me to
their own doors with a new and all-pervading significance, such as the
North hardly knows how to conceive. The North should abstain to the last
moment from thrusting even enemies into calamity so dire. But, if the
arrogance and madness of the South shall force on us, now or later, this
terrific resort, the world _may_ witness, as the result of this war, the
most tremendous retribution for national and organic sin which any
people has ever yet been called on to endure. The Nemesis of History
may, perhaps, impress the darkest record of her terrible sanctions on
the page which records the termination of the great American Rebellion.

'In the event last supposed, that is to say, if the war shall end in the
entire extinction of American slavery, the state in which the Southern
country, with its diverse populations, will find itself placed; the
future destiny of the cotton-growing region, of the South generally; of
our whole country, and of the continent, under this immense change of
our condition as a nation, are subjects of sufficient importance to
demand, on some future occasion, a distinct consideration. Enough points
have been crowded, in this article, upon the reflections of the reader.
History must not be too audaciously anticipated. The phases of the great
crisis, already developed and developing, are sufficiently grave and
numerous for the present occasion. Let the future withdraw her own veil
from our eyes, while we reverentially await the revelation of coming
events.

'All the forbearance hitherto on the part of the North, may have had in
it an element of wisdom. It is not the object of this paper to criticize
or complain of the past conduct of the war, nor to urge on the
Government to convert a war, begun for the resistance of a violent and
fraudulent dismemberment of the Union, into a war against slavery or a
crusade in behalf of human rights. There is no present purpose on the
part of the writer to conduct the discussion--far less to attempt the
decision--of so grave a question of national policy at this eventful and
critical epoch in the affairs of our national life. No doubt the subject
stands as yet complicated in the minds of statesmen with the
possibilities of the early and frank submission of the South, and the
consequent early reestablishment substantially of the _status quo ante
bellum_; with the dread of inflicting measureless calamity upon those
who are at heart faithful to our cause in the Sout