The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1910-08-11
William Tell
Flour

ass.s d I|l't,l
powers produced irresolution, INDIGESTION
ands inaction. But they can never be
reconclled. In their very nature they
are opposed. The contention must I'M
remlttlngly ensue until the crisis is pre-
clpltated, which rends the nation in
twain, and with the issue of secession or
union the contest is brought upon the
open stage of action.
tragic struggles of history. The bows in
blue, marching under the star spangled
banner of freedom and union, were the
actors representing one of the tragic
forces. Their fellow Americans in gray
under the stars and bars of confederacy,
with equal earnestness and sincerity,
were the actors for the other great tragic
power. The preservation of the Union
was the immediate issue of the war; but
the utter disparity of the underlying
forces OF civilization which brought dis
union, was its deep-seated cause, and
their issue the real tragic action. States,
having common interest and origin;
peoples, holding in common heritage and
baptized in the same patriotic blood were
arrayed against each other in deadly
strife. Our fair land was drenched with
fraternal blood. Through the long dark
years the great armies of the North and
the South surged to and fro with ap-
parently balanced achievements and re-
verses. The whole world looked on with
GREATNESS interest to see if "a nation of
the people, for the people and by the
people" could survive this supreme test.
Throughout the land was tense spirit
of war and resounding echo of laundering
artillery, while the great powers were
enveloped in the smoke of battle, which
could be dispelled only by the triumph of
one and the defeat of the other
This direful tragic action reached its
climax on the field of Gettysburg. There
the tide of rebellion reached its height;
and by such heroic efforts and at such
terrible cost, as we today recall, it was
ed and parted; and the sunlight breaking
the ensign of liberty and union tri-
umphantly upheld by the men in blue,
while at their feet the tragic force of the
past lay vanquished, weltering in the
bloodstained gray.
We are today, after nearly half cen
fury, oply beginning to realize the sig
nlticance of that war and its issues. A
full century Of time may be required to
know what really happened and all that
comes of it.
When we review the events OF this
contest and the elements involved in it,
we see it was the inevitable and neces-
sary IN the natural order OF things as
they were, Anation cannot permanent
ly live at the same time in the past
and the present. The one element must
yield to the other. Why was this dead
ly tragedy necessary? 1t was because
of that element to be found in every
tragic acton--a blindness of the actor to
any other view than his own. Could the
North or the South have seen the real
veiW and motive of the other, all might
have been different.
The great significance of this conflict
lies in the fact that it was not merely
Union men in blue fighting Confederates
in gray. They were fellow countrymen
each acting the part of great life
principle. Each was blind to the prin-
ciple of the other. There could be no
reconciliation. But suppose they could
have paused from hurting at each other
denunciation and bitter epithet, have
come together as neighbors and have
calmly talked the matter over. Suppose,
in this way both could have come to
recognize the real fact; that it was the
two great forces of past and present
stage of civilization were opposed, and
not they themselves; that of these two
they must, by struggle or peaceably,
choose one; the issue might then have
been determined by reason and calm
judgment.
But this could not be in the blindness
NJ fnl afroyy Int fnn Inhf
of truth is seen more clearly, war will be
the necessary incident of human pro-
gress The method of evolutionary ad-
vancement has been that of division and
contention. Parties, sects, schools of
thought, clash with one another. and
perhaps destroy one another. From the
struggle their forces emerge into new
forms. A study Of the evolutionary pro-
cesses in the development of civilization
makes clear this most important fact;
! the higher level of life is always the
stronger, and must finally prevail. In
this fact we may see the supreme reall-
ty of life-The Hand Divine-operative
in human progress, which is a steady ad
vance onward and upward; whatever
tragic accidents happen by the way.
''And that should teach US
There's divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will.
(Shakespeare.)
Man may not prevent or determine
progress, but he may hinder or hasten it.
1t is his to choose what kind of force he
will suffer to act through him. When
the several forces are importuning his
will for action, to choose the lower is to
turn back in the way of life-ls to be
lost. To hesitate in vascillating indie
cision or daily with compromise, is like
wise fatal to his real life. To choose
and do the higher is the single way of
actual life-the one way of advance to
the better yet to be-is to be saved. His
enduring safety lies in sensuing the high
err life-force, decision of will and action
according thereto. This is the distinc-
tive function of man.
He cannot do away with the forces or
change their course; but he can control
what they shall effect through him. He