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A GREAT PEOPLE RISING.


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INTRODUCTION.


The title of this work will produce the effect of a paradox. The general
opinion is that the United States continued to pursue an upward course
until the election of Mr. Lincoln, and that since then they have been
declining. It is not difficult, and it is very necessary, to show that
this opinion is absolutely false. Before the recent victory of the
adversaries of slavery, the American Confederation, in spite of its
external progress and its apparent prosperity, was suffering from a
fearful malady which had well-nigh proved mortal; now, an operation has
taken place, the sufferings have increased, the gravity of the situation
is revealed for the first time, perhaps, to inattentive eyes. Does this
mean that the situation was not grave when it did not appear so? Does
this mean that we must deplore a violent crisis which alone can bring
the cure?

I do not deplore it--I admire it. I recognize in this energetic
reaction against the disease, the moral vigor of a people habituated to
the laborious struggles of liberty. The rising of a people is one of the