forth to be an emancipated Union, having freed itself of slavery. It is getting to be productive of Free States not merely out of territories, but out of Slave-States new and old. Its dualism is beginning to disappear, and it promises soon to be no longer half-slave or half-free.

I. The Idea formulated. The central Idea of the present period of the War is now generally recognized to be that of Emancipation, which found its decisive expression in the proclamation of January 1st, 1863. This may well be deemed to be the culminating act of Lincoln as voice not only of the Nation but of the World-Spirit. It expresses the doom of slavery in the United States, on the Western Continent, on the Globe. Europe and America will extirpate it from those countries of Asia in which it still has a foothold. The great world-historical act of Lincoln was this Proclamation.

It was not a sudden thought, but one of slow growth. He knew from the start that the War, if continued, would destroy slavery. But the People as a whole had to unfold till they were ready to take the step with him. Here again we see Lincoln as mediator between the FolkSoul and the World-Spirit.

On June 22d, 1862, he declared his purpose to his cabinet and read his first draft. As it was a time of depression in the North, of defeat for the Union armies, Seward, though believing in

it, urged him to wait for a victory before he sent it forth. Lincoln acceded to this view, and after the battle of Antietam he published his preliminary warning to the States in rebellion that he would free their slaves unless they returned to their allegiance by January 1st, 1863. They did not return, of course, so on that day the Proclamation went forth. He says that his paramount object was to save the Union, not to save nor to destroy slavery; that the proclamation was a war-measure to which he had been forced to resort; that it was not the end but a means to the end.

II. The Idea armed. It may be said that the Idea of the War is now definitely uttered; the Union is Free-State producing universally. The Proclamation proposes to transform the SlaveState into the Free-State, and thus voices the decree of the World-Spirit. The result is that the Idea now gets armed and fairly to work; hence in this period take place the decisive victories of the War, and the turning-point toward the victorious outcome can be marked almost to a day (July 4th, 1863, bringing the victories of Vicksburg and Gettysburg).

(a). The navy is doing more and more effectually its preventive task in keeping foreign supplies from the Confederacy, which thus revealed the weakness of the former Southern policy.

If the South had possessed a fair degree of

economic independence, it would have had a much better chance of winning political independence. But it had confined itself almost wholly to agriculture, and to a few staples of agriculture, cotton, sugar, rice. The Gulf States had been largely fed from the North, and were possessed of no manufacturing works. The missing food it could supply, but not the missing mechanical industries. Yet the South in the beginning thought that it dominated the whole economic world of Europe and America through its cotton. The navy in this period has brought home to the Southern States the shortsightedness of their economic system.

(b). The military movement of this Period is still essentially defensive in the East, and brings out the former see-saw repeating its bloody work. The attempts of Burnside at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13th, 1862, and of Hooker at Chancelorsville, May 1st to 4th, 1863, show the EastNorthern army taking the offensive, and overwhelmingly repulsed. Again they sought to cross that invisible line drawn between the North and South of the Old-Thirteen, and received a blow more severe than ever before. The warning written in the blood of thousands seems to rise from that line of separation and speak in a kind of wrath the decree from above. It is now the turn for the East-Southern Army to try its fortune by crossing that same

fateful line. Will Lee take the offensive again and invade the North? And if he does will he meet that same blow so impartially delivered by Nemesis to either when it transgresses the prohibited line? Let us see. In about a month after Chancelorsville Lee starts his army, sending into the Shenandoah Valley to work the strategic machine the corps of General Ewell, as Stonewall Jackson had been killed. Toward the end of June Lee's whole army crossed the Potomac into Maryland and Pennsylvania. In this last State was fought the battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3), the result of which was a repulse for Lee, and a retreat back into Virginia. Again he is allowed to take substantially his old position in front of the Federals.

Thus is re-enacted the same general movement which we have already seen repeatedly in the East. Neither army there can conquer the other; more and more emphatic has become the line of separation dividing the Union, at least as far as the Old-Thirteen are concerned.

(c.) For relief we again have to look at the West-Northern army which still is keeping up its name of taking the offensive against the enemy with success. It moves forward under Grant and captures Vicksburg, thereby opening the Mississippi, since Port Hudson falls with Vicksburg. Thus the Confederacy is cut in two, and the

western line of battle is ready to sweep eastward around its circle.

The time and the situation compel a comparison between Gettysburg and Vicksburg. Primarily the one on part of the North is a defensive act in general and in particular; the other is an offensive act in general and in particular. In the one case the North is invaded and an unseceded Free-State is the battle-ground; in the other the South is invaded and a seceded SlaveState is the battle ground. Gettysburg says that Secession cannot conquer the North, but Vicksburg says that the North can conquer Secession. The one is at best a negative act, hindering another deeply negative act but not destroying its doer and thereby preventing repetition; the other is a positive act, tackling Secession in its home and undoing its power.

The present Period includes another offensive movement of the West-Northern army, which wheels on its pivot and sweeps to Chattanooga, where is the gateway to the Southern States of the Old Thirteen. Grant reached there Oct. 23, 1863. The battle of Missionary Ridge (Nov. 25th) ended in the total defeat of the Confeder ates, who had now lost substantially all of the new (or derived) Slave-States which went into Secession. It is worthy of notice that the four greatest generals whom the North produced during the war, participated in this series of battles