The times., 1888-06-01

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noblest and most heroic qualities. But the
patriotism that protects the purity OF the
ballot and serves honestly in every sphere
is the patriotism that saves the Nations
power.
Now, we can never get a true perspect
i've OF the late war unless we can get al
these details before our minds, and getting
these, we can appreciate the better the
greater aspects of the history that has now
been made by that war.
II was, as has been already stated, Q
war primarily Of ideas. Bat what matters
itwhich should be established as the rul
ing principle of our nationality su-
premacy Of the general government or the
supremacy of the statesf All! 1t means, SC
far as we are concerned, that ii the 2rinci'
pie of state sovereignty had prevailed thai
not only we would have had as the result
OF the war divided territory, dual gov
ernment and divided nation, but We
should have also established ON this con-
tinent principle that would always be
tending to divisions and disintegrations.
We should never more be sure of stability
or perpetuity Of government, or of the IL
stitutions of liberty. And, so far as Our
relations to other nations are concerned,
we should never more be an example and
encouragement to them to be ,self-govern-
ing people. The results of the war are
therefore not only political and worldwide
but they are moral and personal in their
influences They are leaveHlng the old
world and preparing the people of all
lands for changes great and revolutionary
If the, cannot be obtained by concessions
and by peace.
The late war has therefore a wonderful
relation to future civilization and to the
character of future governments, AS the
reformation OF the sixteenth century could
not have been without the CT jusades of the
eleventh century, so could not our coun
try have risen higher than the civilization
of thirty years ago; "A civilization that was
lie unto itself because 1t tried to tie lib
erty and slavery in an indissoluble union.
But nature and God proved stronger than
the limited notions of the men who made
themselves the teachers of the false phil
osophy on which slavery rested. Slavery
and liberty could not be married that they
should live together in harmony in the
same home. The one or the other must
die q violent death.
But not only was liberty given a great
victory over slavery politically. but the
human mind seems to have secured for
itself another great deiverance and uplift
into higher atmosphere than 1t had ever
before reached. See what great progress
has been made in the sciences and arts,
and in the vast number of beneficent in
ventions that have been made since the
close of the war. The genius and skill of
men seem to have found wings to rise INTO
the clear sky of thought and mechanical
power; and TO discover there the most hid
den forces and mysteries of nature and to
bring them down to the service of human.
ity. And it is to be borne in mind, that
we may have patience, with some things
that are not quite as satisfactory as we
think they ought to be, that we are In a
wonderful transitional period. The fullest
results OF these changes can net be at once
realized, but the fact that we are now en-
phasizipg is that since the war we have
become a great creating nation. A new
civilization has opened up before us like
new promised land, flowing with milk
and honey. We must have courage to
enter in and take possession of it in the
name of our God and Heavenly Father
who has given il to us, il we would have
all its blessings. But not only is there "a
new civilization before us, but there Is u
new nation before us for making The
old elements antagoEistic and peace dis
turblng, have passed away. The future
will see blending of Europeans with the
people of the South, as there has been
with the people of the North. And this
is as it should be, for this is in the line of
history in the mixing of nationalitics, and
in the line of migrations of nations to
make new nations. Nothing was ever
worse for any people or any section of a
nation than to be 'solid," one way in its
thinking and in its opinions. The life of
nation is in its diversities OF thought
Conflict of thought is sign Of health,
vigor and liberty. Let therefore the mi
grations of Europe turn southwark in our
country and in half of a century there
will be an entirely new South. The evils
of sectionalism can not be CURED by legis-
lations nor by centralized authority but
only by historic causes and methods.
This is what the past says and this is the
result Of universal experience.
1t is great mistake to suppose that our
conflict closed with the war; However
grand the immediate effects of the war in
arresting the then tendencies to the disin-
tcgration of onr nationality, and this 1t,
without question, did. But the conflict Of
ideas were not then ended. That conflict
could not be transferred to the arena of
the battlefields. The war Of ideas goes on,
and the ultimate settlement of them must
must be in the arena of mind and of
thought. Not the force of destructive |
arms IS to settle finally the issues of civili- |
zation. But tAe forces that make civiliza
tion. thought and love and conscience,
these will determine what Is true and |
what is false. Force may be resorted to ]
when one side or another In controversy |
is not willing that the questions at issue |
should be discussed. That was the great |
wrong the South did to itself before the |
war, that it would not allow the fullest |
discussion of the great questions and Ia.
terests then at stake. 1t was too much |
one sided issue IN the South. 1t is true
that for whilc even here in the North
the liberty of discussion was in danger of
denial, and that liberty was finally gained
only after some very heroic examples of
sturdy manhood ana of heroic sacrifices;
but the liberty once gained the discussion
went on to its logical conclusions, and In
preparation Of the nation to defend its
own existence and unity; and thus by |
these agencies we have come as nation |
to higher civilization than was possible be-