p. 4 | The End Reached by Editor

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 6, 1865

The End Reached.

By Editor

UNDER this heading, appears a short article in the N. Y. Independent of June 1, setting forth that the full end of the great Southern rebellion has come. Three months ago, March 1, the end had not come. The nation was then writhing under a new call for 300,000 more men, and many, were speculating upon the continuance of the war, and predicting that the present summer, which is yet mostly in the future, would witness the most severe and bloody part of this great struggle. And then, the people of God, believing that they saw light in the prophecies that the time had come for this strife to be brought to a close, directed their prayer accordingly to Him who holdeth the nations in his hands. Three short months have elapsed, and now not an armed rebel remains in array against the United States, Kirby Smith the rebel general in Texas, having just surrendered the last remnant of the Confederate army west of the Mississippi. The Independent thus speaks:

"We stated, last week, that we believed all the ports in Texas would be included in the President's proclamation opening the ports of the South to unrestricted commerce, before the 1st of July. The realization of our hopes has come sooner than we anticipated. The surrender of Kirby Smith and all his army to Gen. Canby, which was officially announced by Secretary Stanton on Sunday last, leaves not an armed rebel in the whole country, and at once removes all cause for any further restrictions on trade from the Rio Grande, north.

In addition to this most cheering news for our commercial community, the surrender of the rebel ram Stonewall to the Captain General of Cuba, leaves the whole sea free from rebel cruisers, so that there will be nothing to obstruct our commerce on the ocean. One craft only, the piratical Shenandoah, remained at last accounts in the Indian Seas, threatening our merchant ships in that part of the world. But she cannot long remain a pest to our commerce. It is probable that ere this, orders have been dispatched by the British Government, to deny the rebel cruisers the right of belligerents, and we may safely assume that in no part of the world is there any longer any armed force to interfere with the peaceful pursuits of commerce.

So entire and complete a peace as this has never before been known since we were a nation. We have always had a small difficulty on our hand somewhere; but now we have none. The opening of Texas to our trade will prove of great importance to us, for the interior of that State has suffered less by the rebellion than any other of the Confederacy. There must be vast quantities of cotton there, which will at once be sent to market, and the people, from their intercourse with Mexico, must be possessed of a considerable amount of specie, which will be eagerly exchanged for the goods that will at once be shipped to Matamoras. Their crops must be well forward, and the armies will be disbanded in time for the soldiers to go to their homes and secure the harvest."