American Rebellion,--Governor Gist,
of South Carolina, wrote a confidential circular-letter, which he
despatched by special messenger to the governors of the so-called Cotton
States. In this letter he requested an "interchange of opinions which he
might be at liberty to submit to a consultation of the leading men" of
his State. He added that South Carolina would unquestionably call a
convention as soon as it was ascertained that a majority of Lincoln
electors were chosen in the then pending presidential election. "If a
single State secedes," he wrote, "she will follow her. If no other State
takes the lead, South Carolina will secede; in my opinion, alone, if she
has any assurance that she will be soon followed by another or other
States; otherwise, it is doubtful." He asked information, and advised
concerted action.

The governors of North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and
Georgia sent replies; but the discouraging tone of their responses
establishes, beyond controversy, that, with the exception of South
Carolina, "the Rebellion was not in any sense a popular revolution, but
was a conspiracy among the prominent local office-holders and
politicians, which the people neither expected nor desired, and which
they were made eventually to justify and uphold by the usual arts and
expedients of conspiracy."

From the dawn of its existence the South had practically controlled the
government; she very naturally wished to perpetuate her control. The
extension of slavery and the creation of additional slave States was a
necessary step in the scheme, and became the well-defined single issue
in the presidential election, though not necessarily the primal cause of
the impending civil war. For the first time in the history of the
republic the ambition of the South met overwhelming defeat. In legal
form and by constitutional majorities Abraham Lincoln was chosen to the
presidency, and this choice meant, finally, that slavery should not be
extended.

An election was held in South Carolina in the month of October, 1860,
under the manipulation of the conspirators. To a Legislature chosen from
the proper material, Governor Gist, on November 5th, sent a message
declaring "our institutions" in danger from the "fixed majorities" of
the North, and recommending the calling of a State Convention, and the
purchase of arms and the material of war. This was the first official
notice and proclamation of insurrection.

The morning o