Now the people of the South were brave, her men were conscientious, and her so-called upper classes were the peers of any community in intelligence. The doctrines of Jefferson had been the theme of her orators for two generations, and the theory of State Sovereignty had taken root in a rich and productive soil, where it had grown to a stalwart tree. The training of years had taught the great mass of her people to believe that Slavery was right, or if not morally right, was a necessary evil in the very condition of things. The North had agitated, discussed, and stirred up strife when the whole land had been prosperous and at peace, and had caused contention and unreasonable commotion in their internal affairs. What though the North disavowed any intention of interfering with Slavery in the States where it then existed, the very agitation of the subject on their borders made them restless and stirred up their slaves. The conspiracy of a few score men could magnify all this into a grievous wrong, and stir the warm blood of the South to the intensest heat, and unite the people in a common cause, as dear to them as that which moved the hearts of their Revolutionary sires.

His

For months there had been indications that the Democratic convention which was to meet in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, would be a stormy one, and there were mutterings of the coming tempest, that should shake the country to its centre. The gathering of the six hundred delegates, from all the States in the Union, began on the 23d of April, 1860; and from the hour of the opening of the Convention there was the strong pressure of the conspiracy felt. Caleb Cushing was chairman, and Stephen A. Douglass, of Illinois, was the strongest candidate whose name had been proposed before the convention. He had won the title of "Little Giant of the West." idea of popular sovereignty had been engrafted into the platform of the party at Cincinnati four years before. The Opposition were in favor of a speedy adoption of the institution of Slavery as a national institution, but the friends of Douglass were not ready for this. The Convention, by a handsome ma jority, re-affirmed the doctrine of popular sovereignty, and at once the plot was sprung. The leader of the delegation from Alabama announced that he, and his colleagues, would formally withdraw from the Convention. delegates followed, and a new Convention was formed in another Hall. The dismemberment of the Democratic Party was now complete, the plot was subsequently unmasked by Mr. Glenn, of Mississippi, who said in the new convention, "I tell Southern men here, and for them I tell the North, that in less than sixty days, you will find a united South, standing

Other

and

side

by side with us." Charleston was the scene of great delight that night, for South Carolina understood what that utterance signified. The result of this secession was that John C. Breckenridge was nominated for President by the seceding Democratic Party, and Stephen A. Douglass was the candidate of the Regular Democratic Party. The Republicans afterwards nominated Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, for President, and Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, for Vice President. A fourth party, The Constitutional American Party, which adopted the Constitution of the United States for its platform, nominated John Bell, of Tennessee, for the Presidency and Edward Everett, of Massachusetts, for the Vice Presidency.

The political contest was fought with vigor such as had seldom been known before. The Republican and the pro-slavery wing of the Democratic: party were antagonistically opposed, and William H. Seward had said thereis "an irrepressible conflict between Freedom and Slavery;" "The Republic cannot exist half slave and half free," and "Freedom is the normal condition in all the Territories." This was the Republican side of the question. Mr. Breckenridge claimed that no power existed that might lawfully control slavery in the Territories, and it existed in full force wherever a slave-holder, and his. slaves, entered it; therefore it was the duty of the National Government to protect it there. The issue was plain and decided; no one need misunderstand it. Abraham Lincoln was elected by a majority of the votes in the electoral college; but since there were four candidates in the field he had a large MINORITY of the popular vote. This was a part of the plot, to claim that he was a sectional President, and received only a minority of the votes of the people. There would be four months in which to mature and carry out the plans already working so well.

Two years before this, William L. Yancey had written to a friend: "Organize committees all over the Cotton States; fire the Southern heart; instruct the Southern mind; give courage to each other; and at the propermoment, by one organized, concerted action, precipitate the Cotton States: into revolution." Mr. Yancey had been an active public speaker in the South during the canvass of 1860, and when the result was known, the leaders in the South were as much elated over the election of Lincoln as any one in the Republican party. Now the pretext that the platform and the policy of the Republican party, and the utterances of the President elect, with the fact that he was a sectional candidate, elected by Northern votes, and these a minority of all the votes cast, led the people of the South to fear that he would be a

usurper of their rights, and they listened until their righteous indignation was stirred, and they were easily led to make one bold and united stand for their inalienable rights. In the third year of the war, a Southern gentleman wrote in a letter to a friend, "Perhaps there never was a people more bewitched, beguiled and befooled, than we were when we went into this rebellion."

In President Buchanan's Cabinet, there were three, if not four men, in active sympathy with the movement, and they were anxious to wait until the end of the term before the blow should be struck. There were arsenals, fortresses, custom houses, and other public property in the South. The forts and arsenals in the North were stripped of movable military stores, and were sent South. The United States Navy was scattered to the four quarters of the globe, and most of the ships in commission were beyond the reach of speedy recall; others were lying in ordinary in the navy yards under the pretense of being repaired, but no work was being done upon them. The United States Army Officers, in suspected sympathy with the North, were sent to the extreme West, and the credit of the government was purposely injured. A small loan could not find a market at twelve per cent. interest. This was the condition of things. Some wanted to strike the blow as soon as the election was over; others had another plan, which was this, as avowed by a disunionist who was in the plot:

•

"We intend to take possession of the army and navy and the archives of government; not allow the electoral votes to be counted; proclaim Buchanan Provisional President if he will do as we wish, if not choose another; seize Harper's Ferry Arsenal and the Norfolk Navy Yard, and sending armed men from the former, and armed vessels from the latter, seize the city of Washington and establish a new government." Why was this not done? Lewis Cass was Secretary of State, and he discovered the treason of his associates; but being powerless to avert the danger, he resigned. The Attorney General was promoted to be Secretary of State, and Edwin M. Stanton was called to be Attorney General. Joseph Holt and John A. Dix, who had been called into Buchanan's Cabinet, were loyal men, and brought a pressure upon the President that he could not withstand, and while he did nothing to openly aid the plot, he was obliged to make a show of sustaining the National government.

The first step to open revolt was made by South Carolina. A convention of delegates in Charleston, adopted an Ordinance of Secession December 20th, 1860. This was signed by one hundred and seventy members. A similar ordinance was passed by the following States in the order given: Mississippi,

January 9th, 1861; Florida, January 10th; Alabama, January 11th; Georgia, January 19; Louisiana, January 26th; Texas, February 1st; Virginia, April 17th; Arkansas, May 6th; North Carolina, May 20th; Tennessee, June 8th.

On the fourth of February, 1861, delegates from six of the States above named met at Montgomery, Alabama, and formed a league styled THE CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA. A provisional Constitution was adopted, and Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, was chosen Provisional President, with Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, Vice President. This organization of a few conspirators,-since no Ordinance of Secession was ever submitted to popular vote, became a self-styled government, and made war on the United States; seized its public property; put a loan upon the markets of the world; issued letters of marque and reprisal, and raised armies to overthrow the government, while yet the passive friend of the slaveholders was in the presidential chair at Washington. To increase the difficulties which now beset the President, his former Attorney General, J. S. Black, had declared substantially, that the Executive possessed no constitutional power to use the Army and Navy for the preservation of the life of the Republic.

A Peace Convention was held at Washington in February, 1861, but its efforts to effect a compromise were futile. All propositions for compromise made in and out of Congress were rejected by the loyal National legislature. The poor, distressed President Buchanan had to do his best for the time which remained of his term of office. The Southern members of his Cabinet holding on to their positions as long as they could be of any service to the South, had left their chief to fill their places with Northern men. The first overt act of war was performed when Major Robert Anderson, a loyal Kentuckian, refused to give up Fort Sumter, into which he had retired from a weaker fort, Moultrie.

The General-in-chief of the army was Lieutenant General Scott, who was enfeebled in body and mind from age, and although he was loyal he was unable long to cope with the mighty problem. He, however, was vigilant and took efficient measures to secure the safety of Mr. Lincoln on his arrival after his perilous journey through Baltimore, on the 23d of February, 1861. He secured peace and quiet in Washington until after the inauguration of the new President.

THE CIVIL WAR, 1861-5.

ADMINISTRATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

THE sixteenth President of the United States was inducted into his office in the midst of bitter enemies on every side, on March 4th, 1861. General Scott had arranged the military forces at his disposal in such a way that they could be called upon in any exigency that might arise from any suspected outbreak in the National Capitol. But all passed off quietly, and the President took the oath of office, as his predecessors had done, in the open air, at the east portico of the Capitol. The Senate confirmed his nominations at once..

The new administration set itself at work with great zeal to ascertain the resources of the government and found what we have already hinted at. The public credit was injured, but the now loyal Congress set at work to restore it. The Army and Navy were of little use. Of the former there were only 16,000 men, and most of them were on the frontiers. Sixteen forts with all their equipments were in the hands of the South, and all the arsenals there. The value of the public property in the hands of the insurgents was thirty million dollars. There were forty-four vessels in commission, and of these only one, the Brooklyn, of twenty-five guns, and a storeship were ready for immediate service. Many officers of the navy were Southern men and had resigned, leaving this branch of service very weak and crippled.

The first gun fired at Sumter, April 12th, 1861, awoke the slumbering nation, which had thought that all this array in the South was for effect. Before Major Anderson and his heroic band brought away the flag from Sumter, which he evacuated but did not surrender, there was a divided sentiment in the North; some thought that there could be no war and that a peaceful solution was still possible; others comprehended the spirit of the revolt and were satisfied that the struggle would produce bloodshed. The flag was lowered from Sumter on April 14th, and a terrible civil war was at once inaugurated. Such an uprising the land had not seen before. Men of all grades of society at the north, and every political and religious creed, were ready to spring to arms in defense of the Union, at the call of the President two days later. Seventy-five thousand men were called for a three months' service, and were hurried to the front from all the Northern States. The six slave States, to whose governors a requisition for troops was sent, treated the whole subject with utter scorn. The crusade was spontaneous; in every town and hamlet.