[Self-Defense]
Farr, the former chairman of the Natchez Jockey Club and the current Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives, was a man of complex emotions.
He was known as the Invisible Dragon.
Only a year ago, he had been the target of all manner of insulting ridicule, with his political career seemingly at an end. Yet, he had made a spectacular return as Speaker.
The hundred-plus slaves he had once held under his command were long gone, but that didn't matter. Having already pivoted his career toward horse racing, he had entrusted the entire management of his plantation to Seuret and was now preoccupied with breeding the next Triple Crown winner.
However, as expected, his home in the South was no longer a place where one could enjoy such a peaceful twilight.
Would it have been better if Lincoln had simply crushed the South and imposed military rule? No, if he had done that, the South would have resisted to the bitter end, and for a man like Lincoln, who prioritized national integration, that might not have been an option.
But because there was a path to return to high office without ever having to take responsibility for the past, conflict was inevitable.
They were currently operating under the name of an "interim assembly," but soon, not just Mississippi, but every Southern state would elect new governors and legislators to establish their own representatives.
Yet, no matter how hard they tried, the fact remained that the South had been soundly thrashed in the war, slavery had been abolished, and the social order that formed the foundation of their society had been completely overturned. Since they could no longer return to the past as if nothing had happened, someone had to take the blame.
Those who understood this simple principle began to fight not for the seats of responsibility, but for the seats that could assign that responsibility to others. The result was the chaotic scene currently unfolding in the assembly.
“Gentlemen! We know! Why is the South in such chaos right now? It is because we lost the war! And yet, those who incited us, claiming we could win and that the North was nothing, are sitting comfortably in their seats without taking any responsibility whatsoever!”
“Hear, hear!”
“Because of those people, we lost our slaves, and there are countless people in Mississippi alone who suffered losses of hundreds of thousands of dollars in an instant. Yet, to ask us to trust them once more without taking any responsibility—is that not utterly shameless?”
“That is base demagoguery!”
“Did we lose because we wanted to?”
At Quitman’s impassioned cry, several representatives applauded and cheered, while others slammed their desks or pointed fingers.
“Representative Quitman!”
Amidst the fierce debate, Albert G. Brown finally kicked his chair back and stood up.
“Are you aiming those words at us?”
“Hardly. I am certainly not targeting any specific individual. I am merely stating the facts. However, is it not a well-known fact that you, Representative Brown, were the most adamant proponent of Southern independence?”
“So, you *are* targeting me!”
“Then how did you treat Speaker Farr, who opposed the war at the time?”
Quitman looked around at the other representatives and continued his appeal with a desperate voice.
“Did you not mock him as a senile old man who only cared about horse racing? I even recall an abundance of wild accusations that he was a spy for the North.”
“……”
“Have you apologized even once until now?”
He couldn't refute it. It was, after all, a cold, hard fact. But in such sharp conflicts, an apology usually signifies admission, and admission is no different from inviting attacks upon oneself. Albert chose a direct breakthrough rather than an apology.
“The situation at the time left us no choice! Besides, didn't Speaker Farr oppose the war simply because of his horse racing?”
“Is that really so? Speaker Farr, was the reason you opposed the war truly because of horse racing?”
As all eyes focused on the Speaker’s chair, Farr slowly stood up. And finally, he poured out the true intentions he had hidden and concealed until now.
“Gentlemen, I knew.”
Deep regret and sorrow, impossible to mistake for acting. The impassioned speech he had practiced dozens of times echoed through the assembly.
“I knew how this war was bound to unfold. I knew the difference in national power between the North and the South. I knew the unfortunate fact that we could not win.”
“Speaker…”
“The reason I used horse racing as an excuse was simple.”
Farr stared straight at Albert.
“If I had said then that I opposed the war because I thought the South would lose, what would you have done to me?”
“……!”
“You would have branded me a Northern spy and killed me. Or at the very least, you would have permanently exiled me from politics.”
No one who remembered the atmosphere of the time could raise an objection to this. Back then, the South was truly gripped by madness, witch-hunting anyone who opposed them by branding them all as Northern spies.
“So, I cowardly used horse racing as an excuse. I was afraid for my life, so I could not offer proper opposition. Of course, even then, I did leave behind words that subtly hinted at my position.”
It was true that even for expressing such passive caution, he had nearly been buried. Farr, proving with his whole being that he hadn't spent decades in politics for nothing, masterfully reconstructed the events by blending fact and fiction.
“But seeing Mississippi becoming such a mess now, I think I should have risked my life to tell people the truth back then. I regret it. Truly.”
“Speaker…”
“And among you here as well.”
Farr looked slowly around the assembly and let out a deep sigh.
“There must be many of you who passively supported the war at the time. Not because you truly believed the South would win, but because your lives might be in danger if you opposed it. Because you couldn't bear to go against the tide.”
He understood those feelings. With this indirect declaration that he would understand everything rather than blame the other side, the faces of several representatives brightened.
“Those people are no different from me. We are all victims.”
“Hear, hear!”
“Honestly, who could have confidently said we were at a disadvantage back then!”
“But those who led the atmosphere at the time must certainly take responsibility!”
Let’s not have everyone take the blame; let’s just hang a few representatives and escape ourselves. With the exquisite compromise proposed by Farr, the scales that had been in equilibrium until now began to tilt decisively.
“You shouted through gritted teeth that we must be independent! You branded those who opposed you as traitors! And this is the result!”
“Hear, hear!”
“What do you mean ‘hear, hear’! This is political suppression! Speaker, maintain your neutrality!”
“It was you who attacked the Speaker!”
There were quite a few who took Albert’s side, but to anyone watching, it seemed there were slightly more who supported Farr.
‘Damn it…!’
Albert, watching the situation, ground his teeth. If things went on like this, he would be driven into a corner. Desperately racking his brain, he began to appeal to emotion and pride.
“Distinguished representatives! Just because we lost the war, we must not let our hearts be broken!”
“What is that supposed to mean…”
“Even if we lost the war, someone must continue to bravely stand against the North!”
Even those who believed they shouldn't have fought the war didn't necessarily like the North. To escape this crisis, he needed to stir up the representatives' anti-Northern sentiment to the extreme.
“The only people who can do that are those who carry the cause of Southern independence in their hearts! Speaker Farr, even if your words are slick, you don't have the guts to stand against the North, do you!”
“Standing against the North, you say…”
“That is correct! If weak people become the leaders of the South, the South will eventually become nothing more than a lower-tier version of the North!”
Albert shouted toward the assembly, truly possessed by the spirit of a fighter for the South.
“Please trust us! Only we can truly look out for the South!”
However.
“Representative Brown.”
Quitman, who had been holding his breath for a moment, cut in sharply.
“Did you not conspire against James Seuret?”
“……What did you say?”
“There are suspicions that you and your associates conspired against Seuret and Speaker Farr to evade your own responsibilities.”
“N-no! That is a misunderstanding!”
“A misunderstanding?”
Quitman didn't add any more words and immediately unfolded a newspaper.
“Is Ethelbert Barksdale, who wrote this article, not your close aide?”
“We have a personal acquaintance, but it is not at the level of being called a close aide.”
“That is for the other representatives here to judge. Gentlemen, this Ethelbert Barksdale conspired against a loyal planter like James Seuret, who has dedicated his life to the South!”
Because there wasn't just one article that Ethelbert had put out for the sake of public opinion warfare, it had long since surpassed the level of being settled by a few articles or a few lines of text.
“Look at this! He even spread an absurd conspiracy theory that he cooperated with the North behind the scenes and engaged in sabotage for the sake of the South’s defeat!”
“Th-that is…”
“What benefit could Seuret possibly gain from doing such a thing!”
James Seuret is a Northern spy? The mastermind behind the South’s defeat? At this point, it was a level of slander that even a child wouldn't believe.
“Geez, this is really going too far!”
Albert felt the public opinion cooling down and looked around. His sympathizers were helping him out a little, but they were vastly outnumbered.
Eventually.
“I propose that we form a special investigation team in the name of the Mississippi State Legislature to investigate this situation and enact a special ordinance to severely punish all those involved.”
A bill aimed squarely at taking down the radicals was proposed, and Farr immediately put it to a vote.
In favor, against, in favor, in favor, against…
The votes were tallied in a flash.
“72 in favor, 48 against. The motion is carried.”
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Before anyone could raise an objection, Farr struck his gavel.
6 to 4.
Farr, confirming the fact that the dissenting votes were higher than he thought, inwardly let out a dry laugh. It wasn't because it was unexpected, but because the feeling of "I thought so" came first. Even if they didn't show it, there were so many bugs lurking in the assembly that would be of no help to this land.
But it didn't matter. The battle was already won.
“The details regarding this investigation team will be decided through discussion in two weeks.”
“Excuse me? Do we have to wait two more weeks?”
“That is correct. Given the nature of the matter, I will give you enough time to prepare. I will see you all again in two weeks.”
Farr turned his back without even glancing at Albert’s side. Did you hear? I’ve given you a generous two-week deadline, so if you want to live, don't do anything for the next fifteen days and stay holed up like a dead rat.
However, Farr, Quitman, and even Seuret, who was likely enjoying coffee with his wife on his farm right now, could all easily predict what choice they would make. After all, that was why he had given them those two weeks in the first place.
* * *
Southerners think the North has no choice but to embrace them unconditionally, but this was, in fact, nothing more than a delusion. The North wasn't afraid of the South’s secession; they were just tired of it. There is a saying that you don't avoid excrement because you're afraid of it, but because it's filthy, and that is an accurate expression, not an exaggeration.
After all, why would they be truly afraid of losers who were completely wiped out by them in just one year? It was closer to the truth that they didn't bother to touch them because the South’s numbers were by no means small, and they were afraid they might foam at the mouth and have a seizure if provoked again.
But even avoiding something because it's filthy has a limit to one's patience. Even if you try hard not to look, if the filth is truly overflowing and backing up from the toilet to spill into the room, then you have no choice but to call the cleaners.
A few days after Farr and Quitman passed the bill to form a special investigation team, I selected and summoned only adult men, numbering in the hundreds. They were elite troops, all capable of handling firearms and skilled in marksmanship without a single exception.
Even without me explaining the ins and outs, they already knew how the situation was turning, and the only reason they weren't rushing out right now was one thing: the order hadn't fallen from my lips yet.
“Chairman, we are ready.”
“Please give us the order at any time!”
“Yes. I am always grateful for your loyalty.”
But it was not yet the time. The moment they took up arms at this point, it would become a coup d'état to purge the opposition. According to investigations where I had spent money and people in all directions, Albert’s gang was making suspicious moves, but in any case, if this side launched a preemptive strike, it would inevitably work against us in a future trial.
However, there was one thing. There was one invincible cheat key that everyone would find convincing if we attacked the moment they showed suspicious movements.
And finally.
Leo, who had been running behind me as I stared at the guards lined up with their weapons, came panting and handed me a telegram.
“Chairman! It has arrived.”
I took the paper, unfolded it slowly, and checked the contents.
[Attempted assassination of the President occurred in Washington D.C. Confirmed to be the work of Southern radicals.]
“Ah… these guys are finally committing a disaster.”
In this situation where an attempted assassination of the President has occurred, is it really a coincidence that the Southern radicals who advocated for war are making suspicious moves?
“All units, sortie. We must protect the peace of this Mississippi.”
“Yes!”
“An attempted assassination of the President… these radicals must have truly gone insane.”
Leo and I walked slowly out of the farm’s iron gate, watching the soldiers marching out with dignity. The loud shouts of the warriors protecting the peace of this land could be heard.
Who knows? Albert Brown might be in league with those who tried to assassinate the President. In that case, couldn't those lawless wretches be planning to armed-occupy the assembly in coordination with the President’s assassination? Above all, it was a certain justification.