Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 1.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

Such acts could not fail to dispel any doubt that might still exist as to the intentions of the political leaders of the South. The States in which the Republican party was in the ascendant, those under Democratic rule, the border slave States, and the Federal government, while perfectly unanimous in condemning these provocations, took very different ways of resenting the outrage.

The first, on receiving the news of the rupture between the President and the commissioners from South Carolina, emphatically declared at their meetings, through the medium of their leading statesmen, in favor of maintaining the Union, whatever the cost might be. But at the same time, in order to prove to the South how little they had thought of making war upon her, they referred to the laws they had passed for the surrender of fugitive slaves—laws just in themselves, but unfortunately unconstitutional. The most zealous among them—who were also the most clear-sighted—followed the example of Massachusetts, who, since the 3d of January, had been busy in making military preparations. The outrage committed at Charleston against the national flag had caused a profound sensation throughout the great States of the West. The fate of the Union was in their hands; if they had hesitated to defend it, the Union was lost. The Southern leaders counted upon this hesitation, and in order to lead them to adopt their views, they announced that the navigation of the Mississippi—the necessary outlet for all Western produce—should be for ever free from all obstructions. But these precautionary measures had no effect; those States declared against them with a degree of unanimity and energy which foreshadowed from that moment the immense sacrifices they would make for the Federal cause.

Nor were the efforts of the seceders more successful in shaking the loyalty of those States where the Democrats were in the majority. The mayor of New York, Mr. Wood—who was indebted for his position to intrigues but little creditable to that great city-tried in vain to seduce her from her allegiance to the Union, by holding out the flattering prospect of making her a