Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 17.djvu/235

 The Momiment to General Bohert E, Lee, 227

way, which Mr. Lincoln and the Republican party of his day de- nounced as "the gravest of crimes.'*

If the considerations to which I have referred were entided to have any influence in determining the policy of the Southern States be- cause of Mr. Lincoln's election, that influence should have been most strongly felt in the border States, where the danger of mischief was greater, and yet these were the States that adhered most steadfastly to the Union. This fact tends strongly to show the difference of opinion between the people of the cotton and of the border slave States, and serves to illustrate the sincerity of the attachment of the latter to the Union.

I have thus endeavored to show you how matters stood before the 15th of April, 1 86 1, and to point out the important fact so essential to a correct understanding of the history of that eventful period, and yet so constantly overlooked, disregarded, or misrepresented, that with reference to a dissolution of the Union for any cause existing before the 15th of April, the difference between the people of the border States and those of the cotton States was as clearly marked as the difference between the North and South had been before the election of Mr. Lincoln.

THE EFFECT OF LINCOLN'S PROCLAMATION.

There remains but one other fact to be stated in order that you may understand the effect produced upon the people of the border States by Mr. Lincoln's proclamation.

Those States cast at the presidential election of i860, 867,675 votes, as against 478,685 cast by the cotton States, and of those 867,675 votes, an overwhelming majority was opposed to secession and in favor of the maintenance of the Union. But firmly as this great body of citizens adhered to the Union, their attachment was one of affection and not of fear. Earnestly as they desired its maintenance, they desired that it should be maintained by American and not by Russian methods. Their confidence in the principles of the Ameri- can system of government was unbounded. To them it seemed that these principles were strong enough to deal successfully with all the troubles of the country, if time were allowed for passion to cool, for the voice of reason to make itself heard, and for a calm and earnest appeal to the genuine attachment of, the people to the institutions of their country. By those peaceful means they were confident that the people of the cotton States could be brought in time to the views