Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1868-07-31


Ulysses S. Grant-a salesman i'm leather
store at Galena, ILL.,, in April 1850, and in
1868 General Of the Army of the United
States the nominee of the Republican
party for the next presidency, and in all
human probability President from the
fouth of next March-is certainly person.
al marvel. The like is seldom witnessed
in the history Of man. SO great change
shows an immense power of growth.
There was something in the man, as there
must have been something peculiar in the
circumstances of this transition-perod, to
explain the almost unparalleled phonome-
non. The General undoubtedly was con-
cealed in the salesman, waiting for the re-
belion to supersede the latter by the for
mer We sometimes wonder whether
Gen. Grant really knows himself Such a
prodigious alteration imposes very heavy
task upon ones consciousness of personal
identity.
Slavery, with its four millions of groan-
ing victims, and its three hundred thous-
and slaveholders-in 1860 intrenched in the
Constitution of the country. armed with
its fugitive slave law, backed up by the
whole strength of the Democratic party,
fortified by an invested capital in flesh and
blood of not less than two thousand mill
lions of dollars, apologized for or defended
in the Christian pulpit, having almost COM
plete control of the legislative, judicial and
executive departments Of the General Gov
ernment, represented in foreign courts,
~, Il 10 g,
uries and this same slavery in 1868 dead
and gone, buried too deep in the earth for
any resurrection morn ever to visit it, and
its human chattels lifted to the legal status
of men, with all the civil and political
rights which belong to men-this, indeed,
is one of those wonders in human society
which but for the stern evidence of fact
would stagger all belief. Who killed sla-
very? The devil killed it by tempting it
to sin away its day of grace. God killed it
by the lightnings of righteous providence.
Traitors killed it in seeking to destroy
good government. Patriots killed it in
pouring out their blood upon the altar of
their country. The Abolitionists killed it
in teaching men to sympathize with
those in bonds as bound with them Abra-
ham Lincoln killed il by his immortal
Emancipation Proclamation. The Gospel
of Jesus killed it. And, last of all, An
drew Johnson killed it by his persistent
endeavors not to kill it. With so many
killers to do the work, and all working at
the same time, and really for the same end,
ii is not after all so surprising that the work
is done. Never since the day that God
buried Pharaoh and his slave-huntcrs in
the Red Sea has there been such general
and rapid slaughter of slavery. History
presents no equal concentration of natural
forces to break down "the vilest system ON
on which the sun ever shone," and recon-
struct society on the broad basis of human
rights.
The doctrine of State Rights, as set up
against that of Nationality-w has be-
come of it? In 1860 about all the polit-
cions of the South swore by it, and ON the
theory of its Validity nearly all of them
went into the rebellion. John c. Calhoun
was their political high-priest. The Dem
ocratic party at the North carried the CEN
ser, and placed therein the burning in
cense. Where now is this doctrine that so
these states, and kept politicians so con-
stantly busy with the work of medicating
its ill-humors The growth of more than
thirty years, il too has been killed in less
than eight years. Ceasing to reason, and
trying the experiment of fighting it has
come to the wise conclusion not to fight
again. Some of its mourners go about the
streets, finding it rather difficult to "ac-
cept the situation; yet, as we apprehend,
the Calhoun theory of State Rights has re-
ceived its solution for Mt least a century to
come. The American people, by the vie
tories of the battlefield, have put an end
to this question, and now only need to car
ry out the solution to its proper conse-
quences.
The creation of an army of Il million
of soldiers among people unused to
war, and hardly knowing whether they
could fight or not, and then the peaceful re-
tirement of that army back into the bosom
of society-and that too without any peril
to public order, or to the civil power-this
is really one of the prodigies of our times.
An almost equal prodigy is the financial
question, rolling itself up into huge di-
mensions not dreamt of in the outset, and
yet being carried along with the skill and
energy of power whose success proclaims
its vast resources. The most formidable
rebellion the world ever saw defeated and
conquered; the treachery of n faithlcss
President held in restraint by faithful
Congress the murder of one of the best
Presidents that Providence ever gave TO
the American people; reconstruction de-
layed, yet winning the most important vic
tories by this very delay the political en-
franchisement of down-trodden race
these and the like facts crowd the history
of a century into fragment of time.
American ideas have grown so fast that
the people have forgotten their former
standard of measurement The fossilizod
politicians, who were very orthodox eight
years ago, appear in the living and active
present rs specimens of remote antique
ty. We imagine that even John G.. Cal
houn, with all his metaphysical acumen II
now coming to life, would want some one
to tell him in what country his resurrec-
ton had taken place. His old habits of
thought would be entirely unsuited to the
new state of things. Onward goes the age.
Let it gol 1t has right TO do so. 1t has
fully proved that II can do so and yet not
blow up. Its reserved power is not yet ex-
hausted. We mean, if possible, to keep