own the seeds of a pestilence more deadly than
that rising from Pontine marshes. Now that Federal bayonets have been
turned from her bosom, this poison, the influence of three fourths of a
million of negro voters, will speedily ascend and sap her vigor and
intelligence. Greed of office, curse of democracies, will impel
demagogues to grovel deeper and deeper in the mire in pursuit of
ignorant votes. Her old breed of statesmen has largely passed away
during and since the civil war, and the few survivors are naturally
distrusted, as responsible for past errors. Numbers of her gentry fell
in battle, and the men now on the stage were youths at the outbreak of
strife, which arrested their education. This last is also measurably
true of the North. Throughout the land the experience of the active
portion of the present generation only comprises conditions of discord
and violence. The story of the six centuries of sturdy effort by which
our English forefathers wrought out their liberties is unknown,
certainly unappreciated. Even the struggles of our grandfathers are
forgotten, and the names of Washington, Adams, Hamilton, Jay, Marshall,
Madison, and Story awaken no fresher memories in our minds, no deeper
emotions in our hearts, than do those of Solon, Leonidas, and Pericles.
But respect for the memories and deeds of our ancestors is security for
the present, seed-corn for the future; and, in the language of Burke,
"Those will not look forward to their posterity who never look backward
to their ancestors."

Traditions are mighty influences in restraining peoples. The light that
reaches us from above takes countless ages to traverse the awful chasm
separating us from its parent star; yet it comes straight and true to
our eyes, because each tender wavelet is linked to the other, receiving
and transmitting the luminous ray. Once break the continuity of the
stream, and men will deny its heavenly origin, and seek its source in
the feeble glimmer of earthly corruption.

INDEX.

Acadian exiles in Attakapas, 105;
their descendants, 106.

Alabama delegates retire from Charleston Convention, 12.

Alberoni, Abbe, 263.

Andersonville Prison, 216.

Antietam a drawn battle, 95.

Antipathy to the South, 238.

Anti-slavery agitation, 10.

Army, Confederate, of Virginia moved to Gordonsville, 42.

Ashby, General Turner, during march to Harrisonburg, 69;
his death, 71;
no disciplinarian, 72.

Attakapas, home of the