THE WOES OF WAR.
Sin—Those who do not join in the clamorrr against the men , who Willa misfortune to be called to direct the first operations of the disastrous war in -which we are engaged, must expect-to be accused of-indifference to the lives and sufferings of our-admirable soldiers. Let them, however, boldly throw back the accusation upon the -promoters -of theiwar—Apon those who mine- presented and calumniated the few virtuous statesmen who laboured to avert that ealamity from us; uponthose who availed themselves of the ignorance and the _passions of the people; daily threw oil upon the flames of popular indignation, daily heaped obloquy upon the Ministers who hesitated to plunge-the ,country into unknown -enterprises and =fathomed difficulties. Opontheir heads bethe misery, suffering, -death in all lie most terrific forms, which are the invariable and inseparable attendants of war. It is possible that this horrible alternative might have been found inevitable. What is certain is, that nothing that could be done by the incitements of the press and the exasperation of the people to make it so, was wanting. The war -was undertaken without further delay—why ? Because the press and the people would have it. The expediticmto Sebastopol was undertaken without information--why ? Because the 'press and the ,people would have it. justly, too justly, has this .been called ".The2eople'sM' War." Let the people, then, take the trouble to study what have been the incidents, what the horrors of all former wars; and letthem.not-now affect a late and unavail- ing pity for the victims•they bave °how:into immolate. To go no further back than the last war which desolated Europe. We are .00ntinually called on to -admire, nay, .(is itteredible ?) twenvy, the military organization of the French army ; and we.are told of the genius of its great founder. Leaving for the present out of 'the question the spectacle of Napo- leon's altered fortunes—of the awful years of disaster—let us look for a mo- ment at the condition of his troops in 1807, the year of the apogee of 'his glory, and the year in which he had Prussia under his feet and marched from triumph to triumph. Nor will we .advert to the dreadful sufferings of the armies which fought and won the battles of Friedland, Eylau, and so many others. The few following extracts-from the Correspondence of Joseph Bona- parte, then Ring of Naples, with his sovereign and brother,*relate only to the -troops serving in a vanquished country, and that country the one possessing the finest climate, the most fertile soil, the oldest civilization in Europe. Jo- mph's armies.had no one to oppese.theminit the so-called " brigands' of the country, and the small body of English troops encamped in Sicily. Yet under all these favourable circumstances—led by officers experienced and .hardened during more than ten years of incessant warfare, seven years after the battle of Marengo had made'them masters of Italy—this was their con- dition, these were their.aufferinga and privations. And we affect wonder, -disappointment, distress, indignation, thatan 'army new to war, utterly ignorant of its probable exigencies, transported -three thousand miles from ants resources, to a country of which nothing was known save that it was barbarous, should fall a victim to untried and un- expected evils! Surely there is, if not hypocrisy, -frightful inconsistency and levity in this. All thinking men felt that our noble and brave soldiers were sent out, in the .strength and beauty of their manhood, as victims adorned for the altar. .But who, amid the shouting crowds that hailed their departure with all the noisy recklessness of secure spectators of a terrible Ahow—who would have ventured to express his forebodings ? We know what awaited the few who dared to express doubt, or 'hesitation, or even regret, concerning the war. It is for them, and not for the ninny whose language was a perpetual trumpet-call, to lament-worthily, andoonsistently, and with a clear conscience, over-the victims of war.
Letter from Joseph to Napoleon. Dated Naples, 14th 'September 1806. " La marche quo nous faisens our 'Reggio est fatale a la sante demos troupes." (P. 201.)
" Nous ne trouvons plus Tien en Calabre; ce pays est ravage, depouille tie -tout, . . . . Les biscuits que votre Majeste a eu la bonte de nous enveyer sont detestables ; ids sont pleins de toilea d'araignee, de vets, et de sable ; "-enverrai a votre /ifajeste le proves 'verbal d'expertise. Your en aeons recu fW male rations ; on noun en ensconce 1200 milk. Je prie votre Majeste de ne pas nous en faire envoyer davantage ; is ne vele& pas le transport. Hum la gnerre que je foie .one .paire de soulless ne duos pas plus d' un rums anx soldats." (P. 202.) joseph.to _Napoleon. _Portia, .26th October 1806. " J'ai fait partir pour leurs depots 101.24, 30, 7, et 23 dragons; ces corps sont chimes par leur sejour dans les ctuitonnemens de Salerne et de la die. C'est un pays-col les detaehements enders sent marts dens.trois fours par k mauvais air. Le 7e qui a ete en Calabre a encore plus oouffert. Lour storm del l'hiver les acheverait." (P. 223.)
Joseph to Napoleon. Naples, 14th January 1807.
" 11 en est beaucoup, Sire, (des troupes qui out fat la campagne -en Calabre,) qui out perdnjusgy au tiers ..1.eur monde par les fatigues, les maladies, et le fer de Pennenu." (P. 291)
Joseph to Napoleon. Naples, 22d January 1807.
"Dans un pays -de montagnes tree hantes et coupe de torrents, le soldat eat rlblige de lea passer a lean; it est tcrujours en mardlie. Quelques efforts quo Ton fosse it marque d'habillement et de spellers. Dans dix jours une pane de souliens est line." (P. 295.)
Letter from Napoleon to Joseph. Osterode, let March 1807.
" Le General Cesar Berthier vous dira retat de la-GrazdeAnnee. Olficiers d'etat major, colonels, officiers, ne se sent pas dethabdles depuis deux mole, et guelgues-uns depuis guatre,' Val moi-mete etc quinze jours sans Ater sues bottes,) au milieu de la neige et de is boue ; sans pain, sans vim, sans ean- de-vie ; mangeant des ponimes-de-terre et de in viande ; faisant de longues marches et contra-marches sans aucune capeoe de dowser ; se battant a la baionnette at soua la mitraille urea souvent ; les blesses obliges de a'evacuer en traineana en plein air pendant cinquante lienx "Au milieu de ces gran es fatigues tout le monde a ate plus ou moms ma- lade : our moi je ne me suis ,lanais trouve plus fort et j'ai engraime."
Joseph to Napoleon. Castellamare, let August 1807.
"Lee troupes tombent malades dans cette saloon apres les mob:Ores marches. Depuis un mois j'ai beaucoup de malades ; beaucoup de regimens de 1800 hommes n'en ont pas 400 en etat de marcher:" (P. 413.)
• Memoires at Oorrespondancepotitique -et militaire du Rosi Jassph. VoLLIL Paria,18.54.
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