New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-06-09
TaE WORRIES MOVEMENTS.

condemned as ''false id philosophy and
heretical in religion" He had caught
new light as it descended from the stars,
and could not extinguish it, though all
the world averred that his light was dark
ness. And as in eosmical harmony this
material world of ours moves on in the
grand anthem of creation, through storm
and calm, through darkness and through
light, so does the moral world advance
through ignorance and error, through
falsehood and through failure, to the ac-
complishment Of a purpose as changeless
as the fat of Creator. Indeed, it is
darkness that proves the value of light,
aud sin, as Festus puts it, is ''but dead
limb on the tree of life"
No darkness hath the sun; no weakness God:
These only be the faulty qualities
of secondary natures-planets, men
Through these faulty qualities and
necessary imperfections both men and
planets must work out the problems of
their existence. They can no more stand
still of their own accord than can the
tree arrest its growth or the leopard
change its spots.
The whole history of humanity proves
man to be progressive being, even as
concerns the affairs of this lower world.
He learns through experience, advances
through trial, and perfects himself, so
far as his earthly impediments permit,
by studious thought, careful obser-
walton and practical experiments. AS
knowledge accumulates and science
enlarges the boundaries of mans
dominion the rule of the despot
becomes weaker, and the aspirations for
liberty grow deeper and more intense.
What though the encroachments of might
prove triumphant for time, they furnish
no assurance of long continuance, and the
rule they establish is always rife with
danger. Even the wastings of war and
the bloody struggles which arise from
civil contention are themselves part and
parcel of the machinery of advancement,
Though individuals retrograde, the march
Of the race is ever onward, for the divinity
within still struggles toward truth and
highland truth and right, however in
terrupted, are certain to triumph in the
end.
Complaint is made of the cruelties of
modern warfare, but they are rare and in
considerable compared with the butcheries
and outrages which were almost inyariable
concomitants of war in ancient times.
The slaughter, enslavement and general
hard treatment of prisoners taken in battle
figure among the recorded facts of both
sacred and profane history, proving how
utterly merciless the warriors of ancient
times were, when contrasted with those
of the nineteenth century. The progress
made in the worlds march up the ages
has, therefore, been in the right direction;
it has been toward mercy, and recogni.
ton of those inalienable rights which, in
political matters, make man his own
master and permit him to select his own
form of government But though men
have failed even when animated by free
dom's spirit, the good work they were en-
gagged in will again be taken up and sue
cesstully prosecuted
For Freedoms battle once begun
Bequeathed by bleeding sire TO son,
Though bafhed off, is ever won.
Such has it ever been; such will it ever
be. The struggles which resulted in the
independence of this country were but
renewals of those undertaken in the
tatherlands beyond the Atlantic, and the
spirit Of 1776 but revival of that ami
mating principle which, through all ante
rior ages, nerved the true friends of free
dom in their efforts against tyranny. And
when, in the fullness of time, the great
experiment of self.government in this
country was subjected to the crucial test
Of internal violence, the conflict was
turned by an overriding Providence into
the enduring issues of security and peace.
What seemed to the Unlocking world an
iconoclastic attempt ct destruction was a
mere plucking Of the flower, safety, from
the nettle, danger. God stood not, though
he seemed to stand aloof. He turned
the wrath of man into praise and section
al discord into that union which is
strength.
No philosophic observer can carefully
scan the results of the lates war without
arriving at the conclusion that it was q
providential blessing in disguise. Though
cause of suffering to many, and though
most of those engaged in the conflict knew
not what the end would be, yet to the
higher seers Of the nation the issue wal
not doubtful, even from the first, and to thu
Supreme Ruler, who evolves light from
darkness, and order from chaos, the fur,
Of discussion was but the prelude to har
mony. To paraphrase the thought o
Festus, the blasted bough upon our ire,
Of liberty fell when emancipation wal
proclaimed, and then, in the house o
bondage the palpitation Of gladdene,
hearts gave rhythm to the stiIl, small
voice Of gratitude.
Thus even the blindest struggles il
which human beings can engage, may, il
the economy Of the Highest, prove part
Of weIl-ordered plan. Ifas people W
halted, it was that the strength and valu
Of our institutions might be thorough
tried The chat has been winnowed fror