New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-04-24

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If suprcme interest The Nation now called with
truth the United States-by more than one states
man of Europe already pronounced the foremost OF
all nations in power in prosperity, and in rapidly
of industrial progrcss-began to exist in April 1851
Nyben the first shot was fred at Fort sumter, the
national instinct burst out like volcanic eruptloh'
with a force which neither habits nor preudlceS'
neither hoary institutions sectional interests
neither diversites of climate race and industry MOI
venerable laws and sacred constitutions, couio IT,
sist Had national unity required the expulsion o.,
every Southerner. white or black had 1t required
the extinction of cotton growing as an Aiheiio'l,
industry had il required the wiping out OF lhe 'iu
Constitution and all laws made i'm pursuance there
of still national unity must have preVal'eu' IL
conscious Of this, the people only deci'r'u una.
they would give the last man and the last uo'ii'
Blood and treasure seemed then less sacred imam ~"
cient institutions which had tcuded To make TWO hd
tons instead of one BIT in the end slavery van,
ished. and the right to hold slaves was expupged
from, the Constitution with the asserted right of
State to higher sovereignty than that OF the Nation
Histories of this great revolution have been
written ny many men, each after his kind soldiers
haze analyled the battles of the war; politicians
md 6nanciers have discussed its measures ana
methods and philosophers have dlscoursed OF IT'S
causes and results A large library would not holu
the hooks that have been published about IT, ana
among them are some of high merit Bnt he VINO
wishes TO comprehend the slow growth OF 'no
National idea, in spite of the fierce antagoh'Si'S
caused by slavery. and even at times because vi
them. will find in the first volume OF MI bllihe
history much light not elsewhere gwen Inc 9ooh
Is not n mere history of the question OF slavery ana
yet that question has its proper place ana us ue
mendous influence in shaping public opinion at 'ie
Il. over IN o
distinctly than in Mr. Greeley's" American Conflict
If is not mere record of territorial expansion ana
political development though the currents OF pubic
,pnion. which produced both. aud were in turn
orodnced bv both. are traced from 1877 TO 1862
II is not a more portrait gallery of eminent Amerl-
rams Though the two volumes of Sargents " fubIlc
Men and Events" do not contain n greater number
Of lfc-ke portraitures of character nor do we now
recall any other work which has traced so closely
the relations between prominent men ana inc puol'c
sentiment by which they were envlroned. IL IS not
a philosophical treatise and yet neither Professor
Draper nor the Comte dc Paris has set forth more
clearly the dversities of climate, industry ana CIT
cnmstance which operated, first to create antago-
nsln next to compel an appeal to arms, ana thcn 10
render the result inevitable.
In its main features therefore, the work Is one OF
unusual value and deserves high praise In inter-
casional infelcities of expression and instances OF
'careessness do not outweigh the general cIcarneSs
and force of style 1t is not at all points unerrng
IN portraiture, nor mfalliblc IN Judgment, though
the writer's impartalty of spirit and desire to Oe
inst are conspicuous and he gives cogcnt reasons
for opinions expressed. But in broad and coinpre-
lrnsiyc appreciation of the forces by when the de-
yelopment of public opinion has been affected the
work is one of great merit. The arrangement OF the
volume favOrs the compact and intelligent treat
mcnt of a many-sided subject. Chapters l-NlIl'
review the main question from which grew the
rivll war and the political revolution "i 1850.
Many of the ouestious with which Congress after
ward had to deal could not have been treated
wisely by lawgvers, nor mtelligently by the ms
torian except in the light of the double conflict De-
tween slave and free labor, hostile industrial forces
md between the slave power and anti slavery,
hostile political forces BY careful tracing OF the
causes which had made slavery what it was, and
public opinion in regard to slavery what It was the
history OF the war is rendered far more compact ana
clc2r Closely allied with the main cause OF war;
tbe t,rid ouCstion is reviewed III Chapter IN.
Chauter Y opens with the election of 1860 ana the
events of the marvellous history From Lincoln TO
Garfield are there uniOldcd, mainly IN chronoIog'
teal order But Chapters NNIIl and Mn are devoted
10 the financial history of the war, the IeyyIng OF
taxes and the creation of legal-tender notes. IN
CHARTER XNIl. the United States banks ana the
State banks OF the antc-war period are contraSted
with the National banking system, and ITS creation
is described. The admission of West Virginia Is
considered in Chapter XXI, and in the last chapter
NXVI. the relations between the United STATES anu
fore On Powers during the war An appendix oil IA
pages embraces statistics of interest ana value
\ip-tv.seven years ago. the seeds Of civil war
-. .ttf he or III
That these were among the essential cond lions upon
which the Federal Government was organized, Mr..
Blame believes Eighty one years ago, by the pur-
chase Of the west bank of the Mississippi and The
vast louisiana territory. implanted the seed OF
a 1ttiouglitv too vigorous and too closely knit by
commercial ties ever to be destroyed even by the
antagonism between slave and free society. In the
exploration and settlement OF that vast territory
In the struggles with sayages and with Nature ior
its possession in the contests " tn foreign Powers
respecting its southern and northern boundaries,
and in the growth of commerce on the Mississippi
and It's tributaries there were developed National
feeling so intense. and a community OF interest so
close and potent that in the end slavery went
clown and the Constitution ceased to be i c0mpro-
mise with evil The signature of Napoleon in 1903,
with which Mr.. Blaine begins his volume, made III
c,ltablc that glorious triumph of the Union in 1860,
which its latest chapters so well describe The
Valley of the Mississippi had belonged to the Union
only thirty years when De Tocqucvilc saw that the
seat of power would not long remain on the Atlantic
slope and sand In the Of it the true elements
Of the great people 10 whom the future control OF
the continent belongs are gathering almost IN
secrecy together Even then the westward march
which made tic Nation indissoluble had to hun
the solemnty of Presidential event; 1t is like
,elugo Of men rising unabatedly, and daily driven
onward by the hand of God" When civil war
came, the States of the great Valley gave 10 the
Nation the President who abolished slavery, the
armies which swept the Mississippi from the Lakes
to the Gulf. the heroes who marched from Atlanta
10 the Sea- and the General who closed at Apo
uattox the greatest struggle Of modern times.
hon in