had already decided the Territorial question in their favor, and it was also ascertained that there would be a majority in both Houses of the first Congress of Mr. Lincoln's term, sufficient to prevent any legislation to their injury. Thus protected, it would be madness for them to rush into secession.

Besides, they were often warned and must have known that by their separation from the free States, these very rights over slave property, of which they were so jealous, would be in greater jeopardy than they had ever been under the Government of the Union. Theirs would then be the only Government in Christendom which had not abolished or was not in progress to abolish slavery. There would be a strong pressure from abroad against this institution. To resist this effectually would require the power and moral influence of the Government of the whole United States. They ought, also, to have foreseen, that if their secession should end in civil war, whatever might be the event, slayery would receive a blow from which it could never recover. The true policy, even in regard to the safety of their domestic institution, was to cling to the Union.

CHAPTER VI.

Mr. Lincoln's election to the Presidency-Its danger to the Union-Warnings of the President and his trying position-His policy in the emergency, and the reasons for it-His supreme object the preservation of the Union-Meeting of Congress, and the hostility of the two parties toward each other-The wrongs of the South— How rash and causeless would be rebellion in the Cotton States-The right of secession discussed and denied in the Message-The President's position 'definedQuestion of the power to coerce a State-Distinction between the power to wage war against a State, and the power to execute the laws against individuals-Views of Senator (now President) Johnson, of Tennessee-President Buchanan's solemn appeal in favor of the Union-His estrangement from the secession leaders-Cessation of all friendly intercourse between him and them.

On the 6th November, 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, and immediately thereafter the Legislature of South Carolina passed an Act for the call of a Convention to carry the State out of the Union, calculating that by this precipitate violence she might force the other cotton States to follow in her lead.

Every discerning citizen must now have foreseen serious danger to the Union from Mr. Lincoln's election. After a struggle of many years, this had accomplished the triumph of the antislavery over the slaveholding States, and established two geographical parties, inflamed with malignant hatred against each other, in despite of the warning voice of Washington. It at once became manifest that the apprehensions of civil war, arising from this event, had proved as disastrous to the business of the country as if the struggle had actually commenced. Although the harvests of the year had been abundant, and commerce and manufactures had never been more prosperous, terror and alarm everywhere prevailed. In the midst of all the elements of prosperity, every material interest was at once greatly

depressed. With a sound currency in abundance, the price of all public securities fell in the market. The credit of the Federal Government, which had before stood so high, was unable to resist the shock. The small necessary loans to meet the previous appropriations of Congress, could not be obtained except at ruinous rates.

Throughout more than a quarter of a century the late President, on every fitting occasion, had solemnly warned his countrymen of the approaching danger, unless the agitation in the North against slavery in the South should cease. Instead of this, it still continued to increase, year after year, with brief intervals only, until it has become at length the unhappy, though unjustifiable cause, perhaps the criminal pretext, for the secession of eleven slaveholding States from the Confederacy.

The President had less than four months to complete his term of office. The Democratic party, to which he owed his election, had been defeated, and the triumphant party had pursued his administration from the beginning with a virulence uncommon even in our history. His every act had been misrepresented and condemned, and he knew that whatever course he might pursue, he was destined to encounter their bitter hostility. No public man was ever placed in a more trying and responsible position. Indeed, it was impossible for him to act with honest independence, without giving offence both to the anti-slavery and secession parties, because both had been clearly in the wrong. In view of his position, and after mature reflection, he adopted a system of policy to which ever afterward, during the brief remnant of his term, he inflexibly adhered. This he announced and explained in the annual message to Congress of the 3d December, 1860, and in the special message thereafter of the 8th January, 1861.

The Cabinet was then composed of Lewis Cass, of Michigan, Secretary of State; Howell Cobb, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury; John B. Floyd, of Virginia, Secretary of War; Isaac Toucey, of Connecticut, Secretary of the Navy; Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, Secretary of the Interior; Joseph Holt, of Kentucky, Postmaster-General, in the place of

Aaron V. Brown, of Tennessee, deceased; and Jeremiah S. Black, of Pennsylvania, Attorney-General.

The annual message throughout, before it was communicated to Congress, had been warmly approved by every member of the Cabinet, except so much of it as denied the right of secession, and maintained the duty of defending the public property and collecting the revenue in South Carolina, to which Messrs. Cobb and Thompson objected. These having now become practical questions of vital importance, both felt it would be impossible to remain in the Cabinet whilst holding opinions upon them in opposition to the known and settled convictions of the President. They accordingly resigned after the meeting of Congress, remaining in office for a brief period, to enable them to bring up and close the ordinary business of their respective departments, and thus clear the way for their successors.

At this critical moment, and but nine days after Congress had assembled, General Cass, on the 12th December, 1860, resigned the office of Secretary of State, notwithstanding the message had, but a few days before, elicited from him strong expressions of approbation. Of this resignation and the circumstances preceding and following it, we forbear to speak, not doubting it proceeded at the moment from a sense of duty. Attorney-General Black was, in consequence, appointed Secretary of State, and the vacancy thereby created was filled by the appointment of Edwin M. Stanton as Attorney-General.

Philip F. Thomas, formerly Governor of Maryland, and then Commissioner of Patents, was appointed Secretary of the Treasury, in place of Mr. Cobb, who had resigned on the 8th December, but he did not long continue in office, having also resigned on the 11th January, 1861. The reason he assigned was a difference of opinion from the President and a majority of the Cabinet in regard to the measures which had been adopted against South Carolina, and the purpose of the President to enforce the collection of the customs at the port of Charleston. Immediately thereafter, the President tendered the appoint ment of Secretary of the Treasury to General John A. Dix, of New York, which was, much to his satisfaction, promptly ac cepted.

The Interior Department remained vacant after the retirement of Mr. Thompson, but its duties were ably and faithfully performed by Moses Kelly, the chief clerk, until the close of the administration. Upon Mr. Holt's transfer, late in December, 1860, from the Post Office to the War Department, the first Assistant Postmaster-General, Horatio King, of Maine, continued for some time to perform the duties of the Department in a highly satisfactory manner, when he was appointed PostmasterGeneral. After these changes the Cabinet consisted of Messrs. Black, Dix, Holt, Toucey, Stanton, and King, who all remained in office until the end of Mr. Buchanan's term.

The President had earnestly desired that his Cabinet might remain together until the close of the administration. He felt sensibly the necessary withdrawal of some of its members, after all had been so long united in bonds of mutual confidence and friendship.

The President's policy was, first and above all, to propose and urge the adoption of such a fair and honorable compromise as might prove satisfactory to all the States, both North and South, on the question of slavery in the Territories, the immediate and principal source of danger to the Union; and should he fail to accomplish this object in regard to the seven cotton States, which there was too much cause to apprehend, then to employ all legitimate means to preserve and strengthen the eight remaining slave or border States in their undoubted loyalty. These States, he knew, in case of need, might prove instrumental in bringing back their erring sisters to a sense of duty.

To preserve the Union was the President's supreme object, and he considered it doubtful whether it could survive the shock of civil war. He was well aware that our wisest statesmen had often warned their countrymen, in the most solemn terms, that our institutions could not be preserved by force, and could only endure whilst concord of feeling, and a proper respect by one section for the rights of another, should be maintained. Mr. Madison in this spirit had observed, in the Federal Convention,* *June 8, 1787. Sup. to Elliot's Debates, vol. v., p. 171.