20 THE AHMY OF THE POTOMAC. he had plunged his country. lie came rapidly to conscription, to forced recruiting. It was no longer a contract betwee. J the soldier and his colonel, or between the soldier and the State, which would still leave a possibility of its being annulled, and which brought with it absolute obligations. It was the law, the authority, the power of the State, which carried off all able-bodied men and made them march up blindly to what was called the defence of their country. There was no hesitation possible. Hound by the obligation of duty, the soldier became at once more submissive and more reconciled to the sacrifice. In the situation in which the South was, these measures were wise, and there is no doubt that they contributed at the beginning of the war to secure great advantages to its army. Nevertheless, we are far from reproaching Air. Lincoln for not having recourse lb such, violent measures. The leaders of an insurrection recognize no obsftcle, and are stopped by no scruples when the object is to assure the triumph of their ambitious views, and particularly to escape the consequences of defeat. They recoil before nothing, and have no repugnance to revolutionary expedients; but Mr. Lincoln and his advisers were the legitimate representatives of the nation, and if it fell to them to suppress a revolt, they did not wish, unless in ease of 'absolute necessity, to touch the guarantees which, up to that time, had made the American people the happiest and freest people of the earth. II plans of ibe ©nnrpnign. The army once iinjjroviscd, it next became necessary tc decide 1 >w to employ it—in other words, to choose the plan of the campaign. The general plan was simple. The idea of conquering and occupying a territory so vast as that of the
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