The Fall of the Confederacy. 601 
Confederate administration? At the critical moment they 
denounced the peace party—the Northern democracy—in 
an abusive strain, rare in the bitterest controversies. The 
war party laughed at the grotesque position of their poli- 
tical opponents, and the Democratic party was shocked, 
paralysed, and suffered an overwhelming defeat. The 
Democratic party was spurned by the Confederate admi- 
nistration, and henceforth there was not an anti-war party 
in the West. Surely such rashness on the part of the Con- 
federate administration is unexampled, yet the facts are 
indisputable. We contend that there was no foundation 
for the hope that the federation would disintegrate during 
the war. It was, however, a hope entertained by the Con- 
federate administration, and it was unquestionably their 
policy to do what they could to foment division in the 
North. Yet, as we have seen, they did what they could 
to irritate North, West, and East, and to unite all classes, 
and all parties against the Confederacy. ‘They extin- 
guished the feeble hope of Northern disunion by a perverse 
policy. 
The main reliance of the Confederate administration 
was on foreign intervention. It was not mere recognition 
for which the South was anxious, and against which the 
North so energetically protested. Formal recognition was 
desired by the one, and opposed by the other, because 
recognition pending a civil war is the immediate fore- 
runner of intervention. The Confederate administration 
did not, and perhaps could not, hide their dependence upon 
Europe for ultimate triumph. It was for the sake of the 
impression on Europe that the Confederate lines were not 
contracted, by which means the war might have been pro- 
longed. Nor did the expectation of foreign aid fade away 
until the last. A few months before the Confederate col- 
lapse there were overtures of peace. Mr. Lincoln and Mr. 
Seward went southward to manage the negotiations. The 
terms offered were all that could be hoped for under the cir- 
cumstances. The North only insisted upon two conditions. 
The South was to return to the Union and negro slavery 
was to be abolished. If these conditions were accepted 
the Southern States were to resume their former position, 
and there was to be a complete amnesty. Unless the South 
was triumphant, and could dictate terms of peace, the 
return to the Union was a necessary condition; and after 
what had happened negro slavery could not survive the 
Confederacy. When these overtures were, made the posi- 
