The church and the rebellion: a consideration of the rebellion against the government of the United States; and the agency of the church, north and south, in relation thereto

Front matter

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THE

Preface

This volume does not claim to loe a History, tliougli some of its chapters are cliieliy liistorical. The time for writing tlie History of tlie Rebellion has not come. It is, however, just as opportune now as it will be at any future period, to inquire into the causes of the revolt against the Government of the United States, and to examine the agencies wliich have been concerned in initiating and impelling it forward. These lie upon the surface of observation and are patent to all men. Time can throw no light upon them which will essentially change their character.

Believing that the Church of God in this land, — or, properly speaking, many of those in the different branches of the Church who have been leaders in its councils, and who are largely responsible for the formation and character of its public opinion, — may be justly held to have done much towards precipitating the Rebellion, as well as aiding it vi PEEFACE.

during tlie whole course of its progress, it is one aim of these pages to set forth the proofs and illustrations, in some small degree, of a record so deeply humiliating. No complaint need "be enter>ed in hehalf of those whose conduct we unfold. Least of all will they themselves complain, for they glory in what they have done, and call on the world to applaud them.

There is another reason why it is essential to examine this record. Politicians, secular and religious journals, pamphleteers, men in all classes of society, freely lay the blame of this Rebellion, in a great measure, or wholly, at the door of the Church ; charging the ministry, more especially, with having caused it. This is a very prevalent sentiment, if we may judge from what has been said and written. There is undoubtedly justice or injustice in the charge, according to the direction given to it. It is then essential that the matter be probed, so that if the Church or its ministers are improperly impugned, they may have justice done them ; and that the really guilty may be held responsible.

We have examined many works which have is-

PREFACE. VU

sued from the press, calculated to elucidate certain pliases of the Rebellion and the War, but we have observed no one designed to meet the demand which this volume is intended to supply, or which at all occupies the ground which several of its chapters cover.

We are indebted to many writers for the facts we present, and as far as possible have endeavored to give them credit in the body of the work, though omissions may have occurred.

With this statement of the object of this volume, we lay it before the public, in the confident hope that the Church and the Nation may soon come out of this strife, purified and invigorated, restored to those principles which were the glory of the earlier and better days of the Republic, and prepared for that great mission to which we have always fondly believed they were destined by the Ruler of the whole earth.

New Yoke, August, 1864.

CHAPTER I. Character of the Rebellion Page 1-35

Against Popular Government, 1 ; Southern Domination in the Government, 8 ; False charges by the South, 5 ; Against all Measures for Peace, 7 ; Perpetrated by fraud and violence, 16; Prosecuted by cruelty and terror, 21 ; Its desolation of the country, 27; It aimed to usurp the Government, 28 ; Popular Government universally endangered, 32 ; To perpetuate Negro Slavery, 34.

CHAPTER II. Cause of the Rebellion 36-70

Slavery the cause, 36 ; An opposite view, 38 ; In what sense Slavery is the cause, 40 ; Modern views and power of Slavery, 42 ; Proof that Slavery is the causeofficial testimony, 45; Individual witnesses that Slavery is the cause, 48; Testimony of Eeligious bodies to the same effect, 51 ; Incidental confirmatory evidence, 54; All Slave States officially claimed, 55; Unlimited extension of Slavery, 5T; The restrictive policy, 58; The expansive policy, 60; Eeopening of the African Slave trade, 61 ; Reopening of the trade denied, 62 ; Proof of the designed reopening of the trade, 64 ; The cause fully developed, 68.

CHAPTER HL Responsibility for the Rebellion 71-105

Abolitionists charged with the responsibility, 72; Fallacious reasoning to sustain the charge, 73; They would discuss the subject, 74; Abduction of Slaves, 75; The whole North charged with it, 76; Abolitionists not Republicans, 77; Abolitionists complimented — the People disparaged, 78; Responsibility of Abolitionists disclaimed at the South, 81 ; Discussion the germ of the troubling element, 84; "What class of Northern men responsible, 87; Responsibility among Politicians, North, 87; Responsibility among Churchmen, Nprth, 88; Southside view of Northern Clergymen, 89; Responsibility of Northern men thus determined, 93; Northern responsibility in another light, 96; Slavery may be examined at the North, 97 ; A subject for all mankind, 99 ; Free society pitied and lamented, 100 ; Slavery the proper condition for all laborers, 101 ; Who, now, is responsible ? 104.

CHAPTER IV. Responsibility for Beginning and Continuing the War. 106-151

John Minor Botts on Secession, 107; Narrative of events, 108; Rebel Gm^ei-nment formed — the South arming, 110; Our Government inactive, 110 ; Siege of Fort

CONTENTS.

Sumter, 111 ; Congress not aggressive— Star of the West, 112; New Administration—attack on Fort Sumter, 114; The unavoidable issue, 115; Gen. McClellan's opinion, 116; Southern assumptions vs. "Northern aggressions," 117; Diplomatists from South Carolina, 118; Their demand insolent, 120; What President Buchanan intended, 122 ; Hypocrisy of their peacefur pre tensions, 123; Irrefragable position of the President, 124; Further negotiations— Confederate Commissioners, 125; Peaceful solution declined, 128; Unjustifiable reasons for refusal, 130; The Commissioners defiantly court War, 131; A Diplomatic quibble, 132; Public facts decide the case, 134 ; Eebel conditions of Peace since the War began, 135; The liebel President and Eebel Congress on Peace, 13T; They misrepresent the case, 139 ; The real question ignored by the Eebels, 141 ; Eebel official mendacity, 143; Another effort for Peace— Niagara Falls Conference, 146; Missioa to Eidmiond— Peace again, 148.

Chapter V

Responsibility of the Southern Chuech for the Rebellion and THE War Page 152-206

Early agency of leading Divines, 155; Dr. Thornwell aids the Eebellion, 155; His Fast-Day Discourse, Nov. 21, 1860, 157; He vindicates the Secession of South Carolina, 158 ; Open resistance counselled, 159 ; Charge of Treason established, 160; Drs. Thornwell, Leland, Adger, and others, upon the stump, 161 ; Early aid of Dr. Palmer, 163; Dr. Palmer and the mission of Senator Toombs, 163; Specimen of his Thanksgiving Discourse, 165; Eesistance counselled— " the last ditch," 167; War welcomed— the Union denounced, 167; Prophecy fulfilled unexpectedly, 168; His Sermon steeped in sin, guilt, and crime, 169; He further vindicates Secession, 170 ; Dr. Smyth strikes the same chord, 171 ; Judgment and blessing, 172 ; Eesistance universally instilled, 172 ; The Clergy of all Denominations aid the Eebellion, 173; Leading Clergymen in the Eebel army, 174; Many Ministers go South and aid the Eebellion, 175; Other Eebel Clergymen at the South, 176; Southern Churches organized in aid of the Eebellion, 177; Addresses of Southern Churches sustaining the Eebellion, 179; The Presbyterian Church, 179; The Protestant Episcopal Church, ISO; Christian Association, 181 ; The Baptist Church, 182 ; Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans, German Eeformed. and other Churches, Ninety-six Ministers, 183; Southern Eeligious press on the Eebellion, 184 ; At New Orleans, 1S4; At Columbia, S. C, 185; At Eichmond, Va., 186; At Fayetteville, N. C, 187; Education in aid of the Eebellion, 188; Great Southern University, 189 ; Disunion- Fighting men to be educated, 189; Endowment, five or ten millions, 191; Professorship on Patriotism, 191; Episcopal University of the South, 192; Eebel Major-General Hill as au Educator, 193 ; His hatred of the North, 194 ; He teaches Secession by algebra, 194; Specimen of algebraic problems, 195; Aid of the Church indispensable to the Eebellion, 196; This aid acknowledged by Eebel Statesmen, 197; A Statesman's view indorsed, 198; The Church led the Politicians, 199; The proof conclusive, 200; Loyal Clergymen in the Border States, 201 : Loyalty of Northern Churches— their duty, 202; Duty of the Southern Church the same. 204.

CONTENTS. XI

CHAPTER VI. Clerical Disloyalty in Loyal States Page 207-246

Clerical Sympathizers in Maryland, 208 ; Disloyal Ministers in the District of Colnmbia,209; Rebel Sympathizers among Kentucky Clergymen, 211 ; Rev. Thomas A. Hoyt, 211 ; Mr. Hoyt's Disloyal Sermon, 212 ; Political Preaching Defined, 214 ; Religious Preaching defined, 215 ; War preached in the name of Peace, 216 ; The grand distinction — Religion and Politics, 217; No possible Neutrality, 218 ; Dr. Stuart Robinson, 219 ; He edits a Disloj'al paper, 220 ; Its Disloyal course in general, 222 ; It vilifies the Church for Loyalty, 223; It abuses the Government, 224; Specimens of its Disloyalty — his position defined, 227 ; God's " curse" with the President, 229 ; The War charged on Northern men, 280 ; Our Government worse than the French Revolutionists, 231 ; Charge of Disloyalty, 233 ; Calumny self-refuted, 233 ; The Remedy — two examples, 234 ; Government Orders vindicated, 236 ; (Church application vindicated by the facts, 239 ; Chief ground of complaint, 241 ; Government and Church vindicated by the Law, 242 ; Vindicated by Rebel authority, 244.

CHAPTER Vn.

The Church, North and South, on Disloyalty 241-275

All men subject to Civil authority, 248 ; Obedience to Civil authority a Religious duty, 248; Ministers to preach subjection, 249; Omission of this duty a sin, 250 ; The crowning guilt, 251 ; Disloyalty punishable by the State, 252 ; What Loyalty and Disloyalty are, 253 ; Disloyalty punishable by the Church, 254 ; Reasons founded on Revelation, 255 ; Spiritual jurisdiction broader than Civil, 256 ; Disloyalty actually condemned by the Church, 258 ; Presbyterian Church — Dr. McPheeters, 259 ; Individual opinions in the General Assembly, 261 ; Dr. McPheeters on Military Orders, 264; False criterion of Loyalty, 265; Gen. Rosecrans's Orders, 268; "Honor to whom honor," 271 ; Doom of Traitors— self-condemnation, 273.

CHAPTER Vm.

Southern Providence in the Rebellion 276-302

God's providence extends to Nations, 276 ; Its designs toward the United States, 277; The dead fly in the ointment, 278; The Irrepressible Conflict, 279; The difliculty beyond human wisdom, 280 : Hopes dashed and raised again, 281 ; Providence from a Southern stand-point, 282 ; It upsets their Theology, 284 ; The true doctrine of Providence, 286; Southern exposition of it — Dr. Palmer, 286 ; Providence frustrated, 287 ; Southern Theology rebuked by Scripture, 288 ; Providential rule supreme, 290 ; An explanation needed, 291 ; A solution proposed, 292; A providence of man's devising, 292; Southern providence further illustrated — Dr. Smyth, 293 ; Blasphemy and Fanaticism sublimated, 294 ; The providential climax— Dr. Stiles, 295; The Southern Confederacy to usher in the Millennium, 296; Rebel Victories by miracle, 298; A new Siege of Jericho, 298; The Confederate Armageddon, 300.

Xli CONTENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

Proyedential Designs in the Rebellion Page 303-362

Slavery to be terminated, 305; Manner of its termination, 306; Action in certain Border States, SOS; Signs of its termination— the Loyal States, 310 ; Fugitive Slave Law repealed, 311; Slaves freed bj-the War, 312; All ti-aceable to the Kebellion, 313 ; Termination of Slaveiy in the Eebel States, 314 ; Slavery doomed, though Disunion triumph, 316; luterual causes of its destruction, 3lT; Illustrative incident — Colonel Dahlgren, 318; Facts and their Lesson, 319; War educating Slaves for Freedom, 320 ; External causes of its desTuction, 321 ; Environed by enemies, 322; Cotton Dreams, 323; Slavery doomed and the Union maintained, 324; Eeasons for this position, 326 ; Strength of the parties in Soldiers, 327; Negro Soldiers— their number unlimited, 329; White Soldiers sufficient, 330; National Resources and Credit, 331; The Eesult, 332; Governmental determination confronted, 332 ; Opposition to Slavery fighting against God, 334; The Government vindicated in destroying Slavery, 335; Its right of sclf-preservatlon, 336; Destruction of Slavery a lawful means to this end, 333; Forbearance of the Government with Slavery, 340; Emancipation Proclamation, 342 ; Its final determination justified, 343; Sustained by the Laws of War, 344; Sustained by examples of several Nations — Great Britain, France, 346; Spain, Colombia, United States, 347; Illustrated by cases in the United States — Generals Jesup, Taylor, Gaines, Presidents Van Buren, Tyler, and Congress, 347; Another case between Great Britain and the United States — decision of the Euasian Emperor Alexander, 349 ; Opinions of t- minent Statesmen — Jefferson, J. Q. Adams, Hamilton, Jay, Madison, 350 ; Vindication complete against idle declamation, 354; Sustained against the Eebel Congress, 354; Sustained by Southern men, 356 ; The sum of Providential indications, 360.

CHAPTER X.

The Chuech and Slavery 363-421

Three periods of Opinion, historically, 363 ; The Church largely responsible for Opinion, 366; Presbyterian Church illustrative of others, 36S; First period — early Testimony of the Church, 1TS7, 369; Politics and Eeligion — a Prophet, 370; Action upon a case submitted, 1795,371; Another case acted upon, 1S15, 372; The most elaborate Testimony, 1818, 373 ; Characteristics of the paper of ISIS, 377; Second period — more "'conservative" views, 37S; Action postponed in 1836, 3S0; Formal "conservative"' action of 1845, 3S2; Contrast — Action of ISIS and 1&45, 385; Action of 1&46 — Declaration of agreement, 3SS; Another contrast —1818 and 1S49, 391; A Prottst— Action of 1S45 equivocal, 393; Action of ISfil— Synod of South Carolina, ;j94; xVction of 1S63— Eepudiation of 1S45, 395; Eeview of Testimonies— 1787 to 1863,397; Corroborative Testimony to the positions taken, 400; Proof and Illustrations, 403; The inevitable effect — Northern responsibility, 405 ; Action of the General Assembly of 1S64, 408 ; Features of the Eeport, 413 ; Te Deum Laudamns, 420.

CONTENTS. xiii

CHAPTER XL Kentucky Opinions — The Past and the Pre;sent Page 422-451

Paper of the Committee of the Synod on Slavery, in 1S35, 42-3 ; Movement lor Emancipation, in l&i9, 440; Principles of the State Emancipation Convention, 441 ; Emancipationists defeated in the State— causes, 442 ; Presbyterians un.mimously for Emancipation— Drs. Breckinridge, Young, and " P.ev. Mr. Eobixsox, of Frankfort,'* 443; Drs. Humphrey and W. L. Breckinridge upon Emancipation in 1S49. 444; Position of Dr. E. J. Breckinridge in 1849, 445; Hon. Garrett Davis on Slavery in 1849, 449 ; A glorious record tarnished, 450.

CHAPTER XII.

Defended by Northern men, 453; Positions taken, 454; Authorities for these positions, 455; I. As related to Natural and Municipal Laio, 456; Dr. Thornwell, 455; "General Assembly of the Confederate States," 45T; Dr. Seabury, 457 ; The True Presbyterian, 457 ; II. As related to Divine Revelation, 453 ; Dr. Thornuell, 45S; "General Assembly of the Confederate States,'' 458 ; Prof. S. F. B.Morse, 459; Dr. Stuart Pvobinson, 4G0; Dr. Fred. A. Eoss, 402; Gen. Thomas E. E. Cobb, 402; Dr. Thomas Smyth, 463; Dr. Seabury, 4G4; The True Presbyterian, 401; Dr. J. E. Wilson, 465; Dr. Geo. D. Armstrong, 465; Bishop Hopkins, 466; Prof. Bledsoe, 466; Dr. Nehemiah Adams, 466; Eesponsibility of the Church for the Eevolution in Southern Opinion, 467; Early position of Eev. •James Smylie, 468; Paper of the Synod of Mississippi, 469; Confii-matory Testimony, 471.

CHAPTER Xin.

Slavery in Polemcs— Divine Revelation 473-509

Preliminary considerations, 473; The "Scriptures grossly libelled, 474 ; Points of difference between the Jewish and Southern systems, 476; Professorial judgment of the case, 483; Proslavery arguments examined, 484; The argument from the Decalogue, 485 ; The Abrahamic and Mosaic system, 488; Authority in contrast, 490; The New Testament argument, 492 ; Slavery hanging by a word, 493; Prof. Lewis on Doulos, 493; Prof. Lewis on Slave-traders, 4t)5; Slavery among the Eelations, 497; The reductio ad absurdum, 498; Slavery universally essential, 498 ; Emancipation a sin, 500 ; Invasion of God's prerogative, 601; The Eelations in dialogue, 502; A Southern family established, 504; Divine Ordinances plain, 506; The Servile Eelation as an " Ordinance," 506 ; The only loophole, and that closed, 508.

CHAPTER XIY.

Slavery in Polemics — Law of ISTature 510-538

Disagreement on what is the Law of Nature, 510 ; Disagreement in applying the Law of Nature, 512; Moral phases involved in the application, 513; Illustrative contradictions, 514; Slavery against Nature— Code of Justinian, 515; The Justinian Code overthrown, 516; Slavery from an Ant-hill, 518; Ant-slavery— Striking

XIV CONTENTS.

analogies, 519 ; Slave-trade justified, 520 ; Cannibalism justified on similar ground, 521 ; Its practical advantages, 521 ; Dr. Thornwell's argument from Nature, 523 Pagan an example for Christian States, 525; Slavery submitted to a popular vote. 526; The inevitoble conclusion, 52T; American Slavery founded on Human Law 527; Conflicting authorities — Law versus Divinity, 52S; Origin of Negro Sla very in the United States, 530 ; Its History traced — African Slave-trade, 530 Founded in Human Law, or without legality, 532; Positive Law — inevitable crime, 533 ; Positive Law theory sustained by the highest Southern authority, 534; The impregnable conclusion, 535; The consoling alternative, 536.

CHAPTER XV.

Bevietv and Cokclusion Page 539-562

The external situation, 539; Responsibility of Foreign Powers, 540; The coming reckoning, 542 ; Ketributive Justice, 543; Essential discriminations, 543; Pocket Philanthropy, 544; Our cause misrepresented, 545 ; Foreign enmity persistent. 545; The popular masses with us, 546; The internal situation, 548; What the contest exhibits, 548 ; Friends and foes, 550; Subordinate questions, 551 ; Administration and Government, 552; True principle of support — Objections, 558; Opposing the Administration — change demanded, 555 ; Loyalty practically tested, 556 ; Loyalty above partisanship— Violence, 557 ; God reigus— Our trust, 559 ; The Patriot's Eeward, 559 ; The Traitor's Doom, 561.

THE CHUPiCH AND THE REBELLION.

Chapter I. Character Of The Rebellion"

The rebellion against the Government of the United States, now in the fourth year of its progress, is among the most extraordinary phenomena in the annals of mankind. It is so remarkable in its objects, so determined in its spirit, and has brought into action, upon one side and the other, material and moral forces of such gigantic magnitude, that the world stands appalled at the spectacle it presents.

In any proper consideration of the subject, the logical order brings us first to look at the character of the rebellion. It has certain palpable features which might profitably admit of an extended examination. Our plan will allow us to give them only a passing notice.

AGAINST POPULAR GOVERNMEISTT.

1. The primal characteristic it exhibits is that of a violent demonstration against the life-prbiciple of Popular Government.

The ultimate sovereignty and true source of all political power, under God, are in the people., for whose benefit civil society lias been ordained. In God's providence, mankind are distributed into nations, in which political power is to be exercised through the modes which the people of each may devise. To establish government, and to alter its form or character, so as to meet the varying wants of society, are among the inherent rights of every people. These are very generally conceded as fimdamental principles in political science. They are denied by those who contend for the divine right of kings, and who hold that the many were created for the few; but the ablest writers acknowledge these rights as belonging primarily to the people, and of which they cannot be justly divested.

In regard to changing the government which exists over a people, either in its form or in matters of substance, the modes are various. In a monarchy, a people may wish to go no farther than to demand and receive concessions from the sovereign, leaving the form and structure of the government intact. Under a despotism, tyranny may become so oppressive as to be unendurable, with no hope of relief from the ruling power. Then, revolution may become a duty. This remedy is deemed justifiable in extreme cases, and a right which a people can never surrender. The propriety of resorting to it must, for the most part, be determined by the circumstances of each case.

In a popular government, however, republican or democratical, whose form and structure have spi'ung from the free consent of the whole people, and where the rulers, from the highest to the lowest, are chosen and frequently changed by their common suffi'ages, the right of violent revolution would seem to be well-nigh or quite excluded. All abuses of power are subject to that peaceful remedy which the people always have in their hnnds. Any branch of the government, executive, legislative, or judicial, which usurps authority, may be speedily reached and the corrective applied,— as, for example, in the United States, — by impeachment, or by the ballot. If the remedy belong directly to the people, the determination is with the major-

SOUTHEEN DOMINATION IN THE GOVERNMENT. o

ity, in the manner prescribed by law ; and, when made, the decision must be linal if the people are the ultimate source of power. A denial of these simple principles renders popular government impossible.*

Now, it is the invasion of that life- principle which underlies the whole structure of popular government, that constitutes the primal item in the catalogue of crimes which make up the terrible guilt of this rebellion. It is an appeal from the ballot-box to the sword ; a determination to defeat by war the results of a popular election, fairly conducted in all respects according to the Constitution and laws, as those who have revolted admit ; an election in which they, equally with the rest of the nation, freely embarked, and by the results of which they were therefore solemnly bound. This is the charge which stands recorded against them in the face of the whole world.

SOUTHEKN DOMINATION IN THE GOVEENMENT.

2. Another item in the character of the rebellion is, that it is waged against a Government whose administration the rebels, through the ])arty with which they had generally acted, had almost uniformly controlled^ frora the origin of the Government to the time of their revolt^ and every branch of which was still in their possession.

This is one of those facts in our history, so well known and so public that it will scarcely be questioned. But an authority so valuable as that of Vice-President Stephens, of the " Confederate" Government, may here be given.

* Says M. De Tocqueville, in his Democracy in America : " All authority originates in the will of the majority.'" " In the United States, the majority governs in the name of the people, as is the case in all the countries in which the people is supreme." " The very essence of democratic government consists in the absolute sovereignty of the majority." "The moral power of the majority is founded upon yet another principle, which is, that the interests of the many are to be preferred to those of the few."

Ill a speech at Washington, Georgia, June 8, 1601, he

says : —

It has been our pride that out of the seventy-two years of the existence of the Government under the Constitution, it has been for sixty under the control of Southern statesmen. This has secured whatever of prosperity and greatness, growth and development, has marked the country's career during its past history. The Northern masses generally agreed with Southern statesmen in their policy, and s^istained them. These were the democracy of that section. Mr. Jefferson said they were allies. Washington's administration lasted eight years. It was Southern, and in the line of Southern policy. Then came the elder Adams. He was from Massachusetts. Opposite ideas shaped his policy. At the end of four years, the people indignantly turned him and his counsellors out of power. Then came Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, each eight years — all Southern men. Here we had thirty-two years of Southern administration to four Northern. Then came the younger Adams from the North. He was the great embodiment of those ideas which now control Lincoln's administration. At the end of four years he was turned out of power, and Jackson, a Southern man, came in for eight years. Then came Yan Buren, a Northern man, for four years. Then Harrison, Tyler, and Polk, which added eight years more of Southern control. Next, Taylor and Fillmore. Fillmore was a Northern man, it is true, but his administration was sustained by the South, and so was Pierce's. These may be called Southern administrations ; and so was Buchanan's — thus making sixty out of the seventy-two years of the Government's existence under the Constitution. All the important measures which have marked the history of the Government, which have made it what it is, or was before the dismemberment, and made it the admiration of the world, were the fruits of the policy of Southern statesmen.

This statement of Mr. Stephens requires one modification. The poHcy of Mr. Van Buren's administration was as intensely Southern as that of any one he claims. It was not till several years after his retirement from public life that he gave expression to those views which rendered him odious to his quondam Southern friends. The balance may then be adjusted so as to give to the South, upon the principle Mr. Stephens lays down, sixty-J'ow years ol' con-

FALSE CHARGES BY THE SOUTH. 6

trol of the Government, and to the North eight years ; and that, too, while the North had a large majority of the population of the country.

Besides thus wielding the power and shaping the policy of the Government from its origin, the party of which Mr. Stephens here speaks had control of every branch of the Government when the revolt began, and even the Executive was not to be changed for a period of four months. From this state of facts, it seems in a high degree probable, that, had this powerful party remained intact, and had its Southern leaders exercised only a modicum of that sagacity which had characterized them in its better days, it could have secured for the South all that the South had a right to demand under the Constitution, and saved the land from a deluge of blood. But the instigators of this rebellion wantonly threw away the power which they possessed, to grasp a shadow which their ambition had pictured.

FALSE CHAKGES BY THE SOUTH.

3. While this is a rebellion against the Government proper, it was instigated against an incoming Administration on false grounds.

It was charged at the outset throughout the South, that it was to be the policy of Mr. Lincoln's Administration to destroy slavery. This charge was known and proven to be false in every possible way which the case admitted. It was denied in the most formal manner in the platform of the party, adopted in the National Convention by which the present Executive was nominated. It was denied by many of the leading men of the party, in their numerous speeches during the canvass, and by the resolutions of many assemblages of the people ; and if there were any contrary declarations they were wholly without authority, in the face of the formal announcement of the

National CoDvention. And finally, it was denied by the President in his Inaugural Address.* In short, it would seem to be impossible to meet such a charge in any way in which it was not met. And yet, the revolt began immediately upon the result of the Presidential election

* The following is an extract from the Inaugural Address of President Lincoln, in which is embodied the resolution above referred to from the platform of the National Convention : " I do not consider it necessary, at present, for me to discuss those matters of iidministration about which there is no special anxiety or excitement. Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States, that by the accession of a Eepublican Administration, their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There never has been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed, and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches, when I declare that 'I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists.' I believe I have no lawful right to do so ; and I have no inclination to do so. Those who nominated and elected me, did so with the full knowledge that I had made this, and made similar declarations, and had never recanted them. And more than this, they placed in the platform, for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read : ' liesolved. That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the grossest of crimes.' I now reiterate these sentiments; and in doing so I only press upon the public attention the most conclusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that the property, peace, and security of no section are to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming Administration.

I add, too, that all the protection which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfulh^ demanded, for whatever cause, as cheerfully to one section as to another." The foregoing sentences completely disprove the charge under consideration. The President closed his Address as follows: "In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and aoi. in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government ; while I shall have the most solemn one to 'preserve, protect, and defend it.' I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all orer thiS broad land, will yet swell the chorus ol' the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."