World Affairs Institute

INFLUENCE OF WAR ON DOMESTIC LIFE Author(s): THOMAS C. UPHAM Source: American Advocate of Peace (1834-1836), Vol. 1, No. 2 (SEPTEMBER, 1834), pp. 57-64 Published by: World Affairs Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/27886772 . Accessed: 04/10/2013 02:16
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ADVOCATE
No.

OF PEACE.
II.

SEPTEMBER,
Article .?.

1834?

INFLUENCE OF WAR ON DOMESTIC LIFE.

that, notwithstanding the inexpressible horrors of such a scene, men seldom turn away to contemplate the insulated objects of interest,scattered here and there in the distance. How many have dwelt with excited imaginations, and with a sincere feel ing of deep commiseration, on the carnage of Austerlitz and Waterloo, to whom itnever occurred to turn to the distracted sister, mourning in her distant home over her fallen brother ; or to themother weeping in solitude over her beloved son ; or to thewife, lamenting, with inexpressible grief, the untimely death of her husband ! We propose, therefore,in the remarks which are tofollow in this article, to indicate some of the unpro

In exhibiting the evils of war, more attention has generally been paid to the immediate horrors of the battle field, than to the lessmarked and more remote evil, which have been felt from this source in domestic life. So many attractions, address ed both to the sight and the imagination, throng around the memorable spot, where large armies meet and engage in battle,

pitious bearings ofWar on domestic life.?And in doing this it is hardly necessary to remark, that in domestic lifewe are to look for a large share of what yet remains of earthly quiet 8

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58

Influence of War

on Domestic

Life.

[Sept,

much

they turn their eyes to the domestic circle, especially when it is blessed with the presence of the serious and benign spirit of religion, they gladly acknowledge that there is one bright and illuminated spot in the surrounding darkness. But the horrors of war, dreadful and intense as they are on the field of battle,, are experienced, with less display indeed but with still greater intensity,in these distant abodes of peace and happiness. The soldier dies upon the field of battle ; and however great may be the anguish he experiences, it is generally soon over ; but

and happiness. The philanthropist and the Christian find in the present state of things to perplex their faith, to create doubt, and to fill them with despondency ; but when

the desolate hearts of his parents, and of his wife and children, are filled with sorrow and hopelessness and lamentation for are But not made matters of history ; in these things years. the emblazonment of the achievements of the battle field they are entirely passed over and forgotten ; it seems to be no part of the business either of the ephemeral gazette, or of themore

man

ten by the philanthropist, the Christian, the friend of the hu the piercing and overwhelming evils,, species.?That which are now referredto,are not imaginary, every child and parent, every one, who sustains the various domestic relations, has the testimony in himself, in the instinctive suggestions of his own bosom, whether he has actually experienced the evils in his own person or not. In the time of the American Revo lution, a young gentleman by the name of Asgill, a captain in the English service, though only nineteen years of age, was selected by lot,by the Americans towhom he had fallen pris

serious and permanent page of history, to keep a record of tears that are shed in private, and of hearts that are bleeding and broken in retirement. But they ought never to be forgot

mother, Lady Asgill, with her whole family, was thrown into the deepest distress and sorrow. In her inexpressible affliction she had recourse to the sovereigns of France, through theme dium of theminister Count de Vergennes, although France

oner, to be put to death in retaliation for some atrocities commit ted by the enemy. When the news reached England, his

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1834.]

Domestic Life. ofWar on Influence

59

was at that time at war with England. If any one wishes to know, where the miseries of war are most truly and deeply felt, let him read the following extract from one of her letters to the French minister.?" My son,my only son, dear to me as he is brave, amiable as he is beloved, only nineteen years of

age, a prisoner of war in consequence of the capitulation of is at present confined in America as an object of Yorktown, Shall the innocent share the fate of the guilty? to Figure yourself, Sir, the situation of a family in these cir cumstances. Surrounded as I am with objects of distress, bowed down by fear and grief, words are wanting to express reprisal.

what I feel,and to paint such a scene ofmisery ; my husband, given over by his physicians some hours before the arrival of the news, not in a condition to be informedof it ; my daughter attacked by a fever, accompanied with delirium ; speaking of her brother in tones of wildness, and without an interval of reason, unless it be to listen to some circumstances which may console her heart. Let your sensibility, Sir, paint to you my profound,my inexpressiblemisery, and plead in my favour ; a

word, a word from you, like a voice from heaven, would liberate us fromdesolation, from the last degree of misfortune."* Such are the deep pangs implanted in the heart of an ac

other sisters,whose sorrows have been as deeply felt and as sincerely lamented ; but whose griefs have never reached the as theywere, they have been public ear. Dark and withering known only to their own bosoms or to the small circle immedi ately around them ; too secluded forgeneral sympathy, though not unseen by that God, who has made of one blood all the nations of the earth, and who commands us to love our neigh
bour as ourselves. Military Journal during the American Revolutionary War. * Thacher's p. 308.

In consequence complished lady by the occurrences of war. of her education and her distinguished situation in life, they have excited an interest in the public, and have become a por tion of history. But there are multitudes of othermothers and

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60

Influence

of War

on Domestic

Life.

[Sept,

marquis of Yaydes was a distinguished Spanish nobleman, who had resided twenty-threeyears in America ; having been nine years governor of Chili, and fourteen years viceroy of Peru. Having accumulated an ample fortune, he was now returning to enjoy his riches and honours in his native land ; animated undoubtedly with all those fond anticipations of hap piness, which are so apt to inspire one who has been many years absent from the home of his ancestors and of his child hood. He had in the vessel with him, his wife, and seven children ; the eldest, a daughter, contracted to the son of the duke ofMedina Celi, and the youngest not more than a year old.

In recently looking over Godwin's History of the Common^ wealth of England, we were struck with an incident,which seemed to us to be strikingly illustrative of the disastrous bear ings of war on the hopes and happiness of domestic life. The

in the flames. The unhappy father had an opportunity to es cape ; but overcome with feelings of despair at the horrid fate of his beloved wife and children, he voluntarily plunged into the flames, and died with them.*?We leave this affecting in cident, (only one among a thousand others of a scarcely less marked and distressing nature, to be found in the annals of war,) to the reflectionsof the serious and benevolent reader. Is it possible forany one to reflect upon this dreadful catastrophe, to in relation the its either parents and children who died in
*Godwin's History of the English Commonwealth, Bk. IV. chap. 19th.

severe, and inwhich this vessel alone lost an hundred and ten men, she took fire. The wife and eldest daughter of Yaydes fell into a swoon, and, togetherwith one of the sons, perished

It isnot easy to conceive what dehghtful and transporting emotions swelled the bosoms of this prosperous and happy family, as they rapidly approached the shores of theirbeloved Spain, where all their hopes were centered and all theirblissful visions were soon to be realized. But theywere sadly disap pointed ; an unhappy and unnecessary war was then in pro * gress between Spain and England ; and the vessel of themarquis was attacked and taken. During the battle, which was

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1834.]

War onDomestic Life.. Influenceof

61

life, think of this dreadful scene without profound and over whelming sensations of grief and horror ? We

and horrid manner, or in relation to the poor children who survived, without feelings of the deepest orphan ? Can the father and mother, as they behold compassion around them their smiling offspring,dear to them as their own this unexpected

take the liberty to introduce another affecting incident, tending to illustrateour subject. Among the distinguished men who fellvictims in thewar of theAmerican Revolution, was Co lonel Isaac Hayne, of South Carolina ; a man, who, by his ami ability of character and high sentiments of honour and upright ness, had secured the good-will and affection of all who knew him. He had a wife and six small children, the eldest a boy thirteen years of age. His wife, towhom he was tenderly at tached, fell a victim of disease ; an event, hastened not im probably by the inconveniences and sufferings incident to a

circumstances calculated to excite the deepest commiseration. A great number of persons, both Englishmen and Americans, interceded forhis life ; the ladies of Charl estown signed a peti tion in his behalf; his motherless children were presented on but all in vain.

state of war, inwhich the whole family largely participated. Colonel Hayne himself was taken prisoner by the English forces, and in a short timewas executed on the gallows, under

affection, loaded with ironsand condemned to die, he was over whelmed with consternation and sorrow. The wretched father endeavoured to console him, by reminding him, that the una vailing grief of his son tended only to increase his own misery, thatwe came into this world merely toprepare for a better, that he was himself prepared to die, and could even rejoice, that his
troubles were so near at an end. " To-morrow, said he, I set

their bended knees as humble suitors for their beloved father ; During the imprisonment of the father,his eldest son was permitted to stay with him in the prison. Be whom he felt the deepest holding his only surviving parent, for

out for immortality ; you will accompany me to the place of my execution ; and when I am dead, take my body and bury it by the side of your mother." The youth here fell on his

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62

Influence of War "

onDomestic

Life.

[Sept.

father's neck, crying, Oh> my father, my father, I will die with you ! I will die with you !" Colonel Hayne, as he was

much

live to take care of your brother and little sisters." The next morning, proceeds the narrative of these distressing events, Colonel Hayne was conducted to the place of execution. His son accompanied him. Soon as they came in sight of the gal " lows,, the father strengthened himself and said ; Now my son, show yourself a man ! That tree is the boundary ofmy life, and of all my life's sorrows. Beyond that the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest. Don't lay too at heart our separation ; it will be short. 'Twas but dear mother died. To-day I die. And you, my your lately son, though but young, must shortly follow us."?" Yes, my father, replied the broken-hearted youth, I shall shortly follow you, for indeed I feel that I cannot live long." And his melan choly anticipation was fulfilled in a manner more dreadful than is implied in themere extinction of life. On seeing his father in the hands of the executioner, and then struggling in the halter, he stood like one transfixed and motionless with

loaded with irons, was unable to return the embrace of his " son, and merely said to him in reply, Live, my son, live to honour God by a good life ; live to serve your country ; and

then, proceeds the narration, he had wept inces as he saw that sight, the fountain of his tears soon but santly ; was staunched, and he never wept more. He died insane ; and

horror. Till

war

agonies are doomed to sufferin consequence of wars.

occasion to rejoice, if it could be satisfactorily shown that none limbs and dying but the poor soldiers with their mangled

are chiefly limited to the person of the soldier, and the boundaries of the battle-field. Happy would it be if such were the case. We might indeed consider ourselves as having great

in his lastmoments often called on his father, in terms that brought tears from the hardest hearts.* Such instances, as have now been given, show us how ex ceedingly those are mistaken, who imagine that the horrors of

But the

Journal, p. 208.

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1834.]

ofWar onDomestic Life. Influence

63

soldier, vicious and degraded as he too often is, has yet his friends and relatives,who have watched over him and perhaps prayed over him, with the deepest affection and solicitude ; some father, grey-headed and bowed down with years, some mother, inwhose withered and decrepid form the passion of maternal love still glows with its inherent intensity ; some sis ter, who, amid the distressing perplexities and contumelies of life, consoles herself with the recollection, that there is one, who, although less worthy than he ought to be, she can still call a brother. But the news comes suddenly from the field of battle, that he has fallen, that his manly form has been torn and crushed by the instruments of death, and that they have a son and a brother no indeed are they deso longer. Then

when

late ; then indeed is it true, that grey hairs are brought down with sorrow to the grave. But how much greater is their grief, the victim of war, whose death they lament, was adorn not ed, only with the graces of form, but with every quality that is kind and amiable ; with every trait that is pure, virtu

grief,who have beheld the lustre of those accomplishments and virtues only in the dim distance, compared with the sorrow of those near friends and relatives, in whose arms they first budded into life,and on whose bosoms thejrhave shone from infancy !?Writers have from time to time given us the statis tics of armies ; itwould perhaps be no difficult task for them

ous, and ennobling. Many are the individuals, doomed to fall on thefields of battle, overwhose accomplishments and virtues,,, rival nations, that could agree in nothing else, have united in shedding the tear of heart-felt sorrow. But what can be their

We

the groans and the broken hearts of wretched parents, of mourning brothers and sisters,of desolate widows and orphans ! close this article by giving an extract from Grahame's British Georgics. Poets have often done injury by clothing the pomp and the heroic achievements of war in the enchant of verse, and

to furnish the statisticsof battle-fields, prison-ships, and military hospitals ; but who is able, except that God without whom not even a sparrow falls, to give the statistics of the sighs and tears,

ments

thereby encouraging a military spirit ;

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64

War

as a means

of International

Justice^

[Sept.

happy will itbe, when their lyre, so full of delight, and so potent in its influence, shall be attuned to the celebration of the arts

glories of international strife.

of benevolence and peace ; and happier will it be than it now is,when, as in the present instance, they paint the sufferings and blighting influence, rather than the factitious charms and
I beheld a captive, whom the wars an inmate of the prison-house,

Cheering with wicker work, (that almost seem'd To him a sort of play,) his dreary hours. I ask'd his story. In my native tongue, (Long use had made it easy as his own,) Before these wars began, He answer'd thus. F I dwelt upon the willowy banks of Loire. I married one, who frommy boyish days Had been my playmate. One morn, I'll ne'er forget ! While choosing out the fairest little twigs, We To warp a cradle for our child unborn, heard the tidings, that the Conscript-lot fallen on me. mother perish'd

Had The

It came like a death-knell.

; but the babe surviv'd ; And, ere my parting day, his rocking couch I made complete, and saw him sleeping smile? The Who

smile that played erst on the cheek of her, ! the hour soon came, lay clay cold. Alas

That forced my fetter'd arms to quit my child. And whether now he lives to deck with flowers The Beneath For And sod upon his mother's grave, or lies it by her side, I ne'er could learn. I think he's gone ; and now I only wish liberty and home, that I may see, stretch myself, and die upon the grave."

Article

II.

WAR AS A MEANS OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE.

The sentiment of dependence on a superior power is insepa rable from the feeling of human limitation and weakness. Na tions and commanders of armies have thus in all ages more or

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