The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1865-12-31

In the history Of this country, and me Of th,
most eventful In the annals OF manxind. The
chronological sulnAU Of 1865, which w
publish this mornih3 embraces sme Of thu
most remarkable and momentoas military
achievements, and the full Inauguration Of the
most important. political revolution among any
people Of modern ar ancient times. Under all
the circumstances, IN the complications and
combinations, foreign and domestic operating
against ~, the hloAfAE scenes Of thu late war
involving the almost simultaneous collapse Of
tho armies Of . great rebellion, covering an
area Of seven hundred Thousand square miles
and embracing in their dissolution the enamel.
patton Of four niIlioIi Of slaves, and the
abolition Of Southern slavery, ere surely among
the grsndest and most amazing facts In the
experience Of any nation on the face Of the
globe. .......
On the hrst day Of the passing year there
were million Of Union soldiers In the field,
with draft in force for "three hundred thou
sand mores" and Union navy In active ser
vice embracing ever Eve hundred vessels Of
al descriptions. To-day eight hundred thou
sand of those soldiers are at their homes, en-
gagged In. the avocations Of peace, and the
formidable navies, whose thunders echoed .
continuous roll FOR two thousand miles along
the Atlantic coast, have vanished like the
shadows Of dream. On the first day of
the dying year Sherman's army, from its
triumphsl march,
Down thrnuch the State o9 Ceoroia
Down to the shining sea,
was resting ut Savannah Thomas was ad-
ministering the final blow of dissolution to the
routed army Of Hood in Tennessee; Wilson, on
the northern border Of Alabama, was prepar-
ing his column Of thirteen thousand mounted
men for raid through Alabama and Georgia,
destined to be more destructive to rebel ar
senals, factories, foundrics depots and sup
plies than even the grand circuit of Sherman;
Grierson, on the same business, was moving
down into Mississippi; Stoneman was pushing
from East Tennessee across the mountains for
North Carolina; Candy was closing his lines
around the doomed city of Mobile; the rebels
at Fort Fisher, having repulsed General But
Ter with an observation, were awaiting the ar
rival Of his successor; Sheridan was equipping
bis fifteen thousand horsemen at Winchester for
his decisive expedition to the James river by
way Of the Shenandoah Valley; while Grant, at
Petersburg and Richmond, the vigilant master
Of all these combinations. was holding. as in a
wise, the last reliable army Of JEFF. Davis, his
Cabinet, his Congress and himself, and
patiently preparing for the final blow which
was to scatter them all TO the winds.
At the same time, while we of the North had
become sangnine Of browning success, we
were uncertain as to the duration and chances
and accidents Of the war. Our latest received
opinions from the London Times were not con-
soling. They informed us that Sherman's-
SHOWN through Georgia. was ITO
extricate his army from an untenablc position
by rapid march to the sea and The aid of the
federal feet" and that his trip would be as
profitless as Xenophon's retreat from Persia.
The rebel cotton loan in London was still
cash article, and Lord Palmerston and Louis
Napoleon were still believers In the statistics
and promises Of Mason and Slidell And why
not, when even 80 late as February, persuaded
through the representations Of old Mr. Blair,
the lamented President Lincoln and the Secre-
tary Of State went down TO Hampton Roads on
. peace conference, to come back with the
that Grant was their only peace
maker. A quiet conference with JEFF. Davis to-
day, in his prison at Fortress Monroe, on that
Hampton Roads mission, would, doubtless, be
very interesting. Within two months from
that disappointment the lsmented Lincoln, in
the Executive mansion of Davis, at Richmond,
no doubt unused upon the folly OF poor JEFF.
and its consequences to himself and his intract-.
able followers.
The terrible events at Washington on the
night Of the 14th Of April cast the RESPONSE
bilities of the government into the hands of
Andrew Johnson. Following in the footsteps
OF his illusirious predecessor" the achieve
ments of his administration in the reconstruc-
tive labors Of peace are almost rs remarkable
In their great results rs the browning successes
Of Lincoln In the prosecution Of the war; Thus
the emancipation proclamations Of Lincoln, re-
against the comet" have, through the faithful
policy Of Johnson, become part and parcel Of
the supreme law Of the land. How astonish-
ing the contrast which is now presented In the
condition, military, political and social, Of the
late insurgent States, and their condition at
the beginning Of this closing year! Was there
ever such q revolution In the vicissitudes Of
any other peoples Was there ever snch q
~ n, EA~ 80 - 49,
speedy, spontaneous and wonderful transition
as this, from war to peace, from hostility to
submission, and from civil war, in any other
country Was there ever before rebellious
people more thoroughly punished than those Of
the South, or robellious people who, In laying
down their arms, have rendered more cordial
submission to the consequences Of their folly?
These questions explain at once the South
ern policy Of President johnson and Its won
derful mccess He knows that the people of