The vote which he had received in the South at the Presidential election was very nearly as large as that given to Breckinridge.

The vote of Bell and Douglas united, exceeded that given to Breckinridge in the slave States by more than a hundred thousand.

The popular judgment in the North had been that the Disunion element in the South was massed in support of Breckinridge, and that all who preferred the candidacy of Bell or Douglas might be relied upon in the supreme crisis as friends of the Union.

Two Southern States, Kentucky and Tennessee, had given popular majorities for Mr.Bell, and there was no reason for supposing that the Union sentiment of Tennessee was any less pronounced than that of Kentucky.

Indeed, Tennessee had the advantage of Mr.Bell's citizenship and long identification with her public service, while Kentucky encountered the personal influence and wide-spread popularity of Mr.Breckinridge, who took part against the Union.
If Mr.Bell had taken firm ground for the Union, the Secession movement would have been to a very great extent paralyzed in the South.