States were forced to resort to arms for the preservation of their existence. To those who knew that the Union was formed for specific enumerated purposes, and that the States had never surrendered their sovereignty, it was a palpable absurdity to apply to them, or to their citizens when obeying their mandates, the terms "rebellion" and "treason"; and, further, it is shown in the following pages that the Confederate States, so far from making war or seeking to destroy the United States, as soon as they had an official organ, strove earnestly, by peaceful recognition, to equitably adjust all questions growing out of the separation from their late associates. Another great perversion of truth has been the arraignment of the men who participated in the formation of the Confederacy and who bore arms in its defense, as the instigators of a controversy leading to disunion. Sectional issues appear conspicuously in the debates of the Convention which framed the Federal Constitution, and its many compromises were designed to secure an equilibrium between the sections, and to preserve the interests as well as the liberties of the several States. African servitude at that time was not confined to a section, but was numerically greater in the South than in the North, with a tendency to its continuance in the former and cessation in the latter. It therefore thus early presents itself as a disturbing element, and the provisions of the Constitution, which were known to be necessary for its adoption, bound all the States to recognize and protect that species of property. When at a subsequent period there arose in the Northern States an antislavery agitation, it was a harmless and scarcely noticed movement until political demagogues seized upon it as a means to acquire power. Had it been left to pseudo-philanthropists and fanatics, most zealous. where least informed, it never could have shaken the foundations of the Union and have incited one section to carry fire and sword into the other. That the agitation was political in its character, and was clearly developed as early as 1803, it is believed has been established in these pages. To preserve a sectional equilibrium and to maintain the equality of the States was the effort on one side, to acquire empire was the manifest purpose on the other. This struggle began before the men of the Confederacy were born; how it arose and how it progressed. it has been attempted briefly to show. Its last stage was on the question of territorial governments; and, if in this work it has not been demonstrated that the position of the South was justified by the Constitution and the equal rights of the people of all the States, it must be because the author has failed to present the subject with a sufficient degree of force and clearness. In describing the events of the war, space has not permitted, and the loss of both books and papers has prevented, the notice of very many entitled to consideration, as well for the humanity as the gallantry of our men in the unequal combats they fought. These numerous omissions, it is satisfactory to know, the official reports made at the time and the subsequent contributions which have been and are being published by the actors, will supply more fully and graphically than could have been done in this work. Usurpations of the Federal Government have been presented, not in a spirit of hostility, but as a warning to the people against the dangers by which their liberties are beset. When the war ceased, the pretext on which it had been waged could no longer be alleged. The emancipation proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, which, when it was issued, he humorously admitted to be a nullity, had acquired validity by the action of the highest authority known to our institutions-the people assembled in their several State Conventions. The soldiers of the Confederacy had laid down their arms, had in good faith pledged themselves to abstain from further hostile operations, and had peacefully dispersed to their homes; there could not, then, have been further dread of them by the Government of the United States. The plea of necessity could, therefore, no longer exist for hostile demonstration against the people and States of the deceased Confederacy. Did vengeance, which stops at the grave, subside? Did real peace and the restoration of the States to their former rights and positions follow, as was promised on the restoration of the Union? Let the recital of the invasion of the reserved powers of the States, or the people, and the perversion of the republican form of government guaranteed to each State by the Constitution, answer the question. For the deplorable fact of the war, for the cruel manner in which it was waged, for the sad physical and yet sadder moral results it produced, the reader of these pages, I hope, will admit that the South, in the forum of conscience, stands fully acquitted. Much of the past is irremediable; the best hope for a restoration in the future to the pristine purity and fraternity of the Union, rests on the opinions and character of the men who are to succeed this generation: that they may be suited to that blessed work, one, whose public course is ended, invokes them to draw their creed from the fountains of our political history, rather than from the lower stream, polluted as it has been by self-seeking place-hunters and by sectional strife. THE AUTHOR. African Servitude.—A Retrospect.—Early Legislation with Regard to the Slave- Trade. The Southern States foremost in prohibiting it.-A Common Error corrected.-The Ethical Question never at Issue in Sectional Controversies. -The Acquisition of Louisiana.-The Missouri Compromise.-The Balance The Session of 1849-'50.-The Compromise Measures.-Virtual Abrogation of the Missouri Compromise.-The Admission of California.-The Fugitive Reëlection to the Senate.-Political Controversies in Mississippi.-Action of the Democratic State Convention.-Defeat of the State-Rights Party.- Withdrawal of General Quitman and Nomination of the Author as Can- didate for the Office of Governor.-The Canvass and its Result.-Retire- The Author enters the Cabinet.-Administration of the War Department.-Sur veys for a Pacific Railway.-Extension of the Capitol.-New Regiments organized.-Colonel Samuel Cooper, Adjutant-General.-A Bit of Civil Service Reform.-Reëlection to the Senate.-Continuity of the Pierce The Territorial Question.-An Incident at the White House.-The Kansas and Nebraska Bill.-The Missouri Compromise abrogated in 1850, not in 1854. B -Origin of "Squatter Sovereignty."-Sectional Rivalry and its Conse- quences. The Emigrant Aid Societies.-"The Bible and Sharpe's Rifles." -False Pretensions as to Principle.-The Strife in Kansas.-A Retro- spect. The Original Equilibrium of Power and its Overthrow.-Usurpa- tions of the Federal Government.—The Protective Tariff.-Origin and Progress of Abolitionism.-Who were the Friends of the Union ?-An PAGE Agitation continued.-Political Parties: their Origin, Changes, and Modifica- tions. Some Account of the "Popular Sovereignty," or "Non-Interven- tion," Theory.-Rupture of the Democratic Party.-The John Brown Raid. -Resolutions introduced by the Author into the Senate on the Relations of the States, the Federal Government, and the Territories; their Discus- A Retrospect.-Growth of Sectional Rivalry.—The Generosity of Virginia.— Unequal Accessions of Territory.-The Tariff and its Effects.-The Re- publican Convention of 1860, its Resolutions and its Nominations.-The Democratic Convention at Charleston, its Divisions and Disruption.-The Nominations at Baltimore.-The "Constitutional-Union" Party and its Nominees.-An Effort in Behalf of Agreement declined by Mr. Douglas.— The Election of Lincoln and Hamlin.-Proceedings in the South.—Evi- dences of Calmness and Deliberation.-Mr. Buchanan's Conservatism and the Weakness of his Position.-Republican Taunts.-The "New York Conference with the Governor of Mississippi.-The Author censured as "too slow."-Summons to Washington.-Interview with the President.-His Message.-Movements in Congress.-The Triumphant Majority.-The Crit- tenden Proposition.-Speech of the Author on Mr. Green's Resolution.- The Committee of Thirteen.-Failure to agree.-The "Republicans" re- sponsible for the Failure.-Proceedings in the House of Representatives.— Futility of Efforts for an Adjustment.-The Old Year closes in Clouds Preparations for Withdrawal from the Union.-Northern Precedents.-New England Secessionists.-Cabot, Pickering, Quincy, etc.-On the Acquisition of Louisiana. The Hartford Convention.-The Massachusetts Legislature |