The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-23 00:00:00

filled ; this day witnesses the fruition of all the
dearest hopes and expectations of the American
people. It will not, we feel sure, cloud the joy with
which Americans all the world over will contem-
plate the blessings of this Christmas season, if they
turn their thoughts back to the departed Christmas
Tide of last year. That day was a day of gloom to
them. They felt almost as if the message of peace
was a mockery—for was not their sky lit with the
lurid glare of bloody war ?—and was not the
smoke of the sacrifice of their best beloved ascend-
ing to the Demon of Slaughter from a hundred
thousand altars? Were not their fields red with
the blood of the sons of the Republic,who
had gone down into the valley of death, and whose
unburied bones lay bleaching on a hundred battle
fields ? Aye, it was indeed a sad, sad Christmas-
day to them. For they had seen the Christmas
season come and go, and come and go again, and
yet a third time come and go, and still hideous
Treason stalked over the land, marking his path
with a wide track of desolation ; ---and the
youth, the promise, the strength, the vigour of the
Republic had gone out to wrestle with the giant
and had perished in the conflict ! And so they could
not rejoice, for Christmas brought no t , geed
tidings of great joy" to them. There were
other reasons, too, why the American people
mourned rather than rejoiced when the last year's
Christmas came. It was not merely that wherever
the Christmas boaad was spread there were some
vacant places:--it was that the Republic, which had
been consecrated first by the blood of their ances-
tors, and a second time by the blood of their
brothers and their sons, was still in dire extre-
mity
and peril ;—it was that the beautiful fabric of
freedom had been torn and rent asunder ;—it was
that the free Government of which they were se
proud and which they had so learned to love bad
been attacked by fratricidal hands, and was
wounded almost to the death ;—it was that
Christian nations looked coldly on in this death-
struggle
of liberty with treason, and had no word
of sympathy for the right, no word of rebuke for the
wrong ;—it was that their faith had been so sorely
tried, and yet in all the black and frowning
heavens there was no bow of promise to be seen.
But this Christmas-day opens up a new dawning
to Americans—a new dawning to humanity. Last
year there were four millions of slaves on that
new continent—to-day there is no single slave in
all the land. Last year's Christmas was looked
forwa masters those bondmen as the sad day when
their would let them out to the highest
bidder for the ensuing year—a husband here, a -wife
there, and children yonder ! This is the first
merry Christmas those four millions have ever
known. They will meet together this Christmas
morning, husbands, wives, and children reunited,
never again to part at the bidding of the slave-
driver—free as the free air they breathe. Their
Christmas pudding this year will be their own, and
glorious will be its relish—glorious as the ambrosia
of the Gods —for has not liberty been proclaimed
throughout the land, and to all the inhabitants
thereof ? And shall they not sit them do wn---
those dusky sons of the soil—as it were beneath
the shadow of their own vine and fig tree, and
with none to molest them or make them afraid?
For the starry flag of free America waves ver
them—but it is their flag now,. and though its
threatening stripes are still there to scourge
those who would dishonour it, in all its sacred
folds there is not a single stripe for them.
We would not write of this auspicious Christens
Tide in too enthusiastic terms, but we feel that any
language of ours will be poor indeed to express how
deeply the American people appreciate the blessings
which it has brought to their country. A few days
since we witnessed a meeting between two repre-
sentative Americans in this country, who had not
met before for many years. One of them was an
officer of high rank in the American army, who
had fought gallantly through the war; the other was
anAmerican statesman whose name is as wellknown
to Englishmen as to his own countrymen. These
two men met in London, clasped hands in a warm
fraternal greeting, and the first words that leaped
to their lips were " Glory to God in the highest!"
They had no thought of the cold forms of etiquette
How do
—none of individual commonplaces, of 4,
you do ?" and " I hope you are quite well I"—but
it was that the Almighty had blessed them?—that
their land was redeemed, and " Glory to God in the
highest !" was all they could say in remem-
brance of a Deliverance as grand and solemn
as that which came to those of old who were
led through the desert by the pillar of fire.
And so say we—reverently, devoutly, earnestly--
" Glory to God in the highest !" We throw to
the winds all stately phrases, all fine-sounding
words. Feeling, as we do, that on this Christmas-
day, as on that of old, " the glory of the Lord
shines round about them," we congratulate the
American people oil what He hath done fcr them.
Lift up your heads, ye mighty mountains, and re-
joice! Roll on, ye turbid rivers ! Blossom, ye wide-
spread prairies ! For lo ! the yoke of the oppressor
is broken, and those who were oppressed are freel
And now, in conclusion, a word to England the
to Englishmen. Away across the Atlantic, in e
highest place of the Great Republic, sits a man
who as it were but yesterday came from his tailor's
bench to do his country's bidding. He has spokeu
to you, and his voice is the voice of thirty millions.
He would have by-gones be by-gones. His mes-
sage is peace—and how opportunely it comes at
this friendly Christmas season ! Stretch forth your
broad palm, John Bull, and grasp the band
extended to yours. Let your yule-log sparkle and
glow on the ruddy Christmas hearth your
Christmas tree spread itsbroad, well-laden branches
over your heads. Put an extra plum in, your
Christmas pudding, and,with glorious,old-fashioned
English cheer, drink to your young, sturdy cousin
over the sea. For, behold, he brings you glad
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people;
He has broken the fetters of the enslaved, an
a
four millions are free ! " Glory to God ill
the highest, and on earth peace, good will tower°.

Len I"