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THE EIGHT, OR THE WRONG, 
 
 AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 A LETTER TO AN ENGLISH FRIEND. 
 
 SECOND 
 
 EDITION. 
 
 .^ 
 
 ^I^^^ 
 
 NEW 
 
 YORK: 
 
 ANSON D. F 
 
 . RANDOLPH, 
 
 No. '7'70 BROADWAY. 
 
 1864. 
 
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 [In this Edition of the Letter, some additional remarks have been 
 made ; but these do not refer to the progress of events, which speak for 
 themselves. The end of the War, there is reason to believe, is an 
 event not far distant. July, 1864.] 
 
 U r ( n ( r r, 
 
A LETTER 
 
 Sir , K. C. B. 
 
 My Dear Friend : — 
 
 .... You think that onr Government cannot put down 
 the rebellion ; and that even if it could, it would be rendering 
 a questionable service to the world, as the American people 
 would then soon become too powerful for the safety of other 
 nations. On both these grounds, you wish to see the war 
 brought to an end by the acknowledgment of the Confederacy 
 as an independent nation. 
 
 I will not discuss your second reason at any length. You 
 do not doubt that the more powerful any nation should be- 
 come the better for the world it would be, provided its coun- 
 cils were guided by justice and enlightened views of policy. 
 "Without and with such guidance, then, let us see how this 
 country would stand towards foreign nations. Without justice 
 and integrity, both among its citizens generally and in its 
 councils, this Kepublic could not last long, but must soon be 
 self-destroyed. This is an axiom, in the judgment of our best 
 men ; and it is one upon which all our religious bodies found 
 a strong plea for aid, in their efforts to establish schools and 
 to build churches in the newly settled parts of the land. If 
 self-destroyed — a prey to internal dissension, disorder, and 
 violence — this country would be a beacon to warn other na- 
 tions against the neglect of private and public virtue. But 
 let the principles of our holy religion be in the ascendant, and 
 our country would be the means only of good to the world, 
 sharing with other lands tlie blessings of commerce, science 
 and Christianity. On either supposition this country would 
 not be an object of fear. But if there is danger to be appre- 
 
A JUG JIT OJi WRONG Oh' THE AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 liciuled, it must spring tVoin the division and not from tlie 
 union of these States. Once divided, if it were possible for 
 two nations to exist in this land, large standing armies would 
 be maintained, occasions of misunderstanding with foreign 
 powers would be doubled, and wars with them would prob- 
 ably be of frequent occurrence. 
 
 Turning now to the main thing I remark, that whether the 
 rebellion can be put down dei)ends on whether it ought to be 
 put down. Christian nations, like Great Britain and the 
 United States, may be taken to have reached such a condition 
 of moral advancement that what is right in their great ques- 
 tions will in the end win the day. What is wrong must sooner 
 or later go to the wall. 
 
 Now do not think that I am going to inflict on you an ex- 
 tended discussion of tlie question, when I ask, Is the rebellion 
 right? To show that it is not right, I need but recall your 
 attention to a few salient points of the case, as between the 
 Government and the rebellion, or as between the nation and 
 the rebels. However familiar these points may be to intelli- 
 gent men on this side of the Atlantic, we cannot expect many 
 of our European friends to be so well acquainted with them. 
 
 Singling out a few topics, I will ask you to consider first, on 
 what ground and for what reasons any people are justifiable 
 in rising up against the government that is over them. In 
 this country we all believe in the right of revolution, for suf- 
 ficient cause ; but this M-ar is not regarded by the Confed- 
 erates as a revolution; they do not jn-opose to change the 
 republican form of governmuiit for a monarch}-, much less their 
 legal and social institutions for any thing different. The war is 
 justified by them on the ground of the right of secession ; that is, 
 that the States liave a right to secede from the Union, whenever 
 they regard secL'Ssion as advantagc<ius to them. This right 
 of secession we deii}*, and wi' appeal to the Constitution, and 
 to the history of the country from the beginning, to prove 
 that it is a baseless fiction. It is a fiction which we reject the 
 more strongly, because its origin and its strength can be traced 
 to the dihappointcd ambition of unworthy politicians. But 
 for the )>•■••'' """■ '■> '«" .-.'-;.|..r.'d. let us leave out of view 
 
BIGHT OR WRONG OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 5 
 
 the important difference between the right of revolution and 
 the right of secession, and let us recur to the question, On 
 what ground any people may lawfully take up arms against 
 the government under which they live ? 
 
 They are justifiable in resorting to this extreme measure,' if 
 there be a reasonable hope of success, on the ground of intol- 
 erable oppression ; but in this country nothing of this kind has 
 existed. Principles adopted by the rulers of a people, which 
 would reduce them to bondage, would justify armed resistance 
 to the government if there were no other redress; so our fathers 
 judged when they resisted the British crown in the attempt 
 to impose taxation without granting representation ; but under 
 our Constitution, nothing of this kind has occurred or could 
 take place. Indeed, violent changes of our political system 
 are needless, and they must always be wrong, because this 
 system contains in itself ample provision for changes being 
 made peacefully, whenever the requisite number of the people 
 desire them to be made ; nor are the rights of minorities, in 
 the long run, in danger of not being properly respected. On 
 the other hand, it is a Christian duty to render obedience to 
 the powers that be, which are ordained of God, in the admin- 
 istration of all authority which does not contravene his holy 
 will. "The powers that be," in our case, certainly include 
 the general, national, or federal government, which for so long 
 a period has been recognized at home and abroad as a lawful 
 government. I know the ready answer of many to this state- 
 ment, that it begs the question as to which government, Na- 
 tional or State, the allegiance of the citizen is due. I shall 
 revert to this matter hereafter. At present it is sufficient to 
 say, that, de facto^ the federal government was in the regular 
 exercise of its authority in all parts of the country, and it had 
 long wielded this authority, unopposed, unchallenged. Nearly 
 three generations of men had lived in peace under this govern- 
 ment. It was clearly therefore a government such as tlie 
 Apostle contemplated when he spoke of " the powers that be." 
 And on the broad ground of the divine commandment, tliere 
 fore, I do not hesitate to claim your condemnation of this war 
 as a wrong thing. In itself, apart from its painful circum- 
 
6 nil HIT on wnoxo of the AMEnicAN war. 
 
 stance*, in its first concei^tion and its first outbreak, it is in 
 violation of our liighest rule of duty. We were at peace 
 ainon^'st t.ursdves, and had been for eighty years. We are 
 now at war, siniidy because our reckless fellow-citizens did 
 not fnllill their Christian duty to the government of the country. 
 This view of duty is too much ignored in these days, yet it is 
 one that is vital to the welfare of human society. As all gov- 
 ernment rests on the Divine will for its sanction, and as people 
 instructed by the Holy Scriptures can never disregard their 
 6Uj»reme law of duty without incurring both guilt and great 
 peril, it is evident that too much weight cannot be given to 
 this feature of our dreadful conflict. That this war was begun 
 by the Confederates in violation of the Christian rule of 
 duty concerning obedience to the powers that be, is its sen- 
 tence of condemnation. But I do not wish here to discuss a 
 religious cpiestion, and I proceed to other views. 
 
 I^xtk, then, at the public beginning of this war. I refer 
 not now to the secret history of previous years. We have 
 been told, indeed, that the war was begun by the Northern 
 States yeai-s ago, but this is simply not true. It is well known 
 that the policy of the government was controlled by Southern 
 influence for many years, and no' act of the general govern- 
 ment can be cited which was unfriendly to the slaveholding 
 States. Nor is it true that the legislation of the Free States, 
 as States, was generally hostile to the interests of the Slave 
 States. Some of them had enacted laws to neutralize what 
 were considered the odioiis features of the Fugitive Slave Law 
 of Congress, and Cfspccially to secure the right of a trial be- 
 fore ft jury for a colored num who might be claimed as a fugi- 
 tive slave ; yet these laws wero either rei)ealed by the States 
 theinselveti, or else set asi»le l»y the decision of the Supreme 
 Court. The peojde of the Free States were indeed unwilling 
 that (-lavery should be introdiu;ed into the national territories, 
 but thev opposed this in a lawful wav. Thev were willin<r 
 that hlaveholdurs should tak(> all the j)roperty into the terri- 
 tories tliat they could take themselves. Besides, on the ground 
 of national rights, slavery had no just claims to be admitted 
 into the territories; for slavery in this country has always been 
 
RIGHT OR WRONG OF TUB AMERICAN WAR. 7 
 
 .a State 'institution.' Its being, its regulation, every tiling 
 about it that was legal, depended on the States in whose 
 bounds slavery existed. Each of those States had power to 
 uphold, modify, or abolish slavery in its own limits ; but no 
 one of them, nor all of them combined, had the least power to 
 extend slavery bej'ond their own boundaries. It was a purely 
 State thing. And in this was its safety. On any other 
 theory the free voters of the North might have put down 
 slavery at the South. It is true that the general government, 
 by implication, recognized the existence of slavery, and under 
 the Constitution, Jaws could be and were passed by Congress 
 for restoring fugitive slaves in certain cases. To this extent, 
 slavery might have been considered as having national rights. 
 But this provision of the Constitution conferred on the slave- 
 holdincr States no more rio^ht to take their slaves into the com- 
 mon territories of the nation than the protection afforded by 
 the Constitution to the property of citizens of other States 
 conferred the right on New York and its people to set up their 
 free-banking system in Kansas, or on Delaware and its citi- 
 zens to establish lotteries in Nebraska. It is of great moment 
 to a right understanding of American slavery and its ques- 
 tions, that its distinctively State character be kept ever in full 
 view. It is only this brief reference to the subject that can 
 be made here ; but I may add, that the question of taking 
 slaves into the territories should never have been agitated by 
 our Southern fellow-citizens. It was a barren question, so far 
 as the Slave States were concerned, for they had no slaves to 
 spare for the territories ; and if they had, hardly any part of 
 the territories was adapted to slave labor. 
 
 But I need not refer to these old discussions, nor to others 
 on kindred topics. They were discussions. They were not 
 war, surely. I pass them by, and come to the public begin- 
 ning of this dreadful conflict. You know who first took up 
 the sword, and the fatal events that at once followed the attack 
 on Fort Sumter. Fix your attention on that commencement 
 of the war ; and then, to see that it was all wrong, call to 
 mind the fact, that all peaceful measures had not been tried 
 
8 lilGIIT on WRONO OF TEE AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 in vain, and some had not been tried at all, before the leaders 
 of the rebellion resorted to the argument of military force. 
 
 They might have kept their place in the Union, and trusted 
 to discussion and the ballot, feeling sure that if right were on 
 their side they would in the end regain their ascendancy in 
 our national councils. Or they might have proposed amend- 
 ments to the Constitution, in order to secure greater protection 
 to their peculiar interests, and in this way have obtained a 
 l)eaceful settlement of agitating questions ; there can hardly 
 be a doubt that such amendments would have been made in 
 order to satisfy the claims of the Slave States. It is indeed 
 known now that great concessions were offered to their repre- 
 sentatives in the Peace Convention at Washington, in February, 
 ]861, but they were rejected by the ultraist members from the 
 Southern States. 
 
 If they considered it impossible, however, to abide longer 
 in the regular movement of our forms of government, as a 
 last resort before proceeding to war, they might have asked 
 tor the extra-constitutional measure of a Convention of all the 
 States. This would have been a revolutionary measure, but 
 not one that would have resulted necessarily in acts of violence 
 and bloodshed ; the revolution might even have been a peace- 
 ful one — a thing no longer i»<)S3ible after the attack on Fort 
 Sumter. After that, the Government had to stand for its 
 existence, war could no longer be delayed ; but prior to this 
 fatal proceetling a Convention might have been called. If it 
 liad been refused, a declaration of whatever was regarded as 
 grievances could have been f )rinally issued, before separation 
 wjia begun by means of war. The rebels, as we must now 
 call them, could in this way have delivered themselves, in 
 some degree nt least, from the awful guilt of plunging a people 
 all in the midst of peace into the horrors of civil war. 
 
 On a jK.pular Southern theory of our government, that 
 which regurdrt each State as umjualiliedly sovereign, a con- 
 vention of this kind might have been called. This theory I 
 do not h(»ld, l)ut l)elieve it to bo altogether erroneous. There 
 can be but one supreme sovereignty in a nation, and for eighty 
 yearn tliat !■•■ '■ rrc..gnizc(l in a great variety of ways as 
 
RIQET OR WRONG OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 existing iu the general government. Every oath of office, 
 taken in any part of the conntry, even in South Carolina itself, 
 in legislative or judicial stations, recognized the sovereignty 
 of the United States. All foreign powers recognized it, and 
 never acknowledged the sovereignty of any particular State. 
 Tliis high sovereignty passed from the Crown of Great Britain 
 to the American nation ; at first, to the Confederation ; then, 
 to the Union ; but in no case to a State separately considered. 
 Tlie Constitution is now our crown, to which our allegiance 
 is to be given, as embodying the will of the nation. This 
 Constitution was adopted, not by the States as such, but by 
 the people — as its terms expressly declare. Their suifrages 
 were taken in each State separately, for the sake of conve- 
 nience, but they were the suffrages of the citizens of the 
 United States, who voted directly on the question of adopt- 
 ing this charter of our national government. It is conceded 
 on all hands that the Constitution thus adopted, relates, not 
 to everything under the sun, but to the subjects contained in 
 itself, and as to these it is supreme. As to these, it is a gene- 
 ral or common government, and the preserving of the union 
 of these States is surely one of its highest objects. 
 
 It is deeply to be deplored that this view of our x^a- 
 tional government as sovereign, and therefore entitled to the 
 highest allegiance of all citizens, has been rejected by so 
 many of our countrymen in the Southern States. Many of 
 them are undoubtedly sincere in their belief that the sove- 
 reignty of each State is supreme, and that their allegiance is 
 therefore due to the State and not to the United States. 
 Allowance must be made for their mistake in this respect ; it 
 can be accounted for without impugning the integrity of many 
 who have fallen into it ; but a mistake it is, nevertheless, as 
 both the history of the country and the terms of the Consti- 
 tution plainly show. This war will not have been in vain if 
 it result in the perpetual subversion of the doctrine of unqual- 
 ified State sovereignty. It is a doctrine which woilld be al- 
 ways tending to break up the nation into fragments, and to 
 embroil these fragments in never-ending conflicts with each 
 other. It is quite safe to predict that if the States in revolt 
 
10 RICIIT on WnONG of the AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 •jiiiu their indqicmleiice, they will soon have reason to abhor 
 the {.ernicious consequences of this dogma. It will bring on 
 eiuliess collision between petty sovereignties ; these will go 
 on to anarchy ; and then M'ill follow a military despotism fell 
 and relentless. State ri(jhts we all hold, bnt nnqualified State 
 soccftiynty is another thing. There is no safety for us in this 
 land, as citizens of a constitutional government, but in the 
 union of these States and in the sovereignty of this Union un- 
 der the Constitution. 
 
 I am (piitc willing, however, for the moment, to waive all 
 this — all reference to the doctrine of State sovereignty. I 
 leave out of view, also, the almost sole grievance alleged — 
 the denial of the right of slaveholders to take their slaves 
 into the national territories. For the point at present before 
 us, these things need not be considered. On any theory con- 
 cerning them, peaceful measures might have been longer 
 tried before resorting to "the last argument." And if the 
 measures already indicated had been tested, the war would 
 assuredly have been averted. In its very beginning, there- 
 fore, the rebellion was all wrong. It stained itself needlessly 
 with blood. A Christian people ought to be " slow to wrath." 
 -V republican people ought to have faith in free discussion 
 and the ballot. Any people ought to try every possible good 
 method of gaining their ends before resorting to military 
 weapon.s. I make a great deal of this. If anything is plain, 
 it is that n Christian i)eople ought not to begin war with their 
 liretliren in this abrijjit and hasty way. Civil war is a thing 
 too awful to be undertaken, except under the pressure of the 
 steniest necessity. And then it should be with fosting, pray- 
 ers and tears. I need not remind you how the Confederates 
 iicte<l, with what astoni.sliing haste they attacked the govern- 
 ment, with what neglect <.f peaceful measures then within 
 tlieir rea<'h. Was not such a beginning all Mrong? 
 
 I'nshing from this, let us now consider the main cause of 
 this war. In my view this cause is slavery. It is my belief 
 that the n-bellion was begun fur the sake of slavery. 
 
 I know thiit this is denied. AVe have been told that "the 
 Nurtli infighting for empire, .and theSuuthfor independence," 
 
RIGHT OR WRONG OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 11 
 
 — liig-li-flown words ! And words witliout truth, so far as the 
 North is concerned. We have also been told that questions 
 of tariffs and free trade have had much to do with the war ; 
 but it is well known that the Southern States, especially in 
 the cotton producing regions, were enjoying great material 
 prosperity. A favorite Review published in the South para- 
 ded columns of statistics to prove that, man for man, the peo- 
 ple of the Slave-growing States were rapidly growing more 
 wealthy than those of the Free States. Both of these alleged 
 causes of the w^ar are of Trans- Atlantic origin. Here at home, 
 we are told that this war was caused by " the Abolitionists," 
 especially of New England, while some ascribe all our troubles 
 to the violence of political parties, the war being in their 
 view a war of politicians. Of this I shall have something to 
 say further on. But whatever weight may be given to other 
 causes, the one great cause is slavery. The practical working 
 of this system, for a period of eighty years under our govern- 
 ment, has issued at length in this volcanic explosion. To see 
 this clearly, we need but look at a brief statement of the ra- 
 tionale of the w^hole subject. 
 
 Under our slaveholding system in the Southern States, a 
 class of men has been created who difier greatly in some res- 
 pects from most of our countrymen. This class has long had 
 control of the Slave States. Though few in number, the 
 people of this class hold the larger share of the property, real 
 and personal, in these States, and they possess a large part of 
 the higher intelligence and culture of the Southern people. 
 As a class these slaveholders socially and politically are the 
 men of power ; they wield directly or indirectly nearly all 
 legislative, judicial, and executive authority in the State and 
 County governments. All who constitute this class do not 
 make more than a few hundred thousands in the twelve mil- 
 lions of the Southern population. Besides them are the colored 
 people, who are mostly slaves, and the non-slaveholding white 
 people. The latter far outnumber their slaveholding fellow 
 citizens, and include many persons of high intelligence and 
 worth, especially in the Border States, and, indeed, in all 
 parts of the South ; but it is unhappily true that a large part 
 
12 RIGHT Oil WRONG OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 of the non-slaveholJing white people belongs to the class of 
 " poor wliites," especially in the cotton-growing regions. 
 Tliese arc to a great extent destitute of political influence, 
 and in too many instances their dependence and their igno- 
 rance lit them to be the ready agents of their slaveholding 
 neighbors. Amongst the governing class are found many 
 jjcrsons of great excellence of character, some of whom I 
 have been liappy to call my friends ; many of them sigh and 
 groan mider the bondage imposed by slavery on their own 
 race, hardly less tlian they deplore the condition of the color- 
 ed i)eople ; but they have not been able to see any practica- 
 ble way of terminating this double bondage. Besides these, 
 who are virtually anti-slavery slaveholders, and whose num- 
 bers are only too few, there are many persons in this class 
 who are imperious, ambitious, and reckless men, such as are 
 hardly to be found elsewhere in the world. The base of their 
 position is a narrow one. It is simply the bondage of the 
 negro coupled with the monopoly of cotton. Take away the 
 bondage of tiie negro, and the members of this class would 
 in a single generation become homogeneous with Northern 
 or European society. Or take away the monopoly of cotton, 
 and they would soon become as earnest advocates of freedom 
 to flie slave as were their fathers in 1789. Their class-exis- 
 tence is a great anomaly in a republic, creating obvious diffi- 
 eulticji in the way of administering our form of government, 
 or indeed any form of government based on principles of 
 regulated liberty. 
 
 This brief analysis of the structure of Southern society 
 fellows liow the rebellion was possible, and it also shows its 
 cause. The property for the most \n\v\, and the political 
 p<iwer, were in the hands of slaveholders, especially in the 
 Slates in which the rehellion l.egan. Finding or fearing that 
 tliey could no longer control the councils of the general guv- 
 ermnent, they resolved on sei)aration at any cost. 
 
 Many of their number, it should be conceded, were opposed 
 to disunion. Sjuio of them regarded separation liom the 
 Union na the woi-st remedy of any grievances, and us the 
 grcalcbt danger of iheir peculiar " inbtiluliun." Others, espe- 
 
RIGHT OR WRONG OF THE ASIERICAN WAR. 13 
 
 cially in the Border States, tlioronglily loyal and patriotic men, 
 we may consider as emancipated from the narrow but ardent 
 policy of their class, and able to take a correct view of their 
 duties as American citizens. Many amongst the slaveholders 
 must be deeply convinced that the doctrine of unqualified 
 State sovereignty is a very Pandora's box of evils. Many of 
 them must deplore the fearful method that was taken to adjust 
 matters with their fellow-citizens of the free States. Many of 
 them are connected with their northern countrymen by social 
 and marital relationships, and by pecuniary interests. From 
 these various subdivisions of the prevailing class, and from 
 the ranks of intelligent and influential non-slaveholders. M'e 
 may hope to see hosts of union and loyal men yet rallying 
 around the beautiful flag of our country. All is not dark in 
 the southern sky. 
 
 But as events have been shaped in the past by unscrupulous 
 political leaders, it is easy to understand how slavery — the 
 common interests and the common sympathies engendered by 
 slaveholding — under the stimulus of excited appeals to the 
 passions at once of fear and of ambition, became the cause of 
 the rebellion. Mr. Alexander Stephens, of Georgia, one of the 
 best and ablest men of his class, and the Yice-President of 
 the Confederacy, spoke true words when he proclaimed 
 slavery to be the corner-stone of the new republic. From 
 the predominant influence of slaveholders in the South, we 
 see how it was that Mr. Stephens should have publicly, almost 
 officially, avowed this awful dogma. 
 
 One thing more, however, was wanting to the success of the 
 attempt to create rebellion, and that was a plausible pretext 
 with which the honest masses of southern citizens could be 
 misled. This pretext was unhappily furnished by the ultra- 
 abolitionists in our Northern States. This phase of the sub- 
 ject must not be ignored. Varied material interests, conflict- 
 ing theories of political rights, difi'ering views of duty in 
 regard to the support of the powers that be, have marked the 
 course of events in the Kebcl States, but underlying all these 
 was an exasperated feeling towards " the abolitionists," which 
 it must be acknowledged was only too well founded. For 
 
14 RIGHT OR WRONG OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 many years certain writers and speakers have poured a bitter 
 stream of denunciation on all slaveholders, and indeed on all, 
 Avhether living in the North or South, who would not join 
 them in their project of instant emancipation without regard 
 to consequences. These were "the abolitionists," heretofore 
 60 called in this country — persons who were ready to break 
 up the Union, and even the Church itself, if their one idea 
 were not adopted. They failed altogether to command the 
 coniidence of the great body of our northern people, but they 
 succeeded in leading many of our southern people to believe 
 that "the North was all abolitionized," and in giving unscru- 
 pulous men at the South a pretext for agitation in favor of 
 disunion. It was too easy for these men to transmute southern 
 opposition to the abolitionists into opposition to anti-slavery 
 men, who constitute the great mass of northern people ; the 
 next and fatal step was then also easy to take, that of setting 
 this opposition in array against the Government itself, on the 
 election of an unwelcome President. But after all, this ap- 
 parently well-founded fear of the abolitionists should have had 
 but little weight with well-informed men in the South. They 
 certainly ought to have known the true state of feeling on this 
 subject in the non-slaveholding States; and but for the ardent 
 class feeling, fostered by the peculiar state of society in the 
 slave States, it would have been simply impossible to elevate 
 such a pretext into a sufficient reason for rebellion. No greater 
 l)ro(.f of tlie intensity of this class feeling could be cited than 
 the formal ]\Ianift'sto adopted by the Convention of the State 
 of South Carolina, to bct forth reasons for secession. These 
 rensons all hinge on a single idea, the jyrotection of slavery. 
 This \\f\& supposed to bo endangered, although the South 
 Carolinians had not lost a score of slaves in thirty years by 
 reason of the abolitionists. 
 
 I need not dwell longer on thisstak-iiuMit of the cause of the 
 rebfllioii. It were ca^y to confirm these views by proofs 
 drawn from „ur recent history ; indeed, our liistory can not 
 be lunVrbto.Ml by a foreigner \vitlio\it this clue to its tano-led 
 courso. And I may now ask, ('an dispassionate men in other 
 countries regard a rebellion f..r the sake of slavery as in itself 
 
HIGHT OR WRONG OF TEE AMERICAN WAR. 15 
 
 right ? Is it right to break up a good government, and to 
 overwhehn a peaceful people in the deluge of civil war, in 
 order to protect and perpetuate the bondage of our fellow- 
 men ? Is it right to countenance the establishment of a great 
 Pro-Slavery Power? Suppose this war to result in the inde- 
 pendence of the rebel States, the Confederacy an acknowledged 
 nation, slave-holding still one of its honored institutions, with 
 all its breaking up of families and other enormous evils ; in a 
 word, suppose a powerful despotism, based on human bond- 
 age, is to be the end of this rebellion, would you regard this 
 result as right ? 
 
 I do not wish you to understand, however, that our govern- 
 ment is waging a war for the destruction of slavery. It is 
 waging this war for the defence of its own existence. This is 
 assailed by rebel forces in the interest and at the instigation 
 of slavery. The war, on our part, is a defensive M^ar against 
 all treason and rebellion ; in other words, against secession, 
 and for union ; or, rather, against anarchy and for govern- 
 ment. Anarchy, we are firmly convinced, would soon follow 
 in the train of secession. On our theory of government, seces- 
 sion ends inevitably in the overthrow of common order. If 
 the majority, acting within the limits of the Constitution, may 
 not rule ; if the minority may secede when they fail to carry 
 an election, then there is simply no hope of preserving the 
 Republic ; and, in this country, there is then no hope of hav- 
 ing any stable government whatever. An unscrupulous 
 mayor of this city endeavored, in the year 1S61, to lead New 
 York in the footsteps of South Carolina. He proposed that 
 this city should secede ! Other cities, counties, and States, 
 might each or all secede, if this dogma of secession is to be 
 recognized, and the result would soon be anarchy. Do not 
 wonder that all right-minded Republicans look with horror 
 on this new method of settling political discussions. And do 
 not fail to consider that we hold this war on our part to be 
 primarily a defensive war. It was forced upon us, and we 
 are waging it in defence of the country, of common order, of 
 civilization itself ; all of which are put in peril by the false 
 principle wrapped up in the idea of secession. 
 
10 niGIIT OR WnOXG OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 Lilt while our Government is not waging an anti-slaverj 
 war, the war itself sweeps the whole subject of slavery into 
 its wake, and the end will very probably be a great change 
 in the condition of slavery — perhaps its entire overthrow. 
 This is not likely to result, however, from any summary pro- 
 cess. The President's proclamation on the subject has been 
 both lauded and denounced ; but its friends and foes have 
 been alike disappointed. It can be enforced only ^anjoassw 
 with the advance of our armies, and their advance would have 
 led to the virtual overthrow of slavery within their lines, even 
 if there had been no proclamation. Thus multitudes of slaves 
 would have become free, and could never be reduced again 
 to bondage. Freedom must follow the flag of the Union in 
 such a conflict as this. 
 
 In the end, the rebellion will be put down, the authority of 
 the Government will be re-established, and the question will 
 arise, AVhat is to be done with the slaves who have not been 
 set free by military force, if any such remain ? Will not State 
 laws resume their sway over them ? Will not slavery itself 
 be re-established with the restoration of the Union ? Accord- 
 ing to the usual working of our form of government, this re- 
 sult would be inevitable. The General Government has 
 nothing to do with slavery in the States, though in the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia, the national forts, and the national territor- 
 ies its authority over slavery cannot be doubted. The Presid- 
 ent's proclamation of freedom was issued by him as Com- 
 mander-in-chief of the army, simply as a war measure, a 
 measure of great force, but one that he might recall, or his 
 huccessor might recall it; and, at any rate, it is a measure 
 witijout any but moral force beyond the lines of the army, 
 and it is one which must terminate with the war itself. If the 
 war nhould go on lor some yeui-s, this measure will probably 
 rc-Hult practically in hefting the slaves all free. If a State now 
 in rebellion, on the other hand, should rescind its ordinance 
 of ficcebnion and return to the Union, it would not, indeed, re- 
 mand the frt-ed slaves (o bondage, but slavery itself Avould 
 contimu: in its limits as heretofore, unless its own citizens 
 abolibhed it. Su.-h. :it :niv r.itr %vnnl,l be the course of events 
 
RIGHT OR WRONG OF TEE AMERICAN WAR. 17 
 
 under the Constitution of the Government as it now stands. 
 Whether the Constitution should not be changed, in the way 
 pointed out by its own provisions, so as to destroy slavery, is 
 a question worthy of the best consideration. It seems to be 
 certain that the peace of the country will be for ever put in 
 jeopardy by the continuance of a system which makes the few 
 prosperous and imperious, wliile it depresses the rest of the 
 people. Even further than this change of the Constitution, 
 many are now prepared to go ; extreme measures of emanci- 
 pation they are ready to justify on two grounds : — first, that 
 citizens in armed rebellion have forfeited their rights both to 
 life and property, and should be deprived of their slaves, ac- 
 counted property by them, as well as of other kinds of prop- 
 erty, as a just punishment of their treason ; and second, that 
 the military emancipation of the slaves is one of the best 
 means of putting down the rebellion. 
 
 Whatever the issue of this question of slavery may be, so 
 far as its military aspects are concerned, I cannot doubt that, if 
 not destroyed by the war, it will be subject to influences of a 
 peaceful kind, tending to the complete emancipation of the 
 slaves. I believe that both religious and material influences will 
 unite in turning the minds of men, in all sections of the coun- 
 try, to the importance of removing slavery as the great cause 
 of our trouble. On the former class of these considerations I 
 do not enter, except to express my conviction that doing unto 
 others as we would that they should do unto us, is the only 
 law that can properly adjust the relations of the white and 
 colored races ; and this law must surely lead to the destruc- 
 tion of slavery. Material interests will lend their aid in eflect- 
 ing this result. Supplies of cotton will be obtained elsewhere 
 than, in our Southern States. Their monopoly of this article 
 has had much to do with the rebellion — with its purpose and 
 plan, its determined attitude, and the sympathy for it abroad. 
 But the war is fatal to this monopoly. Whatever the issue of 
 the war may be, the price of cotton in this country must, for 
 many years, be greatly increased. It must bear a heavy ex- 
 port duty henceforth, to aid in defraying the interest of the 
 vast war debt, a duty imposed by the Goverment when the 
 2 
 
IS juUHT on WRONG OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 rebellion is |»nt clown, or by the Confederacy, if the rebellion 
 is successtul. This higher ]n-ice will go far to tarn the scale 
 ill favor of cotton from India and other countries. The di- 
 version of capital into other channels will tend to the same re- 
 sult. The adaptation of machinery to the manufacture of 
 cotton of short libre, the greater use of flax and wool for cloth- 
 ing, the substitution of Chinese laborers for African slaves, or 
 of free African labor for the labor of bondage, would all tend 
 to free the world from its dependence on slave-grown cotton, 
 and equally to overthrow slavery itself. This result I believe 
 ;o l)e inevitable. I could wish to see it effected gradualh", to 
 see such great social and industrial changes effected peacefully, 
 to see the burden of southern loss in the emancipation of 
 slaves lightened by national liberality ; but this rebellion may 
 change all this, and it may be the will of God that slaver}'- 
 should perish in the bloody waves of the war it has begun. 
 "Whether by peaceful or by violent measures, slavery must 
 go down for ever. It will have few mourners. It has been 
 a terrible system of evil, both to the white and the colored 
 race. It has caused this wicked rebellion. It has led to the 
 sacritice of thousands of loyal lives in its suppression. It has 
 covered the land with mourning. The good Lord hasten the 
 day of its perpetual end I 
 
 Such are the relations of the country and of the war to 
 slavery. The iriends of good order and of human progress, 
 therefore, see before them two opposite things : on the one 
 Ijand, an attempt to establish by rebellion an avowedly pro- 
 slavery ct^nfederacy ; on the other, the lawful government of 
 the c<nintry, restored to its ancient anti-slavery policy, the 
 j)olicy of Washington and of Jefferson, conducting a war of 
 uelf-defence. Need I ask which ought to succeed ? 
 
 If I misjudge not, these views clearly establish the main 
 thing in the case. They show which side is right and which 
 is wrong in this most unhapi)y conflict. Right is surely on 
 the hide of the nation. And hence, sooner or later, the rebel- 
 lion will be overthrown. Right will trinmph in the end. 
 Believing this to be a correct statement of the moral question 
 involved,! will only add, before leaving it, that it shows, first, 
 
RIGUT OR WRONG OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 19 
 
 why all riglit-minded men in tliis country sliould stand up for 
 tlie government ; second, a strong reason why foreign nations 
 should withhold their sympathy from our misguided country- 
 men in the South ; and, third, one of the main reasons which 
 will tend to reunite these States. It is only on the last of 
 these topics that I will make a brief remark. 
 
 There are in tliis countr}' multitudes of intelligent, consci- 
 entious people, both in the South and in the North. Far too 
 many of these have long abandoned the care of public affairs 
 to the politicians of the day. It has been a woful mistake. 
 But these men must look more and more into the questions 
 now undergoing the fierce argument of war. And they Avill, 
 in the end, form a right judgment concerning them. They 
 are now, alas, tar too many of them, upholders of the rebel- 
 lion, No man doubted the honesty of the late " Stonewall " 
 Jackson, and multitudes like him in their religious character 
 are still in the ranks of the rebellion. Few of these men 
 would now embark in such a conflict. Many of them enlisted 
 in it against their better judgment, and many of them under 
 most erroneous impressions and under expectations which 
 they have already found to be delusive. These are minor 
 things; the main thing is that these good men will, in the end, 
 see that they have done wrong. This conviction, in the case 
 of such men, will be followed by an honest effort to regain 
 the true ground of loyalty and union. They are men who 
 can acknowledge their errors. I believe they will, sooner or 
 later. They will see and say, This rebellion was not merely 
 a political blunder, but it was all wrong. And then the con- 
 flict will shortly come to an end ; or, if already ended, so far 
 as military proceedings are concerned, the work of reconstruc- 
 tion and reunion will go on apace ; their influence will be 
 controlling, to a large degree. Let it not be said that this is 
 to expect in the passions of war what was not found in the 
 days of peace. True ; but war is a great teacher, and I am 
 now referring to men who will learn rigliteousness when 
 judgments are in tlie earth. Neither let it be said that this 
 is mere Northern Phariseeism ; na}'-, thougli men of this same 
 class in the Northern States have been kept from lifting tlieir 
 
20 lilGUT OR WRONG OF TEE AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 liamls against tlie government that God ordained over them, 
 yet they have tlieir errors to confess; and they will learn, 
 in the sciiuol of deep affliction, the great lesson of forbear- 
 ance toward their Southern fellow-citizens, and of sympathy 
 ■Nvith them as fellow-sufterers. 
 
 These good men can make their influence felt in ending 
 this war; and they must do this on the ground of right. 
 Tiiey must also take such an active part hereafter in the con- 
 duct of public affairs, as will make it impossible for corrupt 
 men to climb into stations of honor and emolument, — such 
 a part as will make a Roman Catholic prelate hesitate to 
 address publicly a crowd of foreigners, " men who are called 
 rioters," without uttering any condemnation of their' crimes of 
 murder and arson. In this respect the schooling of war may 
 be a national blessing. I must not dwell on this topic, but my 
 heart glows with hope as I remember how many hundreds of 
 thousands, and even millions, of such intelligent and conscien- 
 tious ]»eople there are in our country, and as I feel persuaded 
 that they will yet wield their great influence together for the 
 common good. Then will our public and political interests be 
 conducted on the same principles of integrity and virtue, 
 which govern the private life of everj'^ good citizen. 
 
 And then we shall discover some wise and humane way of 
 dealing with the colored people of this country. This is our 
 i^eat problem, and it is one beset with difficulties. Any 
 "pinion concerning it should be expressed with diflidence, but 
 i think we shall see that the negroes can never be removed 
 from this country, and never ought be. It is their native 
 land, and most men live and die in the country in which they 
 were born; such is the ordering of Divine Providenc3. 
 MorcMiver they will be needed here as laborers, mechanics, 
 larmers, sailors, soldiers, and in all the usual occupations of 
 indiibtrial life, which in every country absorb the great mass 
 "I itrt inliabitants. The few amongst them, as amongst white 
 l-oople, tf. whom may be allotted superior advantages of 
 tah-nt, education, or fortune, will find the door open for pro- 
 fe.s*,ional employment, or for the duties of public life in some 
 iiistanccB. Questions of social life, as between the two races, 
 
RIOnT OR WRONG OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 21 
 
 we must leave to the wisdom of the future ; such (luestions 
 always regulate themselves. Much is said in some quarters 
 about the impossibility of superior aud inferior races living 
 together in the same country, on any other condition than 
 that of the bondage of the inferior race. I cannot subscribe 
 to this doctrine. Both races are of one blood. And both will 
 be led to dwell together in peace by the common possession 
 of the open bible and the power of a religious life — the great 
 elevating causes which have ennobled our Anglo Saxon race, 
 and which will be found equally powerful for good to all 
 races now occupying an inferior grade. In spite of slavery, 
 the negro race has been greatly civilized by the Christianity 
 of the country. This should be acknowledged, to the credit of 
 religious people especially in the Southern States. But for 
 slavery in those States, the position now occupied by the 
 colored people in this country would no doubt be one greatly 
 more advanced. And we maj^ look for its rapid improvement 
 under the genial influences of freedom inspired by the 
 Christian religion. Ever in a complete minority, and com- 
 monly in humble circumstances, the colored people, once 
 free and no longer a bone of contention, are not likely to 
 occup}'' an undue share of public attention. The real danger 
 will perhaps be that of oppressive treatment by the white 
 race, coupled with the weakness of dependence, and perhaps 
 the misconduct of indolence on the side of the colored race. 
 These risks w-e see ; and we do not see much in the past history 
 of the world that shows how they are to be avoided. But we 
 have faith in the future. We are taught to expect the reign 
 of righteousness. Enlightened self-interest will be found to 
 harmonize with the interests of other men. This war is teach- 
 ing lessons of deep moment to future ages. 
 
 But in the meanwhile ? 
 
 Yes, yon say most truly. This war is a dreadful thing. Its 
 losses, sujfferings, destruction, and death are awful things — can 
 they not be ended? And you ask, Can you suggest nothing 
 at all for their termination? Would to God these terrible 
 evils were indeed at an end ! It is most lamentable to see 
 the evils of war in so many distressing forms all around us, 
 
22 RIGUT OR WRONO OF TUB AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 but after long and earnest reflection I can see only one way 
 in which thc}^ can be brought to an end, and that is by the 
 dispersion of the military force of the rebels and the re-es- 
 tublishnient of the authority of the Government. But let me 
 invoke your help, my dear friend, by supposing a case near 
 your own home that would be in some respects parallel to 
 ours, and by asking what you would then do yourself. 
 
 AVe have the South and Slavery. You have Ireland and 
 Ronumism. The Romanist priests correspond closely to our 
 slaveholders in one respect, in their power over the ignorant 
 masses of their people. They also have an intense dislike of 
 the government of their countiy. Xow suppose Ireland to be 
 in j-ebellion, — southern Ireland. Ostensibly it is for deliver- 
 ance from English oppression, — for independence ; " too long 
 has Ireland born the hated yoke of the Saxon ;" but really it 
 is a rebellion in the interest of Romanism, and it enjoys the 
 sympathies of bigotted Romanists in other lands, even as our 
 southern aristocrats are honored in certain European circles 
 of society. The Irish rebellion is countenanced by priests and 
 ljishoj)s, and it enrols the ignorant masses in its ranks, led by 
 ambitious leaders after the type of O'Connell, like our "poor 
 white trash " in the South, who are followers of Jefferson 
 Davis. It is a rebellion without adequate cause ; it strikes 
 deadly blows against the Queen's good government, and yet 
 it demands to be let alone ! All it wants is separation from 
 England, and independence — that is all ! And it wants this 
 for no eartldy reason except that the &\>\Y\t of Romanism is 
 hostile to the enliglitened policy of the British nation. In this 
 case what would you do? AVould you counsel the Queen to 
 let Ireland go ? AVould you come to terms with the bishops 
 ul the head of their armies ? AVould you yield up to destruc- 
 tiun the i)roperty, and to death or banishment the persons, of 
 loyal i)e<.ple in Ireland ? Could you thus counsel your Sove- 
 reign ? Never ! You would call forth the military power of 
 the kingdom to i)ut down the rebellion. You would not put 
 money or life in the bcale against the integrity of the nation. 
 Vour public men would not express their sympathy with the 
 rebel?-, nor your 2'iineH sneer at tlie eflorts made to put them 
 
\RIGnT OR WRONG OF TUE AMERICAN WAR. 23 
 
 down. Your religious newspapers would not feel " unable to 
 see anything to be gained by such a conflict," nor would they 
 look on both parties as "equally to be pitied," or perchance 
 to be rebuked with a self-righteous severity. The common 
 voice of England and Scotland, and of all that was loyal in 
 Ireland, would require the rebellion to be put down at any 
 and at every cost. 
 
 You would not wage the war against the Eoman Catholic 
 religion, however, though you might feel assured that it was 
 at the bottom of all the trouble, the real cause of all the 
 calamities. You would not destroy the Romanist churches, 
 nor overthrow by military force the superstitious ideas of the 
 bigotted people ; but you would at the same time rejoice that 
 the war against the rebellion tended greatly to weaken the 
 attachment of the Irish people to a religion that brings upon 
 them such evils, and destroys in their hearts the feelings of 
 loyalty to your admirable Queen. In honest truth, you would 
 do very much what we are trying to do. You would stand for 
 your Queen and country. 
 
 And yet, you might counsel her Majesty to let the Irish go, 
 to recognize " the kingdom of Ireland," with almost infinitely 
 less of sacrifice and of the risk of terrible evils, than we 
 should suffer in consenting to a Southern Confederacy. Ire- 
 land lies across an arm of the sea from England ; you could 
 be separated. But there cannot be two governments in this 
 land. We must be one nation, wdiether its policy be anti- 
 slavery or pro-slavery. No peace between the Union and the 
 Confederacy could stand long. It would be but an armed 
 truce, to be maintained by a large military force and fortifi- 
 cations without number, on both sides of a geographical line 
 3,000 miles in length. It would be a truce incurring hourly 
 risk of ending in bloodshed. Fugitive slaves would cross over 
 the line, to be reclaimed, and not to be returned, though follow- 
 ed by armed troops, to be repelled by troops more numerous. 
 Unlawful commerce, resulting from different tariffs, would 
 require custom stations at every mile, giving rise to number- 
 less angry collisions. The great rivers rising in the north, 
 reaching the sea in the south, freighted even now with the 
 
24 lilGUT OR WRONG OF TEE AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 commerce of more white people than can be found in all the 
 i-ebel states, forbid the separation of the north and the south ; 
 so do the chains of our mountains, running as they do from 
 the north to the 'south. The examples cited in reply to this, 
 from different nations dwelling on the Khine and the Danube, 
 are of little force. The element of slavery is not found among 
 them. The extent of their territory is not very large. They 
 are separated by different languages. Other points of differ- 
 ence will be apparent to one who considers what goes to con- 
 stitute a nation. And at any rate it is best for people living 
 on a common great river to be under one government, pro- 
 vided, only, thej^ are of a common stock, of the same lan- 
 guage and the same religion. The Creator of this broad land 
 has shown his will, we may reverently believe, tliat its in- 
 habitants should be under one government. 
 
 Deeply do I feel the impossibility of our having any long- 
 continued peace between the two governments occupying this 
 one territory, especially when so related as would be a pro- 
 slavery and an anti-slavery power. If it had been considered 
 at all practicable to avoid perpetual trouble, outbreaks, scenes 
 of violence, followed by war on the borders, and ending in 
 war in all the land, I in common with thousands of our 
 northern people w'ould have almost welcomed separation 
 from our misguided southern fellow-citizens, yes, almost on 
 any terms, long before the attack on Sumter. Lovers of 
 peace, having a perfect horror of war, though like the true 
 mother we could not have w^illingly consented to see our be- 
 loved country divided in twain, yet we would nevertheless 
 have yielded almost everything for tlie sake of peace, if there 
 only could have been continued peace. Alas, there was to 
 be no peace for us ! This war has come. There can be no 
 peace while tlie rebellion lasts. This is my deep conviction. 
 I feel how much it means. I see its aiofuhiess in a thousand 
 forms ; — in ruined business, in fearful wounds, in lamentable 
 deaths, in bereaved families, and many of these among my own 
 personal friends and kindred. Likeyourself and every humane 
 man, I .shrink from these things and shudder as I think of 
 this awful work of sorrow and death being continued one 
 
RIGHT OR WRONO OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 25 
 
 hour longer. But it is thus tlie rebellion is to be put dowTi. 
 Or if it is not put down, it is by just such awful things as 
 these that I sec all our future history marked, until despotism 
 ends the course of a free and happy people. Yes, we must go 
 on in this dreadful conflict, so far as I can forecast the future, 
 even as you would go on in an Irish rebellion, until the au- 
 thority of the government is once more established, or else we 
 must look forward to a state of things infinitely more to be 
 deplored. As the immediate result of the triumph of this re- 
 bellion, we shall see two powers in array on the northern and 
 southern sides of a boundary line made by the surveyor's 
 compass, a line many hundred miles in length, these two 
 powers having numberless causes and occasions of being 
 brought into conflict with each other, and only too ready to 
 engage in deadly strife. These powers would not, however, 
 continue long in their integrity. Secession would repeat 
 itself in the South and assert its power in the North — 
 perhaps at first, in States or in large cities, but multij dying 
 its horrid examples, until we should see scores or hundreds of 
 petty governments, each ruled by narrow and selfish interests. 
 These miserable governments would before long end in anar- 
 chy. Property, commerce, civilization, family happiness, 
 human life, all would be wrecked in chaotic confusion, until 
 God in his mercy should raise up some American Napoleon 
 the Great, to be at once the deliverer and the scourge of our 
 wretched people. 
 
 I do not despair of the Eepublic, however ; I never did. 
 The prospects of the rebellion are now heavily overcast. Its 
 territory is reduced by the loss of Maryland, Western Vir- 
 ginia, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and portions of other 
 States, so that it is hardly one-half as extensive as it was a 
 year ago ; and the reduction in its resources of men and mili- 
 tary supplies is even greater. It has lost the command of the 
 Mississippi. It has lost prestige. It is becoming demoralized. 
 Singular as it may appear, its strength is outside of itself— in 
 the lingering sympathy of its northern friends and its hopes 
 of European intervention. But its northern sym])athisers are 
 diminishing in number, thouirh the virulence of their leaders 
 
26 niGUT OR WRONG OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 may be increasing. Tlie Iionest masses of the Democratic 
 party are as loyal as any of our citizens. A few of their po- 
 litical leaders are no doubt disloyal men, but they would 
 quickly be displaced if they should show in clear colors their 
 treasonable purposes. Besides, they meet with no encourage- 
 ment even fi-om the rebels ; for they, with a steadfastness wor- 
 thy of a better cause, refuse to listen to any terms of reconcil- 
 iation, except on the basis of southern independence — a basis 
 that never will be acknowledged. 
 
 As to the prospects of European intervention in aid of the 
 rebellion, you must be well informed. It is astonishing to me 
 that it should be seriously thought of. I think your govern- 
 ment understands the case too well, to commit the folly and 
 crime of arraying itself on the side of the rebels. I deplore 
 greatly the suflferings of your countrymen in Lancashire and 
 other places, and of the workmen in so many French facto- 
 ries. It seems to be the will of God that all connected with 
 our slave-grown cotton, at home and abroad, should be 
 brought into distress. Intervention, however, would but in- 
 crease this distress. It would at once result in war. The 
 ocean would soon be covered with privateers. Burning the 
 captured ships after plundering them would be the rule, fol- 
 lowing the un2)rohibited Confederate example. The freight- 
 age of our commerce in our own ships has been nearly de- 
 stroyed by less than half-a-dozen of Alahamas and Floridas. 
 Judge of the disastrous results to your commerce, M'hen scores 
 of such privateers are let loose upon it. War between us 
 would be the greatest calamity in other respects to both na- 
 tions and to the world. It would tend directly to overthrow 
 the rising civilization of jnanv countries. It would be ruin- 
 ous to the happiness of myriads of people. I dread even to 
 think of such calamities as at all probable. But if you can 
 stand them, we can. Indeed, we must — in self-defence; no 
 other than a defensive war with your country will our 
 peoi)le wage, notwithstanding the instigation of some 
 of our newspapers, especially those conducted by some 
 of your former countrymen ; but in defence of our national ex- 
 istence, we shall shrink from no calamities. How infinitely 
 
RIGHT on WliONQ OF THE AMERICAN WAR. 27 
 
 better it were, liowever, for both nations to live in peace with 
 each other ! And, if need be, to stand togetlier against the 
 power that threatens the peace and liberty of the world ! 
 
 I refer to the portentous power of Napoleon III. It is 
 difficult to understand his probable course, lie is capable of 
 doing an}^ thing that is wrong, but he is not blind to his own 
 interest. What advantage he could gain by taking up the 
 cause of the rebellion, that would for a moment counterbalance 
 the dangers of such a course, and the immense debt which he 
 must incur in a fruitless war with this country, I am at a loss 
 to conceive. Indeed, I seriously think that his purposes of 
 foreign aggression have their object much nearer home. I 
 I have for years believed that his greatest»i>urpose is the inva- 
 sion of England. Let him hold London as a military post, 
 and he will have reached the highest pinnacle of fame. For 
 this, he bides his time. Compared with this, what would be 
 the eelat of protecting a few Creole Frenchmen in New Or- 
 leans ? Your country does well, my dear friend, to be on its 
 guard against the designs of this dangerous, bad man. As 
 for us, we are 3,000 miles distant. This may not perhaps save 
 us from the curse of his reckless ambition, but with our large 
 military force and resources, and with the blessing of Provi- 
 dence, it will enable us to take good care of all the ships and 
 men he may send across the Atlantic against us. Few of 
 them would ever return. Indeed I cannot believe that even 
 Napoleon III. will consider it safe or prudent " to mix him- 
 self up" with a conflict in which he can reap little gain and 
 less glory, coupled with inlinite loss and dishonor. 
 
 With exhausted strength at home, with lessening sympathy 
 in the Northern States, with litUe hope of help from France, 
 what remains for the Confederates ? The answer is, the speedy 
 end of their rebellion. And my prayer is that it may be 
 brought to an end before the people of the Free States become 
 inflamed by the spirit of revenge. Thus far no such" feeling 
 commonly exists amongst us. AVere the rebellion now ended, 
 gladly would our people pour forth their treasures to relieve 
 the great distress prevailing in many places iu the southern 
 part of the country. 
 
28 RIGHT OR WRONG OF TEE AMERICAN WAR. 
 
 The rebellion ended, its leaders will withdraw from public 
 life ; some of them will emigrate to other countries. Its 
 honest but deluded adherents will be glad to find themselves 
 enjoying peace again in the Union. Slavery will cease to be 
 a controlling power in our national councils. The anti-slav- 
 ery feeling of the country, in the North and South alike, will 
 be deepened and chastened. Industrial and moral causes will 
 resume their peaceful sway, tending more and more to the 
 freedom of the slaves, and to the best treatment of the 
 negroes when free. And our citizens will have learned les- 
 sons of wisdom from the calamities of these dark days, such 
 as by God's blessing will make them a better people, less self- 
 confident, and more than ever fitted for the high trust of 
 self-government. 
 
 "With this hope, I close this long letter, only adding the 
 •sincere regards with which I am, 
 
 Yours, very truly, 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ||| 
 
 012 028 237 2 # 
 
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