cerned, is well; but it is the worst mood in which a reformer can approach the individuals whom his reform affects. The South by its own act has exchanged a conqueror whom it could trust for a conqueror it has reason to dread, and it must therefore hesitate, if it can, to place itself finally in that conqueror's hand. Add to this cause of delay the shock to the negroes, who, like all half-civilized men, understand a principle chiefly through a name, the new excitement to Southern imagination in the prospect of Northern confusion, the new hope which will spring in Southern statesmen that Mr. Johnson, violent and ignorant, may affront France or menace England, and we shall see ample cause to fear the protraction of the war. Fortunately the catastrophe occurred when success had been in substance achieved, and it is not the fact but only the time of victory which is in question, but still there may be delay. 3. And yet the cause must win, not only because Providence governs as well as reigns, though events like the one we deplore force even politicians to recall the single certainty of politics, not only because a cause never hangs upon a single life, but because of the special circumstances of this individual case. This war from first to last has been a people's war, commenced, conducted, and sustained by the instinct of a whole nation slowly shaping itself into action and finding for itself expression. The singular position of Mr. Lincoln, a position unparalleled, we believe, in modern history, or paralleled by that of Cavour alone, was, that while intensely individual he was in the most perfect and complete degree a reflector of the national will. His convictions, originally those of an average American of the Western States, advanced in perfect independence at the same rate as those of the country, from recognizing the need of an expedition to enduring the sacrifices of continued campaigns, from a distrust of the extension of slavery to an iron resolve that it should cease; until at last his public utterances attained something of that volume of sound and depth and variety of meaning which belong to the expression of genuinely national opinions. When Cavour resigned after Villafranca men knew without telling that Italy had made up its mind that Villafranca should be a phrase; when Mr. Lincoln declared that should the negroes ever be reënslaved "another not I" would be the agent, the world perceived that abolition had become a fixed constituent in the national creed. The people have lost their mouthpiece, but not the determination which he so clearly expressed. His death, whatever else it may do, will certainly not diminish their hatred of slavery, or of that habit of violence, that contempt of all obstacles human and divine when they stand in the way of self-will, which slavery engenders. "The black man resists, lash him; the white man defies us, kill him," that is the syllogism of slavery which Wilkes Booth has worked out in the face of all mankind. He killed Mr. Lincoln as he would have killed a man who preached abolition, or crossed his speculations, or defeated him at cards, as men used to be killed every day in New Orleans if they gave offence to men trained from boyhood to regard their own will as almost sacred. The North will not love the slaveholders the more for perceiving so clearly whither their system tends, for realizing that in the murder of Mr. Lincoln, as in the assault on Mr. Sumner, lawless force is the natural expression of the spirit of the institution. Slavery was doomed before, it will be hated now, and the motive power of the Revolution is the necessity of ending slavery. Nor is the organization framed for that end shattered by Mr. Lincoln's death. The framework has been terribly tested by that great shock, but it has stood, and Mr. Andrew Johnson has ascended the chair as easily as if two-thirds of his people were not humiliated by his ascent. The idea so prevalent here that his elevation might be prevented by force never had any foundation, Americans being well aware that any President however incompetent is better than any Cæsar however able. Efficient or inefficient, however, the cause is too strong for him. The armies may be worse guided than before, but they are intact; the generals may be less sure of support, but they are even more independent; the people may be compelled to express themselves more cumbrously, but they are even more determined; the officials will want restraint, but they will be only more decided to keep the machine in its groove. Every thing will be slower, but the power is just as resistless as before. The South may, and we think will, delay its submission, but that is a question of time, not of victory; the North may exact harder terms, but they will but pulverize the oligarchy into finer grains. For the South the misfortune is irreparable, but for the North the death of Mr. Lincoln is but a new burden to bear, the equivalent of a new campaign, the loss of a regulator, not of motive power. Mr. Lincoln was the skilled driver, Mr. Johnson is an unskilled, but under either the locomotive will go on to its journey's end. From the Saturday Review, April 29. The atrocious crimes which have been committed at Washington supersede for the moment in interest the military collapse of the confederacy. No assassinations recorded in history have been perpetrated with more melodramatic success. The bigots who murdered Henry III. and Henry IV. of France were instantly arrested, and in recent times Bellingham, after killing Mr. Percival, had not a single chance of escape. The criminal who murdered Mr. Lincoln was allowed to pass out of a crowded theatre, and he had even the opportunity of addressing a prepared epigram to the audience. The assassin of Mr. Seward encountered with impunity even more extraordinary risks, for he ventured alone into a house where at least four able-bodied men at tempted in vain to protect the principal victim, or to prevent the escape of the assassin. * Sudden and violent death, although it shocks the survivors, is happily not in itself an evil. Mr. Lincoln may almost be deemed fortunate in the brilliant hopefulness of the moments which proved to be his last. The greatest general of the confederacy had surrendered a few days before, with the remnant of one of the bravest armies which have ever resisted superior force. There was every reason to believe that the re-conquest of Virginia was but a step to the complete reestablishment of the Union. Mr. Lincoln, in his latest speech, proposed a plan for restoring civil government which was apparently both impracticable and unjust, but he had good reason to believe that the overthrow of the Southern armies was a death-blow to secession. Although he had at the same time issued a proclamation which gave just cause of offence to neutral governments, there is no reason to suppose that he meditated aggression on any foreign country. According to Mr. Stanton's statement, Mr. Lincoln had been unusually cheerful at a meeting of the Cabinet on the morning of the murder, and it may readily be believed that he expressed kindly feelings to General Lee and to some other Southern leaders. General Grant, who is said to have been included in the plans of the assassin, had fortunately left Washington on the same day, after sharing in the deliberations of the Cabinet. The President might well be satisfied with the conduct and fortune of the Commander-in-chief, and he probably approved of the courteous firmness which had been displayed in the recent military negotiations. It was after consul tation with General Grant that the government had determined to suspend recruiting, and to effect vast and rapid reductions in the naval and military establishments. It is certain that, in the opinion of those who are best qualified to judge, the war was nearly over; nor is it likely that, if ordinary prudence is exercised, the death of Mr. Lincoln will seriously interfere with the restoration of peace. The worst consequences which could follow from an isolated crime would be the possible embitterment of Northern feeling, and the consequent infliction of outrage and indignity on a population which may perhaps be wavering between pride and submission. If, however, the Federal government acts with prudence and firmness, the catastrophe which has occurred will neither suspend the movement of the armies nor materially affect public policy. Mr. Andrew Johnson, who has unexpectedly succeeded to the Presidency, will now have an oppotunity of effacing some doubtful associations of his previous career. There can be no doubt that he possesses some extraordinary vigor of character, and ted and self-made man. some of his defects are those of a self-educaWithout the possession of remarkable qualities he could not have raised himself from the lowest condition to the rank of Democratic senator for the slave State of Tennessee. One of his claims to the confidence of his fellow-citizens consisted in his violent partisanship, and in his consistent support of all plans for extion of Texas, the unprovoked war against tending slavery. He advocated the spoliaMexico, and the audacious project of annexing Cuba as a security against the possiple abolition of slavery by the Spanish govdiffered from his political associates, as he On one vital point, however, he steadily preferred the maintenance of the Union even to the interests of slavery. At the commencement of the secession he declared his uncompromising hostility to the project of separation, and he not unfairly that portion of the State which was from earned the office of Military Governor of time to time controlled by the Federal arms. ernment. * In the mean time Mr. Johnson had been rewarded for his preference of the Union to his party and his State by the high sinecure office of Vice-President, involving a contingent succession to the head of the republic. The belief that primary allegiance was due to the State rather than to the federation, had been almost universal in the South. and proved to be only a manifesto. If it Many of the most eminent leaders of the had become operative in those unconquered confederacy openly disapproved of secession, portions of the South to which it was excluand it is known that General Lee himself sively applicable, Mr. Lincoln would have considered the measure unnecessary, but been justly condemned as the author of an private opinions were overruled by the intolerable servile revolution. As the State loyalty which was deemed by the slaves remained tranquil, the proclamation great majority of Americans a primary duty. served the useful and harmless purpose of Native and foreign theorists have of late advertising an inevitable change in the poliaffected to regard a State as only an exag- cy and object of the war. The enlistment gerated county, but their glib generaliza- of negroes was a more practical step in the tions have been confuted by the self-sacrific- same direction, and ultimately the President ing unanimity of senators, representatives, found himself strong enough to make emangovernors, and officers in the army and navy, cipation an indispensable condition of peace. in following the fortunes of their sovereign Among Mr. Lincoln's merits may be reckonStates in defiance of the rival sovereignty of ed his want of the national fluency in speech Washington. Mr. Johnson's opposite course and writing. He was seldom tempted to may probably have been conscientious, and commit himself to the vaporing professions of it was sufficiently exceptional to deserve his ministers and political supporters. He official and popular recognition. The more allowed Mr. Seward to bluster to foreign objectionable passages of his career will be governments, but he never blustered himreadily condoned if he learns in his great self. Friendly observers assert, perhaps office to respect the rights of his own coun- correctly, that, as Mr. Lincoln was the only trymen and of foreign governments. apparently honest man in Washington, he Americans have a characteristic facility in was also exceptionably determined to preadapting themselves to new situations, and serve peace, notwithstanding the menaces Mr. Johnson's interests are so absolutely of his surbordinates. On the whole, he satcoincident with his duty that he may per- isfied the requirements of a difficult position haps still earn for himself an honorable better than any rival who could be suggestplace in history. His immediate course is ed. When he was reelected by a large sufficiently marked out by circumstances, majority, the choice of the republican party and he is surrounded by able commanders was generally approved at home and abroad; who may be trusted with the remaining and if the people of England had shared in conduct of the war. Although the outrage the election, the result would probably have inflicted on Mr. Seward provokes universal been the same. Mr. Lincoln's good qualities indignation and regret, it will not be diffi- cannot add to the horror which is felt at the cult to find a more judicious Secretary of the murder, but they justify the general regret. State Department. If the rumor that Mr. Adams has been selected for the place is confirmed, one pledge will have been given for the adoption of a prudent and dignified policy. During the arduous experience of four years Mr. Lincoln constantly rose in general estimation by calmness of temper, by an intuitively logical appreciation of the character of the conflict, and by undisputed sincerity. Above all, he showed that he was capable of learning from his own errors and from the course of events. He had the wisdom, during the final advance upon Richmond, to repose unlimited confidence in Grant. Of the bearing of slavery on the war he had from the first formed the opinion which became a constitutional ruler. As he said at an early period of the contest, he would have preserved slavery, or destroyed it, or let it alone, if by any of these methods he could have restored the Union. At the beginning of 1863 he issued the emancipation decree which looked like a crime, From the Economist. The murder of Mr. Lincoln is a very great and very lamentable event, perhaps the greatest and most lamentable which has occurred since the coup d'etat, if not since Waterloo. It affects directly and immensely, the welfare of the three most powerful countries in the world, America, France and England, and it affects them all for evil. Time, circumstances and agent have all conspired as by some cruel perversity to increase the mischief and the horror of an act which at any moment, or under any circumstances, would have been most mischievous and horrible. It is not merely that a great man has passed away, but he has disappeared at the very time when his special greatness seemed almost essential to the world, when his death would work the widest conceivable evil, when the chance of replacing him, even partially, approached nearest to zero, and he has been removed in the very way which almost alone among causes of death could have doubted the political injury entailed by the decease itself. His death destroys one of the strongest guaranties for continued peace between his country and the external world, while his murder diminishes almost indefinitely the prospects of reconciliation between the two camps into which that country has for four years been divided. At the very instant of all others, when North and South had most reason to see in his character a possibility of reunion, and to dread the accession of his inevitable successor, a Southerner murders him to place that successor in his chair, gives occasion for an explosion of sectional hate, and makes a man who has acknowledged that hate master of armies which can give to that hate an almost limitless expression in act. At the very moment when the dread of war between the Union and Western Europe seemed, after inflicting incessant injury for four years, about to die away, a murderer deprives us of the man who had most power and most will to maintain peace, and thereby enthrones another whose tendencies are at best an unknown quantity, but who is sure, from inexperience, to sway more towards violence than his predecessor. The injury done alike to the North, to the South, and to the world, is so irremediable, the consequences of the act may be so vast, and are certainly so numerous, that it is with some diffidence we attempt to point out the extent of the American loss, and the result that loss may produce. The greatness of the American loss seems to us to consist especially in this. To guide and moderate a great revolution, and heal up the wounds created by civil war, it is essential that the government should be before all things strong. If it is weak it is sure either to be violent, or to allow some one of the jarring sections of the community to exhibit violence unrestrained, to rely on terror, as the French Convention, under a false impression of its own dangers, did, or to permit a party to terrorize, as the first Ministry of Louis the Eighteenth did. The "Reign of Terror," and the "Terreur Blanc" were alike owing, one to an imaginary the other to a real weakness on the part of the governing power. There are so many passions to be restrained, so many armed men to be dealt with, so many fanatic parties to convince, so many private revenges to check, so many extra legal acts to do, that nothing except an irresistible government can ever hope to secure the end which every government by instinct tries to attain, namely, external order. Now, the difficulty of creating a strong govern --- ment in America is almost insuperable. The people in the first place dislike government, not this or that administration, but government in the abstract, to such a degree that they have invented a quasi philosophical theory, proving that government, like war or harlotry, is a "necessary evil." Moreover, they have constructed a machinery in the shape of States, specially and deliberately calculated to impede central action, to stop the exercise of power, to reduce government, except so far as it is expressed in arrests by the parish constable, to an impossibility. They have an absolute Parliament, and though they have a strong Executive, it is, when opposed to the people, or even when in advance of the people, paralyzed by a total absence of friends. To make this weakness permanent they have deprived even themselves of absolute power, have first forbidden themselves to change the Constitution, except under circumstances which never occur, and have then, through the machinery of the common schools, given to that Constitution the moral weight of a religious document. The construction of a strong government, therefore, i. e., of a government able to do great acts very quickly, is really impossible, except in one event. The head of the Executive may, by an infinitesimal chance, be a man so exactly representative of the people, that his acts always represent their thoughts; so shrewd that he can steer his way amidst the legal difficulties piled deliberately in his path; and so good that he desires power only for the national ends. The chance of obtaining such a man was, as we say, infinitesimal; but the United States, by a good fortune of which they will one day be cruelly sensible had obtained him. Mr. Lincoln, by a rare combination of qualities,-patience, sagacity and honesty,-by a still more rare sympathy, not with the best of his nation, but the best average of his nation, and by a moderation rarest of all, had attained such vast moral authority that he could make all the hundred wheels of the Constitution move in one direction without exerting any physical force. For example, in order to secure the constitutional prohibition of slavery, it is absolutely essential that some forty-eight separate representative bodies, differing in modes of election, in geographical interests, in education, in prejudices, should harmoniously and strongly cooperate; and so immense was Mr. Lincoln's influence- an influence, it must be remembered, unsupported in this case by power-that had he lived, that cooperation of which statesmen might well despair, would have been a certainty. The President | victions; not oppressive, but a little inhad in fact attained to the very position different if his plans result in oppression, the dictatorship, to use a bad description and subject to fits of enthusiasm as hard to required by revolutionary times. At the deal with as fits of drunkenness. Should this same time, this vast authority, not having estimate prove correct, we shall have in the been seized illegally, and being wielded by United States a government absolutely rea man radically good,-who, for example, solved upon immediate abolition, whatever really reverenced civil liberty, and could its consequences, foolish or wise according tolerate venomous opposition, could nev- to the character of its advisers, very iner be directed to ends wholly disapproved capable of diplomacy, which demands above by those who conferred it. It was, in fact, all things knowledge, very firm, excessivethe authority which nations find it so very ly unpopular with its own agents, and hard to secure, which only Italy and Ameri- liable to sudden and violent changes of ca have in our time secured - a good and course, so unaccountable as almost to apbenevolent, but resistless, temporary despot- pear freaks. Such a government will find ism. That despotism, moreover, was exer- it difficult to overcome the thousand difcised by a man whose brain was a very ficulties presented by the organization great one. We do not know in history of the States, by the bitterness of partisuch an example of the growth of a ruler sans, or by the exasperated feelings of the in wisdom as was exhibited by Mr. Lincoln. army, and will be driven, we fear, to overPower and responsibility visibly widened come them by violence, or at least to deal his mind and elevated his character. Diffi- with them in a spirit of unsparing rigor. culties instead of irritating him as they do It, is, therefore, we conceive, prima facie most men, only increased his reliance on pa- probable that the South will be slower to tience; opposition, instead of ulcerating on- come in, and much less ready to settle down ly made him more tolerant and determined. when it has come in, than it would have The very style of his public papers altered, been under Mr. Lincoln; and this reluctill the very man who had written in an offi- tance will be increased by the consciouscial despatch about" Uncle Sam's web feet," ness that the North has at length obtained drew up his final inaugural in a style which a plausible excuse for relentless severity. extorted from critics so hostile as the Satur- It will also be much more ready to escape day Reviewers, a burst of involuntary admi- its difficulties by foreign war. Beyond ration. A good but benevolent temporary those two somewhat vague propositions, despotism, wielded by a wise man, was the there are as yet too few data whatever for very instrument the wisest would have de- judgment. Least of all are there data to sired for the United States; and in losing decide whether the North will adhere to Mr. Lincoln, the Union has lost it. The the policy of moderation. Upon the whole great authority attached by law to the Pres- we think they will, the average American ident's office reverts to Mr. Johnson, but showing in politics that remarkable lenity the far greater moral authority belonging which arises from perfect freedom, and the to Mr. Lincoln disappears. There is no lon- consequent absence of fear; but he is also ger any person in the Union whom the Un- excitable, and it is on the first direction of fon dare or will trust to do exceptional acts, that excitement that everything will deto remove popular generals, to override pend. If it takes the direction of vencrotchetty States, to grant concessions to geance, Mr. Johnson, whose own mind has men in arms, to act when needful, as in the been embittered against the planters by Trent case, athwart the popular instinct. family injuries, may break loose from his The consequences of this immense Cabinet; but if, as is much more probable, loss can as yet scarcely be conjectured, for it takes the direction of over-reverence for the one essential datum, the character of the policy of the dead, he must coerce his the President, is not known. It is proba- own tendencies until time and the sobering ble that that character has been consider- effect of great power have extinguished ably misrepresented. Judging from infor- them. He is certainly a strong man, mation necessarily imperfect, we have formed an ad interim opinion that Mr. Johnson is very like an average Scotch tradesman, very shrewd, very pushing, very narrow, and very obstinate, inclined to take the advice of any one with more knowledge than himself, but unable to act on it when opposed to certain central con though of rough type, and the effect of power on the strong is usually to soften. From the Examiner. More than half a century has gone by since a Prime Minister of England was struck down by the hand of an assassin in the lobby of the House of Commons. |