No doubt a not inconsiderable part of the serenity, which is so
remarkably evident in the letters and journals of these young men, was
due to the fact that they had arrived, for the first time, at a
comprehension of the unity of life. There is no tedious alternative of
choice in the active military career. All is regulated, all is
arranged in accordance with a hierarchical discipline, and war becomes
what dogmatic religion is to a weak soul that has been tossed about by
the waves of doubt. It must be also borne in mind that the incessant
dread of invasion, especially in the neighbourhood of the eastern
frontier, had kept the spirits of those who knew that responsibility
would fall upon them, in a state of unceasing agitation. It is a
paralyzing thing to exist under a perpetual menace which nothing can
precipitate and yet nothing can avert. Captain Belmont, in his
admirable letters, speaks much of the "romanticism" which attracted
many of his companions, and of the natural satisfaction which the
declaration of war gave to their restless faculties. The two
sentiments were probably one and the same, and to a poetical
temperament that might well seem "romantic" which filled a less vivid
mind with restlessness and languor.
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