Search -
The Writings of James Russell Lowell (v. 5); Political Essays
The Writings of James Russell Lowell Political Essays - v. 5 Author:James Russell Lowell Volume: v. 5 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1890 Original Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin and Co. Subjects: American literature History / General Literary Collections / American / General Literary Criticism / American / General Poetry / American / General Political Science / General Notes: This i... more »s a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: THE PICKENS-AND-STEALIN'S . REBELLION 1861 Had any one ventured to prophesy on the Fourth of March that the immediate prospect of Civil War would be hailed by the people of the Free States with a unanimous shout of enthusiasm, he would have been thought a madman. Yet the prophecy would have been verified by what we now see and hear in every city, town, and hamlet from Maine to Kansas. With the advantage of three months' active connivance in the cabinet of Mr. Buchanan, with an empty treasury at Washington, and that reluctance to assume responsibility and to inaugurate a decided policy, the common vice of our politicians, who endeavor to divine and to follow popular sentiment rather than to lead it, it seemed as if Disunion were inevitable, and the only open question were the line of separation. So assured seemed the event that English journalists moralized gravely on the inherent weakness of Democracy. While the leaders of the Southern Rebellion did not dare to expose their treason to the risk of a popular vote in any one of the seceding States, The Saturday Heview, one of the ablest of British journals, solemnly warned itscountrymen to learn by our example the dangers of an extended suffrage. Meanwhile, the conduct of the people of the Free States, during all these trying and perilous months, had proved, if it proved anything, the essential conservat...« less