Demoralization of the Army.
An intelligent correspondent of the American Messenger, writes a lengthy communication to that sheet for October, 1863. He says he has spent some time in the Army of the Cumberland, visiting, preaching, and distributing books, among the troops, and the description he gives of the morals of the army is very discouraging. He opens his letter as follows. Notwithstanding all that is done for the spiritual welfare of this army by all agencies, I am constrained to believe that the general tone of character is gradually sinking, and vice gaining a stronger and stronger hold daily. Against this conclusion I have struggled, and yet it must be true. In evidence, note the numbers of backsliders from a profession of Christianity found in every regiment. Scores of men there are who had maintained for years a standing in the church at home, who became, in a few months of soldiering, among the most noted of the flagrantly wicked. Said a clear-headed chaplain to me, "When you go north, tell the churches that the type of piety now prevalent in many places will not stand the tug of war. We need apostolic piety, martyr piety, for such days as these. Oh, send us men that have the root of the matter in them." I deliver his earnest message, and add the prayer that no man may go to the army professing Christ, who does not mean in his strength to stand up for Jesus against all comers. False professors do unspeakable injury, vastly more in the army than is possible at home. Intemperance runs riot in some parts of this army beyond anything I have elsewhere seen: not while the men are on duty, for this neither the army regulations nor the safety of the men will allow; but with those off furlough, going home or returning from it, going into hospital or just discharged, and at all times where the strong hand of military law does not prevent. Whatever physical causes may be found in the exposure of the men, their exhaustion from overmarching and underfeeding, or their need of stimulants, accounting for the almost universal indulgence in drink, the results are appalling; and unless the vice is checked, more strong men will fail by drink than by either the deadly bullet or deadlier disease to which the soldier is exposed. Oh, if the brave boys would utterly refuse to touch the maddening stuff, how many mothers' hearts would leap for joy. Profanity of course follows in the wake of drinking. Men befooled by vile liquor lose all sense of reverence for God and respect for their sober companions; so that in rail-cars and in hotels one constant stream of heaven-defying profanity pours along, oftentimes for hours, until the devout Christian is led to wonder how a jealous God can bless an army whose members thus profane his name. As ten righteous men would have saved Sodom, so are there many men in every brigade of this army who have power with Him and prevail. In these and in the praying thousands at home is our hope that God will spare the wicked and not blast our cause, nor allow our country to be lost. I am sorry to add that obscenity most shameless is abounding, and vile books and pamphlets pandering to the lowest passions are to be seen in the hands of youth who were carefully guarded from all such contamination at home. May God hear the prayers of their mothers and sisters, and save our young men from the ruin which comes upon the obscene and the licentious. Up to this point I fear that the tendency in all these and other respects is still downward. How can it be otherwise when, in addition to the ordinary tendencies of all war, confessedly most destructive to good character, so many of our officers set the example of vice in all possible forms and degrees? I have traveled hundreds of miles in the railroad train with officers, from colonels down to corporals, who indulged in drinking, swearing, obscenity and gambling, for many consecutive hours, and in the presence of the soldiers. Many such officers, I am glad to know, are leaving the army for its good.