Excerpt from Slavery the Mere Pretext for the Rebellion: Not Its CauseThe aspiration of Southern ambition which has reached to the climax Of rebellion, was not the growth of a month or a year. Those who have watched the course Of public events and noted the development of Opinion in the South for years past have seen many signs Of the coming peril, and, if the country was not prepared for it, it was not for want of an occasional Warning. Everybody knew there were restless spirits in the South who would rejoice in the opportunity to destroy the Union, and that these were endeavoring to create a sectional sentiment that might favor the accomplishment of their wish. But the common faith Of the country in the patriotism of the people Of the South, and the profound conviction of the whole North, and we may say also Of the larger part of the Southern communities, that no motive existed which could possibly stir up the people of any State 'to the mad enterprise of assailing the dntegrity of the Union, dispelled every apprehension on this score. The public generally regarded the danger as a chimera. Even the Govern ment, which ought to have been distrustful enough to put itself on guard, seemed to be utterly unconscious of the gathering trouble. Never was a country taken so much at unawares.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.