Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/474

442 Preparation for war. [i860 Those who condemned slavery as it existed in the South condemned it unjustly because they did so without discrimination; and those who attacked it with adverse laws seemed to invade the privileges of self- governing States under the Constitution. Thus it was that Lincoln's election meant secession, and that the stage was set for the tragedy of civil war. For the whole country it was to be the bitterest of all ordeals, an agony of struggle and a decision by blood ; but for one party it was to be a war of hope. Should the South win, she must also lose must lose her place in the great Union which she had loved and fostered, and must in gaining independence destroy a nation. Should the North win, she would confirm a great hope and expectation, establish the Union, unify it in institutions, free it from interior contradictions of life and principle, set it in the way of consistent growth and unembarrassed greatness. The South fought for a principle, as the North did : it was this that was to give the war dignity, and supply the tragedy with a double motive. But the principle for which the South fought meant standstill in the midst of change; it was conservative, not creative; it was against drift and destiny; it protected an impossible institution and a belated order of society ; it withstood a creative and imperial idea, the idea of a united people and a single law of freedom. Overwhelming material superiority, it turned out, was with the North ; but she had also another and greater advantage: she was to fight for the Union and for the abiding peace, concord, and strength of a great nation.