e so far as to say that they
possessed it "by the law of nature." The leading objections to the new
Constitution were such as to show the general belief that the State
sovereignties were to be absorbed into the general government in all
matters of national concern. But the unhappy ingenuity of Mr. Jefferson
afterwards devised that theory of strict construction which would
enable any State to profit by the powers of the Constitution so long as
it was for her interest or convenience, and then, by pleading its want
of powers, to resolve the helpless organization once more into the
incoherence of confederacy. By this dexterous legerdemain, the Union
became a string of juggler's rings, which seems a chain while it
pleases the operator, but which, by bringing the strain on the weak
point contrived for the purpose, is made to fall easily asunder and
become separate rings again. An adroit use of this theory enabled the
South to gain one advantage after another by threatening disunion, and
led naturally, on the first effective show of resistance, to secession.
But in order that the threat might serve its purpose without the costly
necessity of putting it in execution, the doctrine of State Rights was
carefully inculcated at the South by the same political party which
made belief in the value of the Union a fanaticism at the North. On one
side of Mason and Dixon's line it was lawful, and even praiseworthy, to
steal the horse; on the other, it was a hanging matter to look over the
fence.

But in seeking for the cause of the rebellion, with any fairness toward
the Southern people, and any wish to understand their motives and
character, it would be unwise to leave out of view the fact that they
have been carefully educated in the faith that secession is not only
their right, but the only safeguard of their freedom. While it is
perfectly true that the great struggle now going on is intrinsically
between right and privilege, between law and license, and while on the
part of its leaders the Southern revolt was a conspiracy against
popular government, and an attempt to make a great Republic into a mere
convenient drudge for Slavery, yet we should despair of our kind did we
believe that the rank and file of the Confederate armies were
consciously spending so much courage and endurance on behalf of
barbarism. It is more consoling, as it is nearer the truth, to think
that they are fighting for what they have been taught to believe their
r