in the verdict and loyalty to the Union. He had
taken care to be present on the platform at his rival's inauguration,
and, after the affair of Sumter, the two had had a long and confidential
conversation. Returning to his native West, he commenced the last of his
campaigns--a campaign for no personal object but for the raising of
soldiers to keep the old flag afloat. In that campaign the "Little
Giant" spent the last of his unquenchable vitality; and in the midst of
it he died.

For the North and West the firing on the Stars and Stripes was the
decisive issue. For Virginia and to a great extent for the other
Southern States which had not yet seceded it was rather the President's
demands for State troops to coerce a sister State. The doctrine of State
Sovereignty was in these States generally held to be a fundamental
principle of the Constitution and the essential condition of their
liberties. They had no desire to leave the Union so long as it were
understood that it was a union of Sovereign States. But the proposal to
use force against a recalcitrant State seemed to them to upset the whole
nature of the compact and reduce them to a position of vassalage. This
attitude explains the second Secession, which took Virginia, Tennessee,
North Carolina, and Arkansas out of the Union. It explains also why the
moment the sword was drawn the opinion of these States, strongly divided
up to that very moment, became very nearly unanimous. Not all their
citizens, even after the virtual declaration of war against South
Carolina, wanted their States to secede, but all, or nearly all, claimed
that they had the _right_ to secede if they wanted to, and therefore
all, or nearly all, accepted the decision of their States even if it
were contrary to their own judgment and preference.

It is important to understand this attitude, not only because it was
very general, but because it was the attitude of one of the noblest sons
the Republic ever bore, who yet felt compelled, regretfully but with
full certitude that he did right, to draw the sword against her.

Robert Lee was already recognized as one of the most capable captains in
the service of the United States. When it became obvious that General
Scott, also a Virginian, but a strong Unionist, was too old to undertake
the personal direction of the approaching campaign, Lee was sounded as
to his readiness to take his place. He refused, not desiring to take
part in the coercion of a State,