Mr. Floyd, in the army department, had transferred military stores to Southern arsenals, appropriated public money's, and put Southern partizans into offices of trust. Thus the Southerners gained a great advantage at the breaking out of the war, having possession of government property, and being able to carry forward their designs for some time unchecked.

The first act of war was the firing into a Federal steamer while carrying supplies to Fort Sumter, in January, 1861. In March the new President was inaugurated. In his address he declared that he had no lawful right and no inclination to interfere with slavery where it existed, and that he would maintain inviolate the rights of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment. But this had no effect in staying the progress of secession. In April Fort Sumter was bombarded, and Virginia joined the Confederacy. In July occurred the Federal defeat at Bull Run; in August the indecisive battle at Springfield; in September the Federal victory at Somerville; in October the Confederate victory at Leesburg. In November took place the affair of the Trent. Thank God that we were then preserved from being carried into the strife!

The present year 1862 opened amidst mutual preparation for continued conflict. In February Fort Donelson and the city of Nashville was taken by the Federals. In March the Confederate Ram Merrimac destroyed two

Federal ships at the mouth of the James river.

In

April Island No. 10 surrendered to the Federals, and New Orleans fell into the hands of General Butler. During April and May many fierce battles were fought before Richmond. In June the besieging army suffered a sanguinary defeat; after which McClellan changed his base of operations, but was soon compelled to retire altogether from the Confederate capital, leaving behind him the bodies of tens of thousands who had perished either in battle or from pestilence. By rapid marches, the Confederate Generals Lee and Jackson were enabled to attack the Federal army under Pope before his junction with McClellan, and on August 29, the Confederates gained their second victory of Bull Run. The Federal army then retreated beyond the Potomac, and fell back on Washington. The Confederates entered Maryland and advanced towards Baltimore; but not receiving from the Marylanders the support they expected, and being severely handled by McClellan, they recrossed the Potomac into Virginia. After spending several hundred millions of pounds sterling, and after sacrificing several hundred thousands of precious lives, the two great armies still confront each other. A civil war on such a scale, the world has never witnessed. Humanity stands aghast at the contemplation of it. Piety lifts up her hands in supplication and says--" How long, O Lord, how long!"

I.

HAD THE SOUTH A RIGHT TO SECEDE?

If they had, it was either a constitutional or a revolutionary right. Had they a constitutional right? If so, this was derived either from the fundamental principles of all government, or from the peculiar constitution of the United States. Do the fundamental principles of government give the right to any section of a nation at its own option to secede from that nation? If a province may do this, so may a county, so may a town. Scotland, Wales, Ireland, might severally separate from Great Britain; then Yorkshire, or Surrey, or this borough of Southwark! There could be no such thing as nationality were such secession to be recognized as lawful. What security would there be for the payment of debts incurred by the nation, if any portion of that nation might, by secession, escape its share of the liability? Who would advance money on such terms? What dependence could be placed on any national engagement? In case of war, the province or city most threatened might secede and make a separate treaty with the foe, or declare its neutrality; and where then would be national safety? The claim of an integral part of an empire, when union appears to itself no longer desirable, to secede without the general consent of the empire of which it forms a part, is destructive to all nationality

But does the peculiar constitution of the United States give a special right of secession? It has been maintained that the several States composing the Union, retain their individual sovereignty. They have their local governors and parliaments, and as by their own decree they originally joined the Union, so, it is said, by a reversal of that decree, they may separate. If so, as we have just shown, the United States never constituted a nation. To unite with such an understanding was not to unite. A constitution with such a proviso would be self-destructive.

If one State may secede from the rest, it is obvious that two States may agree to do the same. Therefore also a majority may agree to secede from the minority. Therefore also all the States but one, may combine to secede from that one. That is to say, according to this notion, any single State may at any time be expelled from the Union without its own consent. This unavoidably follows from the right of any single State to secede. Again we say that a constitution with such a proviso would be self-destructive.

It is not the fact that the States retained their sovereign rights uncurtailed. They retained those in respect of which they did not combine: but those which they surrendered as individual States and handed over to the central Government, they had no longer any right to exercise. General taxation for general purposes, coinage, postage, tariffs, peace and war, treaties with foreign

powers-these were prerogatives merged in the Union by the individual States, and could not therefore be resumed except by general consent of the contracting parties. The second of the "Articles of Confederation " declares that every State retains its sovereignty, and every right which is not by this Confederation especially delegated to the United States in Congress assembled. Obviously therefore these delegated rights can no longer be claimed. Article V. says that no two or more States shall enter into any treaty, confederation, or alliance whatever between them, without consent of the United States in Congress assembled. But the southern States have done this. They have there rebelled. The constitution of 1787 (Art. III. Sec. 3.) declares that treason against the United States consists in levying war against them or adhering to their enemies. In levying war against the Federal Government, the southern States are therefore, according to the constitution, traitors and rebels.

But where there is no constitutional right of secession, there may be a rational right of rebellion. In case of glaring abuse of power by the executive, where gross injustice has been perpetrated, where tyranny is unendurable, then the ultimate right of rebellion must be conceded. Thus we rejoice in the recent revolutions in Italy: thus we boast of our own "Glorious Revolution" to which Queen Victoria owes her throne. Had the southern States such a plea? It is sometimes said, that