20

TRUE ORIGIN OF THE WAR

but from the moment when, by the constitutional triumph of the Republicans, the government passed into the hands of a party whose distinctive principle was to impose a limit on the further extension of slavery, from that moment its continuance in the Union was incompatible with its essential objects, and from that moment the Slave Power resolved to break loose from Federal ties. The war had thus its origin in slavery: nevertheless the proximate issue with which the North had to deal was not slavery, but the right of secession. For the constitution having recognised slavery within the particular states, so long as the South confined its proceedings within its own limits, the Government which represented the constitution could take no cognizance of its acts. The first departure from constitutional usage by the South was the act of secession,* and it was on the ques

* I am aware that this has been denied by some English advocates of the South, in their zeal for the cause more Southern than the Southerners; no less an authority than Mr. Buchanan-though not a Southerner, the elect of the South-having declared that secession was unconstitutional. It would be foreign to my purpose here to enter into an argument on the constitutional question. I will therefore only say that after having carefully studied, so far as I know, all that has been written on both sides by competent persons, I have been quite unable to discover any other ground on which the claim of secession can be placed than that ultimate one -the right which in the last resort appertains to all people to determine for themselves their own form of government. How far the case of the South will stand the test when tried by this principle, I have intimated my opinion in the text.

OBSCURED BY ITS PROXIMATE OCCASION.

21

tion, therefore, of the right to adopt this course that the North was compelled to join issue.

The contest thus springing from slavery, and involving, as will be shewn, consequences of the most momentous kind in connexion with the future well-being of the human race in North America, wore the appearance, to persons regarding it from the outside, of a struggle upon a point of technical construction-a question of law which it was sought to decide by an appeal to arms. It was not unnatural, then, that the people of this country, who had but slight acquaintance with the antecedents of the contest or with the facts of the case, should wholly misconceive the true nature of the issues at stake, and, disconnected as the quarrel seemed to have become from the question of slavery, should allow their sympathies, which had originally gone with the North, to be carried, under the skilful management of Southern agency acting through the Press of this country,* round to the Southern side.

* See a very remarkable communication extracted from the Richmond Inquirer of December 20th, 1861, and published in the Daily News of the 17th February, 1862, in which the writer, who had just returned to the South from a mission to London, in which he was associated with Messrs. Yancey and Mann, describes the state in which he found English opinion on American subjects on his arrival here in July, 1861, and the influences brought to bear by himself and his associates upon the members of the London Press, with a view to advancing the Southern cause with the English public. The document affords such an insight into the causes which have

22

WAR THE ONLY ARBITRAMENT.

Nevertheless, had the case of the North, regarded even from this point of view, been fairly put before the English people, it is difficult to believe that it

been acting upon public opinion in England during the last year, that it may be well to quote a few extracts. After stating the general expectation which prevailed in the South when he left it in June last, “that the manufacturing necessities of England and France would force them to a speedy recognition and interference with the Federal blockade;" and "the equally confident impression that the commercial enterprise of England would spring at once to the enjoyment of the high prices the blockade established, by sending forward cargoes of arms, ammunition, medicines, and other stores most needed in the Confederacy;" and after describing the causes in the public opinion of England which prevented these hopes being realized, the writer proceeds as follows:-"I have thus endeavoured, in this most hurried and imperfect manner, to sketch some of the difficulties which met our commissioners on the very threshold of their mission. That they have addressed themselves to these difficulties with zeal and efficiency will not be doubted by the millions in the South to whom their abilities and character are as familiar as household words. During my stay in London I was frequently at the rooms of Colonel M—, and can thus bear personal testimony to his zeal and efficiency. He seemed to appreciate the necessity of educating the English mind to the proper view of the various difficulties in the way of his progress; and, with but limited means of effecting his objects, he worked with untiring industry for their accomplishment; and, as I have also written, a distinguished member of Congress is, I believe, doing all that talent, energy, and a peculiar fitness for his position can accomplish. Without any other aid than his intimate knowledge of English character, and that careful style of procedure which his thorough training as a diplomatist has given him, he has managed to make the acquaintance of most of the distinguished representatives of the London Press, whose powerful batteries thus influenced are brought to bear

WAR THE ONLY ARBITRAMENT.

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would not have been recognized as founded, at least in its first phase, in reason and justice. When the South forced on a contest by attacking

upon the American question. This of course involves an immense labour, which he stands up to unflinchingly. So much for his zeal. His efficiency, with that of his colleague, is manifested in the recognition of our rights as a belligerent, and in the wonderful revolution in the tone of the English Press. The influence of this lever upon public opinion was manifest during my stay in Paris. When I first went there, there was not a single paper to speak out in our behalf. In a few days, however, three brochures were issued which seemed to take the Parisian Press by storm. One of them was the able and important letter of the Hon. T. Butler King to the Minister; another, The American Revolution Unveiled,' by Judge Pequet, formerly of New Orleans-whose charming and accomplished lady, by the way, is a native of Richmond; and a third, The American Question,' by Ernest Bellot des Minières, the agent of the French purchasers of the Virginia canals. These works each in turn created a great deal of attention, and their united effect upon the French mind shows the effective character of this appliMessrs. Bellot and Pequet deserve well of the Confederacy for their powerful and voluntary advocacy. I can, and with great pleasure do, bear testimony to the valuable and persevering efforts of Mr. King both in Paris and London. Among the first acquaintances I had the pleasure of making while in London was Mr. Gregory, M. P., to whom I carried letters of introduction from a Virginia gentleman long resident in Paris, who very kindly either introduced or pointed out to me the distinguished members of parliament. He had been, I found, a traveller in Virginia, and inquired after several persons, among whom was Mr. John B. Rutherford, of Goochland. During an hour's walk upon the promenade between the new parliament houses and the Thames, he plied me with questions as to the situation' in the Confederacy, and seemed greatly encouraged by my replies; more so, he said, than at any time since the revolution commenced."

ance.

24

VIEWS OF THE NORTH:

the Federal forts, what was Mr. Lincoln to do? Before acquiescing in its demand for separation, was he not at least bound to ascertain that that demand represented the real wish of the Southern people? But, after war had been proclaimed, or rather commenced, by the South, how was this to be done otherwise than by accepting the challenge? Was the Government at once to lower the standard of law before that of revolution, without even inquiring by whom the revolution was supported? But in truth the President's case was much stronger than this. The Government was in possession of evidence which at least rendered it very probable that at this time the separatists were in a minority in the South, even in those places where they were believed to be strongest. At the presidential election which had just been held, the votes for the unionist candidates in the states of the extreme south exceeded those for the candidate who represented the secession; in the intermediate states, the unionist votes formed two-thirds of the constituency; in Missouri, three-fourths.* Will it be

* See Annuaire des Deux Mondes, 1860, p. 608; also the extract from the Commonwealth of Frankfort (Kentucky), p. 606, and that from the Charlestown Mercury, p. 609, from which it appears that on the eve of the presidential election, some of the leading journals of the South regarded the secession movement as the work of a body of noisy demagogues, whose views found no response among the majority of the people.