Paltering old President Buchanan has found no warrant to draw the
nation's sword in defence of the outraged flag.

Congress is a camp of warring enemies. Even the conspirators cling
to their comfortable chairs.

It is hard to realize, by the blue Pacific, that the flag is already
down. No one knows the fatal dead line between "State" and "Union."

So recruits come in slowly to the Knights of the Golden Circle,
in California. Secession is only a dark thunder-cloud, hanging
ominously in the sky. The red lightning of war lingers in its
sulphury bosom.

Hardin, Valois, and the Knights toil to secure their ends. They
know not that their vigorous foes have sent trusted messengers
speeding eastward to secure the removal of General Albert Sidney
Johnston. There is a Union League digging under their works!

The four electoral votes of California cast for Lincoln tell him
the State is loyal. An accidental promotion of Governor Latham to
the Senate, places John G. Downey in the chair of California. If
not a "coercionist," he is certainly no "rebel." The leaders of
the Golden Circle feel that chivalry in the West is crushed, unless
saved by a "coup de main." McDougall is a war senator. Latham,
ruined by his prediction that California would go South or secede
alone, sinks into political obscurity. The revolution, due to David
Terry's bullet, brought men like Phelps, Sargent, T. W. Park, and
John Conness to the front. Other Free-State men see the victory