* (* John Mitchell,
the Irish Nationalist, said in a letter to the Dublin Nation that
there were 40,000 Irishmen in the Southern armies. The Times,
February 7, 1863.) For the consistent ill-success of the Federals the
superior marksmanship and finer horsemanship of the Confederates
cannot, therefore, be accepted as sufficient explanation.
In defence the balance of endurance inclined neither to one side nor
the other. Both Southerner and Northerner displayed that stubborn
resolve to maintain their ground which is the peculiar attribute of
the Anglo-Saxon. To claim for any one race a pre-eminence of valour
is repugnant alike to good taste and to sound sense. Courage and
endurance are widely distributed over the world's surface, and
political institutions, the national conception of duty, the
efficiency of the corps of officers, and love of country, are the
foundation of vigour and staunchness in the field. Yet it is a fact
which can hardly be ignored, that from Crecy to Inkermann there have
been exceedingly few instances where an English army, large or small,
has been driven from a position. In the great struggle with France,
neither Napoleon nor his marshals, although the armies of every other
European nation had fled before them, could boast of having broken
the English infantry; and no soldiers have ever received a prouder
tribute than the admission of a generous enemy, "They never know when
they are beaten.
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