Year: 1863

Miscellaneous readers who take up with
interest any new volume, are busying


themselves with books like Kinglake's


'.Crimean History" and the Baroness Tan


tpheus's "At Odds" Both are able


works, the one having great value as Civ
ing a most searching insight into the char
acters of the sovereigns whose fears,


hopes and other passions brought on the


great conflict which terminated with the
fall of Sebastopol; and the other being
noteworthy as throwing the charm of ro-
nance around the struggles at the open
ing of present century of Austria, France,


Bavaria and the Tyrol. Such characteri-
cation as that of Napoleon Ill, by King
lake. and Andrew Hofer by the Baroness
Tautpheus are astonishingly graphic and
penetrating, and attract the most earnest
attention yet, after all, in view of the
struggle now going in the United States,
one cannot but be struck with the i'm
measurable superiority of the interest we
take in the events of the war for the
Union. over that felt for the fighting in the
Crimea or at Ulm. To be sure such books
as Hugo's LES Miserables" have in them
elements of interest as deep as that felt
by loyal citizens Of the Republic, and
stirring romance of Polish life would also
be welcomed with as keen appreciation
but, still, taking the average narratives of
European wars, they seem nat and trlvol-
Gus. compared with the daily accounts
which fill our newspapers OF the varying
fortunes of the struggle to trample down
rebellion.


1t is not difficult to point out the rea-
son of this higher interest in the Ameri-
can struggle. In Europe, Emperors and
Kings make playthings of their people.
Wars are undertaken to fasten crowns on
heads which might lose them were peace
to prevail. Battles are fought to serve
the ambition of some single great Gener-
al. Campaigns are undertaken to pre-
serve the balance of power" between
sovereigns who equally despise the people
and who fear each others overmastering
influence. In all this fierce strife the ac-
tors are autocrats and aristocrats, while
the people pay the taxes and furnish men
for the slaughter. But, in America, the
aspect of war is vastly changed. The 10y
al people themselves, by their unanimous
voice entered upon the prosecution of
the present war for the preservation of
the blessings of republican form of gov
eminent. They first awoke from the
lethargy in which both rulers and people
had been buried previous to April, 1861,
and the war cry which rang out at that
era came from no court or cabinet, but
from the depths of nations mighty
heart. Then when the first Bull Run
convulsed the rulers and mighty men of
the land with agonizing perplexity, it was
the voice and acts of the people which
treasured them of the safety of the cap
ital and of the still sacred integrity of the
cause. All through the conflict the Gov


ernment has been fastened and pressed
on by the eager fervor Of the people, and
revivifying hope under disaster has new
er come from Washington, but always been
blown there upon the winds from the
North, which sweep over hill and valley,
bearing on their wings the sturdy inspi-
ration of an undaunted people. But
there is n higher and holier interest in
this war than its mere popularity. The
principles for which the nation contends
are the dearest to the heart of universal
man which can be imagined. In strik-
ing for the Union our volunteers give
their hard blows for equality, for univer-
sal suffrage, for the Democratic idea of
''the greatest good to the greatest num-
ber." and for all the institutions which
have made the United States tie land
mark of freedom and happiness to the
oppressed of every cline on earth. In
striking for the Republic, our volunteers
are hurting down the incarnation
of all the blackest despotisms with
which mankind have been burden
ed since the flood, for slavery is ''the sum
all villainies," not only to the crouching
slave, but to all who come within its poi
sonous influence. Democracy dies be-
meath its shadow religion withers TO
hypocritic craft science forsakes its
drear abode; education can there find no
soil for culture, and the hum of enter
prise ceases as in desert. What wonder
then that, more than all other wars that
have been undertaken on all other conti-
nents. the American war for the Union
should evoke in its progress the finest
and most intense interest which the heart
of universal humanity can feel.-Phila-
oy,T,Bs, R,,ILeyin