Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1865-01-20
The Chanses lhat nave TaEen Place


The progress of msnkind is the progress
of ideas The successive stages Of growth
from barbsrizun to civilization are not re-
corded, as some would have us think, mere
ly in the advance Of the material pTosperi-
" of a people, in their conquests over
nature, in their commerce or agriculture,
or manufactures. The highest evidences
Of progress are seen in the rspidity with
which nation frees itself from mental
delusions and superstitions, and in the e1-
tent of its individual freedom. Looked at
from this standpoint, the progress of the
Republic has been more astonishing with
in the dark and bloody period of our civil
war than at any other time. The war has
done more to bring the fundamental prin-
oiples on which the government is based,
to their logical conclusions, than would
half century Of peace such as existed ten
years ago. The rebellion has modified and
. corrected many false theories which have
long had root in the South and in the
North. These changes are very impor-
tant when viewed in their future relations
to the Union that is to be. Among the
most marked fruits of the rebellion is the
obvious check which has been put upon
Southern arrogance and selfsuf1ciency.
For years the Southerner has been accus-
toned to felicitste himself upon his su-
perior blood, superior courage, ehivalry
and social bearing. He hsd aasiduously in
culcsted the idea that the North was ut
terly dehcent in the higher elements OF
manhood and civilization; that Yankees
were trading, thieving, huckstering gen
Grafton; that their seeming material pros
perity beyond that OF the South was due
to their tricks-in Congress; that the cream
of the Republic was to be found in the
high-born gentlemen who lorded it over
plantation well stocked with negroes
They accordingly inaugurated the rebel
lion with the idea that the Yankees would
curl at their fest like spaniels. In these
views it must be confessed, they were as-
sisted by certain amount Of Northern
servility and toadyism that is absolutely
astonishing at this dsy. This selfsufi-
cheney, this arrogance born of the planta-
tion, this assumption of superior statesman
ship and courage, have all been thorougly
humbled and cowed into subjection. There
are yet few blatant echoes Of the old
feeling, in the furious rhetoric of asportion
of the Southern Press. This is, however,
merely an attempt to inspire rev life into
a rotting earesss. The masses Of the
South, the rank and file s. also the off
GERS of the rebel army, have learned to res
pect the indomitable prowess and the
splendid resources of the people of the
North. Who in the South would reiterste
The doctrine thas Slavery is the corner
stone of the Republic2 What has become
of the profound doctrine that Cotton rules
the world2 Who contends in the South
that the Yankees are sll snesks and COW
ards? What has become of the doctrine
that the right to osecedeis guaranteed inthe
Constitution Who boasts Of the ability
of the slave holders to direct the ruling
powers of England and France? Who
thinks that military genius is alone born
in the South 2 Can anything be mention
ed upon which these traitors based hope
Of success in their wicked war upon the
Republic, which has not utterly failed
them2 All is gone. The baseless visions,
the arrogant delusions, are forever fed,
and the South has been revolutionized in
all those respects in which fierce war
could alone burn our their folly. The re-
turn of peace viii find them new race o!
beings. Old things will have passed away,
all things will have become new.
But is not only in the South that the
revolution of ideas has taken place. An
equally great revolution has been accom-
plished in the North. It hiss teen proved
that nation buried in the pursuit of gain
may Endle into magnificent enthusiasm
in behalf of an idea. A few months ago,
there were thousands that would have pre-
dicted that the love Of Freedom and the
Republic had died out in the Northern
heart. Northern patriotism usually ex-
pended itself IN tswdry oratory on the 4th
of July, with boyish entertainments Of fire.
crackers sad guns. Afew pieces of poetry
for declaastion were the entire stock in
trade throughout our schools. The nation
wanted something to electrify it into life.
That something it has obtained. The new
life has dsWned. Its flag is now emble-
matte of liberty, s7d has been baptized in
the blood of martyrs for the Republic.
The man who will utter an apology for
slavery to-day, is almost unknown. The
man who attempts to support the dying
institution, is looked upon as a miscresnt.
No democratic orator or newspaper is
ready to justify its existence. Its doom is
sealed, and it must yield to the progress of
that revolution that has swept the people
of all the cBotchets and follies and delusions,
with which, in times past an attempt was
made to justify the standing iniquities of
the times. In view of sll this, the patriot
and the Christian may take courage and
look forward with renewed hope, to the
disenthrallsd and redeemed nationality
which will come to Us with that peace
which is TO be both lasting and glorious.