"
The older man's voice dropped to persuasive tones:
"Isn't there something bigger than fighting for a section? Let's stand
by the Nation!"
"That's just what I refuse to do. The United States have never been a
Nation. This country is a Republic of Republics--not an Empire. The
South is going to fight for the right of local self-government and the
liberties our fathers won from the tyrants of the old world. The South
is right eternally and forever right. The States of this Union have
always been sovereign."
"All right--all right," John growled impatiently, "granted, my boy.
Still Secession is impossible. A Nation can't jump out of its own skin
once it has grown it. This country has become a Nation. Steam and
electricity have made it so. Railroads have bound us together in iron
bands. Can't you see that?"
"No, I can't. Right is right."
"But if we have actually grown into a mighty united people with one
tongue and one ideal is it right to draw the sword to destroy what God
has joined together? Silently, swiftly, surely during the past thirty
years we have become one people and the love of the Union has become a
deathless passion----"
"You've had a poor way of showing it!" Ned sneered.
"Still, boy, it's true. I didn't realize it myself until that fort was
fired on and the flag hauled down.
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