volve the discussion of the ultimate fate
of the negro race on this continent; but that is not within the range of
our present purpose. We have aimed only to indicate the law of
development from the simple to the complex, over which a necessary unity
at length prevails; to show that this law obtains in the political as in
all other realms; to insist that political unity should enlarge its area
as facilities for intercommunication permit, and the interrelation of
industrial, commercial, and social interests demand; that the
jurisdiction of the political unity should correspond to the extension
of general interests, so far as may be possible in the face of physical
necessities not yet overcome in the progress of civilization. We would
apply the doctrine more especially to the present crisis in American
affairs, to enable us to realize that all our sacrifices to maintain the
Union are fully warranted by the great principle of human development
which is involved in the contest.

If we have rightly interpreted history and the law, these sacrifices are
justified by a double consideration. The first, which is negative--to
avoid the entanglements, broils, and conflicts of neighboring nations,
and the consequent exhaustion of the resources of civilization, through
which its progress would necessarily be retarded; the second, which is
positive--to maintain a vast political organization on this continent in
accordance with the demands of a higher civilization, as the only sure
guarantee for the integrity of the 'Monroe doctrine,' and the
accomplishment of a great political mission, by reacting upon Europe,
and leading her isolated and fragmentary nationalities into a higher
unity, involving order, authority, and the economy of power.

It is the selfish interest of the crowned heads of the little nations of
Europe to maintain things as they are, with a principality and a palace
for each puppet of royalty. Hence their costly machinery for maintaining
the 'balance of power.' There may have been a use for this in the
ignorance of the masses, when the extension of sovereignty was often but
the increase of despotism; but there is no such need in the advanced
culture of the people and the progress of civilization. Formerly there
was no public sentiment; but, with the rise of civilized methods, it
became developed, and it has gradually enlarged its sphere, till, as a
writer on dynamical physiology remarks, 'we now hear of the public
opin