ew incentive, and
appealed to a feeling which had not yet been stirred. Many
Northerners had not thought it worth while to fight for the
re-establishment of the Union on the basis of the Constitution. If
slavery was to be permitted to continue they preferred separation;
and these men were farmers and agriculturists, the class which
furnished the best soldiers, men of American birth, for the most part
abolitionists, and ready to fight for the principle they had so much
at heart. It is true that the effect of the edict was not at once
apparent. It was not received everywhere with acclamation. The army
had small sympathy with the coloured race, and the political
opponents of the President accused him vehemently of unconstitutional
action. Their denunciations, however, missed the mark. The letter of
the Constitution, as Mr. Lincoln clearly saw, had ceased to be
regarded, at least by the great bulk of the people, with
superstitious reverence.

They had learned to think more of great principles than of political
expedients; and if the defence of their hereditary rights had welded
the South into a nation, the assertion of a still nobler principle,
the liberty of man, placed the North on a higher plane, enlisted the
sympathy of Europe, and completed the isolation of the Confederacy.

But although Lee and Jackson had not yet penetrated the political
genius of their great antagonist, they rated at its true value the
vigour displayed by his Administration, and they saw that something
more was wanting to wrest their freedom from the North than a mere
passive resistance to the invader's progress. Soon after the battle
of Fredericksburg, Lee went to Richmond and laid proposals for an
aggressive campaign before the President. "He was assured, however,"
says General Longstreet, "that the war was virtually over, and that
we need not harass our troops by marches and other hardships. Gold
had advanced in New York to two hundred premium, and we were told by
those in the Confederate capital that in thirty or forty days we
would be recognised (by the European Powers) and peace proclaimed.
General Lee did not share this belief."* (* Battles and Leaders.
volume 3 page 84.)

Dec. 18.

So Jackson, who had hoped to return to Winchester, was doomed to the
inaction of winter quarters on the Rappahannock, for with Burnside's
repulse operations practically ceased. The Confederate cavalry,
however, did not at once abandon hostilities. On Decembe