The Fall of the Confederacy. 539 
sole object of the Confederacy was to set up a slave empire. 
This united West and East against the South, and im- 
paired the Confederacy in the eyes of Europe. If the 
revolution had been delayed until the South had recéived 
some practical injury from the North there would not 
have been such a serious misconception of the motive of 
the people. | 
Yes, Secession was a surprise to the South and to all the 
world. It was so premature that the revolutionary energy 
of the people was undeveloped. It was so uncalled for by 
any act of the North that in self-defence the Confederate — 
Administration had to assert that a revolution was not a 
revolution and to treat it as a constitutional movement. 
It was so hurried that it appeared as aconspiracy to set up 
a slave empire even after the conspiracy had become a re- 
volution. The revolution was a surprise, and it was un- 
timely, and this is one reason why it did not endure, and 
why the Confederacy which it was invoked to support so 
quickly deceased. : 
CHAPTER IIJ.— THE WAR WAS PRECIPITATE. 
ECESSION being formally effected, was immediate war 
inevitable? We do not ask whether the South had a 
fair excuse for war. We do not ask whether the attempt 
to reinforce Fort Sumter was or was not a legitimate casus 
belli, for even if the North was guilty of an act of hostility, 
it does not follow that the South was bound to retaliate. 
When a nation is inclined for war, there is never a difficulty 
in finding a pretext ; nor when a nation wants to main- 
tain peace is there any difficulty in satisfying the national 
honour without an appeal to the sword. It was, we assume, 
the special business of the Confederate Government to pro- 
tect and foster the new-born Confederacy—or rather the 
revolutionary foetus that had been so rudely and prema- 
turely torn from the womb of time. We think it will not 
be denied that the Confederate Government embraced the 
first possible pretext for war. We do not discuss the 
morality or the immorality of so doing. We have to con- 
sider whether it was politic thus to plunge into hostilities. 
Before the fall of Fort Sumter the North was by no 
means united in opposition to secession. A large and daily 
