Jefferson held that the Sovereign States which made the Constitution have the right to judge of its infraction.

Daniel Webster, the Northern statesman, in the debate with Mr. Hayne, said :—

"We do not deny that the people may, if they choose, throw off any Government when it becomes oppressive and intolerable, and erect a better in its stead."

Chancellor Livingstone held that—

"In cases which cannot be decided by the Supreme Court, States are justified in withdrawing from the Union. The doctrine that the Federal Government is formed by the people, and not the States leads to consolidation and monarchy."

Levi Woodbury, an eminent Northern statesman, said :— "The States existed prior to this Government. Each of them possessed all the rights which appertain to sovereign and independent nations."

And Andrew Jackson, in his famous Nullification Ordinance, asserted :

“The indispensable right of resisting acts which are plainly unconstitutional, and too oppressive to be endured.”

The Act of Secession was contemplated by every State, as an undoubted right, in the adoption of the constitution. Several expressly declared it. All admitted that there was no power to hinder it. Hamilton declared that the idea of coercion was madness. Secession, as a last resource, has been contemplated by the people of every section of the Union.

In 1826, Mr. Hayne of South Carolina, speaking in the Senate, said :

"Let me solemnly declare once for all, that the Southern States never will permit any interference whatever in their domestic concerns, and that on the very day on which the unhallowed attempt shall be made by the authorities of the Federal Government, we will consider ourselves as driven from the Union. Let the consequences be what they may, they never

can be worse than such as must inevitably result from suffering a rash and ignorant interference with our domestic peace and tranquillity."

It is needless to multiply authorities on a matter so plain as this. Under the American democratic system, a majority of the people of every State have the sole right to choose, or to change the government and political relations of that State. Americans do not believe that one generation has the right to sell its whole posterity into political slavery, or subject it to a despotism. The only acknowledged power is, "We, the people." They can make and unmake. What the States had the power to delegate, they had the right to resume.

So the States of the South, acting upon the principles set forth in the Declaration of Independence, and in their State Constitutions, seceded from the Union. As each State had its defined boundaries, it necessarily carried with it its forts and arsenals. Some of these had been built by the States and ceded to the Union. The South had no more than her fair

proportion, probably less. She had also officers in the army and navy. She called upon her gallant sons to come to the defence of the States to which they owed allegiance. There was no doubt or hesitation. The most distinguished, the most gallant officers in army and navy were Southerners, and they resigned their commissions in the Federal army and navy, and tendered their swords to the New Confederacy. Ships came in from the distant Pacific and China seas, and heard the first news of the Dissolution of the Union from the pilot who brought them into port.

The Southerners took a farewell look at the starry flag, shook hands with their Northern messmates, and said good. bye, to meet them next time, perhaps, with shot and shell in deadly conflict. They sent their commissions to Washington, and went to defend their homes in the States which they believed had the first and highest claims to their allegiance.

Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States, was a soldier as well as a statesman, and had won brilliant laurels on the hard-fought field of Buena Vista. General Lee, the Confederate Commander-in-Chief, had served with distinguished honour under General Scott in Mexico. His father, Harry Lee, had been a dashing cavalry officer in the Revolution-Washington's favourite commander of Lee's Light Horse Brigade. His ancestors were among the most distinguished of the old cavalier families of the "Old Dominion." His wife, the mother of five heroic sons, all soldiers in the Confederate army, was the adopted granddaughter of Washington, the only daughter and child of George Washington Parke Custis. General Lee was the Washington of the Confederacy. The Johnstons, Beauregard, "Stonewall" Jackson, Bragg, Hardee, were distinguished officers of the Federal army, as Maury, Semmes, Maffit, &c., were of the navy. Traitors? No. They owed allegiance to the Federal Government so long, and only so long, as their respective States were members of that confederation. When that union was dissolved, their allegiance was due to the States of which they were citizens, and which had the legal right to try and punish them for treason. one fact carries the entire argument. The Virginian fighting against Virginia—the South Carolinian fighting against South Carolina, would be the real traitor. I believe there were very few of them.

This

General Scott was a Virginian. He was old and infirm. He held the military rank of Lieutenant-General, created expressly for him. He believed that he could prevent a war, He was disappointed, overborne, and thrown aside, to make way for M'Clellan and Halleck.

CHAPTER XLI.

THE CAUSES OF THE WAR.

In the Presidential election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln had a majority in every Northern State except New Jersey. Every Southern State voted almost unanimously for Mr. Breckenridge. Lincoln was therefore elected by having a majority of States, while there was a large majority of the people, about a million, against him. But for the division in the Democratic party, which had two candidates, Douglas in the North and Breckenridge in the South, Lincoln could not have been elected, and there would have been no secession and no war.

As soon as the result of the election was known, conventions were called in several of the Southern States. South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas formally seceded from the Federal Union, and formed a new government, under the title of the Confederate States of America, with its capital at Montgomery, Alabama. Jefferson Davis, Senator from Mississippi, formerly an officer in the United States army, and Secretary of War, was elected President of the Southern Confederacy.

The Constitution adopted by the Confederate States was that of the United States, with a few alterations. The President was elected for six years, instead of four, and to be eligible only for a single term. All officers of the Government, except foreign ministers and heads of departments, were to hold office during good behaviour, and could not be removed for political reasons. These provisions were expected to put an end to many of the corruptions of politics. There were other safeguards against extravagant and corrupt expenditures.

When the South withdrew from the Union, nearly one hundred and fifty officers of the army and navy, citizens of the

Confederate States, resigned their commissions, considering that they owed allegiance to the States to which they belonged, and not to the Union, of which those States were no longer members. The most capable and distinguished of those officers were at once appointed to commands in the military service of the new confederacy. Most of the civil posts were also filled by those who had held appointments under the United States Government.

As the States seceded from the Union they took possession, as far as practicable, of the fortresses, arsenals, and other public property, held for their use and protection hitherto by the general government. Most of these were destitute of garrisons, and were taken without difficulty. Major Anderson, commanding the garrison of Fort Moultrie, Charleston, being threatened by a superior force of South Carolina troops, retired to Fort Sumter, in the centre of the harbour, which, with sufficient men and supplies, was considered an almost impregnable position. An attempt to send him supplies and reinforcements was made by the government of Mr. Buchanan. The Star of the West entered the harbour, but was driven off by the batteries erected by the troops of the State. The holding of the fort, and still more, the attempt at its reinforcement, was considered an act of war by the seceded States.

While the forces of South Carolina were gathering around Fort Sumter, Lieutenant Slemmer, at Pensacola, held Fort Pickens, though the Navy Yard and Shore batteries were surrendered to the Florida troops. These were acts of the State governments; but when the Confederate Government was organized, Gen. Beauregard, previously a distinguished officer of the United States army, was sent to take command at Charleston, and Gen. Bragg, who had become a popular hero by his gallant conduct in the battle of Buena Vista, was despatched to Pensacola.

On the 4th of March, 1861, Abraham Lincoln was inaugura