the
negro; that the Northern people, in taking any other ground, had been
deceived by a sentiment and had been following a chimera; that the
Southern people alone understood the question, and that interference
with them by war or by law should end in establishing their
justification before the public opinion of the world. The Southern men
believed and boasted that they would subject to general reproach and
expose to open shame that whole class of intermeddlers and fanatics
(as they termed opponents of slavery) who had destroyed so many lives
and wasted so much treasure in attempting the impossible and, even if
possible, the undesirable.

There can be no doubt that the objectionable and cruel legislation of
the Southern States--examples of which might be indefinitely cited in
addition to those already given--exerted a strong influence upon Mr.
Seward's mind. It is well known that, to those who were on intimate
terms with him, he expressed a sorrowful surprise that the South
should respond with so ill a grace to the liberal and magnanimous
tenders of sympathy and friendship from the National Administration.
He could not comprehend why confidence did not beget confidence, why
generosity should not call forth generosity in return. There are
good reasons for believing that Mr. Seward desired some modification
of the President's policy of Reconstruction after he comprehended the
spirit which had been exhibited by the Southern Conventions, and the
still more objectionable spirit shown by the Southern Legislatures.
His philanthropic nature, the record of his public life, his great
achievements in the anti-slavery field, all forbid the conclusion that
he could knowingly and willingly consent to the maltreatment and the
permanent degradation of the freedmen. If he had no higher motives,
the selfish one of preserving his own splendid fame must have inspired
him.

Mr. Seward had reached the age of sixty-five years, and he surely could
not consent to undo the entire work of his mature manhood.
Consistency, it is true, is not the highest trait of statesmanship.
Crises often arise in the conduct of National affairs when cherished
opinions must be sacrificed and new departures taken. But this
necessity can never apply to that class of political questions closely
and inseparably allied with moral obligation. Mr. Seward had himself
taught the nation that conflict on questions involving the rights of
human nature is irrepressible