The Continental Monthly, Vol I, Issue I, January 1862 | Page 4

meetings of the Abolition Societies, and selecting
the most inflammable extracts from the speeches of the most violent,
they circulated them far and wide, as indications of the hostile spirit of
the North, and as proofs of the impossibility of living under the same

government with people who were determined to destroy their
domestic institutions and stir up servile insurrections. The Abolitionists
saw the alarm of the South, and pressed their advantage. Thus year
after year passed, till the memorable November elections of 1860. The
conspirators received the intelligence of the election of Lincoln with
grim satisfaction. The Abolitionists witnessed the progress of secession
in the various States with a joy they did not attempt to conceal. 'Now
we can pursue our grand scheme of empire,' exclaimed the Southern
traitors. 'Now shall we see the end of slavery,' cried the Abolitionists.
Strange that neither gave a thought about the destruction of the glorious
fabric which the wisest and best men, North and South, their own
fathers, had erected. Strange, not one sigh was breathed in prospect of
the death of a nation. Incredible that no misgiving checked the
exultation of either party, lest, in destroying the temple of Liberty and
scattering its fragments, it might never again be reconstructed. The
conspirator, South, saw only the consummation of his mad projects of
ambition. The Abolitionist North, regarded only the immediate
emancipation of a large number of slaves, most of whom, incapable,
through long servitude, of self-control, would be thrown miserably on
the world. Neither party thought or cared a jot about their common
country. Neither regarded the stars and stripes with the least emotion.
To one, it was secondary to the emblem of a sovereign State. To the
other, there was no beauty in its folds, because it waved over a race in
bondage.
The day after the battle of Bull Run found these two extremes still in
sympathy. Both were still rejoicing. The rebel recognized the hand of
Providence in the victory, so did the Abolitionist: one, because it would
secure to the South its claims; the other, because it would rouse the
North to a fiercer prosecution of the war, which had hitherto been
waged with 'brotherly reluctance.' Here we leave these sympathizing
extremes, and proceed to survey the situation.
The first point we note is, that in the South the war did not originate
with the people, but with certain conspirators. In the North, the mighty
armament to conquer rebellion is the work of the people alone, not of a
cabinet. In the South, it was with difficulty the inhabitants were

precipitated into 'secession.' Indeed, in certain States the leaders dared
not risk a popular vote. In the North, the rulers, appalled by the
extraordinary magnitude of the crisis, were timid and hesitating, until
the inhabitants rose in a body to save their national existence.
It is no answer to this assertion, that large armies are arrayed against us,
which engage with animosity in the war. The die cast, the several States
committed to the side of treason, there was no alternative: fight they
must. As the devil is said to betray his victims into situations where
they are compelled to advance from bad to worse, so the conspirators
adroitly hastened the people into overt acts from which they were told
there was no retreat. We believe these facts to have had great influence
with our Government; and in this way we can understand the generous
but mistaken forbearance of the administration in the earlier stages of
the contest,--we say mistaken, because it was entirely misunderstood
by the other side, and placed to the account of cowardice, imbecility or
weakness; and because there can be no middle course in carrying on a
war. We have suffered enough by it already in money and men; we
must suffer no more. Besides, we lose self-respect, and gain only the
contempt of the enemy. When the bearer of General Sherman's polite
proclamation, addressed 'to the loyal citizens of South Carolina,'
communicated it to the two officers near Beaufort, they replied, with
courteous nonchalance, 'Your mission is fruitless; there are no loyal
citizens in the State.' The general's action in the premises reminds us of
that of a worthy clergyman who gave notice that in the morning of the
following Sunday he would preach to the young, in the afternoon to the
old, in the evening to sinners. The two first services were respectably
attended; to the last, not a soul came.
There are no 'sinners' in South Carolina, and General Sherman had
better try his hand at something else besides paper persuasions. At all
events, we suggest that future proclamations be addressed to those for
whom such documents are usually framed, to wit, rebels in arms
against constituted authority.[1]
But to our case.