The Reviews and Weeklies were for the moment leading the attack--possibly one reason for the slowness in reply of Bright and his followers.

Not all Reviews joined in the usual analysis.

The _Edinburgh_ at first saw in slavery the sole cause of the American dispute[1344], then attributed it to the inevitable failure in power of a federal system of government, not mentioning democracy as in question[1345].

_Blackwood's_ repeatedly pushed home its argument: "Independent of motives of humanity, we are glad that the end of the Union seems more likely to be ridiculous than terrible....

But for our own benefit and the instruction of the world we wish to see the faults, so specious and so fatal, of their political system exposed, in the most effective way....