The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-10-07
HI.


III.
To his second part. The Union Dis
united the author allots some $50 pages.
The purport OF them Is summed UP in the
chapter which deals with The Third Align
ment,' by which 10 meant the final stage in
the progress Of secession. This stage COW
cred the Ave months and some days be-
tween the election OF Lincoln to theP resi-
dency and the firing on Fort Sumter, which
was followed Immediately by his call for
troops to suppress the rebellion. Seces-
sion had passed through several stages Of
evolution, moro or less sharply marked,
before this elimination. The Union had
been threatened since its formation by in
dividuals; and once, in 1882. by a State.
South Carolina, which never seriously re-
nounoed the project, and now in 1850 is
about to resume it. In the present crisis,
however, secession has become the pur-
pose Of not merely one State, but OF a group
Of States in the South; indeed, the entire
Southern section was more or less deeply
Hinged with disaffection to the Union. Since
1858 the purpose had been proclaimed,
p~ropagated and ultimately ~crystallized into
q fixed resolution on the part OF certain
States, especially in the event Of the cleo
ton Of Q Republican President. The event
had occurred, and now the inner resolution
passed rapidly into the outward act. Such
was the Third Alignment In which We
behold secession realized.
MI. Snider goes on TO show how the two
previous aliEnments, which are here named
the Congressional and the Presidential.
IL -. .,a....t,a .Na-a. L. che N1Sol
process OF secession, now rounded to oom-
pletIon. In Congress (1SSS-59) had been
waged by the representatives OF both sides
a war Of words p~reludlng the war Of deeds
which was TO be carried on by the people
themselves. In the Presidential alignment
the weapon had been the ballot, the ira
ditional peaceful method Of settling national
disputes by means Of a constitutional ma
iority. It seems, however. that there IL no
peace, since the South will not recognize
the rule Of a majority. So, after the cleo
ton OF Lincoln events marched rapidly for
ward to the Third Alignment, when a new
movement set in.
Very rapid and numerous and intricate
were the c~onvolutions of the stormy time
which In Ave brief months concentrated
an energy which in other epochs might
have needed decades, IL not centuries, for
evolution. To the author Of the book be-
fore US the outer appearance Of this period
Is that Of a vast maelstrom which suddenly
sweIls up from the depths of the ocean,
and swirling In multitudinous
eddies, eaoh OF which dashes madly against
the others yet belongs to the n great vor-
OF waters Upon this unity we should
our eyes. II Is well known that the last
alignment; which took the form OF seces-
sion, realized itself in three memorable acts,
beginning with South Carolina, then pass
ing 10 the lower tier OF Slave States, and
finally winning the middle tier The upper
or northern tier OF Slave States secession
succeeded in controlling. Such are
the three acts OF the drama unfolding
themselves in order; zach of them, too,
has its own process, which is quite similar
In all Of them, and consists Of three main
elements, namely, first, the South, a. the
active, seceesive i~rritant; secondly, the
Administration at the capital, as the irri-
tated point. passive at first, yet slowly
rising to resistance; and lastly, the North,
on and bordering owe the various
proposed compromises, till IL bursts forth
In q great overflow southwark, TO reach
the seat OF all this irritation. and to wipe
out secession, and with it slavery.