When the last embers of the great conflagration of the Rebellion had
been smothered out with tears for the Lost Cause, a prophecy had gone up
that the mighty North, rich with a hundred great cities, and strong in
the conscious power of its wide empire, would be the next to raise the
standard of rebellion against the Federal Government. But that prophet
was without honor in his own land, and none had paid heed to his
seemingly wild words.
Yet now, this same mighty North sat there in her grief and anxiety, with
her face turned Southward, and her ear strained to catch the whispers
that were in the air. Had not the sceptre of power passed from her hand
forever? Was not the Revolution complete? Were not the Populists and
their allies firmly seated in the Halls of Congress? Had not the Supreme
Court been rendered powerless for good by packing it with the most
uncompromising adherents of the new political faith? Had not the very
nature of the Federal Government undergone a change: Was not Paternalism
rampant? Was not Socialism on the increase? Were there not everywhere
evidences of an intense hatred of the North and a firm determination to
throw the whole burden of taxation upon the shoulders of the rich man,
in order that the surplus revenues of the Government might be
distributed among those who constitute the “common people?” How could
this section of the Union ever hope to make head against the South,
united, as it now was, with the rapidly growing States of the Northwest?
Could the magnificent cities of the North content themselves to march at
the tail of Tillman’s and Peffer’s chariots? Had not the South a firm
hold of the Senate? Where was there a ray of hope that the North could
ever again regain its lost power, and could it for a single moment think
of entrusting its vast interests to the hands of a people differing with
them on every important question of statecraft, pledged to a policy that
could not be otherwise than ruinous to the welfare of the grand
commonwealths of the Middle and Eastern sections of the Union and their
sister States this side of the Mississippi? It were madness to think of
it. The plunge must be taken, the declaration must be made. There was no
other alternative, save abject submission to the chieftains of the new
dispensation, and the complete transformation of that vast social and
political system vaguely called the North.
But this revolution within a revolution would be a bloodless one, for
there could be no thought of coercion, no serious notion of checking
such a mighty movement. It would be in reality the true Republic purging
itself of a dangerous malady, sloughing off a diseased and gangrened
member; no more, no less.
Already this mighty movement of withdrawals from the Witenagemote of the
Union was in the air. People spoke of it in a whisper, or with bated
breath; but as they turned it over and over in their minds, it took on
shape and form and force, till at last it burst into life and action
like Minerva from Jupiter’s brain—full-fledged, full-armed, full-voiced
and full-hearted.
Really, why would it not be all for the best that this mighty empire,
rapidly growing so vast and unwieldy as to be only with the greatest
difficulty governable from a single centre, should be split into three
parts, Eastern, Southern and Western, now that it may be done without
dangerous jar or friction? The three republics could be federated for
purposes offensive and defensive, and until these great and radical
changes could be brought about there would be no great difficulty in
devising “living terms,” for immediately upon the Declaration of
Dissolution, each State would become repossessed of the sovereign powers
which it had delegated to the Federal Government.
Meanwhile the “Fateful year ’99” went onward toward its close. The whole
land seemed stricken with paralysis, so far as the various industries
were concerned, but, as it is wont to be in such times, men’s minds were
supernaturally active. The days were passed in the reading of public
prints, or in passing in review the weighty events of the hour. The
North was only waiting for an opportunity to act.
But the question that perplexed the wisest heads was: How and when shall
the Declaration of Dissolution be made, and how soon thereafter shall
the North and the States in sympathy with her withdraw from the Union,
and declare to the world their intention to set up a republic of their
own, with the mighty metropolis of New York as its social, political and
commercial centre and capital?
As it came to pass, the North had not long to wait. The Fifty-sixth
Congress soon to convene in regular session in the city of Washington,
was even more Populistic and Socialistic than its famous predecessor,
which had wrought such wonderful changes in the law of the land, showing
no respect for precedent, no reverence for the old order of things.
Hence all eyes were fixed upon the capital of the nation, all roads were
untrodden, save those which led to Washington.