believed in the possibility of a peaceful reconciliation.
Even when the proclamation had been made and the wild response of the
North had been instantly given, the Southern people refused to believe
that the millions of Northern voters who still clung to the old forms of
Constitutional Government under the leadership of Stephen A. Douglas
would surrender their principles, arm themselves and march to coerce a
State at the command of a President against whom they had voted.

Senator Barton, from his new position in the Confederate Senate, scouted
the idea of serious war.

"Bah!" he growled to Socola, who was drawing him out. "The Yankees won't
fight!"

"That's what they say about you, sir," was the cool response.

"Who ever heard of a race of shopkeepers turning into soldiers?" The
Senator laughed. "Such men have no martial prowess! They are unequal to
mighty deeds of valor."

The white teeth of the young observer gleamed in a smile.

"On the other hand, Senator, I'm afraid history proves that commercial
communities, once aroused, are the most dogged, pugnacious, ambitious
and obstinate fighters of the world--Carthage, Venice, Genoa, Holland
and England have surely proven this--"

"There's one thing certain," Barton roared. "We'll bring England to her
knees if there is a war. Cotton is the King of Commerce, and we hold the
key of his empire. The population of England will starve without our
cotton. If we need them they've got to come to our rescue, sir!"

Socola did not argue the point. It was amazing how widespread was this
idea in the South. He wrote his Government again and again that the
whole movement of secession was based on this conception.

There was one man in Washington who read these warnings with keen
insight--Gideon Welles, the Secretary of the Navy. The part this quiet,
unassuming man was preparing to play in the mighty drama then unfolding
its first scene was little known or understood by those who were filling
the world with the noise of their bluster.

Jefferson Davis at his desk in Montgomery saw with growing anxiety the
confidence of his people in immediate and overwhelming success. In
answer to Abraham Lincoln's proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers
to fight the South, he called for 100,000 to defend it. The rage for
volunteering in the South was even greater than the North. An army of
five hundred thousand men could have been enrolled for any length of
service if arms and equipment co