Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 36.djvu/87

 war resulted in which millions were expended and thousands lost their lives, but out of the clash of arms, the smoke of battle, the blood-stained soil, the smouldering ashes of cities destroyed, Phoenix-like, has arisen the nation. The proud boast of Great Britain that "night never mantles her domain," is answered by the exultant shout of America "that the sun never sets on her flag!" When God wishes in His plans of civilization to form a great nation, He cements the ties with blood. This has been His method since "the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Sacrifice, atonement, expiation, blood letting have ever been the precursors of nationality. It is a costly sacrifice, a royal price to pay, because it is life.

The wars of His favorite people show this, the expurgation of their sins, their nationalization was in blood letting. It was by the effusion of blood that the King of Macedon confirmed the alliance that bound Thrace, Illyria, Greece, Egypt and Persia to his throne and secured him the title of Alexander the Great–the world conqueror. It was in the shedding of blood that Rome, the greatest nation of ancient times, forged those ties that made her the empress of the world and her legions invincible. It was in a holocaust of blood that the Cross was carried by Spain into the halls of the Montezumas and they christianized and became a part of this ancient people. In English history the Wars of the Roses culminated in the union of the two factions, the blood shed knitting them together in allegiance to a sovereign in common. It was through blood that Cromwell ascended to the Lord Protectorship and through regicide that his power was secured. It was at Marston Moor, and at Xasby, at Drogheda and Dunbar that the blood of England, Ireland, and Scotland commingled, cementing the three people in the indissoluble bond that constitutes the Kingdom of Great Britain. The process of blood assimilation has produced the dominant race—the Anglo-Saxon.