supplies to the doomed fort, and that in a few days it would pass into
the hands of the Confederates; and this they determined to prevent,
because they knew also that the mere surrender of the garrison, when
it had eaten its last rations, would not suffice to "fire the Northern
heart." They carried their point, and hence it was that war was begun
the middle of April, 1861. But for the triumph of the violent Southern
party, the contest might have been postponed, and even a peace patched
up for the time, and the inevitable struggle put off to a future day.
As it was, Government had no choice, and was compelled to fight; and it
would have been compelled to fight, had it been composed entirely of
Quakers.

War being unavoidable, and it being clear that slavery was the cause of
it as well as its occasion, and that it would be the main support of our
enemy, it ought to have followed that our first blow should be directed
against that institution. Nothing of the kind happened. Whatever
Government may have thought on the subject, it did nothing to injure
slavery. But for this forbearance, which now appears so astonishing, we
are not disposed to blame the President. He acted as the representative
of the country, which was not then prepared to act vigorously against
the root of the evil that afflicted it. A moral blindness prevailed,
which proved most injurious to the Union cause, and from the effect of
which it may never recover. It was supposed that it was yet possible to
"conciliate" the South, and that that section could be induced to "come
back" into the Union, provided nothing should be done to hurt its
feelings or injure its interests! Looking back to the summer of 1861, it
is with difficulty that we can believe that men were then in possession
of their senses, so inconsistent was their conduct. The Rebels were at
least as sensitive on the subject of their military character as they
were on that of slavery; and yet, while we could not be sufficiently
servile on the latter subject, we acted most offensively on the former.
We asserted, in every form and variety of language, our ability to "put
them down;" and but for the circumstance that not the slightest atom of
ability marked the management of our military affairs, we should
have made our boasting good. Men who could not say enough to satisfy
themselves on the point of the right of the chivalrous Southrons to
create, breed, work, and sell slaves, were equally loud-mouthed