CHAPTER VI.

How the Southern People were induced to Favor the RebellionRelations of the Slaveholders and of the Institution of Slavery to the Masses of the People-Theories of the Constitution and of Public Policy which were prevalent in the South-The Manner in which the Southern Union Party was Extinguished-Action of the Border Slave States.

I PROPOSE to examine in this chapter, how much foundation there was for the opinion, which was so generally entertained at the North, that the southern people were forced against their own will into an attitude of rebellion, by the violence and usurpation of their leaders; to what extent a Union sentiment existed among them at the outbreak of the war; and in what manner it was stifled or extinguished in the course of the events which succeeded the commencement of hostilities. The object of my work cannot be accomplished without making this investigation, for it is impossible to form any reliable opinion concerning the effect of the policy which has been pursued, or to determine with any accuracy the probable effects of any policy which we may contemplate pursuing, without attaining, approximately at least, a correct understanding of

these subjects. Many extravagant theories to account for the unanimity of the southern people in carrying on the war have been broached, and have found ready credence at the North. It is not difficult, I think, to ascertain the truth, if we will discard passion and prejudice from our minds, and conduct our investigations by the light of our reason, our common sense, and our experience of the operations of human nature, aided by our knowledge of the political and social institutions of the South, and the theories of government, political economy, and constitutional law, which were prevalent among the southern people when the war broke out.

I shall say nothing concerning the leading southern statesmen-those I mean with whose names we at the North have been made familiar, as conspirators of more or less recent standing, against the integrity of the Union, because it would be impossible for me to do full justice to the subject without entering upon a discussion, the reasons for declining which I have stated in the Introduction. And it is not necessary for the elucidation of the subject, within the limits to which I have confined it, to comment upon their actions or their motives: for my concern is with the great body of the southern people, who were honest and patriotic in intention, and actuated by feelings, passions, and interests, very similar to those which actuate corresponding classes of our own people. Nor are they upon the whole less.

intelligent or less capable of judging correctly of passing and future events, than the body of the people with us; for although education and information are less generally diffused in the South than in the North, they have not yet reached in either section that point which enables the masses to form their own opinions concerning great questions of international or internal policy. And although we are apt to plume ourselves upon the superior political sagacity of our people (which necessarily means the superior sagacity of those who give tone to public opinion), yet the South has always made the same boast on its part; and further information and calm reflection upon past events, may possibly lead each section to modify its extravagant claim of superior sagacity, as it has already modified an equally extravagant claim of superior personal courage and military efficiency.

In the State of South Carolina, a property qualification, or the payment of taxes within a year, is requisite to create an elector. In North Carolina, electors for the State senate must possess fifty acres of freehold land, and for all other offices must have paid a tax. With these exceptions, universal suffrage prevails in the South as with us, the elective franchise being extended to all adult white male citizens who have the necessary qualification of residence. Thus it will be seen that political power is practically lodged with the masses of the people

at the South as well as at the North. With them as with us, a popular majority has always been essential to the success of measures of public policy, and to the gratification of the ambitious hopes of politicians. With them, as with us, there has been for years a great diversity of opinion upon political questions, and the people have been accustomed to be appealed to at short intervals through the press and upon the rostrum by candidates for their favor. With them as with us, there has been an enthusiastic and universal devotion to the principles of popular government and an exalted opinion of the rights of the people. And therefore it was quite as impossible with them, as it would be with us, that a few scores. or even hundreds of scheming politicians could seize upon the reins of power, and without any standing army, or any accumulation of public treasure, could overthrow a republican government in all but the name, establish a practical despotism over a country far exceeding our section in territorial extent, raise an unprovoked rebellion against a Government enthroned in the hearts of the people, and carry on for years a war against overwhelming odds to sustain such a usurpation. The rebellion, unless it had commanded the support of a very large majority of the people, would have committed felo-de-se in the first month of its existence. Our seventy-five thousand volunteers would not have reached their destination in time to pull down the crumbling edifice: it

would have fallen from its own inherent weakness upon the heads of its architects and builders, burying them forever beneath its ruins.

It is manifest, therefore, that for some reason, the great body of the southern people either favored the rebellion from its earliest stages, or were induced to favor it by the events which immediately succeeded its inception. And inasmuch as it has brought upon them hardships, which nothing but a conviction of duty and patriotism, or a sense of necessity would have enabled them to sustain, it is also evident either that it still appeals successfully to their convictions of right, or that they see no way of abandoning it without dishonor, or exposing themselves to greater calamities than perseverance in the struggle will bring upon them. For although the war has resulted, with them as with us, in the discovery that the Government wields powers which plain men would search the Constitution in vain to discover; yet the basis of their system is also universal suffrage, and the legislative power of the States and of the Confederacy, without the support of which the war could not be carried on, is annually or biennially renewed by the votes of the people. Their government is also much more dependent than ours upon the support of popular opinion for its ability to carry on the war, not only because it is a revolution struggling for existence against fearful odds, and under almost hopeless financial embar