INITIAL NOTE.
The truths which Nature, in her endless argument with men, cannot convince them of by life, she then establishes with the demonstration of death. She has been debating a rugged issue with you, my countrymen, in the forum of the cosmos, and having, with difficulty, secured your attention, she is now moving the previous question against you, and preparing to persuade you with a warrant for your execution. The events of six bloody and tearful years have caused the more thoughtful among you to realize that something very serious and far out of the common order of things is the matter with this land; but you little suspect what it is, and your frantic and misdirected efforts at relief are only hastening and augmenting your ruin. I propose to aid your inquiry into the causes of your condition, and to direct your mourning and fevered eyes towards the only peace, as I tried to do six years ago and you would not hear me. But it is quite certain that a few will listen now,—certainly not
