The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-22
WHAT MIGHT HAVE
 BEEN IN HISTORY
The Word If" Spells a Ro5t
 of r aiIureS
EVENTS HAVE QUEER TURN
Whole Map of United States Miqht Have Been Changed Completely By Certain Circumstances
 That Didn't Happen.
BY FREDERIC ]. f4AsKlN.

BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN. 1 If it had not rained on the morning of the battle of Waterloo the map of the world would be far different from what il is The little word fir is the qualif- cation of foresight and hindsight If l can. in the one instance, If l had in the other. Applied to any event that has taken place it opens the way for speculation as to what might, would or l could have happened the other way. Nevertheless, when the turn of the tide in great affairs has been made on a trifling incident which might easily have been prevented it is interesting to trace the influence of that occurrence which made all the difference.
 One day during the revolutionary war two horsemen rode along the road that led down the Hudson river to New York which city was held by the British. At the edge of the neutral territory, over which American and English forces alike claimed control, and neither exercised it, one of them said to the other: "I will leave you now, you are safe" The man who turned back was Joshua Smith. He was known to the seven yeomen who were guarding the road further on, and would have been permitted to pass by unquestioned, as their other friends were The lone horseman rode on He was halted and searched. He was Maj. John Andre, adjutant general of the British army, and between his stocking and sole of his foot were the six pieces of paper that proved the treachery of Benedict Arnold. Had Joshua Smith kept his promise to show MT Anderson as he called him, safely into the British lines, the traitors plot would have been sue cessful, and the cause of the American revolution so injured that victory would have been quite impossible.
 When the second war with Great Bri- tain was being fought the New England states were in bitter opposition to the federal government. Three governors had refused to respond to the call of the pres ident for militia. A convention was called to meet at Hartford in the winter of 1S14 Everybody thought that it would mean dsunion. A Boston preacher, rec tor of Trinity church, in his pulpit de-
 
 virtually dissolved and it is full time that this part of the disunited states should take care of itself" That state ment was too radical and the sentiment of disunionsm fell off in the reaction, so that when the convention met there were expressions of strong states rights doctrines, but no threat of secession. Sup pose the New England states had se- ceded?
 if Dr. Samuel D. Burchard had not been q radical anti-Catholic Grover Cleve- land would never have been president Just before the election of 1884 Mir. Blaine was at the Fifth Avenue hotel In New York. A delegation from Brooklyn called on him. headed by Dr. Burchard. In his speech the eminent preacher referred to the supporters of MT. Cleveland as the allied forces of rum, Romanism and re- bellion' The story was spread broad cast among Roman Catholics of New York Blaine and his friends were power less to counteract its effect, and in eonse- quence carried New York, but by less than 1500 votes, giving him the required number of electoral votes to make him president.
 When two great armies of brave men meet in deadly conflict the issue is gen.
  spective commanders but often the scale is turned by some circumstance or suc- cession of untoward incidents which not even the greatest of military men could foresee or prevent. Napoleon was a greater soldier than Wellington, who de- feated him. Lee was a greater soldier than Meade, who blasted the hopes of the Conffederacy at Gettysburg. No bat tie In history Is so set about with ',life' as that Pennsylvania fight which decided the Issue of the preservation of the union.
 Four and a half months after the bat tie was over President Lincoln dedicated the national cemetery on the field. That day Edward Everett said that if it had not been for the providential inactivity of the Confederate forces on the second day of the battle the result would have been woeful disaster to the union cause, as the long cessation of fighting gave a chance for half of Meade's men to get on the field and prepare for the attack. It is not known that General Lee on the night before had ordered the attack to begin at daybreak. The forward move ment was not begun until nearly 4 o'clock in the afternoon. That delay meant the defeat of Lees army. Had he been vic- torious there, 1t would have meant the recognition of the Confederacy by foreign powers and the separation of the union. Who was to blame for that delay has