Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 1.djvu/356

318 enjoyed a profit of $200,000,000 per annum out of its Southern business.

Within five weeks after the election Northern efforts were strenuously put forth to avert secession. (Blaine.) Chief Justice Shaw, lately of the Supreme court of Massachusetts, united with about thirty eminent citizens of his State in an address, strong in declarations of existing perils, and urging State action to soften the blow which had fallen. A great mass meeting was held in Philadelphia to assure the South that the impending dangers would be averted. Jere Black, of Pennsylvania, denounced &quot;the success of the Republican party as a portent of direst evil,&quot; pronouncing the fears of the South natural, and their serious protest to be justifiable. (Blaine, 231.) The elections in December in many places showed a decrease of Republican strength. This meager summary imperfectly shows the apprehensions of civil trouble which now startled the thoughtful non-partisan Northern population.

But in these thirty critical days, following the presidential election, the disunion spirit both North and South countervailed the conciliatory efforts of patriots everywhere. There was a strong sentiment for separation existing in the North as well as the South. Its presence was evinced by the declarations of leaders like Senator Wade, who said in public speech to his people: &quot;You have no Union today worthy of the name. I am here a conservative man, knowing as I do that the only salvation to your Union is that you divest it entirely of the taint of slavery. If we cannot have that, then I go for no Union at all, but I go for a fight.&quot; Mr. Chase advised that &quot;the South is not worth fighting for.&quot; Andrew Johnson declared that Mr. Sumner wanted to break up the government. Mr. Beecher pronounced the Constitution as the foundation of the troubles because it attempt ed to hold together two opposing principles which will not agree. The Tribune, while ridiculing the Southern