Year: 1864

ciated with this war, which the Amer


lean people practically refuse to con


slider. This fact does not argue tha


tho point itself is unimportant; fo


the attention which mankind give t,


affairs, is not always in proportion t


their importance. Matters of groa
pith and moment, soliciting serious
thought, needing cool and inlpartia


analysis, arc often postponed for sucl


as are, for the time being, moro at


traetivo; and events having q vita


bearing upon tho future, give place il


the mind to those whose Significance


is transitory and ophemeral.


The point to which we allude is the


reactionary effect OF the war upon tho


people; upon the popular character


itself, and upon the economical condi-


tons, social relations, and political IN


stitutions Of the people. We are


prosecuting tho war in n way to pro-


duco the deepest and most lasting ef-


feet upon the popular character. The
masses Of one great section Of the
continent are taken up, and under cir
cumstances inimical to military disci-
pline and moral restraint, are yiolont-
ly dashed against those Of another
and this process is continued year
after year, until tho clements of which
these masses are composed become
habituated to this condition Of vio-
lence, and rcalizo those permanent
changes of character which it is the
Office of habit to generate and con-
firm. Although in its external as
poets military, this enterprise is, in
reality, less military than any war, of
recent times, resembling more those
progresses with Wow to conquest
and emigration for which previous
ages were noted, in which the aggres-
sive party took up arms 10 tho end
simply to secure a more fertile terri
..''s'-- hut, in -r,,irsuit of thair-ahieat-
became Injured TO vlolonco, and re-
manned warlike after it had been at
tanned and secured. The changes un-
dergono by the popular character had
tho effect to generate corresponding
changes in political ideas and institu-
tions. The simple ropublicanism Of
life of pastoral peace was found unfit
for state of aggression and pillagc,
and III proportion as the Gothic or the
Celtic soldier loved to tyranize over
the unhappy people whom his arms
had subdued, he learned to bow in
implicit submission to the commands
of the chicftain by whom hc had been
led to victory, and to be willing to aid
that chief to confirm his authority
over those who were more reluctant
than himself to welcome tho revolu-
ton.


tory of the wars which thoy have
waged, it is no less history of the
effects of war upon the parties wag-
ing; changing not only the relations
which they bore toward each other,
but working revolutions in the popu-
lar character of each--its social or
and its political institu-
tions. \ man can no moro squander
his estate without becoming bankrupt,
or waste his strength in riotii.g with
out undermining his constitution, than
a nation can lay out its force, its sub
stance, and its physical and moral Vi
tality, iii vast war, without oncoun-
tering tho effects which such causos
are calculated to produce.


No nation in the world ever camo
out of an exhaustive war at the same
point, politically, socially and econom-
ically at which it entered upon It's
prosecution. The States of antiquity,
while their victorious armies were con-
quering wide regions and extending
tho boundaries Of empire over distant
countries, sunk under tho apathy ia
cident to long-oontinued efforts, and
their people fell easy victims TO dcs-
potism at home, the counterpart Of
that which they had aided to impose
upon others abroad. The govern
monts of modern nations experienced
in war, have learned the reflex dan
gers to which it exposes, and seek to
guard against them; but with q fatu-
ity at which tho future will wondor,
amid the antagonism Of political par
ties, the efforts Of our administration
soem to have been directed to thoworkof
rendering the Generalization as gen
eral as possible, and planting as many
OF the seeds of future revolutions as
the nature Of the case will admit.


Whatever may bo tho military re-
suit Of tho war, and whatever tho re-
lation, If any, which may be estab-
lished through its agency, between
the North and South, nothing is more
certain than this: that neither will
the Union, as it was be restored, nor
will the political or socialconditions Of
the North be what they were before
it began. The difference will be wide
and radical it will be n progressive
difference, growing broader and more
porcoptiblc as time elapses-involv-
ing, if not the form, the spirit and
character of our Government, and
particually ovorruling tho principles
which led to its establishment.


Such will DO tho case whatever may
be the intermediate processes but wo
do not know that the people OF tho
North = at least at this timc--aro pro-
pared to view with much terror, tho
prospect of a radical change either in
tho form or in the character of their
Government 1t is only the maddcst
and shallowcst of ~ demagogues
upon the Administration side who en-
large much upon tho old ditty of our
hcavcn-dcviscd and divinely ordered
form Of Government the moro tenn
peratc and sensible OF the party hav-
ing, it would seem, tacitly agreed to
drop tho subject. And indeed the
mad and the shallow, from tho Begin
ming, whilo they proclaimed, as against
tho rob ,ls, that ours was tho best
Government upon earth, and one tit
ted and adapted by especial divine
dispcnsation for tho uses Of this con-
tincnt, were, upon the other side,
equally clamOrOus over its weakness