Unveiling of the Howitzer Monument.
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agreement not to interfere with their slaves had any greater right to do so than they had in the case of Cuba and Brazil, with whom they had no such compact. The supreme issue was whether the govern- ment of the United S'ates was one of such unlimited authority that it could do what it pleased by giving fine names to usurpation, as when the guest at a hotel complains that the brand he wants has not been brought, the waiter, before his eyes, rubs off the undesired label and puts on the desired one. The real issue was whether, under the fine name of "general welfare," the whole power of the govern- ment could be perverted to private welfare ; and whether, in keeping with the Federal compact, under the fine name of freedom, Com- monwealths could be extinguished. So far as slavery was concerned, a century hence history will chiefly discover a race betwen the very lightly and very heavily encumbered, and the great self-applause of the former that they were the first to reach the goal. It is not so exact to say that slavery in the South was the cause of the war, as to say that it afforded the opportunity for the war. It is proper to bear in mind the abrupt revolution of society which was demanded by those who would be themselves unaffected by the revolution.
The first book of Justinian, which gives us our definition of justice Justitia est cons fans e.t perpetua voluntas jus suum cuique tribuendi gives also the derivation of slavery : Servi antem ex eoappellati sunt, quod imperatores captivas vendere, aeperhoe servare non occidere solent ; qiii etiam mancipia dicti sunt, quod abhostibus manu capi- unlur. A strong man has his antagonist at his mercy, is able to take the life of him ; rather than suffer him to live antagonist will do so. In humanity's great internecine war, wherein survival is con- quered by exterminating hostility, root and branch, the conqueror leads back the captive of his spear. Their relations are those of victor and victim.
THE FIRST REDEEMING SIDE.
The fact of supremacy has been settled, and by the rule of primi- tive war one life is forfeit to the other. When, then, the victor did not slay, but spared the victim suffered him to live ; not as rival, to be sure, but as subject ; to retributively serve in return for the life which had been donated, and was gratuity it was the very charity of a redeeming gospel, breaking through the crust of " Old Dispen- sations " of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; tempering with the hand of mercy the iron hand. It is not extravagant to say that
