red
millions; and at the end of seven years of war they had not succeeded in
wringing permanently from his grasp a square mile of territory. The
first coalitions against Napoleon resulted only in making him the master
of Europe; and he was crushed at last merely by the dead weight of the
nations which the senselessness of his political passions brought down
upon his empire. Indeed, the trouble with all leagues is, that they are
commanded, more or less, by debating-societies; and a debating-society
is weak before a man. The Southern Confederacy is a confederacy only in
name; for no despotism in Europe or Asia has more relentless unity of
purpose, and in none does debate exercise less control over executive
affairs. All the powers of the government are practically absorbed in
Jefferson Davis, and a rebellion in the name of State Rights has ended
in a military autocracy, in which all rights, personal and State, are
suspended.

Now, as it is impossible for European governments to combine efficiently
against such a colossal power as the United States promise within a few
generations to be, provided the unity of the nation is preserved with
its growth, they naturally favor every element of disintegration which
will reduce the separate States to the condition of European states.
Earl Russell's famous saying, that "the North is fighting for power, the
South for independence," is to be interpreted in this sense. What he
overlooked was the striking fact which distinguishes the States of the
American Republic from the states of Europe. The latter are generally
separated by race and nationality, or, where composed of heterogeneous
materials, are held together by military power. The people of the United
States are homogeneous, and rapidly assimilate into American citizens
the foreigners they so cordially welcome. No man has lifted his hand
against the government as an Irishman, a Frenchman, a German, an
Italian, a Dane, but only as a slaveholder, or as a citizen of a State
controlled by slaveholders. The insurrection was started in the interest
of an institution, and not of a race. To compare such a rebellion with
European rebellions is to confuse things essentially distinct. The
American government is so constituted that nobody has an interest in
overturning it, unless his interest is opposed to that of the mass of
the citizens with whom he is place on an equality; and hence his treason
is necessarily a revolt against the principle