THE SOUTH VINDICATED BEING A SERIES OF LETTERS WRITTEN FOR THE AMERICAN PRESS DURING THE CANVASS FOR THE PRESIDENCY IN 1860, WITH A LETTER TO LORD BROUGHAM ON THE JOHN BROWN From the Second American Edition published at Nashville, Tenn., Confederate States of America, LONDON LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, ROBERTS, & GREEN PREFACE TO AMERICAN EDITION. THE following letters were written at Constantinople during the canvass for the Presidency of the United States in 1860, and forwarded at the time for publication in a political journal. In deference to the desire of a number of intelligent gentlemen, they have been collected together and are now reissued in their present form, as a single atom in the history of that great struggle which terminated in the election of a President by the united votes of the Northern States, to be speedily followed by the dismemberment of the Confederacy. It is a remarkable fact that the only intelligent observers of the events which were transpiring in the United States, who were surprised at the immediate success of the 'Republicans,' were those who were themselves the instigators or actors in that great political crusade against the South. These seem, in their calculation of consequences, to have ignored alike the vi PREFACE TO AMERICAN EDITION. existence of that great body of earnest fanatics whose passions they had aroused to madness, while invoking their necessary aid, and of that natural instinct of self-preservation, which would teach the freemen of the South, while fathoming the hostile intentions of their enemies, that although it might be swift destruction to resist, it would be but an ignoble life and a lingering death to submit! They alone seemed blind to the consequences which would follow, as a necessary sequence upon the heels of their victory. They alone seem not to have considered, that whilst the multitude of their mad followers would not be content to postpone gathering the fruits of their victory, and would press forward at once to reach the promised goal, the SOUTH would, AS ONE MAN, gird on his armour for defence, and by accepting the challenge to immediate combat, make 'gradual emancipation' for ever impossible. While it was universally believed throughout Europe that the only question at issue in the struggle for the Presidency was that of slavery in the Southern States, and that the result would involve the destruction of that institution, or the dissolution of the Confederacy, in the event of the success of the 'Republican party,' the greater number believed that the only result would be the ultimate emancipationof the slaves. So active and successful have been the |