It was in vain to
say that the South was determined to rule or ruin the country, in vain
to point out the constantly recurring illustrations of the aggressive
spirit of Slavery, in vain to urge that every year of delay was but
adding to the difficulty of dealing with the gigantic evil. The merchant
feared a financial crisis, the repudiation of Southern debts and his own
consequent inability to maintain the social position which his easily
earned wealth had secured; the politician, who, at the great
auction-sales of Northern pride and principle held every four years, had
so often sought to outbid his rivals in baseness, that his party or
faction might win the Presidential prize, turned pale at the prospect of
losing Southern support; the divine could see no danger threatening his
country except from the alleged infidelity of a few leading radicals;
the timid citizen, with no fixed political opinions, was overawed by the
bluster of Southern bullies, shuddered at the sight of pistol and
dirk-knife, and only asked "to be let alone"; while the thoughtless
votary of fashion, readily accepting the lordly bearing and imperious
air of the planter as the highest evidence of genuine aristocracy,
reasoned, with the sort of logic which we should look for in such a
mind, that slaveholding was the normal condition of an American
gentleman.
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