The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1888-06-01

iDr Siutes. III Is not strange lnat We nad
the contest If the question of The relation
If The States to the general government,
and that there should have been strong
tendencies To secession, OF some OF the
states. because there has always been such
II tendency in all governments to such
breaking up of, and opposition to organ.
lied government or Capitalization of gov
ernment power This statement is not in
tended as justifying secession but as an
historic explanation of IT, The strange
thing about that secession is that the claim
for it was conducted on such shallow and
hmsy pleas as were made, instead of on
the deeper principles involved in human
nature itself. But so has it been in our
history that we were compelled, as sooner
or later we must have been, of settling that
questionable supremacy of the general
government-or the supremacy of the sew
eral states. The war made no break in
this continuity of our history. If the
victory had been with the South the con-
tinuiiy would have been broken. But
tho the fortunes of war have been favor
able to the North, yet they were equally
favorable 10 all the States. The South
has lost nothing of great value In the re-
suits of the war, but is great gainer in its
losses. as is the North, and as is all hui
manity Never was lhec war that was
productive of such great beneficial results
as the war of the rebellion, and never was
there war that was productive of such
good to all parties engaged in it. The South
which caused the war and the North
which conducted it in defense of the Ma
TONS existence, and all peoples. with our
Nation, have had q great uplft and bless
ing in the general results that have ensued
from the war. This is an anominal, in his
tory There is no example that can be
paralleled with it. The results of the war
in their vast extent and in their historic
bearings could by no possibility have been
foreseen. No man, no statesmen, could
have dreamed of such great results. But
il is always so with men in the great events
of history; they accomplish far more than
they can fOresee as possible. The appar-
ent causes are infinitely less than the
effects, if we exclude the idea Of God; but
il we include him as the Ruler Supreme
in the affairs of men, and as having ends
to reach, which men can by no means fail
to accomplish, God being in them, end be.
hind them, TO bring them to pass, then arc
the causes of the results adequate TO pro-
duce them. This thought gives, of course,
to cur war, a divine interest, not as caus.
ing it, but as working in it for the blessing
of mankind.
All such great events are brought about
by the combination of great and small
agencies, and these interblend. 1t is not
possible to so separate them that each can
stand out in its own individuality, and So
say of it, this contributed so much, and
that contributed so much. and then add the
whole together as sum in arithmetic, and
find the results to be just so much as fig
ures would represent, but the results are
as nuidic as life; the results are the re-
suits of life, and are again in turn life for
other results that must follow in the same
lines as those that preceded them.
What were the causes of the war? We
have heard that question asked and an.
swered many times. But we shall never
be done with it so long as there may be
political and moral lessons to learn there.
from.
The war of the rebellion did not origi.
nate on either side primarily for the sake
Of conquest of territory. Nor was it con-
Quoted on either side for the sake Of the
subjugation of Il people differing from
each other. The South demanded to 60
out of the Union. The North demanded
it should remain in the Unionl 1t was &
question of patriotism, on the one side. to
tuC ptutc, WuiCu was, w tue pcOplc Vi tUS
South, according to their political train,
ing, supreme, and above the National gov.
ernment. 1t was question of patriotism,
to the people of the North, to the National
government, which, according to their po-
litical trainings, is supreme and above the
States. The war had, therefore, its origin
in differing ideas of two sections of our
country. The moral wrong of the war
was in the political training that could
lead to such false idea that war was
justifiable for such an idea as that OF seces.
sion and the breaking up of this Republic.
This is not to be overlooked. Nor is it to
be overlooked that selfshness entered also
into the bias Of reasoning on this idea, be.
cause the money values of slaves undoubt
edly entered into the reasons why State
should be above the general government
or why 1t could have the power to nullify
the legislations of Congress. whenever in
the opinions of State Congress legislated
injuriously to its interests.
The morality Of slavery was not fully
considered until the latest period of the
discussion So that it is not true that
slavery was the prime cause of the war.
The question of the relation of the states
to the general government was question
in dispute in the very formation of the
constitution, and Immediately under ii.
this question became the foundation of one
of the leading historical parties.
The soldiers of the late war were not as the
soldiers of Europe, the hirelings of polit
ical power; they did not enlist to be sol.
diers by trade; but the motive of their en-.
listment was from within themselves, from
love of country, and for the perpetuation
of free government of people loyal to
their political ideas. The war itself was
inaugurated by the most extensive discus
sion from platform, rostrum. and pulpit.
the world had ever seen. The whole land
became debating club. and the intellect
ual and moral effects of the discussions
then had were enormous. The intellect
and conscience of the whole nation were
aroused to the highest pitch of activity
they have ever reached Without this the
war could never have been carried through
to successful issue. We are apt to dwell
too much upon the material side of things
and leave out Of view the essential inner
things of man, whence his greatest actions
spring, and from which the real results of
history arise What ia patrintiey,, hat o,,