PREFACE TO SECOND GERMAN EDITION. ix and would apply to a condition, which they characterise as a malady, a radical cure which they refused to apply to their own body, as long as it was suffering from a similar one. The want of accurate and true representations of the causes and objects of the war, because all accounts emanated from the North, has influenced the press of Germany warmly to espouse the cause of the Federal Government. It is, nevertheless, undeniable that the press has recently been more enlightened; but still prejudices, once awakened, have remained, as it was the impression in Europe that the abolition of Slavery was the great humanitarian object of the war in America. In confirmation of my own views upon the American question, I refer to the letter of Captain M. F. Maury to Admiral Fitzroy. The writer, who is well known throughout Europe for his extensive scientific attainments, gives a clear statement of the origin of the difficulty, criticises the measures of Lincoln, and exposes the resources of the South and the reasons for its eventual success. With a quiet conscience, therefore, may I leave the final decision about this war to the intelligent public, who know very well that the faults of State Government cannot be corrected by brilliant theories. I may now lay aside my pen with the consciousness, equally free from over-estimation and self-praise, that I have fearlessly followed the voice of truth in contributing my mite, as in duty bound, to the welfare of my native land. BERLIN: March 28, 1862. I. Unconstitutionality of the war III. Character of the war -on the part of the North, a means for the acquisition of greater power; on the INTRODUCTION. THE interest evinced by the British public for everything pertaining to the war in America, and the success which the 'Second War of Independence in America' has obtained in scientific and political circles in Germany, have induced Mr. Hudson to reproduce it in England. The second German edition has been made the basis of the English, some points being treated more in detail, while others, perhaps too elementary for this stage of the American have been omitted. war, The constitutional right of secession is developed at length, and no point of discussion has been omitted; while the author has given special prominence to the historical foundation of the right. The causes which led to the exercise of this right will be found all duly arrayed, and prominent among them the original antipathy and antagonism of the Northern and Southern colonists, and the influences which have tended to keep these alive and active. Indeed, when we seek to determine the true character |