£ 458 .3 .B45 Copy 1 Jr. Neman's Cljanlisgifamg German. ©lo \ix ®ivll fFiir THE PPJiXCIPLES INVOLVED, CAUSES AND CURE, §mmx^t DELIVERED ON THANKSGIVING DAY, NOV. 27, 1862. N. S. S. BEMAN TROY, N. Y.: A. W. SCKIBNEK i CO., TRINTERS, CANNON PLACK. 18 6 3. e4l^ ft'A^ 61&0S •05.1 i DISCOURSE Psalm 83 : 4. " They have said, come and let us cut them off from being a Nation, — that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." Isaiah 8: 11-13. "For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me, that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, saj' ye not A con- federacy, to all them to whom this peoj^e sfiall say A confederacy ; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let liim be your fear, and let him be your dread." I shall make no apolog-y to this audience, for occupying- the present hour in giving- you what is commonly called a political sermon. The crisis in our history imposes a duty upon all good citi- zens which the loyal in heart cannot well resist. And this duty rests with no less weight upon the minister at the altar, than upon any other member of the community. Indeed, the special oath of God is upon him, and he should be careful to maintain a good conscience before his fellow- countrymen and the world, as well as before high heaven. He has no right, in any circumstances, or under any pretext, to ignore, or repudiate, or shoulder aside, those obhgations which bind him to the social structure of which he is an individual element, or a constituent part. The popular prejudice which exists in our day and in our country, against an occasional discus- sion in the pulpit, and especially on a week day, of some great subject wliich relates to the policy of the government and the good of the people as a social body, is a problem which philogophy has not yet fully solved. The old prophets were in the habit of instructing, and even reproving, rulers, when occasion required, — and warning the people touching national measures ; and no one thought it out of place. The preachers of the Revolution were among the most out-spoken and zealous patriots, and delivered sermons, not only on special occasions, but often on the Sabbath, exhorting the half-discouraged people to stand by their country, in the dark day of her calamities ; and nobody complained, but the tories. The Southern clergymen, who, next to the politicians, have done more than any other men to kindle the fires of rebellion, and fan them into the intensest flame, have preached and publislied the most in- flammatory discourses against our blessed Union ; and their broad and in ispaiing denunciations have been advertised and read at the North, and praised by the disloyal among- us ; and not a stain of evil has been detected in their pages, by such mur- murers about political preaching. And after all, who is it, that is most deeply grieved, by such discussions in the pulpit, in our day, and among us \ There may be, and no doubt is, here and there a good man — a truly pious man — who conscientiously thinks, that the pulpit should never admit any thing else than the naked law of God and the pure gospel of Jesus Christ — and tliat, too, in the most literal sense : — that the government of the country, and the civil and political rights of the people, should never be discussed or hinted at there, because the place is too holy for such themes. But the number to which I now refer, is very small. The great mass of those who shudder at political sermons as pro- fane, are those who care not a fig for religion. They are too often men who are found' in the pre- cincts of the grog-shop, and breathe its pestiferous air, and derive their religious inspiration and zeal from its predominant and pervading element. And I may add, in our day, they are those whose loy- alty is doubtful, and who might say, under such a sermon, as one said in behalf of his whole class or profession, under a discourse of the great 6 preacher. — " ^NTaster, thus saying tliou reproachest us also." The two passages I have placed at the head of this discourse, as a sort of suggestive text, relate to two distinct historical events, but of the same polit- ical character. The passage from the 83d Psalm, written by a descendant of the celebrated singer and poet, Asoph, relates to a formidable conspiracy against the throne of David, in the reign of Jehoshaphat King of Judah. Israel rebelled, and Judah was loyal. The traitors formed a motley crew, composed of Apostate Hebrews, and asso- ciated Heathen, and half-breeds. They were crafty in counsel and tumultuous in their vain boastings. They said, " Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation,— that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance." Certain political and moral reformations inaugurated by Jehoshaphat, had contributed to stir up and intens- ify this special enmity at that time. These " con- federates " could not bear that such a nation should exist and prosper, or its memorial leave a vestige on the page of history. They had become des- perate. The passage from Isaiah relates to a combina- tion of the apostate house of Israel with certain foreign powers, against the Kingdom of Judah, and the house of David. It was a rebellion against a government formed and established by God him- self, — and occurred in the days of Sennacherib, some 150 years subsequent to the insurrection of " the confederates " already referred to. It is strongly intimated in this divine record, that there was a large party in Judah who sympathized with the enemies of the government, through fear or some other unworthy motive ; but the prophet was warned against fellowship with such. " For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me, that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, say ye not A confeder- acy to all them to whom this people shall say A confederacy ; neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself ; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread." It is much better, and much safer to fear God, than the .rebels. They are antagonistic powers, and God is stronger than men. There is a voice uttered in the context, which seems to have been spoken prophetically for the men of our day, both here upon our own soil and abroad among foreign nations. " Associate your- selves, ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries : gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces ; gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to naught ; 8 speak the word, and it shall not stand, for God is with us." It is worthy of note, that the term " Confeder- acy," now in political and popular use, occurs but three times in the Scriptures — twice in my text from Isaiah and once in Obadiah — and always in a bad and odious sense. It is only another name for a wicked conspiracy against a legitimate and heaven-established government. " Confederate," which stands in the context of the passage from the Psalms, likewise is used but three times in the Bible, once in a good sense, for powers bound in treaty stipulations for mutual defence, and twice, for base conspirato?-s against the divine institution of civil government. The Southern rebels seem to have been divinely directed, in one thing, — in selecting a descriptive name for themselves and their government. They are " Confederates," or conspirators, and their government a " Confeder- acy," or conspiracy ! We may say of this wonder- ful adaptedness of names to the things indicated, as the magicians once said to Pharaoli, — " This is the finger of God." He lias secretly and mysteri- ously led them to write unwittingly their own history, and delineate graphically their own char- acter. There is a directing providence in the affairs of men ; and God lives in human history. And he will Hve there, through the ages. "There 9 is a Divinity that shapes our ends, rough hugh them as we will." The picture of our country, at this day, in con- trast with what we have seen it from our earliest years, is truly affecting. Tf it were not for sterner duties which urge us to more manly deeds, we might well sit down here, and weep patriot tears over the changes which have passed, and are pass- ing- around us. A brilliant skv was once over our heads, but the stars by night are now dimmed, and the sun by day is suffering a disastrous eclipse. A preternatural midnight, in the early evening, has settled down upon all that just now smiled in beauty and loveliness around us. And the picture has warm blood-drops upon it. Death breathed upon it, and it withered, — touched it with his finger, and defaced and marred it. The grave- digger, with his spade on his shoulder, is stealing- through the mysterious darkness, having opened, and then filled, two hundred thousand graves with friends and foes — with murdered citizens and dead traitors. With all our manhood we might well weep like women, over these desolations which have fallen upon our country. The silent sleepers beneath our feet, have here and tliere a memento to tell us who they are, but most of them lie in solitary, or in promiscuous, or mingled oblivion — " alike unknowing and unknown." 2 10 The treasures wasted in tliis national conflict, are untold. One thousand million, at least, have gone down into the deep ocean, to come up no more. It might occur to your minds as a fact, affording some relief, that nearly one half of this sum was a lictitious rebel currency — worth nothing at the beginning, and no better now, and not likely to improve in time to come. And yet the loss has fallen on wmehody. Material good has been sacri- ficed, and the means of life and happiness anni- hilated. They are gone for ever. And look at this beautiful earth which God has spread beneath our feet, — smiling in youthful promise, and teeming with uncounted wealth. Yesterday, it was so, — to-day, how marred, and scorched, and cursed. Here fields are imreaped and harvests trodden down, — and there, of equal native fertility, they lie uncultivated and fallow. Fine old forests are felled to the earth to obstruct the march of invading armies, and all is martial pomp and array. Tents wliiten the hill tops and the valleys, batteries are planted every where, cities and towns are surrounded with intrench- ments and walled bv strong fortifications, and fields that once welcomed the plow-share with a smiling promise, become battle grounds where death rules the hour I The clash of arms and the thunder of artillorv rend the air. the death strujrs'le 11 ensues, strong men are stricken down, and the earth smokes, and the rivers are purpled with human blood. Some of the fairest portions of our land have become a desolation. Bat the half has not been told you. I would not attempt to tell you. My powers could not compass the magni- tude of the evils, or my tongue utter a tithe of their horrors. But who, or what, has done all this I What fiend, exiled from light and heaven, has visited us, and left his cloven foot-prints upon the fairest land that ever smiled in the ftice of the opening skies? Surely a great foe has been here, and done this fearful deed. It is a devil baptized " Secession." He has done all this, and he intends to do more. This embodiment of all political evils, claims the right of Ijreaking up the government formed by our fathers, by going out of the Union by States. If one man should do such a deed, he would be hanged, If a voluntary combination of individu- als, should attempt the same, a like fate would overtake them. But if a State does the foul deed, the panoply of " State Rights " is an ample protec- tion in the opinion of some. Mr. Buchanan stood amazed, and looked at this fiend, till liis heart, which was never known to have any other fiber in it, than that of ambition, actually began to soften, and he almost fell in love with it. It seemed all 12 l»iit "an ang-el of lig'ht," — and it became more beautiful, the longer he gazed. It was so near faultless, that it would be unconstitutional and un- kind to resort to the use of any " coercion " in dealing with it. Treason must be coaxed, and not coerced, out of its villiany. This tame policy has well nig-h made ship- wreck of this republic. It would have done it, if God had not brought in new agencies to the rescue. And some men feel quite grieved and angry that the old part}^ in power had not continued to direct the destinies of the nation, till the ruin was fully consummated, and our fate sealed beyond redemption. The right of " secession," either by individuals, or combinations of men, or organized State author- ities — is a bald absurdity. In speaking to sensi- ble men, it would be a waste of time and words to construct a grave and formal argument to prove this fact. Admit the principle and claims of se- cession, and you blot out iUl law. Its soul, or essence, which is penalty, is annihilated ; the letter is nailed to the gibbet ; and if it retains the sem- blance of an organic existence, it is a dead letter. " It is henceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and trodden under foot of men." Compacts and Constitutions, ratified with solemn delibera- tion, and consecrated with prayer, and cemented with pure, patriot bhjod, become foot-balls for 13 wiley demag-og-ues, and are impelled to and fro, as mere playtbing-s. We hav^e seen so much of this in our day, that we have come to an utter loathing of such political hypocrisy. The men who framed and adopted our Constitution were honest men ; and they took it for granted, that their descendants would possess both the intelli- gence and integrity to carry out its letter and spirit. But they placed, I fear, too high an esti- mate upon both. The modern doctrine of " States' Rights" — investing these rights with supremacy — and arming them with a power to override the general government, destroys at once the very ex- istence of a nation. The Union, is a compact at will. Any member can retire at his option : and if one may, all ma}', and the powers of the gov- ernment, and solemn stipulations, and foreign alli- ances, and the signs and symbols which indicate an organic nationality, are swept away at a blow. This is the political .heresy which has infatuated some otherwise sane minds, and endangered our God-given institutions, and cursed our once bless-, ed land. This imp of darkness has brought forth those " wayward sisters" and then educated them thoroughly in her own school, whose charms have so smitten some of our modern politicians, that they long to go down to Richmond, and have a fraternal interview, and then " bid tliem depart in 14 peace." The man who holds the doctrine, and practices upon it — that any State ma}^ at her op- tion, retire from the compact — ratified by the Con- stitution, and leave the Union a shattered frag- ment — is a traitor and a rebel ; and he is no less a traitor and a rebel, who denies this doctrine of state rights, and would, at the same time, suffer any member of the compact to retire from its po- sition without the use of coercion and force to prevent it. The united powers of government and loyalty are pledged to prevent such a move- ment. That government which does not call into requisition all the material and means which heav- en and earth may furnish to accomplish this end, deserves to be rent in atoms ; and that professed lo3'alty which does not cordially unite in this work, and cry amen to every inch of its progress, and is not prepared to sing paeons of glorj^ over its final triumph, is do^^•nrigh,t hypocrisy. It is empty profession, and nothing else. The Author of tliat doctrine which paved the wav to this rebellion, has damaged this g'overn- ment more than any other man who has ever en- joyed in a preeminent degree, its honors and emol- uments. John C. Caliioux was a man by him- self He stood alone. lie was the inventor of the iuel(ti)hysic.s of Politics, — a cool and subtle rea- soner, and his conclusions logical, if his postulates If) had not often been too bold and extravagant to be true, and sometimes so numerous as to shake our confidence in the strength of his argument. Ad- mit his premises, and his inference follows. Many have adopted the inference without examining the premises with sufficient acumen to discover that they are assumed truths — without any reasons — which amount, as the logicians say, to " a begging of the question." He had but one idol, chattel slavery — and this he worshiped with all the devo- tion and tenacity of a native-born pagan. Iron man, as he was, he bent the knee to this power, and to this alone, and his youthful admirers, over whom he had great influence, bowed in company with him, and the clergy of the South, and espe- cially the Old School Presbyterian brethren, came to the Jubilee ; and Diana of the Ephesians was never hailed with louder acclamations, than, this great god of cotton : and now and then has been heard a distinct and loud and joyous response from the working men — the democratic masses, of the North. The latter half of Mr. Calhoun's life was de- voted to one grand purpose. For this every thing else must stand aside. Every opposing agency must bend or break. This object was, the exten- sion and perpetuation of slavery. Whatever other interest may suffer, " this institution must be lion- 1() ored." This lanouaoe was once uttered by him- self. His genius and tact gave us Texas ; and his doctrines finally broke up the "Missouri Com- promise," and inaugurated the bloody scenes of Kansas. AYithout slavery we should never have had a Calhoun, as position and circumstances final- ly developed him ; and without both — Calhoun and slavery — we should never have been visited by this afflictive civil war. Originally a radical democrat of the Jeff"ersonian school, he taxed all his talents and all his logic to reconcile his former sentiments with his new political and social theo- ries. "The Declaration of Independence" which stared him in the face, he disposed of by a short process. Once — when I first knew him, it was the inspiration of his loftiest eloquence ; now it was a work of the imagination, and utterly false in its positions and principles, or at least only poetically true. As to tJie unalienahle rights of man — " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," they must be interpreted with proper restrictions — first settling the question, that the black man is a mere outsider of the human race. Such a being was created for bondage, and not for freedom. God made him for this very purpose, and it would be profane to mar the workmanship of Almighty God. As Mr. Calhoun's heart was not all iron, he defended this divine arrangement on the ground of beuevo- 17 leiice, — that servitude was the happiest possible condition for the colored race, and that some must be SLAVES, or none could be truly free. This is now the prevailing Southern doctrine, that slavery must exist in order to ffive the hio-liest zest to free- dom, and, at the same time, insure its permanency and triumph. And as Mr. Calhoun, was, by an early Presbyterian education, a believer in the divine purposes, he cherished the pious hope, that American man-stealing might not only bring many of these poor heathen across the Atlantic to this good land, but, after having given them some of the foretastes of heaven, in the earthly Paradise of Slavery, might carry them safely over Jordan to the better land of Canaan above. The contest in which we are now engaged, is one of the most eventful that human passion has ever stirred up, or human arms, fiercely waged on earth. The democratic principle of self-govern- ment, is now on trial. Crowned brows, and starred shoulders, and mitered heads — the holy alliance of tyranny — are empanneled in the jury-box, and the world is now all attention to the argu- ments of cannon and musketry, in open court, and waiting anxiously for the verdict. Freedom, or oppression, will be jubilant at its rendering. Our experiment of self-government, has l)een tried under more auspicious circumstances, than any 18 previous one, since tlie world began. Our fathers had intellig-ence and virtue. — thev formed a o^ood constitution — not perfect, nothing human is, — they were firmly iniited together by the strong bonds which a death-struggle "v^itli a foreign foe, had created, — and God had given us a magnificent soil on which to plant our institutions, and begin our novel work. If this fails, where shall the attempt be made again, — and who shall commence it 1 If this star of hope to the nations, be extinguished, will the hand of God that once lighted it up for us — ever re-kindle it, in the darkened heavens 1 I tremble as I attempt to peer into the thick clouds which hang over the future. God alone can com- prehend the great results. We may, however anticipate some of them with a probability which may not be likely to mislead us. And among these we cannot fail to see, that, if the rebels prevail, and our Union is shattered, and our government broken up, the arm of the despot will be greatly strengthened by these calamities. That arm will be as heavy and rigid as iron. The cry has alread}^ been lifted up all over Europe, that (he democratic principle lias been tried, and found wanting. Man cannot govern himself Combi- nations of men cannot govern themselves. Free institutions formed by the people for their own ■ government, cannot stand. And the final effect of 19 all this will be, " the divine right of kings " will strike its roots more deeply in every soil, and " human rights " will be more wantonly disregard- ed by all hereditary powers. It would be argu- ment enough to point the slow-moving finger of scorn at the fragments of our republic,, as they float down the stream of national ruin, and say, " There learn the end of all free ins"titutions ! " This has been said already — prematurely, I be- lieve, — and tyrants have " grinned a ghastly smile," as they have said it. And this is not all. If secession should prevail in any degree — either according to its own large expectations, or in a more limited sense, a great nation, which was fast coming up to take her seat by the side of the most powerful of the earth^-is ruined. Her name which has waved triumphant- ly upon a Banner more beautiful than any other that floats o'er the land — or gleams on the sea, is blotted out. A star gone — and the constella- tion is marred and dimmed. This hemisphere grows dark, and prophesies of dissolution. The long future which we have anticipated with so much hope in God, and so much hope for man, is covered with a dark, thick pall that no eye can penetrate. If imagination might speak, she would whisper, " Death lies beneath that portentious symbol." One State out of the Union by permis-' 20 sioii of the g'overnment, jiiid miotlier follows, and another, till the once seamless garment is rent in twain. Disintegration once begun, the process may never be stayed in its course, till the United States may be known only in history and chanted only in song. This is secession made perfect. The influence of this country upon all the in- stitutions of the old world, for the last twenty -five years, has been such as to reflect credit upon our- selves, and to create alarm in many other quarters. AVliile there has been too much self-gratulation on our part, yet there is no merit in voluntary or affected ignorance on this subject. All the move- ments in behalf of freedom and the rights of man, in European governments, had their birth-place and education in the United States. The pagan world has felt the power of our free Christianity ; and many converts on the other side of the glode, having been cheered by our light, now join with us in prayer to God, that this light may never be dimmed, or extinguished. The Foreign Mission- aries tell us, that the native christians take a deep interest in this our present national crisis. Should our government be prostrated and our country trodden under foot of rebels, there is not an inter- est of benevolence on our glol)e but would feel the shock, and be retard(Ml. The missionary abroad would lind his heart de])ressed and his 21 hands weakened, and the great pagan world would pass into a super-added and deeper gloom. The dawn of the millenium would seem to recede again into its ancient midnio^ht. The statesmen and diplomatists of Europe, have become more and more alarmed at our influence upon their people ; and they seem to feel, at least, a momentary relief from their fears since the traitors have uncaped their volcano among us. Nations whose civilization and progress should have inspired the deej^est sympathy for us, and whose record in favor of humanity is before the world, have evidently begun to glory in our down- fall, and to turn a cold shoulder to us in the hour of our trial. The feeling expressed has been this : ' Come, and let us cut them oif from being a na- tion, — that their name may be no more in remem- brance.' This clamor about freedom and the rights of man and human progress, is not to our taste, and we cannot endure it. The United States are becoming a dangerous rival, and with their growing power and wealth, the principles of their p-overnment will commend themselves more and more to men of thought and philanthrophy the world over. " Come,' and let us cut them off from being a nation." ' This is our only sure pro- tection.' 22 Tliis train of thought has been indulged by many a Trans-Atlantic Statesman. The presence of such a nation as ours — free, active, self-gov- erned, progressive — is fatal to the whole world of tyrants. We need not wonder, that the wdley Frenchman — usurper as he is — should take an at- titude against us, — or his half-starved and unstable millions should sympathize with him. But Eng- land! Who would have expected such a voice from England ? And yet we have heard it. The throne and the people of that kingdom who gen- erally stand together, are with us, in their " heart of hearts," in this fearful struggle for life, — but the aristocracy — proverbial for their hauteur and their contempt for the progress of the masses, and their ecclesiastical appendage — the established church of like taste and proclivities — are de- cidedly with the rebels. Their heart is there — because they have a like heart with them. Two that are agreed naturally walk together. There is an air of nobility in slave- holding. It gives leisure — gives luxury — gives power over man — and aives wealth and refinement. It secures a sort of hereditary distiiu'tion, — an entailed nobil- ity. Take it all in all — there is a charming odor about it, — a delightful flavor. In one word slave- ry is heautiJuL ' And, then, the slaves toil not less for Manchester, than for Richmond. And they 23 both reap a rich harvest from fields cultivated by slave-labor. While the operatives of the one city are kept from starving-, the citizens of the other " are clothed in scarlet and fine linen and fare sumptuously every day." We see then that the aristocracy and clergy of England and the South- ern Confederacy are bound together by a strong material and social tie. And we need not wonder at what is said in high places in Great Britain. There is no mystery in these utterances. To a philosophical mind, they expound themselves. Take a few^ of them as samples, on this occasion. England has declared ' that slavery has nothing to do with this rebellion and this civil war, — that freedom would rather lose than gain with the tri- umph of the North, — that the South and the North were already two nations.' Such utter- ances are a compound of stupidity and perverse- ness, — and, in this country, can only provoke a smile or a sneer. Earl Russell summed up the whole matter by saying, " that the contest was, on the part of the North, for supremacy, on the South, for independence." Mr. Gladstone echoes this most profound sentiment of the noble Earl. It was discovered, as long ago as the days of Elihu, that " Great men are not always wise." Lord Brougham describes this war as the " fran- tic rage of a whole people, filled with a thirst for 24 vengeance, only to be slaked by each other's slauohter." Poor old lord ! His hatred of democ- racy, or a popular government, has swallowed up and annihilated his once vigorous anti-slavery zeal, — and he sees nothing in the struggles of this civil war, 'but the visions of free-trade, and the fury of such a mob as that which demanded of Pontius Pilot the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.' Most of tlie Literary and Religious Periodicals of Great Britain, are in sympathy with the South against the North. The London Review, published by the Wesley ans, is the only respectable exception. Dr. Campbell of the Standard, assures us that "no power on earth can alter his views." Probably not, for he is an obstinate Scotchman. " A wise man changes his opinion sometimes, a fool never." At a meeting of the Gruildford Agricultural As- sociation, the Rev. G. Portal, Rector of Aldbury, delivered his cruel soul as follows : — " If war should unhappily arise between the two countries, he hoped there would be no more of that maudlin sentimentality, of which we had heard so much, about the Americans being our blood relations, and that a war with them would be as bad as civil war at home. It was all non- sense. America separated from us a century ago, and since then her population had been recruited from every country of the world. In New York 25 there were more than 200,000 Germans, and those who know wliat ' points ' it took to establish simi- hirity of breed must be aware ^vliat sort of simi- larity existed between us and that country. He was ver}^ much of the opinion of the writer who said, that a Yankee was as great a parody upon an Englishman, {is a monkey was upon the human race:' Tiiis savage speech was made about the time of the affair of the Trent. It was a dark — dark day in English intellect. A general lunacy broke loose among the people, at that })eriod. In a time of general national dementation, it is truly cheering to meet with such names as these : — Arthur, the noble Wesleyan, — Bright, the pure- minded and honest Quaker, — and Mill, the acute political economist. They have uttered words of encouragement when most needed by us, — and they have uttered words of fearful warning which Avill come up in the reminiscences of others, — of a selfish and infatuated nation, when the day of retribution shall arrive. Whether our Rector of Aldbury, spoke under the influence of tlie pre- vailing national lunacy, I \\\\\ not undertake to pronounce. The law of nature exempts some men from mental derangement. He that is born a fool, can never become a maniac. 4 2fi England is the Hvir.o:, and unexpoiinded, Riddle, of our world. AVitliout exhausting the subject, DeTocqueville has made a few happy hits Avhich very naturally occur to the mind in connection with these expressions of British opinion on our civil war. " In the eyes of an Englishman," says this shrewd and philosophical writer, " a cause is just, if it be the interest of England that it should succeed. A man or a o-overnment that is useful to England has every kind of merit, and one that does England harm, every sort of fiiult." And again. It is . " the conviction of all nations, that England considers them only with reference to her own greatness, that she never notices what passes among foreigners, wdiat they think, feel, suffer, or do — but with relation to the use which England can make of their actions, their sufferings, their feelings, and theii thoughts ; and that when she seems most to care for them, she really cares only for herself" If this is not a life-like portrait of England, drawn by a master's hand, — then, whose portrait is it 1 Tliese few graphic phrases, ap})lied by an analytic mind, will place England before the world in revelations that will appear little less than miraculous. Here is a key more infallible than that of St. Peter, which will unlock most of the political mysteries of the sea-girt isle in I8(jl-'J, — and it may be some others yet to come. 27 Here" is the Trent affair, with all the Jesuitical twistins's and turning's, in broad day lij^'ht, and at the expense of precedents, professions, and prac- tice, on the part of England. They have had to r wallow a whole volume of their naval history, before they could 'assume the ground they have taken. It is not the thing done, but the persons doing it and the time in which the act was per- formed. Here you see Palmerston and Russell, and Gladstone giving opinions and making decla- rations, respecting our country, which belie all the facts of current history, and the blunders of which would disgrace a common school-boy — and for a purpose which is branded upon their very face — in order to exalt England and pull down a growing rival. Here is a nation just escaped from a fearful civil war, in which they had our sym- pathies, turning the current of these good wishes, and their material aid too, so far as they can do it and keep up a certain anainalous something, which they call " a strict neutrality',' in favor of a slave- holding reheUion, prompted only by ambition and the love of power. England has done this in the very face of all her former declarations and acts against human bondage, — thus blotting with ineff'aceable stains the fairest page of her histor}^ Mark me, though not a prophet, nor the son of a 28 prophet, — an eartlily retrihiitioii is before thr.t nation. Sad mistakes in tlie prosecution of this why, on on)' part, have entailed upon ns most disastrous and disgraceful faihires. It shoukl have been ended k")no' ago. It might liave been. It is a burning shame to the strong, kn'al Nortli — with her twenty milHons, and her large resources of every kind, that it has not been done. I know it is easy to criticise, and find fault, and condemn. The genius of human nature excels in this depart- ment of execution; and yet, to a generous mind, it is by no means a coveted task. But the iact cannot be disguised, that there has been blame somewdiere. Two o"reat mistakes mav embrace the sum and substance of the whole. These are generic. We have underrated the work to be done, and we have mistaken and misapplied the means in order to effect it. The project of bringing back ten revolted States to their allegiance, and of pacifying five more in strong sympathy with them in social habits and domestic institutions, ma}^ be pronounced a great undertaking. It was once thought that many of the Southern people were truly loyal and a little assistance from the government, and tlie influence of a benign central power, would bring State after State, at the end of a shoi-t l)ut bitter experience 21) of its erratic course, into it^ ixilitical orljit again. But one problem has been fully solved. Tlier ; is no loyalty, per se, Avliere the love of sUiverj is deeply rooted in the heart. And this is as true in one latitude as another. There is not one man in a hundred among the border-state loyalists, whose professed faith to the government is not based on the safety of i/egro projiertij. The Constitution and oaths of allegiance, are dust in the balance against the slave. One negro will turn the head, and alienate the heart of any conditional loyal- ist or patriot. His phrensy often rises so high, when this interest is at stake — dearer than govern- o nient, or country, or all else that is attractive, that his full soul might well exclaim, in a parody on the eloquent language of Patrick Henry — " Give me my negro, or give me death." There are some noble and disinterested exceptions to these remarks. And, then, few men could have anticipated the strong sympathies and the material aid the insur- rectionists against tlie best of governments, would have received from England and France. They have made a record for themselves which — to the reproach of their civilization, will cling to their name in after ages. I speak not of overt acts of government, but of the spirit almost every where cherished, — the animus pervading their speeches and piiblicaticMis, — tlieir ir/sZ/es, intended to be kept secret, and yet l)ut lialf concealed, and Avhicli crop out in their every day and minor acts. Any one can see that both of these nations lon