SYNOPSIS

AM Thote
1867

OF

THE AMERICAN WAR.

BY

J. R. BALME,

AN AMERICAN CLERGYMAN, AUTHOR OF THE

LEVER OF THE GOSPEL, ""MIRROR OF THE GOSPEL, MAGNET OF THE GOSPEL'
"TELEGRAPH OF THE GOSPEL, 66 TELESCOPE OF THE GOSPEL,
"TEMPERANCE AUXILIARY TO THE GOSPEL, AMERICAN WAR CRUSADE," AND
"LETTERS ON THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC."

•9 66

"What I have written is no idle fictioned rhyme.

I paint the shadow of the curse of our country's blasting crime-

A curse upon whose blackness-a wall of solid night—

Comes a scroll of 'MENE, MENE,' in lines of lurid light."

R. 90988

FOURTH EDITION.

LONDON: HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO.

THE AUTHOR, WILSDEN, NEAR BINGLEY, YORKSHIRE.

PREFACE.

THE writer of this volume and his excellent and
devoted partner have been borne down by an aval-
anche of deadly hate let loose on them by negro-
hating professors of Christianity in our Northern
States of America, and before being extricated from
peril, another has come thundering down upon them,
put in motion by men who make their gospel one
of rifles, like Garibaldi, and the Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher, contemplate with fiendish satisfaction the
horrible carnage and blood associated with the late
Federal war, and aspire to exalt and glorify with
the crown of martyrdom the late arch-rebel and
traitor Mr Gordon. Far down, therefore, aye, at the
bottom of the abyss of calamity, utterly helpless,
we lay in the midst of the wrecks of friendship
and property, and hopeless, save from the cheering
ray that comes over heaven's jasper walls, and
leaps into the deep chasm around us, reminding us
of our early motto, Nil desperandum, auspice Deo.
"Hush, hush!" exclaim our enemies, who are not
only numerous but formidable.-" Hush, hush! lest

we send down another avalanche to bury and ex-
tinguish you for ever."

We are quite aware that in our position it is not
unusual to regard our confidence in God as a de-
lusion and presumption, and, therefore, should not
be surprised if some be so cowardly as to pray at
us in their prayers, rather than to shew their
Christianity by praying for us.

This is a strange world, and there are times
when some Christian professors act more strangely
than men of the world, or we should not find
amongst our enemies those on whom we have been
wont to rely, or towards whom we have cherished
the highest veneration and esteem.

The Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, in his "Sword and
Trowel" has let drop concerning us an ambiguous
expression in the shape of "wounded feelings,"
which does us great injustice, and whilst he speaks
of our "letters as "a bold and skilful analysis

of the whole case in America," he draws an infer-
ence from them which demonstrates that the best
of men are but men at the best, and consequently
liable to err.

The editors of the British Quarterly have
recently avowed that "we have an hatred to
America and all Americans." If this were the case,
we should not have put all our eggs in the
American basket, in the shape of property, or have
made such vigorous though ill-requited efforts to
lift Americans out of the deep rut of expediency

where they have been so long bemired, or tried to
bring them back to first principles-a mission
often pronounced to be Quixotic even in our
Northern States, despite the gorgeous pictures
drawn of them by men who have run wild with
delusion, and one most assuredly that brought us
more kicks and blows than halfpence, when by
doing evil for a good purpose, we could have been
both popular and wealthy.

What different results there would have been, if
deep, calm, rational progress had been the order of
the day in America; but our Northern States and
people, who were the chief instruments in sustain-
ing the blood-cemented fabric of slavery when it
suited their purpose, went from one extreme of
guilt to another, in honour of their favourite sys-
tem of protective tariffs and their beloved idol the
Union, to promote which they subjected them-
selves to the scorn of men and demons, by making
slavery a stalking horse to cover their ulterior ob-
jects, aims, and motives.

"Who fired the first shot?" enquired a Professor
at Oxford the other day. The reply given was
Southerners." "Were not they the aggressors ?"

No, since our Northern people were the invaders."
"But did not the forts in the South belong to the
United States Government?" "No." "How so?"
Because the contract on which the Union was
based had been broken by presidents, states, and
churches in our entire history, as shown in the ob-