Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 22.djvu/376

 364 Southern Historical Society Papers.

Camden, and Saratoga, and Lexington, and Plattsburg, and Chip- pewa, and Erie, and Moultrie, and New Orleans, and Yorktown, and Bunker Hill." Had the South loved the Union less and clung to it less tenaciously; had she refused to make concessions and sacri- fices for its preservation; had she instead of weakening herself by compromises for its sake, withdrawn from it when first her rights were assailed, the pen of the historian would never have recorded the story of Appomattox. It was her attachment to the Union her unselfish loyalty and patriotism which caused her to so long endure Northern aggression, yield again and again to Northern demands, and place herself in a position in which her defeat was possible.

But the Union which the men of the South loved, and which they were willing to make concessions and sacrifices to perpetuate, was that formed by the fathers " to establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty." It was a fraternal federation of sovereign States, guaranteeing equal rights to all, and leaving each free to regulate its domestic affairs in its own way. It was a union in which, in reference to questions of foreign policy, every citizen would echo the sentiment expressed by Patrick Henry, when, after Concord and Lexington, in a message to Massachusetts, he said : "I am not a Virginian, I am an American," and yet it was a union in which, in reference to questions of domestic policy, every citizen, like that same great orator and patriot, would recognize the right of his own State to his highest allegiance. It was a union in which the people of each State would enjoy the blessings of local self government, and find in home rule a safeguard against any possi- ble attempt of the Federal power to interfere with their peculiar interests.

CONDITIONS THAT EXISTED.

When it became evident that this Union was to exist in name only; when its essential principles had been overthrown and tramp- led in the dust; when the spirit of fraternity had given place to a bitter feeling of sectional hostility; when New England speakers and writers were heaping abuse and slander upon the South, and teaching the people that they "would be poor children of seven years' disobedience to laws" if they supposed that they were obliged to obey the law of the land which protected the Southern people in the peaceful possession of their institutions ; when the men