Everett and
Winthrop--habitually charged the Republican party with John Brownism and
disunionism. The South not unnaturally believed that the North was
seriously divided, and could never hold together against its claims. But
most Northern people regarded the disunion threats as mere
gasconade,--meant only to carry an election, and then to be quietly
dropped. But if they were meant in earnest--well, there would be
something to be said, and done too, on the other side.

Douglas, with almost no chance of success, made a bold and active
canvass. Through this year he showed a courage far higher than the mere
dexterity which had been his chief distinction before. In part, it was
an expression of a changing temper in the people. He stood openly and
stoutly for the principle of majority rule. While speaking at Wheeling,
Va., he was questioned as to whether he held that the election of
Lincoln would justify secession. He answered promptly that it would not,
and if secession were attempted, he would support a Republican President
in putting it down by force. That pledge to the country he redeemed,
when at the outbreak of the war he gave his immediate and full adherence
to President Lincoln,--representing and leading the "War Democrats" who
practically solidified the North, and insured its victory. At Wheeling,
he passed on the question answered by him for Breckinridge to answer.
But Breckinridge ignored the challenge,--a silence which was what the
lawyers call a "pregnant negative."

November brought victory to the Republicans. In the popular vote,
Lincoln had about 1,860,000; Douglas, 1,370,000; Breckinridge, 840,000;
and Bell, 590,000. The electoral votes stood--or would have stood, if
the electoral conventions had all met--Lincoln, 180; Breckinridge, 72;
Bell, 39; Douglas, 12. Lincoln carried every Northern State except New
Jersey; Douglas, only part of New Jersey and Missouri; Bell, Virginia,
Kentucky and Tennessee; Breckinridge, all the rest of the South. The
successful candidate was thus in a popular minority,--no new thing. The
distinctively Southern candidate was doubly in a minority. The
supporters of Lincoln, Douglas and Bell, were all to be counted against
the extreme Southern claim, and much more against any assertion of that
claim by secession. Unitedly, their support outnumbered that of
Breckinridge by more than four to one. If ever a party was fairly and
overwhelmingly out-voted, it was the party whose central do