66 THE IMPENDING CRISIS."

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principles of the Constitution and the Union; since those of the South were uniformly of a "proslavery" description, and could have had no existence there except in that character. Indeed, a work so intemperate and ferocious could only have owed its preparation to some one of the craziest of the Northern fanatics, assisted in such a laudable and patriotic undertaking by other persons, who designed to use it for party purposes.' In a word, this reckless tissue of fabrications, thus endorsed, was a "campaign document." Such as it was, it received the written recommendation of no less than sixty-eight Republican members of Congress. It would be doing injustice to some of those gentlemen, professedly men of Christian principles, to suppose that they had given the book more than the merest cursory inspection, before they so imprudently, and, perhaps, in many instances, by the mere force of example, affixed their signatures to the formal and strongly commendatory certificate which helped to give the book its extensive circulation. Indeed, when this matter came up afterwards, in Congress, in the debates upon the election of Speaker, there was much said by way of palliation of the act, on the ground of incaution exercised, and of that sort of heedless subscription, for the purpose of getting rid of the applicant, or because others had first set down their names, which has been only too often practised, by men who forget how their reputations are thus put at stake, and which often leads to the most injurious consequences. It is a pity that a similar apology, such as it is, could not be urged on behalf of Mr. Seward, the acknowledged leader of the Republican party, at the time, who afforded the

1

1 Besides the congressional testimonial in favor of this book, described in the pages following, it had the recommendation of a great number of leading men in the Republican party; and in a certificate signed by several of this description in New York, including members of the Republican committee, and editors of Freesoil newspapers, it was particularly commended as useful to circulate in several of the Western free States, the vote of which would be essential in the approaching election of President.

work his unqualified approval, after a careful perusal of its contents.1

The book, and the recommendation thus procured for it, were artfully contrived for effect among a large class of the Northern people, who were ignorant of the means of contradiction, and of whatever qualifying facts might have been adduced. The people of the quarter so violently assailed, would naturally disdain attempts at refutation; but the falsehoods, and the acrimony with which they were brought forward, produced among them the natural, perhaps, the intended results, of indignation and fiery remonstrance. Certain it is, that such a libel, so authorized, against a people who have more recently shown the world how well deserved, or otherwise, such a description of them might be, could have little salutary influence towards promoting the cause of the Union. But the immediate effect of this publication was a sensible reaction in the general public sentiment of the North, and in Congress. This appeared especially when that body came together, in December, 1858, and the election for Speaker of the House was under consideration. Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, who was the candidate of the Republican party, proved to be one of the signers of the Helper testimonial; and, although he affirmed that he had never read the book, and had totally forgotten the fact of signing the paper in question, yet ignorance was held to be no excuse, on the part of a gentleman of his standing; so that, after a contest of several months, and many ballotings, his party were compelled to withdraw his name from the canvass, and

The following endorsement by Mr. Seward undoubtedly had the most mischievous effect:

"AUBURN, N. Y., June 28th, 1857. "GENTLEMEN: I have received from you a copy of the recent publication, entitled the 'Impending Crisis of the South,' and have read it with the deepest attention. It seems to me a work of great merit; rich, yet accurate in statistical information, and logical in its analogies; and I do not doubt it will exert a great influence on the public mind, in favor of truth and justice. "I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, W. H. SEWARD,”

THE ATTACK ON HARPER'S FERRY.

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a Speaker was eventually chosen who was not liable to the offensive imputation in question.'

It was not singular, considering the morbid temper to which it is evident that popular feeling in the North had become extensively wrought up, that such a headstrong and reckless fanatic as "John Brown," should have conceived the idea of promoting a servile insurrection. The events of that equally foolish and criminal undertaking-his hardihood, his ignorance, his want of means and influence, his incapacity to compare these deficiences with the requirements for an enterprise so formidable, his utter failure to accomplish any part of the object contemplated, except the alarm of a peaceful village and the murder of several of its unoffending inhabitants; his capture and trial and execution; the immense sensation created throughout the whole country, made up partly of indignation at an attempt so ferocious, and partly of ridicule at the inadequacy of the preparation; the total want of effect upon the reluctant slaves, and the generally

1 It was during the protracted and sharp debates of this contest for the Speakership, that portions of a pamphlet, alleged to have been widely circulated through the North and the South, were read in the House of Representatives, upon motion of one of the members, which contained a plan of association for the purpose of carrying on hostilities against the latter part of the country. Amongst other things, it proposed "to land military forces in the Southern States, who shall raise the standard of freedom, and call the slaves to it, and such free persons as may be willing to join it." The purpose was thus more particularly developed :

"Our plan is to make war, openly or secretly as circumstances may dictate, upon the property of the slaveholders and their abettors; not for its destruction, if that can be easily avoided, but to convert it to the use of the slaves. If it cannot be thus converted, we advise its destruction. Teach the slaves to burn their masters' buildings, to kill their cattle and hogs, to conceal and destroy farming utensils, to abandon labor in seed-time and harvest, and let the crops perish."

A great deal of this sort of "philanthropy" was heard of from some quarters, during the progress of the rebellion, and not a little of it put in practice.

* In the testimony of Colonel Lewis Washington, who was seized and kept a prisoner, with some of his slaves, by Brown, until rescued by the party of

CHAPTER XII.

Hostility to a fundamental Provision of Law led to the War.-Other Causes which concurred.-Mr. Webster's Expression, “A Bargain broken on one side, is broken on all Sides," in 1851, showing his Opinion of the State of Things at that Period.-The Book, called “The Impending Crisis of the South," recommended by Republican Members of Congress and others.-The "Harper's Ferry Invasion."

THE future impartial historian of the republic will not be likely to fail in the conclusion, that those gradually accumulating causes which at length, according to the ordinary motives which govern the actions of mankind, rendered the war inevitable-though unwise and certainly needless, could the calmer sentiment of the country, on both sides, have found means to exercise its due influence-resulted, by immediate occasion, from hostility to a fact in the domestic life of one section of the country, which was recognized as a matter of fundamental national law, by the spirit and the terms of the original compact between all the States.

Other causes of discord had coöperated with this one, from time to time; but they were either temporary in their nature, or of minor importance, or of a character less capable of attracting and engrossing popular interest. They were able, neither singly nor in combination, to produce such a general sense of incompatibility of temper and interest between the sections, or such deep-seated alienation of feeling, as to impel a civilized and Christian nation to contemplate the dread arbitrament of civil war. But, during the progress of the ten years immediately preceding that event, the sole topic of slavery, in one aspect or another, had mainly engaged the popular mind, in connection with every political

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movement and demonstration.' In the North, it took, of course, the shape, and bore the character of assault upon that part of the country of which slavery was a domestic feature. In the South, whatever form the question may have taken, either in regard to the protection or the extension of slavery, it was, of course, in the attitude of defence. How far the right and even the necessity of defence may have been appealed to, either beyond or within the bounds of expediency, in particular instances, considering the relative situation of the parties, is a totally different question. In general, though not always-as in the case of the refusal to extend the compromise line of 1820 to its natural limit of the Pacific Ocean—or, as many of its people thought, in the provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Act-the South had been able, after severe struggles, to secure what it deemed necessary for its, permanent safety, under the shelter of the Constitution. But, exposed to incessant assaults, directly or indirectly, and which at length grew vehement and aggravated, upon its social, moral, and religious condition, it had long felt a burning sense of wrong, and in this state of mind men are not

The tariff question afforded the only other serious cause of discussion; but naturally had less influence with the popular masses. In the North, the Whigs in general had favored a tariff for protection to domestic manufactures; the Democrats preferred one for revenue solely, and the incidental protection it would afford; the difference between them being one of terms and degree, therefore, rather than of principle, while the South was, generally, on the free trade side. Yet, during the session of Congress, in the winter of 1860-1861, while the country was on the very verge of war, a new system of high duties, usually known as "the Morrill tariff," from the name of the member from Vermont, by whom it was introduced, was carried through Congress by the Republicans; and that, too, against the earnest remonstrances of some of the more leading Republican journals in New York and elsewhere, on account of the existing condition of public affairs. No doubt this measure had its effect at the South; and there can be as little doubt that an extraordinary resolution of the Convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln, in the preceding summer, hereafter referred to in these pages, which promised protection of this description to the agricultural and commercial, as well as to manufacturing interests of the country, and even to the laboring classes, had a powerful influence in swelling the Republican vote at the election.