December 3. |
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where reason and not passion ruled the people.
The leaders of the Breckinridge Democrats,1 who were more intimately affiliated, as partisans, with the politicians in the Slave-labor States than others, were eager to suppress all discussion of the Slavery question at the North, and were willing to give Slavery free scope by the repeal of all Personal Liberty Laws, the rigid execution of the Fugitive Slave Act, and an amendment of the Constitution, so as to secure the right of property in slaves everywhere.
The Douglas Democrats2 adhered to the doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, but were willing to make liberal concessions to the Slave interest by the repeal of Personal Liberty laws and the rigid execution of the Fugitive Slave Act. The Republicans3 adhered to their opposition to Slavery, yet favored conciliatory measures, as shadowed by one of their chief leaders;4 while a few corrupt politicians, whose love of party and its honors and emoluments was far greater than love of country, openly defended the course of the traitors, and advocated secession as not only a constitutional right, but as expedient.
But while there was a general desire to conciliate the madmen of the South, the great mass of the people in the Free-labor States, comprising the bulk of all parties, were firmly attached to the Union, and resolutely determined to maintain the National integrity at all hazards.
Union meetings were held, and Union sentiments were expressed with a vehemence and power which alarmed the more discreet leaders in the South.
The men of the North had watched the rising rebellion, first with incredulity and then with amazement; but when it assumed tangible form and substance — when it became a reality, aggressive and implacable — they prepared to meet it with calmness and firmness.
They deprecated all inflammatory proceedings like the commemoration, in Boston, of the execution of John Brown,
5 and were anxious to be exactly just toward their brethren in the Slave-labor States: yet they were ready and willing to oppose force to force, morally and physically, when the insurgents.
should attack the bulwarks of the Republic.
The conservative influence of commerce and manufactures was a powerful restraint upon the passions of the indignant people of the North, when they perceived the utter faithlessness of the Southern leaders, not only in their political, but in their business relations.
The South was an immense debtor to the North for merchandise purchased on long credits,6 and it was very soon apparent, from the recommendations of the leaders in the Slave-labor States, that a scheme was on foot for the repudiation of all debts due to merchants and manufacturers in the Free-labor States.
So early as the day of the Presidential election, it was evident to sagacious men that a
1 See page 33.
2 See page 33.
3 See page 33.
4 In a speech at Auburn, New York (his home), on the 20th of November, 1850, Mr. Seward counseled moderation and conciliation. He begged them to be patient and kind toward their erring brethren. “Weare all. Fellow-citizens, Americans, brethren,” he said. “It is a trial of issues by the forces only of reason.”
5 Quite a number of citizens of Boston, and some from other places, assembled in Tremont Temple, in that city, on the 3d of December, 1860, to celebrate the anniversary of the execution of John Brown, in Virginia, the year before. A larger number of inhabitants, led by a man named Fay, also assembled there, took possession of the Temple, organized a meeting, denounced the acts of John Brown as “bloody and tyrannical,” and; his sympathizers as disturbers of the public peace; and then, according to a published account, expelled from the hall “the Abolitionists and negroes by sheer force.”
6 More than two hun dred millions of dollars were due to the Northern merchants and manufacturers by Southerners.
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