BOOKS.
DR. DRAPER'S AMERICAN CIVIL WA.Re'k
DESPITE the fact that he takes his reader back to the most remote. epochs of geological development, Dr. Draper has written the beat and most authentic history of the Secession war which has yet, appeared. The three goodly volumes would have been considerably diminished in bulk, had he thought it expedient to omit two-thirds. of the firat volume, which consist mainly Of introductory matters,. highly important in themselves, but rather a stumbling-block to readers not privileged with much leisure. Nevertheless, to those• who have leisure and who desire to study the stupendous conflict in its origin, even the chapters on geology and climate will prove. of great value. The effects of climate and of the mixture or breeds- of men upon the future of the Republic deserve to be studied, since- they may produce marked and critical changes it' the economy andi polity of the great nation which, about the opening of the twentieth. century, will number a hundred millions of people within its limits.. But the study of these probable effects is a separate subject, ands Dr. Draper's purpose, we cannot but think, would have been more effectually served had he confined his preliminary dissertations. to a succinct and lucid narrative of the origin of the war, and had he stated, as he well might have stated, in a dogmatic. form his views on the influence of climate-zones. One of his objects was to create an interest in the war funong the English. people. Depend upon it, the war will have a perennial intereet for them ; but the direct way of quickening and enlarging the interest. they felt and feel would have been to account for its origin by the simplest method consistent with clearness and intelligibility. The- core of the quarrel was the institution of Slavery. From that the. conflict sprang, around that the warfare raged in the senate and the field, and to that the historian, with profit to ordinary readers, might have steadily adhered, The introduction of geology and meteorology, gratifying to the philosopher, is distracting to the bulk of readers, who, nevertheless, take the keenest interest in the series of astounding incidents which we call theAmerican Civil War. We do not say that the earlier chapters are a blemish from any save a popular pint of view, but as we also desire that the righIs- of the war should be malerstood and the leesene of the war well conned iu England, we regret that the introduction was not eon- fined to a bread, powerful, and succinct historical narrative of those causes which rendered the war inevitable.
For it was inevitable. The original seed was sown by that.- Dutch ship which landed twenty negroes on the bauks of the James, perhaps we might Oven say by the first ship which stolc. negroes on the coast of Africa and carried theta to the ialands. and the coutinent of the New World. When the colonies re- volted and secured their independence, two rival principles-. were brought into direct collision, freedom and slavery, free labour and &aye labour. The "irrepressible conflict" detest, from the constitution which vainly strove to reconcile these fiery opposites ; the records of every year front that period contain the story of the gradual development of the combat ; show how it. affected industry, polity, manuers, the relations of parties aud of States inter se; how it governed the foreign policy of the Republic,. and was time cause of war. The contest between the free labouree and the slave label-tree for territory, between the free citizen auci, the elaveowner for political power, went steadily forward, over the broad acres of the Weat and in the council-ehatuber, MD" augmenting in violence, ever approaching nearer anti nearer to as mem/ of the Amertcali Civil IMP. By John William Dralpir, ALD,, 1.4.43;. 3 vole. LomisAus.en.
deadly arbitrament. The immense immigration of free labourers from Europe settled the issue before the South resolved on war ; but the Southern planters resolved on war because they were determined, at any cost, to uphold and extend the institution of alavery. That had been for half a century, that was in 1860, the basis of their political system. State rights were a pretext, the rights of slaveowners was the reality for which they fought, Nor -could it be otherwise. To domineer in the Union that slavery might be maintained, to domineer over the Union by the agency of slavery, became gradually, and ever with increasing rigour, the aim and the means of "the South ;" and the moment domination -ceased, war, as an inevitable consequence, began. The two prin- ciples, set at work within the Constitution of 1789, closed in death-grips, and freedom strangled the obscene growth of two -centuries. The strife was fierce and prolonged, the issue, at times apparently doubtful but doubtful only in appearance, and the Southern planters and the Southern "white trash" threw the lustre of genuine heroism over an evil cause. Dr. Draper has -amply accounted for the origin of this real war of giants ; but, for the sake of the influence of his excellent work in England, we wish that he had selected a smaller canvas and had brought the .-great leading facts more closely and more forcibly together. From the history of the immediate causes of war and of the war itself we would not strike out a single word.
At the outset, the war illustrated the uses of defeat. The loss of the battle of Bull Run was the salvation of the North, for it roused -a spirit which thenceforth never flagged until the South was -utterly exhausted and conquered. A victory by the North might have led to a temporary arrangement, but to no real solution of diffi- culties which had long passed the bounds of argument, and entered the region of passion. But the battle of Bull Run, its significance -and its effects, were totally misunderstood by a large portion of the European public, for many men rushed to the conclusion that in intellect and valour, in the conduct of policy and the conduct of war, the South was predominant, and they flung their pens into 'what they thought the winning side. Without real knowledge of America, without a glimpse of the facts even of that one battle, =they could not, perhaps, have decided otherwise. Dr. Draper, thowever, is right in his interpretation of the battle. The object .of the Confederates was to seize Washington ; even the victory at Bull Run did not secure that end. The national Government sent its three-months men against the Confederates, to paralyze their army before the term of enlistment expired, and to relieve Washington iroin danger, and although defeated, yet they wore successful. " From this time the Moxicanization of the Republic ceased to be passible," and in the end the attempt was proved to be a Using game. No doubt, but the priceless use of Bull Run was the spur it gave to the North and West. The resolution to win -crystallized, and could be dissolved no more. From a purely military point of view the campaigns of those four years have an 'interest specially their own ; from a mixed political and military point of view, they have a high interest ; but the highest interest in the whole struggle is aroused by the moral forces brought into 4olay,—wider and loftier aims, unbroken strength of will, courage which survives defeat, and a sublime clemency triumphant over the fiercest temptations,—prisoners tortured to death and missal- mation in the capital. Add to this the fact that more than a -million of men were disbanded as easily as a company of English Militia, that the soldier of yesterday became the hard-working -citizen of to-day, and we have one of the most striking and one of the brightest pages in modern history.
Dr. Draper does full justice to his subject from the loftier
• points of view. But he is neither so accurate nor so impartial in dealing with the attitude of England, nor in his appreciation of the Mexican-intervention war. The attitude of England he describes from materials furnished by certain newspapers, one- aided extracts to the source of which he supplies no reference ; -and he omits altogether any allusion to the bearing of the work- men in our cotton counties, and to the exertions of some journalists who did not swim with the stream. As to the Mexican war, we .entered in it for definite purposes, and receded from it the moment that the Napoleonic intrigue displayed itself. Our Government bad no part in that intrigue, save the unpleasant one of the dupe ; -and a little impartiality, perhaps a little research, would have :saved Dr. Draper from the serious errors he commits in narrating -our share in the Mexican expedition.
The central figure in the great Secession war will over be Abraham Lincoln, upon whom so heavy a burden was thrown ; and Dr. Draper's little sketch of some of his peculiarities will not be unwelcome to many among us who reverence the memory of the great President :—
" Clad in black, the ungainly-looking President might be soon, after the hour had come for visitors to bo excluded, pacing to and fro past the windows of his apartment, his hands behind him, his head beat forward upon his breast, lost in profound meditation, a picture of sor- row, care, and anxiety. The artist Carpenter, who enjoyed frequent opportunities of thus observing him in his moments of retirement, Ban His was the saddest face in repose that I ever know. His oyes, of a bluish-gray tint, always in deop shadow from the upper lids, which wore unusually heavy, gave him an expression remarkably pensive and tender, often inexpressibly sad. A peculiar dreaminess sometimes stole over his face.' As is not unfroquently observed of Western men, there were mysterious traits of superstition in his character. A friend once inquiring the cause of a (loop depression under which ho seemed to be suffering, have seen this evening again,' he replied, 'what I once saw before, on the evening of my nomination at Chicago. As I stood before a mirror, there wore two images of myself,—a bright one in front, and one that was vary pallid standing behind. It completely unnerved me. The bright ono, I know, is my past, the pale one my coming life.' And feeling that there is no armour against Destiny, he added, I do not think I shall live to see the end of my term. I try to shake off the vision, but it still keeps haunting me.' He began to receive threatening letters soon after his nomination. Ho kopt them by themselves, labelled, 'Letters on Assassination.' After his death, one was found among them connected with the plot which had succeeded. cannot help being in this way,' he said ; my father was so before me. He dreamed that he rode through an unfrequented path to a strange house, the surroundings and furnishing of which wore vividly impressed on his mind. At the fireside there was sitting a woman whose features he distinotly saw. She was engaged in paring an apple. That woman was to be his wife. Though a very strong- minded man, he could not shako off the vision. It haunted him Inces- santly, until it compelled him to go down the unfrequented way. He quietly opened the door of what he recognized to be the house, and saw at a glance that it was where he had been in his dream. There was a woman at the fireside engaged in paring an apple. And the rest of his dream came to pass.'—'There will be bad news, to-night,' ho said, on another occasion.—' Why, how do you know that, Mr. President? '---‘ I dropped asleep, and saw in a dream what has often before been the precur- sor tome of disaster. I saw a ship sailing very fast.' And that night bad news came ! Perhaps, in the opinion of the supercilious critic, these idle stories are unworthy of the page of history. The materialist philo- sopher may say, 'Had Lincoln taken the trouble to hold up a candle be- fore his mirror, he might have seen a dozen pale images of it That is very true. But does not history record that some of the greatest soldiers, statesmen, lawgivers—men who have left ineffaceable marks on the annals of the human race—have been influenced by like delusions? There was connected with the most important of all proclamations ever issued by an American President—the proclamation of slave emialcipa- tion—an incident of the kind : a vow that in a certain contingency it should be put forth. Lincoln implioitly believed that it is the Supreme Ruler who determines our fate. Trifles though these may be, it is not for the historian to bide them from his reader, who perhaps may add the reflection that it is bettor to have the child-like, innocent dreams of Lincoln, than the guilty and appalling midnight visions of the oonscionoe- stricken Davis Day by day the good sense and integrity of the rustic President shone forth more brightly in the sorest trials. It is not in foreign wars, but in domestic troubles that the greatness of 4 ruler is soon. In a country of the inhabitants of which it is said that every one forgets yesterday, the massive virtues of the President wore borne in mind. His countrymen learned by experience to look upon bim, un- polished as he was, as a monolith hewn out of the living rook, and capable of safely sustaining the heaviest weight a empire."
When discussing the proclamation for the emancipation of the Slaves, a step over which ho hesitated long, he wound up by saying, "Whatever shall appear to be God's will, that I will do ;" and it is plain that he meditated deeply on so grave a subject. When
the Confederates crossed the Potomac after the defeat of McClellan and Pope in 1802, he made up his mind. "I made a solemn vow before God," he said, "that if General Lee was driven back from Maryland, I would crown the result by a declaration of freedom to the slaves." He remembered his vow, and three days after Lee had recrossed the Potomac the proclamation went forth to the world. The figure and character of Lincoln, the uncultivated Western
man, so simple, strong, and thorough, is one of those which will not readily pass away from the memories of men. It stands beside the courtly Washington, for if the latter founded, Lincoln saved the Republic, and more than any other man made it a nation. In saying this we do not overlook the services of his civil coadjutors, some of whom, Stanton, for example, have not had justice done them in Europe ; nor do we forget the labours of Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan, or of Farragut and Porter, whose high qualities were illustrated during every phase of the war. But the most original and perhaps the loftiest character brought to light by the conflict, was that of the steadfast President who died so tragically just as victory was won, and as the peace he sighed for dawned upon the troubled land.
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