should be required to bow down and worship what the rest of the civilized world had stigmatized as the greatest scourge of mankind.  Seeing the power this great wrong was obtaining over the nation, as well as the danger it was causing us by corrupting the minds of the people, they consulted together and elected a President after their own way of thinking.  And this so offended the people of the South, who were a brave people, and quick to anger, that they gathered together from all parts of their country, gave up their peaceful pursuits, and went to war for what they called their independence.  But I always found, my son, that independence was an abused phrase, much on the tongues of these people.  Indeed their idea of independence extended only to giving one class the full and exclusive right to enslave the other.  The Southern idea of independence was so shaped as to contain the very worst features of a despotism.  But you must look with forgiveness on these people, my son, and seek to forget many of those acts of vindictiveness which characterized them during the war.

At the same time, my son, you must not lose sight of the lesson which the result of this war teaches.  Let it be a guide to your own actions that these people went to war to tear down what they could not build up, to destroy a Government the world had come to respect and admire, and under which they had found a safe refuge and a tolerance for their institution of slavery.  But the edifice they sought to build up crumbled to the ground, and they are now left without even a safe refuge for their pride.  Yes, my son, these people scorned the example of the Christian world, went to war in defense of a great crime, and ceased only when they had destroyed themselves.

I have been thus serious while instructing you as to how the war began, because I am aware that a very large number of writers will tell you that it began in a very different manner.  If the account I may hereafter give of what took place at the siege may be less serious, you must charge it to my love for the truth of history.  Indeed much that occurred during that remarkable military event, was not of so serious a nature as is generally conceded by an intelligent public.  Unless, then, it be written down as it occurred, we shall not convey a faithful picture of it to the public.

Now that the war spirit was full to the brim, the people of the South gathered in great numbers on the plains of Manassas.  They were earnest, serious, and even savage in their intentions; and they brought with them their powder and shot-guns, and a large quantity of whisky.  They also brought with them a great number of negroes, who were to build the forts, and do all work it would not become a gentleman to do.  And while this work was progressing, the “gentlemen” soldiers of the South were to talk very loudly and courageously, and invite all the Yankees round about to come out and get whipped.  These people resolved