heroic, show that Mr. HUNTS mode of treatment is a false one: and the ultimate reason seems to be,. that in a battle, notwithstanding all its horrors, mind yet rises su- perior to matter—the qualities which dignify humanity predomi- nate over those which lower it ; an essential distinction that Mr.. HUNT reverses.

Let us not be understood for one moment as apologizing for war : and if we thought that Mr. num.'s naked description of hospital horrors were likely to diminish its occurrence, we would earnestly recommend the perusal of his battle-pieces. But we suspect that notions supported by so many prejudices, so many in- terests, and such long prescription, cannot be got rid of by mere sentiment. We must rely upon the schoolmaster. The political economist will show the immediate destruction of wealth w hich the ravages of war create, as well as the amount of wealth whose pro- duction they prevent ; and, pointing to those great monuments of Toryism—the national debts of nations, he will prove by figures how the game of princes tasks the energies and cripples the in- dustry of the people for ages after the game is over : from which three great premises, every living creature may conclude, that war will trench upon the domestic comforts and perhaps upon the daily bread of himself and his posterity. The political philosopher will show that conquests contribute nothing to good government, and that in the majority of the cases wars are merely got up by their rulers to prevent the people from attaining it. We ought to in- clude divines and moralists; but the experience of three thousand years makes us distrustful of their teaching. Perhaps the Deon- tologists will turn over a new leaf. Having in all friendship broken a lance with Mr. HUNT on a matter of opinion, we have much pleasure in giving currency to a most judicious and humane suggestion. We know not what others may think, but we have never read of a battle without a similar thought rising in the mind, and wondering why some such plan had not long since been adopted.

Even if nothing else were to come of inquiries into the horrors of war, surely they would cry aloud for some better provision against their extremity after battle, for some regulated and net twin assistance to the wounded and agonized,— so that we might hear no longer of men left in cold and misery all night, writh- ing with torture, of bodies stripped by prowlers, pedlars murderers, and of frenzied men, the other day the darling of their friends, dying two, and even several days after the battle, of famine. The field of Waterloo was not completely cleared of its dead and dying till nearly a week ! Surely large companies of men should be organized for the sole purpose of ii,isting and clearing away the field after battle. They should be steady men, not lightly admitted, nor unpossessed

ofsomc knowledge of surgery, and they should be attached to the surgeon's staff. Both sides would respect them for their office, and keep them sacred from vio- lence. Their ditties would be too painful and useful to get them disrespected-for

not joining in the fight ; and possibly, before long, they would help to do away their own necessity, by detailing what they beheld. Is that the reason why there is no such establishment ? The question is asked, not in bitterness, but to suggest a self-interrogation to the instincts of war.

The Postscript, from which the above passage is taken, is partly devoted to elucidating the truth of the facts described in the text,. and partly to inculcate the doctrine that the arbitrary opinions which command encourages, and the hardness of feeling that war. induces, unfit soldiers for the management of civil affairs. Ap- plied to the present day, we agree with the theory. Looking at the past, an aggregate of military rulers might be summed up who would not shrink from comparison with the average of civi- lians ; though the fact, perhaps, rather lowers statesmen than exalts soldiers ; whilst something must he allowed to the spirit of the times, which often required a government of force.