The New York herald., 1874-12-03
The New Era In Our Politics-A
Retrospect.


than ordinary import to the American people.
On the I'd of December, just fifteen years ago,
John Brown was executed for the crimes OF
treason" and murder" arising out Of an
unsuccessful attempt to excite an insurrection
among the slaves in Northern Virginia The
history of that attempt its folly and failure,
are among the vivid episodes Of American
history The men who were prominent in the
suppression of that mad endeavor-where are
they? James Buchanan was President Of the
United States He has been gathered to his
fathers, after an honorable, if not just, yet an
honored career; for events overwhelmed him,
and time has not yet vindicated his memory.
E. Lee, then o subaltern in the regular
army, soon to achieve fame which the
world viii not willingly let die. Henry
A. Wise was the Governor OF the
State, who condemned him, then q conspicu-
GUS statesman, prominent among the leaders
of the party and candidates for the Presi-
dency; and now q lingering, superAuous un-
needed actor upon the stage. The men who
were great statesmen in that time have van
ished. Hunter, Breckenridge, Douglas, Ma
son, Sliden. Seward, Sumner-all have passed
like the shadows in Macbeth's vision A new
race has come, and may be said to have run
its career also, and to be passing away The
President Of the United States was living
simple. humble, apparently barren life in
distant Western town, dreaming more about
making both ends of an uncertain existence
meet than of the supreme honors that fate
held in reserve. Abraham Lincoln was plod-
ding at law, unconscious of immortal fame,
while the man who was to share his immor-
tality, without his fame, by causing his death,
stood guard over the execution scene, as one
of the militia gathered to protect "the honor
Of Old Virginia"
There were few of those, we fancy, who
imagined, when they saw the body Of this
strange, brave old man in the hands Of q cruel
fate, that his name was to outlive so many
more splendid names and his death would be
transcendent epoch in our history No one
questioned the justice which condemned John
Brown. No one can question it even now,
in coldly considering it as an act Of necessary
law. But the justice of one generation fire.
quenty gives way TO the romance or the re-
ligion of the generation that comes after.
John Brown has become a sentimentin Ameri-
can history, and will be remembered as we
remember Bru.us and Rienzi and Savonarola.
He was the elimination of an idea that for
twenty years had been growing into mighty
being in the Northern States. Poets, orators,
rhetoricians, had passionately assailed slavery
as the crime of the age, the stain upon our
flag, the injustice to liberty the crime of mod
ern civilization, the emblem of American
shame. John Brown struck it with his
sword, and although he fell in the encounter
his memory lived And when the war came
the unnecessary war of ambition and empire
inspired by jefferson Davis and his asso-
ciates-this memory became legend, and the
hundreds of thousands who swept into Vir-
ginia on their errand of strife had no cry
more stirring to their souls than that while
the body of the condemned fanatic was
mouldering in the grave his soul was march
ing on. 1t marched on, carrying with it the
hesitating Lincoln, the reluctant Seward, the
timid conservatism of the North, until it ami
mated the war and made the battle for the
Union the battle for emancipation. 1t was
won-at how terrible and dreary cost we
dare not say. But it WINS the soul Of John
Brown that won it, that signed the proclama-
ton of emancipation and accepted the sur
render Of Lee at Appomattox.
What events have been compressed into
these fifteen years! The execution Of John
Brown was the beginning of cycle The
democratic party went down in the tremendous
rush that came The republican party came
into power which has never been seriously
challenged until this time The Republic
has risen from its uncertain position as
a growing, or, as some of its critics were
wont to say mockingly, q swelling
country, to be o recognized Power among
the greatest Powers of the world. A quarter
of century ago, when Palmerston was writ
ing to Bulwer about diplomatic affairs, he
intimated that while England would
be justified in going to war to pre-
vent the annexation Of California and
New Mexico, it was not possible then
because the English feet was otherwise en-
gagged Even as bold statesman as Palmer
ston would hesitate in his most audacious
moments before considering war with the
United States as an ordinary circumstance;
like war with Chill or Greece. Every Eng
lishman sees that this Republic has passed out
of the category of nations which can be handled
with feet The England whose resolute
minister then thought strong enough to pre-
vent manifest destiny" by q squadron of
war-ships has since been only too glad to
accept peace from the United States by what
the eloquent CASTELAR, called ''the sublime
humiliation of Geneva" In this cycle we
have proved our nationality even to the