Year: 1865




The London Times, which is not always
truthful authority upon the affairs OF this coun-
try has, for once at least in its issue OF the otn
inst, expressed an opinion about which there
can be no dispute. II regards the position OF
the United States at the present time as much
that OF a new nation as it was after the Revolu7
ton Of T6. It says that


The subect0n OF tho South is much fail dccosHph
the Declaration Of Independence ITSELF and new
chapter has thereby been opened in the history OF the
captulations will take the place OF Bunkers HILL Sara
tOga and Yorktown. CORVALLIS and Burgoyne Will DO
dwarfed by Jackson and Lee and it will not surprise US


Lincoln occupies pedestal of equal height with that
Of Washington. II the importance Of occurrences be
determined by their scale, the Of independence
hardly admits OF comparison with that which has just
terminated The forces collected either side the dis
tances traversed, the lists Of killed and wounded and
the ruin wrought in the former are as nothing by the
side Of the records Of the late civil The tales OF
outrage and havoc inflicted by the British troops which
have horrifed three generations OF Americans are
already being superseded by more recent and vivid
memories, and the heroic age of America will be
transferred from the eighteenth to the nineteenth cen
tury.


This is historically true. The recent triumph
over rebellion has been productive of effects
which in any other country could not be
reached by war of thirty years, and even
then would be but imperfect in its results,
leaving to future generations only basis upon
which to construct new revolutions. This has
been the history of all the great wars of Eu-
rope. The conflicts of the Old World, sanguin-
ary and long-lived as many Of them were, have
been but tardy steps up the ladder of progress
sion towards definite result Our late war
has attained the result which we sought in one
gigantic step. It has produced new develop
ment of the constitutional powers of the gov
ernment. It has tested successfully the vigor
of national life that is in us. 1t has settled for
ever the two leading issues from which danger
to the perpetuity of democratic government
might be expected-the visionary idea Of para
mount State rights as opposed TO the federal
compact, and the existence Of slavery as ne
cessity to the prosperity, political and actual,
of the Union.


The Revolution of '76 established the capacity
of this people to obtain national existencei
but the war concluded in 1865 has proved sub
stantially their power to perpetuate it. All the
resources of the nation were called out in the
late struggle, and they never can be repressed,
no matter what may come in the future. They
cannot be ignored. They will stand forever as
evidences of our strength, giving confidence to
ourselves and admonition to the rest of the
world. Like the seed Of corn planted in' the
ground, the late bloody contest has borne
fruits most prolifcally-but fruits which never
can be compressed into the same space that tht
single grain of corn once occupied.


The national power exhibited In this war viii
obtain new direction. tending to the devel
opment Of resources never dreamed OF, or Al
least never tried before. The Times Is right
therefore, in stating that we have become q
new nation. 1t is manifest that we cannot live
within the narrow limits of our past. The re
public is revivifed. Its history in the coming
future will eclipse all that it has realized in th'
last three-quarters Of century; and 1t Is well
perhaps, that the eyes of Europe have beer
opened to this fact.