While Baker's
silver voice rises in eulogy over Broderick, the Louisianian sees
a menace in the stern faces of twenty thousand listeners. The shade
of the murdered mechanic-senator hovers at their local feast, a
royal Banquo, shadowy father of political kings yet to be.
The clarion press assail the awful deed. Boldly, the opponents of
slavery draw out in the community. There is henceforth no room for
treason on the Western coast. Only covert conspiracy can neutralize
the popular wave following Broderick's death. Dissension rages until
the fever of the Lincoln campaign excites the entire community. The
pony express flying eastward, the rapidly approaching telegraph,
the southern overland mail with the other line across the plains,
bring the news of Eastern excitement. Election battles, Southern
menace, and the tidings of the triumph of Republican principles,
reach the Pacific. Abraham Lincoln is the elected President.
Valois is heavy-hearted when he learns of the victory of freedom
at the polls. He would be glad of some broad question on which to
base the coming war. His brow is grave, as he realizes the South
must now bring on at moral disadvantage the conflict. The war
will decide the fate of slavery.
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