The Life and Public Services of Ambrose E. Burnside

operations, and in care for the health and comfort of his men; and, although not sparing them in case of necessity, in his conservative regard for their safety.

He made war, not only on scientific principles, but with a constant reference to the purpose of the war, an honorable peace; and at all times, in all circumstances, he was actuated by a high patriotic impulse. Singularly magnanimous and unselfish, his whole thought was for his country, never for himself. After he had withdrawn from the command of the Army of the Potomac, and the President refused to receive the resignation of his commission, he cheerfully accepted service under a man whom he had commanded, and in repeated instances served under his juniors in rank. This self-abnegation, this supreme regard for the cause, of which few men are capable, added largely to his efficiency. In addition to these qualities of a general, he possessed that magnetic power which attracted to him the love and confidence of the men under his command, which made them yield a willing obedience to his orders, and inspired them with an eager desire to deserve his approbation. He fulfilled in an uncommon degree the requisites of a good general as enumerated by Edmund Burke:

“The fortitude required of him is very different from the unthinking alacrity of the common soldier, or common sailor, in the face of danger and death. It is not a passion, it is not an impulse, it is not a sentiment; it is a cool, steady, deliberate principle, always present, always equable; having no connexion with anger; tempering honor with prudence; incited, invigorated, and sustained by a generous love of fame; informed,

moderated, and directed by an enlarged knowledge of its own great public ends; flowing in one blended stream from the opposite sources of the heart and the head; carrying in itself its own commission, and proving its title to every other command by the first and most difficult commandthat of the bosom in which it resides. It is a fortitude which unites with the courage of the field the more exalted and refined courage of the council; which knows as well to retreat as to advance; which can conquer as well by delay as by the rapidity of a march, or the impetuosity of an attack; which can be, with Fabius, the black cloud that lowers on the tops of the mountains, or with Scipio, the thunderbolt of war; which, undismayed by false shame, can patiently endure the severest trial that a gallant spirit can undergo, in the taunts and provocations of the enemy, the suspicions, the cold respect, and mouth honor' of those from whom it should meet a cheerful obedience; which, undisturbed by false humanity, can calmly assume that most awful moral responsibility of deciding when victory may be too dearly purchased by the loss of a single life, and when the safety and glory of their country may demand the certain sacrifice of thousands."

The latter portion of this admirable paragraph might have been written on the contemplation of BURNSIDE'S military character. Impartial history will accord to him a name among the heroic characters of the country, and worthy to stand with those other great commanders, Greene and Perry.

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