*"of educa of young men," says a neutral paper, tion and wealth, serving as private soldiers in the American army, serving from pure patriotism and devotion to that which they deem a righteous cause,-fighting and dying with perfect patience and willingness, and mixed up and confounded all the while with the lowest of the low and the vilest of the vile." The Secession Ordinances and Buchanan's message prove that the sin of the North was that it "would not let Slavery alone." For thirty years it has been marshalling its moral forces against Slavery, until at last it wields against it the material forces also. What element We say this Wherefore then do we hesitate? of nationality does America lack? war is her crown and consummation. It is the completing of the edifice. It is the last step in advance, of the most advanced nation. Individual Freedom had been fought out before America. America was to develop the creative energy that results in the "collective reason." The collective morality is now also equally vindicated, and when this shall have been made more complete through suffering, then indeed shall the State emerge from the baptism of blood, "like the fabled spirit of beauty and love, out of the foam of the evertroubled ocean." John Brown died not in vain. His blood was the seed of Victory. The Statesmen indeed of the Betrayal,-of the compromise era, may have to die * "Daily Telegraph," March 17th, 1863, by its Special Correspondent, neither Puritan by nature, nor ascetic by habit. But out, or to go out, before Victory can come. for America there has been, and is, the martyrdom, and there will be the Victory. No one of the positions taken up by America on this question has she abandoned. Shall she be abandoned? "Shall I bring to the birth and not cause to bring forth," saith the Lord God? And shall the million-fold man-power of America, be brought thus far through the birth-agonies of deliverance from Slavery, and not complete its entrance into the world of freedom, morality, and nationality? God said to America, "Canst thou destroy 66 Slavery? Art thou worthy and able to take now "the next essential step in thy national existence and 66 progress? If so, come up and be first among the 66 nations; if not, descend and grovel amongst the "lowest!" That was the great appeal to American Principle. Let those who can, consider what manner of men are they, who knowing how America has responded, can yet say to Slavedom,-"Eat the "fruit of wrong, and drink its sweets, bring forth "thy corner-stone with shouting,-Thou shalt not "surely Die,-Jeff. Davis has made of thee a "nation!" Let We say of Slavedom, "Let it vanish in the gulf "of political perdition that yawns for it." America, and free institutions, live for ever! BOOK III. HISTORY. CHAPTER I. UNION AND NATIONALITY. ORIGIN, CONSOLIDATION, AND PROGRESS OF THE NATION. CHAPTER II. DISUNION AND DENATIONALIZATION. THE ERA OF COMPROMISE. CHAPTER III. 1833-1860—. BATTLE. DECLINE OF SLAVE POWER. CHAPTER IV. 1860-. VICTORY. OLIGARCHY CAST OUT. R "The contest began in America. The American question therefore was, shall the continued colonisation of North America be made under the auspices of English Protestantism and popular liberty, or shall the tottering legitimacy of France, in connection with Roman Catholic Christianity, win for itself new empire in that hemisphere? The question of the European Continent was, shall a Protestant revolutionary kingdom like Prussia be permitted to rise up and grow strong within its heart? Considered in its Unity, as interesting mankind, the question was, shall the Reformation developed to the fulness of Free inquiry, succeed in its protest against the middle ages? “Frederick beat down the dominion of the aristocracy of the middle ages by a military monarchy. "The Providence which rules the world had elected Washington to guide the fiery coursers of revolution along untried paths, and to check them firmly at the goal."-Bancroft's Revolution, Vol. I. p. 359. "Soon after the Reformation, a few people came over into this new world for conscience sake. This apparently trivial incident may transfer the great seat of empire into America."-John Adams. “William Smith, the semi-republican historian of New York (1757), urged a law for an American Union, with an American Parliament.” "The defects of the first plan will be supplied by experience. The British Constitution ought to be the model, and from our knowledge of its faults, the American one may rise with more health and soundness in its first contexture, than Great Britain will ever enjoy.” — Bancroft's Revolution, Vol. 1, pp. 246, 305. |