y of his advisers men engaged in treason; had declared that
in case of even an "imaginary" apprehension of danger from notions of
freedom among the slaves, "disunion would become inevitable." LINCOLN
and others had questioned the opinion of Taney; such impugning he
ascribed to the "factious temper of the times." The favorite doctrine
of the majority of the Democratic party on the power of a territorial
legislature over slavery he condemned as an attack on "the sacred
rights of property." The State legislatures, he insisted, must repeal
what he called "their unconstitutional and obnoxious enactments," and
which, if such, were "null and void," or "it would be impossible for
any human power to save the Union." Nay! if these unimportant acts were
not repealed, "the injured States would be justified in revolutionary
resistance to the government of the Union." He maintained that no State
might secede at its sovereign will and pleasure; that the Union was
meant for perpetuity, and that Congress might attempt to preserve it,
but only by conciliation; that "the sword was not placed in their hands
to preserve it by force;" that "the last desperate remedy of a
despairing people" would be "an explanatory amendment recognising the
decision of the Supreme Court of the United States." The American Union
he called "a confederacy" of States, and he thought it a duty to make
the appeal for the amendment "before any of these States should
separate themselves from the Union." The views of the Lieutenant
General, containing some patriotic advice, "conceded the right of
secession," pronounced a quadruple rupture of the Union "a smaller evil
than the reuniting of the fragments by the sword," and "eschewed the
idea of invading a seceded State." After changes in the Cabinet, the
President informed Congress that "matters were still worse;" that "the
South suffered serious grievances," which should be redressed "in
peace." The day after this message the flag of the Union was fired upon
from Fort Morris, and the insult was not revenged or noticed. Senators
in Congress telegraphed to their constituents to seize the national
forts, and they were not arrested. The finances of the country were
grievously embarrassed. Its little army was not within reach; the part
of it in Texas, with all its stores, was made over by its commander to
rebels. One State after another voted in convention to secede. A peace
congress, so called, met at the request of Virginia