First Blows of the Civil War

The period covered by the following pages being one of deep historical interest and importance, must always attract a large share of public attention. It will always be memorable as the era of the last argumentative and legislative struggle on the part of the slave-holding statesmen, and that in which the advocates of African slavery received their death-blow after a contest in the national councils of near half a century. It will be evident to the reader that much of the following matter, with the exception of the private letters, which now first see the light, has already been laid before a wide circle of read ers in the New York Tribune during the period of its largest circulation. That paper, under Mr. Greeley, was the great anti slavery journal of the period, and at that time the spokesman of the most numerous and determined body of men ever associ ated for public purposes in the United States. Of the private correspondence, we wish to remark that it is presented as it was written. A more rigid rule would have excluded some of its personal features but it was thought best to preserve the individuality and local coloring by allowing the letters to stand as originally composed.

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