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Show 92 TilE GOLDEN HOUR. dor the tuition of IIeroisro. The Bri Lish comi~andors d . co11cc sion -with con1plcLc a1nnc Lie· and offere cvc1y ' · d ·t· p1·ovided only that they u;ould lay down lll Cffilll lOS, ' t 7w ~·r arms au1~ ~d submit to the authority of England. But the r\.Inoricans, staggering though they \vero un-der a di astrous defeat,- dark, too, a \Va. the pro,- f tl ml.ll1 · 011s [1(rhtino· against the strongot5t poet o u·cc o b . power on car th , - utterly and f.t nnl.y refused to sulnn1t to any tlu . ng less than their cntn·c Independence. . This was England's la t effort to settle the difficulty by negotiation. IInn1ccliatcly thcreaft~r .she put forth her whole strength to cotnpcl sul.Hnl. lOll : but had Eno·land only known it, she was conquered already, wh~n in the 1nid t of darkness and di astor there remained to confront her a spirit too noble to com- promi. se L1·b orty , too royal to cool oven tho fevered lips of war with an ignoble peace, and offer to Des-potism the blood of heroes. Our public speakers know very ·well that, in speaking of " the Union cetncn ted by tho blood of our fathers," they touch a chord in the popular heart which never fails to respond. That is because it is a true chord. Every river and valley of it has been touched with the chrism of self-sacrifice. But here is more blood poured out : what will that co1ucnt ? Is it only to cement the broken walls of Sumter? Is it only to recover a section for freetnen to be tarred and feathered in,- a Congress for honest Senators to be as a sinatcd in ? Is that \vhat your son THE CONSECRATION OF HEROISM. 93 has gone to ce1nent with his blood? Arc ,ve g1v1ng up the be t blood in our land that our flag may again unfurl it heaven-horn colors for the protection of tho chain and the la. ·h and the block ·where immortal beings arc sold as cattle? There is where we started : the old Union just as it was, with every chain in it, every shamble, every scourge, every barbaris1n, - that is what our own valiant men brake the ranks of the Philistines to o-ct b for us. But already things give signs of change. People arc saying, Thi war will be sure to end Slavery,- tho wi ·h being father to the thought. That is only the first flush on the water. Let us see a little n1oro heroic blood shod, and people will say, This war sltall ·end Slavery. .A. man who announces- and this is said with all deference to the Secretary of State -that a bloody revolution shall sweep over a country, and leave that country, and every human being in it, in the same condition as before, must be in the counsel of that highly conservative angel at the Creation who was seized with a dreadful apprehension lest the very foundations of Chaos should be unsettled. To expect that this revolution, whilst 'vorking changes similar j;o those which revolntion has wrought in all hi tory, will leave Slavery as it 'Was bcjo?·e in the land., is to expect a conflagration enveloping a house to burn up tho stone and iron, and leave tho wood-work standing. |