330 FACT AGAINST FICTION. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE DIFFICULTY OF DEALING WITH PANICS. 



Of the many things I have found it difficult to 

 cope with during my life, there is nothing so 

 difficult as a panic among men and animals, even 

 to the birds. A sudden terror seizes at times on 

 soldiers, though, according to the opinion of a gal- 

 lant General in the United States, the men are ^^so 

 much more intelligent " than in England, that 

 they know, as well as the French soldiers do, 

 when they are beaten, while our men, if we are 

 to believe the gallant United States officer, from 

 a want of sagacity, seldom or never come to 

 that conclusion in regard to themselves! 



From the correspondence that has at times 

 appeared in the columns of the jDress respect- 

 ing liydrophobia, we may have gatliered — from 

 the melancholy fate, through timid counsel, a 



