ould be in accordance with the 'higher law' of justice
and freedom._ Like men fighting in the dark, they supposed themselves
each other's enemies, while they were only commanders of the front and
rear of the army of the people. Both appeared on the national arena in
the struggle of 1850, and soon strode to the first place. The Slave
Power repudiated Seward and his 'higher law' of justice and liberty at
once. They tolerated Douglas and his 'popular sovereignty ' ten years
longer, when they found it even a more dangerous heresy, and threw him
overboard.

In the election of 1860 there were but two parties--the two wings of the
people's army, under the patriots Lincoln and Douglas; the two wings of
the slave host, under the traitors Breckinridge and Bell. Of course the
people triumphed. Had Douglas been elected instead of Lincoln, the Slave
Power would not have stayed in the Union one hour longer. _It was not
Lincoln, but the political supremacy of the people they resisted._ The
Free States had at last consolidated, never to recede, and that was
enough. Henceforth no party could live in the North that espoused the
cause of this rebel aristocracy. Whoever was Governor or President,
Democrat, Republican, Union, what not, the people's party was henceforth
supreme, and the aristocracy, with all its works of darkness, was second
best.

The political victory of 1860 was virtually complete. For the first time
in eighty years had the people concentrated against the Slave Power. The
executive was gained, placing the army, navy, appointments, and
patronage in the hands of the President, the people's representative by
birth and choice. The North had a majority of eight in the Senate and
sixty-five in the House of Representatives, insuring a control of the
foreign policy and the financial affairs of the republic; while the
Supreme Court, the last bulwark of despotism, could be reconstructed in
the interest of the Constitution. It is true the people did not
appreciate the magnitude of the victory, or realize what it implied.
They would probably have made no special use of it at once, and the
aristocracy might have outwitted them again, as they had for three
quarters of a century past. But the slaveholders knew that now was just
the time to strike. If they waited till the people understood themselves
better, and learned how to administer the Government for liberty, it
would be too late. They still had possession of the executive, with a