The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2 No 4, October, 1862: Devoted To Literature And National PolicyVarious
History
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2 No 4, October, 1862: Devoted To Literature And National Policy
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; United States -- Politics and government -- 19th century -- Periodicals
Our armies, eventually, must triumph, but to restore, throughout the
revolted States, the supremacy of the Constitution, we must continue to
maintain the just distinction between the loyal and disloyal; the
deluded masses and the rebel leaders. We must also remember, that the
reign of terror has long been supreme in the South, and that thousands
have been forced into apparent support of the rebellion by threats, by
spoliation, by conscription, by the ruin of their homes, and the loss of
their means of subsistence.
With the exception of South-Carolina, whose normal condition for more
than thirty years before she struck down our flag at Sumter, was that of
incipient treason and revolt, no other State really desired to destroy
the Union. A secret association and active armed conspiracy, and an
organized system of falsehood and misrepresentation, drove the masses,
by sudden action, violence, and terror, into this rebellion; but a large
majority of the aggregate popular vote of the South was against
secession.
It was a Northern President, yielding to secession leaders, in
opposition to the patriots of the South, who, by the whole power of
Executive influence and patronage, attempted to force slavery into
Kansas, by the crime, heretofore without a name or an example, the
FORGERY OF A CONSTITUTION. This was the tolling of the first bell,
alarming to patriots, but the concerted signal for the grand movement of
the assassins, then conspiring the death of the Union. It was also a
Northern President who urged the Lecompton forgery upon Congress, thus
mainly contributing to the downfall of the Union; yet, when the vote was
taken in the fall of 1860, a majority of the popular suffrage of the
South was given to those candidates for the Presidency who had denounced
and opposed this measure, over the candidate, (now in the traitor army,)
who gave it his support. Thus, on this, as on every other occasion,
where the people of the South have not been overborne by violence and
terror, they have rejected at the polls the action of the secession
leaders.
But the disaster was precipitated, when the same President, rejecting
the advice of the patriot Scott, refused to reinforce our forts, when
menaced or beleaguered by traitors, and announced, in his messages, to
our country and all the world, the secession heresy, fatal to all
government, that we had no right to repel force by force, on the part of
a State seeking, by armed secession, to destroy the Union. The absurd
political paradox was then announced by the President, that a State has
no right to secede, but that the Government has no right to prevent its
secession. It was this wretched dogma, that paralyzed our energies when
they were most needed, gave immunity to treason, and invited rebellion,
rendered our stocks unsalable, and induced thousands, at home and
abroad, to believe that the Federal Government was a phantom, which
existed only in name.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account