tions, with the unanimous support of the Republican members; upon which the Senate, however, took no action:

Resolved, That neither the Federal Government, nor the people, or governments of non-slaveholding States, have a purpose, or a constitutional right to legislate upon, or interfere with slavery, in any of the States of the Union.

Resolved, That those persons in the North, who do not subscribe to the foregoing propositions, are too insignificant in numbers and influence, to excite the serious attention or alarm of any portion of the people of the republic; and that the increase of their numbers and influence does not keep pace with the increase of the aggregate population of the North.

That such a profession of views as this was politic, in order to throw the blame of needless disturbance upon the South, and also to meet and to unite the sentiment of Northern popular majorities, there can be no doubt. A war professedly for abolition could hardly have enlisted a dozen regiments in the North. How far such a declaration was consistent with the statements of Mr. Douglas, for example, in regard to the opinions and purposes of men in eminent public station, with whom he was in habits of daily intercourse, or with that detail of facts which history is bound to record, is another matter. But, while it is certain, that the faction of the party thus stigmatized was, at the very moment, not only its most active agent, but the very nucleus around which the party itself had gradually formed itself—and did eventually, by regular advances, mainly mould its policy and control its action—yet the world cannot fail to be convinced by the tenor of these resolutions, that the civil war, so soon to ensue, was actually begun by the North, as well as the South, upon merely political, and not upon moral or philanthropical considerations. History will also painfully record, that the woes and sacrifices of the country and the strain upon republican institutions, of which the full effect has not yet been made manifest, might all have been saved by a little manliness on the part of that class of Republican leaders described by Mr. Douglas as "Union men in good faith," who could easily have carried three-quarters of their party with them. What action the disunionist leaders and the remaining quarter

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part of the Republicans might have seen fit to take, would have been of no consequence whatever. If they had attempted revolution in consequence of the failure of their schemes, the struggle against the united power of the country would have been brief indeed, compared with that which actually took place between the discordant and contending sections.

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CHAPTER XX.

Inauguration of Mr. Lincoln.-His Character.-The Grand Question at the Time how to avoid War.-Mr. Everett's Favorable Position to judge, and his Opinion.-Resolutions of a pacific Spirit pass the House by a two-thirds Vote too late, but not acted upon in the Senate. The Inaugural Address.-The Purpose only to maintain and defend the Union.-A Disavowal of any Intent to use Force.-The Policy temporizing and conciliatory.-Interview with Delegates from the Virginia Assembly after the Attack on Fort Sumter; still on the Defence.-Statement of the Purposes of Secession by the Commissioner from Mississippi to Maryland; not the Object to dissolve the Union.The Grand Naval Expedition, and the Assault on Fort Sumter.-Mr. Campbell, exAssociate Justice of the Supreme Court, and Mr. Seward.-Extract from Leading Journals, in Relation to the Affair of Fort Sumter.-The New York Herald.-The Charleston Courier.-The New York Tribune.-The Herald again.—Mr. Seward, no doubt, intended to fulfil his Engagement.-The Unhappy Results of the incongruous Composition of the Republican Party.-Despatch to the New York Herald.-The Effect of "Pressure."

On the fourth of March, 1861, the day following the final action of Congress in the rejection of the "Peace Measures," Mr. Lincoln was inaugurated.

The new President was a person of scarcely more than ordinary natural powers, with a mind neither cultivated by education, nor enlarged by experience in public affairs. He was thus incapable of any wide range of thought, or, in fact, of obtaining any broad grasp of general ideas. His thoughts ran in narrow channels. He was infirm of purpose, so far as to be liable to be led by sharper minds and more resolute wills; though, like persons of that character, not unfrequently insisting upon minor points of consideration, whether right or wrong. He was of that class of men, who, under color of good intentions, often fail of bringing any good purpose to pass. He had been put in training by the Western Republicans, to hold a political contest with Mr. Douglas, in order

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to become his rival for the Presidency; as manifesting certain eccentricities of thought and expression, and occasionally a humorous style of addressing popular assemblies which is taking with the multitude. By a large majority of the people he had never been heard of, before his nomination; and it was owing more to their ignorance, than to their knowledge of him, that he obtained their votes, in obedience to party dictation. He found himself at the head of affairs at the most critical period in the history of the country, and in the midst of dangers and embarrassments sufficient to try the abilities of the most prudent and sagacious statesman; and it is no wonder that he seldom understood what the situation demanded, and seldom failed to commit mistakes when he acted for himself. His character appears to have been defiled by no vices; but much more than this was requisite in his position. Mr. Lincoln had a certain shrewdness, but was inoffensive in disposition; and in most inferior stations could scarcely have failed to win good will. His dreadful assassination threw around him the halo of martyrdom. There could hardly have been a Chief Magistrate, in whose case a fate so tragic and terrible could seem more incongruous with all his personal characteristics. We know little more of "Duncan's " public life, than that he bore his faculties with exemplary meekness. To the murdered President the same tribute may be justly paid. He was as far from being a tyrant, as he was from being a statesman. He was undoubtedly patriotic, and sincerely so, by instinct, habit, and sentiment; but his well-known letter to the editor of the New York Tribune, overlooking the causes of Union in attempting to preserve it, shows that his patriotism was in the manner of those who do not clearly comprehend the true grounds of patriotism, or fully appreciate those objects of civil government, which inspire the cordial affections of intelligent and earnest lovers of free institutions. There have been those, since his death, who have seen fit to compare him with the first great President; but there could scarcely exist a personal contrast more marked, than that between

his somewhat loosely constituted and indecisive character, and the firm texture which distinguished the calm and moderate, yet high-toned and sagacious mind of Washington.

The causes of the war-that is, the course of events leading to that hostile state of feeling preliminary to a trial of strength between rival powers-may be thought to have been made manifest in this volume in sufficient detail. The grand question before the country now certainly was-How actual war-civil war-the guilt of bloodshed among a kindred people-not improbably the horrible and revolting excesses of a servile insurrection, might be avoided. Whereever a truly patriotic and Christian heart beat, throughout the length and breadth of the land, its fervent supplication was, that a calamity so direful might in mercy be avertedthat some way of escape might be provided, from an alternative so needless. There was probably no person so favorably situated as Mr. Everett had been, to learn the exact state of opinion at Washington, and to see clearly what the exigency at hand demanded. His public reputation needs no comment. He had devoted himself conspicuously, for several preceding years, to a great national object, calculated to draw more closely together the ties of the Union.' He had just been a candidate, at the sacrifice of his private feelings, and for the sake of the cause of the distinctively denominated "Union party." He was well known for his moderation in all things. He was in friendly relations with the leading men of all parties throughout the country. Notwithstanding his political position, he was on the best of social terms with those members of the Republican party who were likely to encourage a moderate policy; one of whom at least became the most conspicuous member of the administration, shortly after Mr. Everett's letter to Boston, already cited, was written, and was the acknowledged leader of the Republican party; if any man could be said to lead a party distracted

The purchase of Mount Vernon, by the people of the United States, as a perpetual memorial of "The Father of his Country."