The fact exists that there is a war between the North and South, brought
about, as we believe, by unwarranted and aggressive acts of the Slave
Power. This slave oligarchy of the South either had, or affected to
have, a profound contempt for what they supposed was the want of spirit
in the Northern people. It was a current swagger that we should barely
furnish them with an opportunity to show their superior military
prowess. 'This war shall be waged on Northern soil,' they said. Events
have shown that they miscalculated; but the raids of Jackson, Lee,
Morgan & Co. show how great their will has been to carry out their
threats of invasion. When the rebel guns opened upon Sumter, there was
no alternative left us but fight now, or soon. Had we hesitated and
compromised then, the arrogant spirit of the insurgents would have been
still further flattered and puffed up, and their contempt for the
submissive North made genuine, whatever it may have been before. A
compromise then would have made no lasting peace; the South would soon
have become tired of being merely 'let alone;' her exactions and
aggressions would have become more and more insolent and intolerable,
till warlike resistance or ignoble submission and slavery would have
been our only alternative. This war is, therefore, on our part and in
one sense, a war in self-defence; and this may be regarded as one of its
issues.
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