er States
would perhaps have quietly accepted the result, however distasteful,
except for the influence brought upon them from the extreme South,
where the maintenance of Slavery was deemed vital to prosperity
and to safety.

In the passions aroused by the agitation over slavery, Southern
men failed to see (what in cooler moments they could readily
perceive) that the existence of the Union and the guaranties of
the Constitution were the shield and safeguard of the South. The
long contest they had been waging with the anti-slavery men of the
free States had blinded Southern zealots to the essential strength
of their position so long as their States continued to be members
of the Federal Union. But for the constant presence of national
power, and its constant exercise under the provisions of the
Constitution, the South would have had no protection against the
anti-slavery assaults of the civilized world. Abolitionists from
the very beginning of their energetic crusade against slavery had
seen the Constitution standing in their way, and with the unsparing
severity of their logic had denounced it as "a league with hell
and a covenant with death." The men who were directing public
opinion in the South were trying to persuade themselves, and had
actually persuaded many of their followers, that the election of
Lincoln was the overthrow of the Constitution, and that their safety
in the Union was at an end. They frightened the people by Lincoln's
declaration that the Republic could not exist half slave, half
free. They would not hear his own lucid and candid explanation of
his meaning, but chose rather to accept the most extreme construction
which the pro-slavery literature and the excited harangues of a
Presidential canvass had given to Mr. Lincoln's language.

SOUTHERN CONFIDENCE IN SECESSION.

The confidence of Southern men in their power to achieve whatever
end they should propose was unbounded. They apparently did not
stop to contemplate the effect upon slavery which a reckless course
on their part might produce. Having been schooled to the utmost
conservatism in affairs of government, they suddenly became rash
and adventurous. They were apparently ready to put every thing to
hazard, professing to believe that nothing could be as fatal as to
remain under what they termed the "Government of Lincoln." They
believed they could maintain themselves against physical force,