Page:The Civil War in America - an address read at the last meeting of the Manchester Union and Emancipation Society.djvu/74

68 the clemency of the conqueror has nobly paved the way; and from the moment when I saw the temper of the Northern people I doubted as little of the possibility of restoring the Union as I did of Federal victory. The debt is a grave danger, rather from the political difficulties incident to the distribution of the burden than from its actual amount compared with the resources of the nation; but prompt economy and a quick return to sound principles of finance have already restored the value of the national securities; the people will always support as far as they can the credit of a government with which they are identified; and, as in the case of Florence, so in the case of this great community of labour in America, the industry and frugality of a hive in which there are no drones will soon repair the waste of war. Protection indeed adds greatly to the gravity of the situation, political as well as financial, and threatens a new disruption of interests, as well as an increase of contrabandism dangerous to the character of the nation: but over this too, as I believe, the good sense of the mass of the people will prevail; and it has been justly observed that in the case of America, the difficulty is not aggravated by the existence of a great territorial aristocracy, identified in interest with the Protectionist party. Nor does it appear that there is much reason in this case to apprehend the reaction which commonly ensues after violent revolutions. Political extravagance, such as the attempt of the French Revolutionists suddenly to grasp political perfection, is sure to be followed by a fatal collapse. But this has been a wise and sober, though terrible struggle, for the preservation of the State; and therefore it does not seem likely to entail as its result the penalty that belongs to madness.