But that was not all. The threat of disunion had so often been resorted
to by the slave power in years gone by that most Northern people had
ceased to believe in its seriousness. But, when disunion actually
appeared as a stern reality, something like a chill swept through the
whole Northern country. A cry for union and peace at any price rose on
all sides. Democratic partisanship reiterated this cry with vociferous
vehemence, and even many Republicans grew afraid of the victory they had
just achieved at the ballot-box, and spoke of compromise. The country
fairly resounded with the noise of "anticoercion meetings." Expressions
of firm resolution from determined antislavery men were indeed not
wanting, but they were for a while almost drowned by a bewildering
confusion of discordant voices. Even this was not all. Potent
influences in Europe, with an ill-concealed desire for the permanent
disruption of the American Union, eagerly espoused the cause of the
Southern seceders, and the two principal maritime powers of the Old World
seemed only to be waiting for a favorable opportunity to lend them a
helping hand.
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