y which believed in the sincerity, the right, and the
probable eventual success of the North was, I think, extremely small
during the greater part of the war,--say, between the first Battle of
Bull Run and the capture of Atlanta. By sincerity I mean such points as
these: that the Federal Government was honestly desirous of fulfilling
its obligations towards the South; that the North, having to maintain
the integrity of the country by force of arms, was ready to make all
needful sacrifices for that object, and to lavish its blood and
treasure; above all, that the professions of dislike to slavery, the
offer of military emancipation to negroes, and, finally, the efforts to
amend the Constitution so as to abolish slavery, root and branch, were
sincere. Many, of course, believed in the right of the North, and in one
of other of these items of sincerity; few, I think, in the right, in the
sincerity throughout, and in the success as well. The delusion, that
the North, after using up its Irish and German population and its
incoming immigrants, would quail before the necessity of hazarding also
a large proportion of its own settled Anglo-Saxon population, was
extremely prevalent. Equally prevalent the notion that the North was
fighting merely for a constitutional idea, or for national integrity,
predominance, or (as Lord Russell phrased it) "for empire," without any
real regard for the interests of the negro. And when all these demands
upon one's faith had to be supplemented by a belief in the probable
success of the North, few persons seemingly ventured to commit
themselves to the whole of the proposition. Within my own personal
circle of observation, I could name but one, or, at the utmost, two,
besides myself, who, in the main, with some variations according to the
changing current of events, clung to the cause of the North in its
entirety. The first of these two persons is a painter of great
distinction and a man, in other respects, of very thinking and serious
mind, well known by name, and partially by his works, to such Americans
as take an interest in fine art. The second of the two is one of our
very greatest living poets.--As to the question of success, the
following may perhaps be a tolerably fair account of the varying
impressions of many, who, along with myself, hoped for the triumph of
the North, and were disposed, though not with any overwhelming
confidence, to believe in it. Up to the first Battle of Bull Run,
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