476 The Fall of the Confederacy. 
What was the immediate cause of death? Was it 
heart disease ? Was it brain disease? Was it disease of 
the blood? Was it sheer inanition? It concerns both 
North and South, it concerns the re-united republic, it 
- concerns all of us to ascertain this. The Confederacy is so 
thoroughly historical that we can enter into the investiga- 
tion without any feeling of partizanship. Yet the Confe- 
deracy was so lately living that we have an unprecedented 
opportunity for making the jost-mortem of a deceased 
power. 
We have in this inquiry nought to do with the morality 
or immorality of the Confederacy. If the cause was good 
that is a reason for regretting, but does not account for the 
failure. If the cause was evil that is a reason for rejoicing 
in the success of the North, but does not necessarily ex- 
plain the overthrow of the Confederacy. 
Probably the general response will be that the superior 
numbers and resources of the North rendered her triumph 
inevitable. This may or may not be true in part, but to 
accept it in its entirety would be most unfair to both 
belligerents, and would be a dangerous and demoralising 
conclusion. Is numerical superiority per se always omnipo- 
tent? Shall we declare that a minority cannot, under any 
circumstances, assert its real or imagined rights with a hope 
or chance of triumph? It is, indeed, a sound doctrine that 
other forces being equal, superior numbers must prevail. 
Were the other forces so equal that the failure of the Con- 
federacy was a foregone conclusion? The respective num- 
bers and resources were known at the beginning of the 
conflict, and if the superior numbers of the North made 
the failure of the Confederacy inevitable, the Confederate 
administration was guilty of a huge and detestable crime 
in commencing and carrying on a contest that could only 
desolate the country and cause a fearful waste of life. But 
to rebut so foul a charge the Confederate administration 
might appeal to many chapters of history which record the 
triumphs of minorities. In the providential government of 
the world forces are frequently brought into play that 
overcome numbers, and therefore the victory is not always 
gained by the side which is numerically the stronger. 
Christianity, civilisation, political development, and liberty 
are the victories of minorities. As a rule, might is allied to 
right, and when right fails it is, we may be sure, because 
right has neglected to enlist or has misused its forces. 
Since the fall’of the Confederacy there has been a constant 
