dly defeated the armies of the North. Then the economic
strength of New England and the West began to tell. An unknown officer
by the name of Grant arose from obscurity and became the Charles Martel
of the great slave war. Without interruption he hammered his mighty
blows upon the crumbling defences of the South. Early in the year 1863,
President Lincoln issued his "Emancipation Proclamation" which set all
slaves free. In April of the year 1865 Lee surrendered the last of his
brave armies at Appomattox. A few days later, President Lincoln was
murdered by a lunatic. But his work was done. With the exception of Cuba
which was still under Spanish domination, slavery had come to an end in
every part of the civilised world.

But while the black man was enjoying an increasing amount of liberty,
the "free" workmen of Europe did not fare quite so well. Indeed, it is
a matter of surprise to many contemporary writers and observers that the
masses of workmen (the so-called proletariat) did not die out from sheer
misery. They lived in dirty houses situated in miserable parts of the
slums. They ate bad food. They received just enough schooling to fit
them for their tasks. In case of death or an accident, their families
were not provided for. But the brewery and distillery interests, (who
could exercise great influence upon the Legislature,) encouraged them
to forget their woes by offering them unlimited quantities of whisky and
gin at very cheap rates.

The enormous improvement which has taken place since the thirties and
the forties of the last century is not due to the efforts of a single
man. The best brains of two generations devoted themselves to the task
of saving the world from the disastrous results of the all-too-sudden
introduction of machinery. They did not try to destroy the capitalistic
system. This would have been very foolish, for the accumulated wealth of
other people, when intelligently used, may be of very great benefit to
all mankind. But they tried to combat the notion that true equality
can exist between the man who has wealth and owns the factories and
can close their doors at will without the risk of going hungry, and the
labourer who must take whatever job is offered, at whatever wage he
can get, or face the risk of starvation for himself, his wife and his
children.

They endeavoured to introduce a number of laws which regulated the
relations between the factory owners and the factory workers. In this,
the