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 The Lost Cause. 237

of the sublimest spectacles ever exhibited in the world's history. Born to an inheritance of freedom ; jealous of the glories of the Union, of which the South was so large and important a part, and to the formation of which her people had contributed so much, her sons reverenced the Constitution of their fathers and the Union it formed, and shrank with awe from the idea of being deprived of either. Proud of the historic memories of the fortitude and heroism of the men and women of the South in the Revolution, their descendants were full of admiration of the structure they reared; and taught to view the Constitution these patriots had made as the palladium of their rights, the Southern people clung to its plain provisions, and rendered the homage of devoted hearts to the Union it formed.

So strong was Southern devotion to the Union, that the idea of dissolving it had for a long time to be endured before it was em- braced, even after thoughts of danger to the rights of the South were associated with its continuance. The resources of the brightest intellects and most patriotic hearts of the statesmen of the South were exhausted in devising expedients to save the Union, by staying the march of aggression, which threatened to endanger it. The various compromise measures which for a time allayed excitement and quieted apprehension are an evidence of this. The suggestion of a dual presidency was a device of the great intellect and patriotic soul of America's greatest statesmen to protect the South, and yet preserve the Union. The idea of nullification sprang from the same desire. The non-preparation of the Southern States for the necessities of war is an evidence of the hopeful trust of her people in fancied ability to preserve the Union and enjoy their rights. If hostility to the Union, and desire to break it, were felt by the people of the South, their course was marked by inexplicable and unexampled folly, for it is part of history that no preparation whatever had been made by the South for war when it was found to be iminent. Neither military organization, nor armaments, nor provision for them, existed. The truth is, that disunion and war were a surprise to the South, and were accepted as a dire necessity to avert what seemed to be a greater evil. The charge that the Southern people were hostile to the Union, and desired to overthrow it, is a groundless calumny, falsified by their history. Her sons were foremost in the Revolutionary struggle, her statesmen conspicuous in the councils of the government. The ban- ner of the Union was never unfurled on land or sea, where danger was to be encountered and death endured in her service, when South- ern men did not rally around it. The brightest laurels of the wars