THE ENGLISH AND AMERICAN
wants, faithful and conscientious in the employment, and such I hope these will prove themselves to be[1]." They did prove themselves such: they showed that democracy and discipline might be allies, not enemies, and won the war in the process.
In America, Sherman, who also regarded efficiency as the one thing that mattered, dwelt continually on the difficulty of conducting a war under a democratic form of government. He complained that the enforcement of discipline was made impossible, that politicians dictated military movements, that the press betrayed the plans of the generals, and turned the armies against their leaders. Not till law was obeyed both by soldiers and citizens, till both thought more of duties than of rights, would success be possible. "There are about six millions of men in the country all thinking themselves sovereign and qualified to govern; some thirty-four governors of States who feel like petty kings; and about ten thousand editors,
- ↑ Carlyle's Cromwell, Letter 18, Speech xi.
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