as its legitimate successor.

This from the first was the

battle-cry of their rulers, their armies, and their people. It is only because they were foiled in their original purpose that they have been content to seek to establish their separate independence.

POPULAR GOVERNMENT UNIVERSALLY ENDANGERED.

9. Another thing settled in the character of this rebellion, is, that its success would have destroyed the hope for popular government throughout the world.

A successful rebellion resulting in the overthrow of any other government on earth would be of little consequence in the great scale of human interests when poised against such a result to the Government of the United States. This is illustrated in the deep anxiety with which the contest has been watched on both sides of the Atlantic and by the people of every nation. The aristocracies of the Old World have aided the rebellion as far as they have deemed it safe, and have earnestly desired our dismemberment and downfall. They have felt that in such an issue their own power would be more secure. From the great heart of "the peoples” alone has there been for us a single genuine throb of sympathy. The only notable exception to this among the rulers in the monarchies of Europe is that of the Russian Empire. Even many of the middle classes of the nations of Western Europe, and among them many of the merchant princes of her marts of commerce, have given their good wishes and their active aid and their stores of gold to the rebellion, making a gain out of our national peril.

But the millions of the real people have desired our success and deserve our grateful remembrance. They feel that their own interests are bound up in our triumph. When, therefore, the nation shall come out of this strife

POPULAR GOVERNMENT ENDANGERED.

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successful, they will feel as do we, that what the nations of the earth have ever regarded as but "the American experiment," will be settled in favor of popular government for all time to come. One universal shout of rejoicing will then go up from the down-trodden millions of the world, and at its reverberations among the habitations of men, tyrants will everywhere tremble as they have never done before.

Among the characteristics, therefore, which stamp this rebellion with peculiar odium, is the fact not only that it is made against popular government, but in its success the last hope of liberty would have perished from among men. No people could have dared reasonably to hope for success in an experiment of free institutions after ours should have failed, commenced as it was under such favorable auspices, and having had such prosperity in all that can make a people great and glorious for nearly three generations.

It is too well known for doubt that a part of the original scheme of the rebel leaders was to establish an aristocracy, and perhaps a monarchy, and if we may judge from very recent utterances the plan is not abandoned. To this end, as well as to secure their independence, they have sought an alliance with several monarchical powers, and have been willing to place themselves under their protection without much scruple about conditions provided their independence could be gained.

Should the rebellion therefore succeed, and the plan of the Southern oligarchy be consummated, popular government throughout the world would thereby receive a double blow, in the dismemberment of that system of government, where it has now its fairest illustration, and in the establishment of aristocratic institutions in its stead over a large portion of the territory of the

United States, and over several millions of the people now embraced within its legitimate rule.* *

TO PERPETUATE NEGRO SLAVERY.

10. And finally, this is a rebellion whose chief prompting impulse, at its inception and through its whole progress, has been the security, the expansion of the area, and the perpetuation, of human bondage.

That the slavery of the negro race, as the stimulating power, is the foundation on which the whole superstructure of this rebellion rests, is a fact patent to the eyes of all men. But as we reserve this point for a separate chapter, to be canvassed when we come to speak of the causes of the rebellion, we shall not dwell upon it here. We barely mention it now as completing the summation and forming the climax in the catalogue of those elements, —all of which we have not attempted to enumerate,—which give a special character to the rebellion, and stamp it as monstrous and diabolical without a parallel in the history of mankind.

When we speak of negro slavery as being at the bottom of the rebellion, we are aware that this is denied. The proof of our position, however, to be given hereafter, will be found in Southern testimony which cannot be confuted. We are also aware that other causes are assigned, the chief of which are: that the rebellion is the scheme of dis

*No man better understands the character and aims of the rebellion and its leaders than Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, a candidate for the Vice-Presidency. In a speech at Nashville, June 10, 1864, he said: "One of the chief elements of this rebellion, is the opposition of the slave aristocracy to being ruled by men who have risen from the ranks of the people. This aristocracy hated Mr. Lincoln because he was of humble origin, a rail-splitter in early life. One of them, the private secretary of Howell Cobb, said to me one day, after a long conversation, 'We people of the South will not submit to be governed by a man who has come up from the ranks of the common people, as Abe Lincoln has.' He uttered the essential feeling and spirit of this Southern rebellion."

TO PERPETUATE NEGRO SLAVERY.

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appointed and ambitious politicians; a desire for an independent nationality; a wish to found an aristocracy, or a monarchy, or both; a strike for free trade, and to be rid of Northern competition; a vindication of the doctrine of State rights; a jealousy and chagrin at Northern growth and prosperity, in comparison with Southern; or, these and other similar causes all combined; and that slavery, and the Presidential election of 1860, were "a mere pretext." We grant the substantial truth of what are here given as auxiliary causes of the rebellion; and yet, it is further true, as we shall see, that it is NEGRO SLAVERY, in its emoluments in the Rebel States, in its fears of encroachment and apprehended dangers, and especially in its modern garb as "divine," and a political and social "good in itself" to all concerned, that underlies all other causes, and gives the vital and essential force to carry these desires and aspirations into execution in the form of open rebellion.

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CHAPTER II.

CAUSE OF THE REBELLION.

Ir is among the marvels which our civil war has exhibited, that there should be a difference of opinion concerning the reasons which have prompted the rebellion now in progress against the Government of the United States. But if we may judge from the speeches of public men in Congress, in State Legislatures, upon the stump, from the messages of Governors of States, from the resolutions of political bodies, and from the current literature of public journals, all confined, however, to the loyal States, but found in every stage of the contest from the beginning till now,--we see that there is as wide a variance upon this simple point as can be found upon any other question of fact or policy touching the rebellion, or any other matter concerning human interests upon which men are commonly divided. Upon discovering this, one might be led to the conclusion that there are inherent difficulties in the solution of the case. But it is one of the plainest of all things connected with the whole movement, and it is quite remarkable that there should be disagreement upon it, at least among truly loyal men.

SLAVERY THE CAUSE.

As perfectly decisive of the difficulty, if there be any whatever, it is well known that in the Rebel States and among those engaged in the rebellion, there has been but one prime reason assigned for it from first to last, as put forth by their public men and echoed by all their organs