NO CAUSE FOR REVOLUTION.

37

Bell, of Tennessee. The contest was one of the most exciting of our history, and resulted in the election of Mr. Lincoln, who received one hundred and eighty electoral votes; Mr. Breckinridge, seventytwo; Mr. Bell, thirty-nine; Mr. Douglas, twelve; Mr. Lincoln's electoral majority being fifty-seven. The popular vote was, for Mr. Lincoln, 1,857,610; Mr. Douglas, 1,365,976; Mr. Breckinridge, 847,953; for Mr. Bell, 590,631. The election of Mr. Lincoln was rendered inevitable by the refusal of the Southern States to submit to the nomination of Mr. Douglas, and the factious nomination of Mr. Breckinridge, of Kentucky.

Early in the campaign came threats of disunion, in the event of Mr. Lincoln's election; the Southern States would secede and form an independent confederacy, on the ground that slavery would be imperiled and Southern institutions destroyed by longer union with Free States. The historian who concedes the right of revolution searches in vain for any reason in justification of so grave a step at that time. Up to the election of Mr. Lincoln there had been no change in the Federal Constitution, affecting the rights of either section of the Republic. No statute had been created by Congress in opposition to a united South, or against which its representatives had voted in a body. No change had been made in the status of slavery, but, in fact, the administration, the legislature, the compromises and the patronage of the government had steadily been in its interest. Its area had been broadened by compromise, purchase and conquest, A law, in the judgment of Northern men, of needless severity and downright barbarity, stood unamended and unrepealed upon the statute books, and was everywhere enforced in the rendition of fugitive slaves. There had been no taxation without representation, but on the contrary, a representation had been given, in the South, to what was claimed as property. There had been no interference with the freedom of the press, of education, of speech, of worship, or of the elective franchise. These statements are conceded by Alexander H. Stephens, one of the most acute minds and wisest statesmen of the South, and though he subsequently went with his State, and has been the second officer of the Confederacy, his words have lost none of their significance. In the convention of Georgia, when secession was being discussed, he arose and said:

"This step [the secession of Georgia] once taken, can never be recalled;

and

all the baleful and withering consequences that must follow (as you will see), will rest on the Convention for all coming time. When we and our posterity shall see our lovely South desolated by the demon of war, which this act of yours will inevitably invite and call forth; when our green fields of waving harvests shall be trodden down by the murderous soldiery and fiery car of war sweeping over our land; our temples of justice laid in ashes; all the horrors and desolations of war upon us; who but this Convention will be held responsible for it? and who but him who shall have given his vote for this unwise and ill-timed measure (as I honestly think and believe) shall be held to strict account for this suicidal act, by the present generation, and, probably, cursed and execrated by posterity for all time to come, for the wide and desolating ruin that will inevitably follow this act you now propose to perpetrate?

"Pause, I entreat you, and consider, for a moment, what reasons you can give that will even satisfy yourselves, in calmer moments; what reasons can you give to your fellow-sufferers in the calamity that it will bring upon us? What reasons can you give to the nations of the earth to justify it? They will be the calm and deliberate judges in the case; and to what cause, or one overt act, can you name or point, on which to rest the plea of justification? What right has the North assailed? What interest of the South has been invaded? What justice has been denied? and what claim, founded in justice and right, has been withheld? Can either of you, to-day, name one governmental act of wrong, deliberately and purposely done by the government, of which the South has a right to complain? I challenge the answer! While, on the other hand, let me show the facts (and, believe me, gentlemen, I am not here the advocate of the North, but I am here the friend, the firm friend and lover of the South and her institutions, and for that reason I speak thus plainly and faithfully, for yours, mine, and every other man's interest, the words of truth and soberness), of which I wish you to judge, and I will only state facts which are clear and undeniable, and which now stand as records authentic in the history of our country.

"When we of the South demanded the slave-trade, or the importation of Africans for the cultivation of our lands, did they not yield the right for twenty years? When we asked a three-fifth representation in Congress for our slaves, was it not granted? When we asked and demanded the return of any fugitive from justice, or the recovery of those persons owing labor or allegiance, was it not incorporated in the constitution? and again ratified and strengthened in the Fugitive Slave Law of 1840?

"But, do you reply, that in many instances they have violated this compact, and have not been faithful to their engagements? As individuals and local communities they may have done so, but not by the sanction of government, for that has always been true to Southern interests. Again, gentlemen, look at another fact: When we have asked that more territory should be added, that we might spread the institution of slavery, have they not yielded to our demands, in giving us Louisiana, Florida and Texas, out of which four States have been carved, and ample territory to be added in due time, if you, by this unwise and impolitic act, do not destroy this

hope, and, perhaps, by it lose all, and have your last slave wrenched from you by stern military rule, as South America and Mexico were, or by the vindictive decree of universal emancipation, which may reasonably be expected to follow ?

"But, again, gentlemen, what have we to gain by this proposed change of our relation to the general government? We have always had the control of it, and can yet, if we remain in it, and are as united as we have been. We have had a majority of the Presidents chosen from the South, as well as the control and management of most of those chosen from the North. We have had sixty years of Southern Presidents to their twenty-four, thus controlling the executive department. So of the Judges of the Supreme Court, we have had eighteen from the South and but eleven from the North. Although nearly four fifths of the judicial business has arisen in the Free States, yet a majority of the Court has always been from the South. This we have required, so as to guard against any interpretation of the constitution unfavorable to us. In like manner, we have been equally watchful to guard our interests in the Legislative branch of government. In choosing the presiding Presidents (pro tem.) of the Senate, we have had twenty-four to their eleven. Speakers of the House, we have had twenty-three and they twelve. While the majority of the Representatives, from their greater population, have always been from the North, yet we have so generally secured the Speaker, because he, to a great extent, shapes and controls the legislation of the country. Nor have we had less control in every other department of the general government.

*

"Leaving out of view, for the present, the countless millions of dollars you must expend in a war with the North, with tens of thousands of your sons and brothers slain in battle, and offered up as sacrifices on the altar of your ambition-and for what, we ask again? Is it for the overthrow of the American Government, established by our common ancestry, cemented and built up by their sweat and blood, and founded on the broad principles of Right, Justice and Humanity? And as such, I must declare here, as I have often done before, and which has been repeated by the greatest and wisest of statesmen and patriots, in this and other lands, that it is the best and freest government; the most equal in its rights; the most just in its decisions; the most lenient in its measures, and the most inspiring in its principles to elevate the race of men, that the sun of heaven ever shone upon.

"Now, for you to attempt to overthrow such a government as this, under which we have lived for more than three-quarters of a century-in which we have gained our wealth, our standing as a nation, our domestic safety, while elements of peril are around us, with peace and tranquillity accompanied with unbounded prosperity and rights unassailed—is the hight of madness, folly and wickedness, to which I can neither lend my sanction nor my vote."

The President elect stood upon a platform which did not warrant the apprehension that he would interfere, or sanction interference with slavery in the States. It is true he had said, "It is my opinion that this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and

half free," but he had also said, "I now assure you that I neither then had, nor have, nor ever had, any purpose, in any way, of interfering with the institution of slavery where it exists. I believe we have no power, under the Constitution of the United States, or rather under the form of government under which we live, to interfere with the institution of slavery, or any other of the institutions of our sister States, be they Free or Slave States."* If the Southern Senators and Representatives remained in their places, he was without a majority in Congress, and was, indeed, dependent upon the courtesy of his opponents for the confirmation of his cabinet. He was hedged in upon every side, and powerless for evil had it been in his heart.

But madness ruled the hour. Southern conspirators were bent on securing what had long been planned; viz., separation from the Union. Mr. Lincoln's election was made the pretext, and active preparations were made. Unfortunately, the President, Mr. Buchanan, lacked that courage and inflexible purpose which the crisis demanded, and cowered piteously before the coming storm. There was an understanding that, while he remained in power, there should be no open assault upon the government, and the old man seemed to feel with the ancient King, "Good is the word of the Lord, if there be peace in my day." Arch-conspirators were about his council board. They removed southward large stores of heavy ordnance, small arms and ammunition, and then, except where they had reason to believe the commanding officers in sympathy with them, removed the garrisons, leaving only a feeble handful of defenders at each post. The navy was scattered through all distant seas, and made as inefficient as possible. A heavy debt was pressed upon an exhausted treasury.

The Southern press, pulpit and rostrum, were busy "firing the Southern heart," and an excited people was ready for revolt. Union sentiment, where it existed, was suppressed by violence. Proclamations of Governors, Acts of Legislatures, Ordinances of Conventions, followed in rapid succession. Military companies were formed and drilled, Southern Members of Congress resigned and returned to their constituents, and State after State declared itself out of the Union.

* Speech in Cincinnati, September, 1859.

HUMILIATION IN WASHINGTON.

41

During these days, between the election and inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, it was humiliating to be in the National Capitol. Regularly, for a time, the conspirators arose in their places in the American Congress, and, after the utterance of treasonable sentiments, after defying the government, they would announce their State withdrawn from the Union, and they then said their mock farewells! And all that was borne by the shadow of the government which held the power of this great country!

On the 20th of December, 1860, the Convention of South Carolina declared “The Union now existing between South Carolina and other States of North America is dissolved, and that the State of South Carolina has resumed her position among the nations of the earth, as a free, sovereign and independent State, with full power to levy war and conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do."

On the 24th, Governor Pickens issued his proclamation, declaring "South Carolina is, and has a right to be, a free and independent State, and, as such, has a right to levy war, conclude peace, negotiate treaties, leagues and covenants, and to do all acts whatever that rightfully appertain to a free and independent State."

The telegraph carried the news throughout the nation that the chain of the Union was broken, and men said, every where, "What will the government do?" The government did-nothing! In the South, the intelligence excited the people as did the display of the fiery cross the ancient Highland clans. In Congress it produced little apparent excitement. It was announced by Mr. Garnet, of Virginia. The Pacific Railroad was the order of the day, and Mr. G. said that his State would not consent to be held responsible for any financial obligation in its construction. "Sir," said he, "while your Bill is under consideration, one of the sovereign States of this Confederacy has, by the glorious act of her people, withdrawn, in vindication of her rights, from the Union, as the telegraph announced at half-past one to-day." There was applause by a few conspirators, but most of the members manifested utter indifference. Boyce and Ashmore, the only remaining Representatives of the recusant State, left their seats, exchanged salutations with personal friends and fellow malcontents, and retired from the Hall of Representatives. Mr. Bu