American crisis. The _Quarterly Review_, organ of extreme Conservatism,
in its first article, dwelt upon the failure of democratic institutions,
a topic not here treated at length since it will be dealt with in a
separate chapter as deserving special study. The _Quarterly_ is also the
first to advance the argument that the protective tariff, advocated by
the North, was a real cause for Southern secession[59]; an idea made
much of later, by the elements unfriendly to the North, but not
hitherto advanced. In these first issues of the Reviews for 1861, there
was frequently put forth the "Southern gentlemen" theory.

"At a distance of three thousand miles, the Southern planters
did, indeed, bear a resemblance to the English country
gentleman which led to a feeling of kinship and sympathy with
him on the part of those in England who represented the old
traditions of landed gentility. This 'Southern gentleman'
theory, containing as it did an undeniable element of truth,
is much harped upon by certain of the reviewers, and one can
easily conceive of its popularity in the London Clubs.... The
'American,' so familiar to British readers, during the first
half of the century, through the eyes of such travellers as
Mrs. Trollope, now becomes the 'Yankee,' and is located north
of Mason and Dixon's line[60]."

Such portrayal was not characteristic of all Reviews, rather of the Tory
organs alone, and the Radical _Westminster_ took pains to deny the truth
of the picture, asserting again and again that the vital and sole cause
of the conflict was slavery. Previous articles are summed up in that of
October, 1863, as a profession of the _Westminster's_ opinion
throughout: "... the South are fighting for liberty to found a Slave
Power. Should it prove successful, truer devil's work, if we may use the