was cleared for the collision of the rebellion and the federal government. I well know that this opinion, like many others I have expressed, will meet with decided and wide-spread contradiction. I think, however, that I may consider it as the best fruit of my labors during the twenty-three years which have elapsed since I began my studies for this work, that their results have met not only with rich recognition, but also with abundant and violent opposition. Contradiction and acquiescence have stimulated us to efforts of varying intensity, to which we are indebted for the amplification, clarification and deepening in many ways of our historical knowledge. And I have reason to hope that my book has not yet ceased to be a working force in this respect. This is the main ground of my confidence that those without whose powerful assistance I could not have begun it, and still less continued and completed it, will not regret the help they gave me. Although I know best myself wherein and how far I have fallen below the desirable, I hesitate all the less to say this much without any reserve, as, while I again give public expression to my warmest gratitude for aid received, I venture to beg all to bear in mind that the shortcomings of my work, whatever they may be, cannot be ascribed exclusively to a lack of ability. The Prussian Academy of Sciences and the government of Baden were able to afford me the possibility of completing the book by their munificent liberality in placing at my disposal the means to undertake, for the purpose of study, a journey to the United States in the year 1878-79, and to sojourn repeatedly in London. But they were not able to alter in the least the fact that an essential precondition of a satisfactory solution of the problem was a constant and intimate association with the intellectual life of the American nation in its living, progressive development in all its phases and in A AN OPEN LETTER. its every direction; and this precondition could not, in the nature of things, be fulfilled to the extent required and in the right way, in a university of southern Germany and in a city of medium size. Under any circumstances, the difference between what my ability and my desire would have been is very clear; but the fact that I was obliged to work under conditions which in many and important respects were by no means favorable will not be left entirely out of consideration by those who would pass a just judgment upon the result of my labors. With my most cordial thanks, Devotedly yours, HERMANN VON HOLST. . Condition and Prospects of Parties.—“Uncle Tom's Cabin” and Helper's "Impending Crisis."- Helper's Statistics.- His Declara- tion of War.- The Pretended and Real Address of the Book.- The Circular of the 9th of March, 1859, and the Recommendation of the Representatives.— Criticism of this Step.-Its Effect in the South.- Kansas and the Wyandotte Constitution.-Character of John Brown.- Brown in North Elba and Kansas.— History of the Origin of the Riot at Harper's Ferry.-The Conference at Peterboro' on the 22d of February, 1858, and Travels in the East.- The Chatham Convention.- Forbes's Treason.- Return to Kansas and the Events of December 20th.- Virginia as a Field of Opera- tions.-The Kennedy Farm.- Harper's Ferry.-The First Im- pression of the Riot.-The Preliminary Hearing by Governor Wise.- Differences of Judgment and of Impressions of the Riot.- Wise and Buchanan.- Harper's Ferry as a Trump Card.- Self- condemnation of the South.-State Law and State Reason versus Morals.-Criminals and Martyrs.- Meaning of Brown's Gallows.- Brown's Demeanor and its Effects.-The Golden Fruit of Brown's Act. The Beginning of the End.- Northern Democrats and the Meeting in the Academy of Music.-The Irrepressibleness of the THE ELECTION OF SPEAKER OF THE THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS. Mason Moves the Appointment of a Committee of Investigation.— -- - of 1859. Condition of Parties in New York.- The State Elections - Significance of the Republican Victory.- Meaning of the History of the Struggle.-The South Arming.- Attitude of the Repub- licans Towards the Preparatory Acts of the Southern Radicals.- Resolutions of Jefferson Davis. - Brown Demands Positive Pro- tective Legislation for Slavery.-Davis Asks for the Recognition of the Principle Warranting Brown's Demand.- Clingman's Criticism of the Same.- The Object of Davis's Manoeuvre. - Doug- las's Charge that the Resolutions Were Addressed to the Charles- ton Convention.—The Programme of the Radical Slavocracy for the Charleston Convention.- Cushing President of the Conven- tion.- Majority and Minority Reports of the Platform Commit- tee. — Endeavors to Come to an Understanding.— Victory of the Douglas Democrats.- Cochrane and Slidell. The Situation.- The Secession of the Southern Delegates.- Vain Attempts of the Rump to Make a Nomination.- Adjournment to Baltimore and - 60 |