, to concert the
terms of a capitulation which should secure permission for the
continuance of the Union. Congress, in both branches, sought to devise
conciliatory expedients; the Territories of the country were organized
in a manner not to conflict with any pretensions of the South, or any
decision of the Supreme Court; and, nevertheless, the representatives
of the rebellion formed at Montgomery a provisional government, and
pursued their relentless purpose with such success that the Lieutenant
General feared the city of Washington might find itself "included in a
foreign country," and proposed, among the options for the consideration
of LINCOLN, to bid the wayward States "depart in peace." The great
republic appeared to have its emblem in the vast unfinished Capitol, at
that moment surrounded by masses of stone and prostrate columns never
yet lifted into their places, seemingly the monument of high but
delusive aspirations, the confused wreck of inchoate magnificence,
sadder than any ruin of Egyptian Thebes or Athens.

The fourth of March came. With instinctive wisdom the new President,
speaking to the people on taking the oath of office, put aside every
question that divided the country, and gained a right to universal
support by planting himself on the single idea of Union. The Union he
declared to be unbroken and perpetual, and he announced his
determination to fulfil "the simple duty of taking care that the laws
be faithfully executed in all the States." Seven days later, the
convention of Confederate States unanimously adopted a constitution of
their own, and the new government was authoritatively announced to be
founded on the idea that the negro race is a slave race; that slavery
is its natural and normal condition. The issue was made up, whether the
great republic was to maintain its providential place in the history of
mankind, or a rebellion founded on negro slavery gain a recognition of
its principle throughout the civilized world. To the disaffected
LINCOLN had said, "You can have no conflict without being yourselves
the aggressors." To fire the passions of the southern portion of the
people, the confederate government chose to become aggressors, and, on
the morning of the twelfth of April, began the bombardment of Fort
Sumter, and compelled its evacuation.

It is the glory of the late President that he had perfect faith in the
perpetuity of the Union. Supported in advance by Douglas, who spoke as
with t