We believe now, as we have asserted on former occasions, that the best hope for the perpetuity of our institutions depends upon the coöperation, the harmony, the zealous action of the Democratic party. We cling to that party from conviction, that its principles and its aims are those of truth and the country, as we cling to the Union for the fulfillment of the purposes for which it was formed. Whenever we shall be taught that the Democratic party is recreant to its principles; whenever we shall learn that it can not be relied upon to maintain the great measures which constitute its vitality, I, for one, shall be ready to leave it. And so, when we declare our tenacious adherence to the Union, it is the Union of the Constitution. If the compact between the States is to be trampled into the dust; if anarchy is to be substituted for the usurpation and consolidation which threatened the Government at an earlier period; if the Union is to become powerless for the purposes for which it was established, and we are vainly to appeal to it for protection, then, sir, conscious of the rectitude of our course, the justice of our cause, self-reliant, yet humbly, confidingly trusting in the arm that guided and protected our fathers, we look beyond the confines of the Union for the maintenance of our rights. A habitual reverence and cherished affection for the Government will bind us to it longer than our interests would suggest or require; but he is a poor student of the world’s history who does not understand that communities at last must yield to the dictates of their interests. That the affection, the mutual desire for the mutual good, which existed among our fathers, may be weakened in succeeding generations by the denial of right, and hostile demonstration, until the equality guaranteed, but not secured within the Union, may be sought for without it, must be evident to even a careless observer of our race. It is time to be up and doing. There is yet time to remove the causes of dissension and alienation which are now distracting, and have for years past divided the country.
If the Senator correctly described me as having, at a former period, against my own preferences and opinions, acquiesced in the decision of my party; if when I had youth, when physical vigor gave promise of many days, and the future was painted in the colors of hope, I could thus surrender my own convictions, my own prejudices, and coöperate with my political friends, according to their views, as to the best method of promoting the public good; now, when the years of my future can not be many, and experience has sobered the hopeful tints of youth’s gilding; when, approaching the evening of life, the shadows are reversed, and the mind turns retrospectively, it is not to be supposed that I would abandon lightly, or idly put on trial, the party to which I have steadily adhered. It is rather to be assumed that conservatism, which belongs to the timidity or caution of increasing years, would lead me to cling to—to be supported by, rather than to cast off, the organization with which I have been so long connected. If I am driven to consider the necessity of separating myself from those old and dear relations, of discarding the accustomed support, under circumstances such as I have described, might not my friends who differ from me pause and inquire whether there is not something involved in it which calls for their careful revision?
I desire no divided flag for the Democratic party, seek not to depreciate the power of the Senator, or take from him any thing of that confidence he feels in the large army which follows his standard. I prefer that his banner should lie in its silken folds to feed the moth; but if it unrestrainedly rustles, impatient to be unfurled, we who have not invited the conflict, shrink not from the trial; we will plant our flag on every hill and plain; it shall overlook the Atlantic and welcome the sun as he rises from its dancing waters; it shall wave its adieu as he sinks to repose in the quiet Pacific.
Our principles are national; they belong to every State of the Union; and though elections may be lost by their assertion, they constitute the only foundation on which we can maintain power, on which we can again rise to the dignity the Democracy once possessed. Does not the Senator from Illinois see in the sectional character of the vote he received, that his opinions are not acceptable to every portion of the country? Is not the fact that the resolutions adopted by seventeen States, on which the greatest reliance must be placed for Democratic support, are in opposition to the dogma to which he still clings, a warning that if he persists and succeeds in forcing his theory upon the Democratic party, its days are numbered? We ask only for the Constitution. We ask of the Democracy only from time to time to declare, as current exigencies may indicate, what the Constitution was intended to secure and provide. Our flag bears no new device. Upon its folds our principles are written in living light; all proclaiming the constitutional Union, justice, equality, and fraternity of our ocean-bound domain, for a limitless future.
CHAPTER VII.
ELECTION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN—HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE OF THE EVENT—THE OBJECTS AIMED AT BY HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY IDENTICAL IN THE DISCUSSION OF EVENTS OF THE LATE WAR—NORTHERN EVASION OF THE REAL QUESTION—THE SOUTH DID NOT ATTEMPT REVOLUTION—SECESSION A JUSTIFIABLE RIGHT EXERCISED BY SOVEREIGN STATES—BRIEF REVIEW OF THE QUESTION—WHAT THE FEDERALIST SAYS—CHIEF-JUSTICE MARSHALL—MR. MADISON—COERCION NOT JUSTIFIED AT THE NORTH PREVIOUS TO THE LATE WAR—REMARKS OF JOHN QUINCY ADAMS—OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN—OF HORACE GREELEY—SUCCESSFUL PERVERSION OF TRUTH BY THE NORTH—PROVOCATIONS TO SECESSION BY THE SOUTH—AGGRESSIONS BY THE NORTH—ITS PUNIC FAITH—LOSS OF THE BALANCE OF POWER—PATIENCE OF THE SOUTH—REMARKS OF HON. C. C. CLAY—WHAT THE ELECTION OF MR. LINCOLN MEANT—HIS ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY—REVELATIONS OF THE OBJECTS OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY—WENDELL PHILLIPS—NO SECURITY FOR THE SOUTH IN THE UNION—MEETING OF CONGRESS—MR. DAVIS’ ASSURANCE TO PRESIDENT BUCHANAN—CONCILIATORY COURSE OF MR. DAVIS—HIS CONSISTENT DEVOTION TO THE UNION, AND EFFORTS TO SAVE IT—FORESEES WAR AS THE RESULT OF SECESSION, AND URGES THE EXHAUSTION OF EVERY EXPEDIENT TO AVERT IT—THE CRITTENDEN AMENDMENT—HOPES OF ITS ADOPTION—DAVIS WILLING TO ACCEPT IT IN SPITE OF ITS INJUSTICE TO THE SOUTH—REPUBLICAN SENATORS DECLINE ALL CONCILIATORY MEASURES—THE CLARKE AMENDMENT—WHERE RESTS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF DISUNION?—STATEMENTS OF MESSRS. DOUGLAS AND COX—SECESSION OF THE COTTON STATES—A LETTER FROM JEFFERSON DAVIS TO R. B. RHETT, JR.—MR. DAVIS’ FAREWELL TO THE SENATE—HIS REASONS FOR WITHDRAWING—RETURNS TO MISSISSIPPI—MAJOR-GENERAL OF STATE FORCES—ORGANIZATION OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT—MR. DAVIS PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERATE STATES.
As had been foreseen, and, indeed, as was the inevitable sequence of the disruption of the Democratic party, Abraham Lincoln, the candidate of the Republican party, was, in November, 1860, elected President of the United States. This was the supreme and sufficient incitement to the adoption of the dreaded resort of disunion. As the occasion which finally brought the South to the attitude of resistance, the event acquires vast historical importance.
When it is conceded that Mr. Lincoln was elected in accordance with the forms of the Constitution, having received a majority of electoral votes; that the mere ceremony of election was attended by no unusual circumstances, we concede every possible ground upon which can be based an argument denying its ample justification of the course pursued by the South. Such an argument, however, leads to a wholly untenable conclusion, and may be easily exposed in its hypocritical evasion of the real question. We are here required to note the distinction between cause and occasion. As the final consummation of tendencies, long indicating the result of disunion, this event has an appropriate place in the recapitulation of those influences, and can be rightly estimated only in connection with their operation.