Year: 1865

tA@Sod soS 4<SAuon LINES, ADF4I AL


Tie last intelligence from New York ex
hibits that city in all the intoxication O.
triumph. It has had its occasions for ex
ultation before, but till the recent change
IN the prospects of the war, they were SC
often followed by such Qualifications Of
those successes that at last the announce
ments Of victory were distrusted, or even
dlsbelieved. Then came periods of depres
sion, and not a year has elapsed since it was
possible for a few advocates of peace and
compromise to speak and write in favor OF
both. Now, however, there is no visible
cause Of doubt or misgiving. Charleston
and Richmond are again Federal cities,
President Lincoln is lodged IN the house of
President Davis, and the army of Lee has
retired to the interior. The catastrophe
seems complete, and in all its accessories
calcTilG sd to impress the people with feel
ing that the work is accomplished, and that
the civil war is really at an end.


But no violent excitement can
be very enduring, and no people more
readily recover their faculty of taking q
cool and practical view Of things. The
transition, indeed, from the hot tit to the
cold is often exceedingly rapid and when
the reaction sets in topics may be discussed
with perfect calmness which in the access of
fever would have excited paroxysm of
wrath. We, therefore, merely regret that





this occasion was that, one war being ter
minated, the whole nation should embr0il
itself in another-nay, in a series of wars.
But at the moment Of utterance much was
overlooked that will in not distant future
ask very serious consideration. We also re-
gret that, next to the idea of war generally
the most popular suggestion was war with
England But we cannot regard these fiery
denunciations seriously. In a bidding for
oTn1a1n So oh 70 +lo
travagance Of promise however wild
it may be, the speaker is always
comfortably aware that he runs little
risk of being called on to fulfill it,


Passion ruled the hour and the orators
would not have been listened to had they
not complied with the time; and spoken
with the unchecked vehemence that suited
it. We are not disposed to attach over
much importance to illusions to the ''Fenian
BrotherhOod.n 1t is told off in good round
numbers, but we know enough Of the ap
partition and how it has been got up TO de-
prive the threat Of any significance. Every
generation has had some political scooped
turnip Of this kind held up to it, with as
surances that it is very terrible. But that
the Americans will not cOuntenanCe the i'm
position beyond the point of political utility
in their own elections, we may feel as
surcd.


The much truer expression Of. the Ameri-
can feeling was given, We trust, at Wash
ingtOn, where the members Of the Govern
ment were summoned, as usual Oh far less
important occasions, to address public
gathering. They spoke under a double re-
spOnsibility, As ministers and the represent
atiyes Of the Republican party. Public en-
thusiasm cannot entirely carry away men
holding such a position They must con-
slider something beyond mOmentary ap-
plause. They must avoid official embar
easements, and endCaVOr not to endanger
party" interests. The Washington speeches,
therefore, are pitched in a more mode
rate key than those of New York. States
men cannot indulge i'll the "CambYses'
vein, living as they dc in terror OF after
Mr.. Seward, therefore, did
not encourage the New York suggestion of
and war. He adopted lighter
mode Of treatment for the crisis. He very
evaded the perils of a set speech,
and rather amused his audience than stirred
them. His address served the purpose. He
could not let England escape altogether, but
he did not threaten her with determination
or to annex Canada forthwith. He dealt
in innuendo. which, as it pleased his hear
ers, we have not the slightest wish to quar-
rel with. There was far less bitterness in
his speech than in the tone of many Of
his dispatches, written when a European
intervention was really apprehended. The
n1ubt ION GCklOW1euSS tLdb IliC
apprehension was groCndless. Against the
few reproaches Mr.. Seward launched at us,
we set the instancec in which, by his official
acts, he checked the rashness of subordinate
officers of the Government. Ii such in
hammatory harangues as those delivered at
New York do not affect the policy of the
Administration, it would be unreasonable
to attach too much importance to them.
Very possibly Dir. Seward could not have
spoken 50 temperately to the excited thou
sands of New York. But we believe the
more moderate tone of the official addresses
st Washington is more reliable index TO
American nOljcy