“I see a great deal of bunting in the streets, and hear any quantity of declamation at your popular gatherings.  But as I journeyed northward from New Orleans, I saw the same in the South—­perhaps more of it.”

“And could not distinguish between the frenzy of treason and the enthusiasm of patriotism?”

“Not at all; except that treason seemed more earnest and unanimous.”

“You have seen with the eyes of an Englishman—­of one hostile to our institutions.”

“Oh, no; as a man of the world, a traveller, without prejudice or passion, receiving impressions and noting them.  I like your country; I like your people.  I have observed foibles in the North and in the South, but there is an under-current of strong feeling and good sense which I have noted and admired.  I think your quarrel is one of foibles—­one conceived in the spirit of petulance, and about to be prosecuted in the spirit of exaltation.  I believe the professed mutual hatred of the sections to be superficial, and that it could be cancelled.  It is fostered by the bitterness of fanatics, assisted by a very natural disinclination on the part of the masses to yield a disputed point.  If hostilities should cease to-morrow, you would be better friends than ever.”

“But the principle, sir!  The right of the thing, and the wrong of the thing!  Can we parley with traitors?  Can we negotiate with armed rebellion?  Is it not our paramount duty to set at rest forever the doctrine of secession?”

“As a matter of policy, perhaps.  But as a right, I doubt it.  Your government I look upon as a mere agency appointed by contracting parties to transact certain affairs for their convenience.  Should one or more of those contracting parties, sovereignties in themselves, hold it to their interest to transact their business without the assistance of an agent, I cannot perceive that the right can be denied by any provision of the contract.  In your case, the employers have dismissed their agent, who seeks to reinstate the office by force of arms.  As justly might my lawyer, when I no longer need his services, attempt to coerce me into a continuance of business relations, by invading my residence with a loaded pistol.  The States, without extinguishing their sovereignty, created the Federal Government; it is the child of State legislation, and now the child seeks to chastise and control the parent.  The General Government can possess no inherent or self-created function; its power, its very existence, were granted for certain uses.  As regards your State’s connection with that Government, no other State has the right to interfere; but as for another State’s connection with it, the power that made it can unmake.”

“So you would have the government quietly acquiesce in the robbery of public property, the occupation of Federal strongholds and the seizure of ships and revenues in which they have but a share?”