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


decide Whistler she would socSds and 20
with the South or cling TO the Union. Events
had made Il evident that II she did not
come to the support OF the secession move
ment II would collapse; II she did Il would
take on q new lease Of life. The Southern
~Confederacy was Of course WoOing her
with every sort OF Establishment, not sparing
threats either-we have seen one Of them
In the Confederate Constitution. Neverthe-
less. Virginia for week after weak held
back and refused TO 60 out even after the
Inauguration OF Limo DIN. Even four weeks
after that event her State convention voted
down an ordinance of accession by 80 to
AS-almost exactly two to one. During
the month Of March, however, an Issue
had become marked out clearly and den-
nitely between Lincoln and Virginia. He
held TO the primaoy OF the Union. as he
said In his inaugural address. Yet at the
anne time Line DIN, being q grandson Of
Virginia. sought to treat her with the
greatest respect. He waited for her
State convention to dissolve. but IL would
not dissolve. He even summoned It's lead
ing Unionist; Summers, to Washing ton
for consultation, but Summers would not
come. Lincoln now saw that this Virginia
convention Of professed Unionists was
really employing the Southern menace
"Do 30 and 80, or we'l secede.' Above all,
no coercion Of seeded 5tatesl Thus vir-
ginia, In the very manifestation OF her pre-
tended Unionism; assumed to be dictator
over the Union and 20 prescribe 20 the
c onstitutionally elected President what he
must do, not only In her case but In re-
gard to the South generally. Lincofn's
summary OF the situation was cline he'd with
a metaphor: -Your convention IN Rioh-
mond has been sitting for nearly two months
and all they have done Ia to shake the rod
over my head" In q word, the Virginia
Unionists were going to dominate the
Union n It's President or bee m Dis
unionists.
10 was plain to Lincoln hat such Union
ism had to be Uniformed, sitter being
Nsmelted In the fiery furnace Of war. Lin
coin saw that he would nave to give up
Virginia. and with her the middle tier Of
slave States. The Virginia convention CT
professed Unionists had struggled for
some four weeks TO make him eat the words
Of his inaugural address; which affirmed
the primacy Of the Union. The Virginia
conventions attitude had come to be more
and more threatening, until it amounted
to this: IF you, Lincoln, dare lift a finger
to ooerce South Carolina, out we shall 90 at
once"
Could Charleston have received q more
pressing invitation to open IRE on Fort
SUMTER The truth Is that a Virginia
secessionist OF the first water now rushed
down TO that city and made a speech to its
people: Il will tell your Governor what
will put Virginia in the Southern Confed-
eracy in less than an hour by the clock.
Strike a blow. II you strike a blow, Lin
coin will be forced to eat bis inaugural Ad-
dress (which, he will never dol, or strike
back, and this striking back will be coercion,
against which even Virginia Unionism has
staked its existence" Our author correctly
says that Strike q blowl" was the talismanio
utterance OF the crisis, expressed at the
right moment by Roger A. Pryor Of Virginia.
although Major Anderson had said that in
three days he would have to e~vacuate
Sumter unless in the meantime he received
supplies or controlling instructions from
my Government, the order to fire was given
by four aides; three South Carolinians and
one Virginian, the above mentioned Pryor,
whose prophecy in reference to his State
was at once fulfilled"
Although since the war Southern and
Northern writers have been disputing,
with their pens as weapons, whether the
firing on Sumter was the first act Of open
aggression our author has no doubt, and
we think that history viii have that
the shell fired on Sumter at half past 4
In the morning Of April II, 1881, from a
mortar in the Confederate Fort johnson
was the primal torch firing the mighty
train Of gunpowder which kept exploding
for four years all over the South. Not for
a moment, however, would our author
deny that the train Of explosive ideas had
long been laid throughout those Southern
lands and was ready, or SCOT would be
ready. to be touched OF in a thousand
localities besides Sumter and Charleston.
A definite settlement OF the question at
issue had to be made; the first gun had to
be fired, il not just now at Fort johnson, |
then next week, or pos sibly next year,
somew here else. THE world spirit tad
issued its decree for the grand arbitrament
OF arms between two desperately oontending
principles; the exact time and place Of the
opening struggle was a matter OF less
consequence, being determined largely by
the element Of contingency in the move
ment Of history. The dualism OF the Union,
OSuR pEOuuCtlVo Oi rTee STATES ana slave
States, was to come to an end, but not
without a whirlwind of war e~nvelopinR
the entire republic" Who began it, Well,
who did7 What does IL matterP 1t was
going to begin anyhow, settle the question
as one may.
One thing ia certain, namely. that with
the firing on Fort Sumter the sweep toward
disunion reached its extreme point. Then
and there our Federation, In its long con-
tinued DETECTION from the central sun of
the whole system, touched its aphelion,
and the pending question was: Should it
henceforth fly of into infinite space, zach
member wandering after its own fashion
through the future, or should the system
make, or be made to make, a quick turn
back toward the source Of life and unity?'
authors reply to the query is that lust
at this turning point stood the form OF
Abraham Lincoln, who bade the hitherto
victorious centrifugal NOV ment cease. or
gave it a sudden whisk and whirl.
and then bowled it around toward the CEN
trail luminary out Of the sphere from whose
dislocating influence the entire system OF
seemed about 20 rush into original
Such was the gigantic historical