PREFACE TO AMERICAN EDITION. THE following letters were written at Constantinople during the canvass for the Presidency of the United States in 1860, and forwarded at the time for publication in a political journal. In deference to the desire of a number of intelligent gentlemen, they have been collected together and are now reissued in their present form, as a single atom in the history of that great struggle which terminated in the election of a President by the united votes of the Northern States, to be speedily followed by the dismemberment of the Confederacy. It is a remarkable fact that the only intelligent observers of the events which were transpiring in the United States, who were surprised at the immediate success of the 'Republicans,' were those who were themselves the instigators or actors in that great political crusade against the South. These seem, in their calculation of consequences, to have ignored alike the vi PREFACE TO AMERICAN EDITION. existence of that great body of earnest fanatics whose passions they had aroused to madness, while invoking their necessary aid, and of that natural instinct of self-preservation, which would teach the freemen of the South, while fathoming the hostile intentions of their enemies, that although it might be swift destruction to resist, it would be but an ignoble life and a lingering death to submit! They alone seemed blind to the consequences which would follow, as a necessary sequence upon the heels of their victory. They alone seem not to have considered, that whilst the multitude of their mad followers would not be content to postpone gathering the fruits of their victory, and would press forward at once to reach the promised goal, the SOUTH would, AS ONE MAN, gird on his armour for defence, and by accepting the challenge to immediate combat, make gradual emancipation' for ever impossible. While it was universally believed throughout Europe that the only question at issue in the struggle for the Presidency was that of slavery in the Southern States, and that the result would involve the destruction of that institution, or the dissolution of the Confederacy, in the event of the success of the 'Republican party,' the greater number believed that the only result would be the ultimate emancipation of the slaves. So active and successful have been the enemies of the South, in misrepresenting the character and qualities of the Southern people, there were but few who supposed that they could offer any serious resistance to the encroachments of their powerful neighbour. The events of the last few months. have not only dispelled this delusion from the public mind, but they have created a revulsion in the sentiment and opinion of the civilised world, as startling in its magnitude as it is just in its conclusions. Europe is at length beginning to discover, as passing events are developing with a rapid movement, the true merits of this life-and-death struggle for supremacy over the soil of the South; how egregiously it has been deceived by the persistent misrepresentations of the Southern people by their unscrupulous enemies. That the war in which the gallant sons of the South are now engaged will end in securing their independence, cannot be questioned; that its prosecution will be attended with heavy sacrifices is equally true. But amidst all the evils which may accompany it, or the blessings which will succeed its successful close, not the least gratifying of the results achieved will be, the vindication of the character of the Southern people before the civilised world, against the aspersions and misrepresentations which have been so unjustly and so profusely heaped upon them by those who claimed to be their fellow-countrymen. |