Southern Union; then, if necessary, a brief War to cement it--which
would end, of course, in the independence of the South at least, but
more probably in the utter subjugation and humiliation of the Free
States.

When the time should come, during, or after this War--as come, in their
belief, it would--for a change in the form of Government, then they
could seize the first favorable occasion and change it. At present,
however, the cry must be for "independence." That accomplished, the
rest would be easy. And until that independence was accomplished, no
terms of any sort, no settlement of any kind, were either to be proposed
or accepted by them.

These were their dreams, their ambitions, their plans; and the tenacious
courage with which they stuck to them "through thick and thin," through
victory and disaster, were worthy of a better cause.

While, therefore, the pretexts for Secession were "Slavery" and
"Free-Trade"--both of which were alleged to be jeopardized in the
election and inauguration of Abraham Lincoln--yet, no sooner had
hostilities commenced between the seceding States and the Union, than
they declared to the World that their fight was not for Slavery, but for
Independence.

They dared not acknowledge to the World that they fought for Slavery,
lest the sympathies of the World should be against them. But it was
well understood by the Southern masses, as well as the other people of
the Union, that both Slavery and Free-Trade were involved in the fight
--as much as independence, and the consequent downfall of the Union.