Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 August 1882 — The Cowardice of Suicide. [ARTICLE]

The Cowardice of Suicide.

Suicide in the German army has of late years been increasing at an alarming extent and a large percentage of the cases are attributed to disappointment in love. Some one, in noting this fact and the difficulty the authorities have in finding a means to resist the progress of the evil, says the emperor might profit by a study of a leaf from the order-book of Napoleon. Under the consulate this same tendency had revealed itself, and Napoleon published the following order (dated 1801) to the forces under his command: “The grenadier Gcrdan has killed himself od account of a love afiair. In other respects be was a good soldier. This is the second occurence of this sort that lias taken place m the last month. The first consul desires to notify to the guard in the order of the day—first, that a soldier must learn to subjugate tho passions of grief and melancholy; secondly, that just as much courage is required to endure soul suffering with fortitude as to stand unmoved in the ranks under the fire of a battery. To give way unresistingly to sorrow—to destroy one’s self to escape distress of mind is equivalent to running away from a battle-field before one has been beaten. ”