The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-10-15

..The NaiSenal Crisis'' -AAaresa
SsM0o ~ bishop SlmpSon.
We suspect We shall not be able to give
eur readers very definite idea Of the I'D.
dress Of Bishop Simpson, on 1.-THE Nation.
a Crisis" delivered last evening at Mo.
zart Hall. The audience was large, fash.
ionable. intellectual, critical and enthusi-
aetic. An hour before the lecture began
every seat in the house was occupied, but
the audience was patient, probably because
Of an intuition that it would b fully re-
paid for the tediousness Of waiting.
!. A glee club sang the patriotic hymn,
"America," which was followed BY prayer,
and then another patriotic song, after
which Judge Storer introduced the orator ..s1
Of the evening who would speak on The
National Crisis, a theme worthy OF the
speaker and a speaker worthy OF the
theme" and SO TO most it proved, for from
the first word until its close the attention
Of the audience was enchanted.
Bishop Simpson began his address by
stating The standpoint from which he pro-
posed 10 view the state of the country, and
assumed that this nation was intended by
God % be great one. The war in which
we arc engaged could have but four posi-
BILE issues first, the entire destruction of
the Government second, it, division into
two or more Confederacies third, the sue
or Of the Confederacy and fourth, that
the nation would emerge from the conflict
The hast Of which he verify believed. His
axgu ment on the drst topic was based on
the historical fhct that no nation had ever
risen, eliminated and decayed within .
angle century. He referred to Egypt, As
syria, Greece, Rome, France, Germany and
England, to show that It took Thousands Of
years to develop their might aud fulfill
their destiny; and he anticipated the same
u " would operate In the same way con-
corning this one.
The second proposition was regarded as
impossible, because no imaginary line
could be drawn, which w0Ald divide US as
friends or separate us ~ foes. Nothing
bat an impossible gulf would do this, and
any attempt to divide the country would
be the beginning Of war that would be
hequeathed to our grand children, and by
the South did not expect there would be
more than one Government in this coun-
try. If successful, they would first take in
the Northwest, then Pennsylvania and
New York, and finally they would permit
New England TO freeze IN.
In discussing the third proposition he
spoke Of the circumscribed territory Of the
South, the dark days Of 1863, when rebels
occupied Vicksburg and Port Hudson,
while Lee was sweeping through Mary
land and Pennsylvania, threatening Wash
ington, Baltimore and Philadelphia. He
fairly electrified his hearers when he
spoke Of that glorious Fourth of July
when Grant captured Pemberton's army,
when Banks entered Port Hudson, and
opened the Mississippi river, and Meade
drove the army OF Lee, broken and dis.
comfted. from Gettysburg, and hurled
him back in dismay to his native State
He also referred to the fact that we now
occupied Atlanta, and that Grant was thun-
'dering ut tho Qualifications Of Richmond
and Petersburg. The South was hope
lessly bankrupt, both in currency and
men, while the North had millions OF both
at ito command. The gold fields Of Cali
foruia, the Sierra Nevada mountains, Ida.
ho, Colorado, Montana and Utah were the
basis Of our wealth, and ii the war deb
reached four thousand millions of dollars
We had gold and silver enough there tt
pay it of, and give us all fortunes beside
With the mineral wealth Of our country
we could plate our ships with silver in.
stead Of steel, and exchange the soldiers
iron musket for one from the same mate.
rial.
The speaker mentioned number Of Gu
rious coincidences, to which we can only
now refer in the most casual manner. The
mania for Fai3foads . few years ago uniteC
the East and the West so that when tn.
war broke ont We were able TO feed an ar
my in the East, and We lived in spite O
the South vainly imagined would bring u.
20 terms. The clipper-built ships that wer,
constructed to make the union Of Californi,
with the Atlantic States complete, gave u.
. navy the moment We wanted it. Thu
coast survey which had just been finished
when the war began, had given rs maps o
all the harbors and reefs and shoals on on,
do vvn; Il a.
bility Of instant intelligent communication
all over the North by means Of the tele
graph. showed conclnsively that the han(
of Providence, when we knew it not, haC
been preparing weapons for the army O
the Union.
Bishop Simpson then referred to foreign
Intervention. He knew that Louis Napo
ern States, for the best essay on the cana
across the Isthuaus Of Panama had beer
written by him, and the best on the miner
al lands Of our Western Territories, bv ar
emissary from the same power. The bat
tie between the Monitor and the Merrimas
expelled that hope Of the South, and tn,
thunder of the guns of that invention O.
In regard to the probable close Of thu
war, nothing definitely could be said. i
we did not have happy Christmas because
Of peace, the flowers Of next spring would
bring it with their perfume and the roses
of June would unfold il with their leaves
sN In regard to slavery theground taken BY
the orator was not extreme, although be
was glad it had been destroyed. The wal
was waged only for the purpose Of crush
ing the rebellion, but If slavery stuck it,
uksy head between the axe and the block
Il must fall. The manacles had been melted
from the hands Of three millions Of slaves
on the FIRST day of January, 1863, and the
United States uniform had transformed
them from men into heroes. Now they
would have grand tales to tell to their chit.
dren Of how they fought in the trenches
how they stormed the breastworks Of the
: enemy, how they drove him from his 70.
doubt and planted the dag Of the Union On
IT. parapet. II the question were asked
what should be done with these men, he
would reply, sslet them alone.' They
would yet redeem Africa, . thing which
had thus far been attempted in vain.
- In speaking Of our Generals he said We
had been long time looking for our great
ones, but God had given 40 Grant OF I'M.
conditional victory. He spoke of Sher-
man, and Sheridan, and Hooker, and
Howard, and said finally that he had often
prayed for q Gen. jackson, Q man with 9
49,