Again:
“It would undoubtedly be a very mischievous undertaking to keep half a dozen states in the Union against the deliberate wishes of their people. Whatever popular feeling—roused to frenzy by the seizure of forts, arsenals, revenue cutters, and mints—might prompt on the spur of the moment, there can be no question but the enterprise of holding the Union together by force would ultimately prove futile. It would be in violation of the principle of our institutions!”
An interesting number, this of March 9, with a fine portrait of “General David E. Twiggs, late of the United States Army,” a whole-page view of “Inauguration of President Jefferson Davis of the Southern Confederacy,” and an article explanatory of the same.
No “sectional President here,” and
the inauguration is described as “solemn and impressive.”
At page 160 (March 9) we have a cartoon of four vulgar caricatures, entitled collectively “The Flight of Abraham” (as reported by a Modern Daily Paper), and separately: (1.) The Alarm.—A gaunt figure sits upright in bed with nightcap on. A lantern is held in at the open door, from which come the words: “Run, Abe, for your life, the Blood Tubs are after you!!!” (2.) The Council.—General Sumner, with a pair of large cavalry boots in one hand, and in the other a handkerchief which he holds to his eyes, weeping vociferously—boo-o-o, stands near “Abe”; on the other side is Mrs. Lincoln in dowdy dishabille, crying bitterly, “Do go!” (3.) The Special Train.—” He wore a Scotch plaid cap and a very long military cloak, so that he was entirely unrecognizable”—an ignoble picture. (4.) The Old Complaint.—Lincoln presents himself to the astonished Buchanan dissolved with fright, while Seward whispers to Buchanan, “Only a little attack of ager, your excellency.”
Editorial correspondence at page 162 gives us the valuable information that “Senator Wigfall is a finished orator—probably the most charming in the senate,” and that he is “the exact opposite of Chandler and Wilkinson”—“very unpleasant speakers to listen to.” Senator Mason, we are told, “with all his faults is perhaps the nearest approach in the present senate to the beau ideal of a senator.” At page 168 (March 16) we have a large cut representing “The Inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States,” and we cannot help contrasting the phraseology of this announcement with a previous one: “Inauguration of President Jefferson Davis of the Southern Confederacy.”
And so we progress to April 27, 1861, page 258, where we find President Lincoln’s Proclamation of April 15 thus announced: “War is declared. President Lincoln’s proclamation, which we publish above, is an absolute proclamation of war against the Gulf States.” Better late than never, we at last, after long, weary waiting, find in this number, page 268, the long-looked-for “Portrait of the President,” accompanied by a biographical sketch of Mr. Lincoln. It was really high time that the readers of the Civilization should be told something of their President nearly two months after he had assumed the reins of government. To make everything pleasant and impartial, however, the opposite page gives us the copy of a full-length photograph of General Beauregard. Having paid your money, choice is optional.
We have thus seen with what persistence and industry the Journal, during the long, critical months of the beginning of that eventful year 1861, was the ardent panegyrist of everything Southern, the stern rebuker and enemy of anti-slavery, the mocker and caricaturist of Northern Union sentiment, and the contemptuous sneerer at Abraham Lincoln. But all this fine talk about principle and lofty assumption of stern virtue was a mere question of circulation, and the sympathy of the Journal went with its pecuniary benefit, so far and no farther.
The immutability of its principles was subject to be disturbed by just such considerations as those which carried conviction to the understanding of Hans Breitman, and which he so admirably explained in his great political speech: