You Must Die So That I May Live
The Southerners had been dissatisfied from the very beginning. It would have been strange if they hadn't been, considering that the Black people they had once looked down upon and treated as mere property had suddenly become their equals overnight.
"This is bullshit! This is all the fault of the Republican Party and Lincoln!"
"Ugh, I wish that bastard Lincoln would just drop dead."
"I really wish someone would just shoot that guy and get it over with."
Late at night, every tavern was filled with talk of killing Lincoln, and those who didn't join in were branded as "nigger-lovers," leaving them with no room to defend themselves. It wasn't just the general public; the newly forming Southern legislatures were also dominated by representatives who criticized the Republican Party and the President.
Of course, having lost the war, few were making truly radical statements, but it was clear to anyone watching that they had no intention of changing their course.
However, when the unprecedented event of an actual assassination attempt on the President finally occurred, the "spirit of resistance" the South had been shouting about was exposed as nothing more than a hollow illusion.
"I... isn't this a fabrication by the North?"
"Logically speaking, how could this be a fabrication?"
"John Wilkes Booth, the man caught as the assassin, is a famous actor who has made countless statements friendly to the South."
"......"
"This is truly serious. It's not just anyone; he was caught on the scene trying to shoot Lincoln. They say his accomplices were caught on the spot while trying to assassinate the Vice President and the Secretary of State!"
A conspiracy to assassinate would be enough to turn the country upside down, but if they were caught in the act of attempting it, there was nothing more to say. Even those who were wringing their hands, fearing the worst, couldn't accurately predict how massive the fallout would be. After all, this was the first time in history that a madman had attempted to assassinate the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State all in one go.
Furthermore, the South was a defeated region. Lincoln had just implemented an incredibly generous policy of reconciliation to embrace that defeated territory. Yet, they had tried to kill him. One didn't need to see the North's reaction to guess what it would be.
Of course, no one here dared to say, "Oh, we aren't human beings. We deserve to be beaten, so let's just take the blows." Honestly, wasn't that the case? They had only said they wished Lincoln would die; who had actually told them to do it?
But even if they said that, they didn't know what the enraged Northerners would do. No, before the North could go on a rampage, the Black people might rise up in a frenzy.
"Come to think of it, wasn't Lincoln almost a living god to the Black people?"
"That... is true, isn't it? I heard they worship Lincoln as if they were practicing idolatry."
"Then isn't there a risk that they will go on a rampage, claiming they will root out the accomplices of the man who shot Lincoln?"
"How dare those niggers! If they do, we should immediately call up the militia and crush them!"
"No, if we mobilize the militia now, do you think the North will just sit by and watch!"
Those who still didn't understand the reality spoke nonchalantly, saying that since they weren't accomplices, nothing major would happen. Meanwhile, those who grasped the situation objectively felt as if the world were turning black before their eyes.
'Oh, you idiots. We are truly finished.'
If things continued this way, the minimum would be military rule, and the maximum would be a purge. Would it be best to just bow down and settle for military rule for now?
"Wait a minute. Since it has come to this, we must all unite for now. We should issue an official statement in the name of the Southern Democratic Party, opposing all assassination and violence..."
"Unite and do what! I'm telling you, it's already too late!"
"What? Then what on earth are we supposed to do..."
As the heated debate continued with voices raised, the door to the conference room burst open with a crash, and clerks rushed inside.
"We are in the middle of a meeting, what is the meaning of this?"
"Representatives! It's a disaster. They say Mississippi has been completely turned upside down!"
"Mississippi? Why there again! Don't tell me someone started shooting there too? Has someone else been assassinated?"
"There was shooting, but... it wasn't an assassination! Chairman Parr! They say Chairman Parr and Colonel James Seuret have arrested a large number of traitors!"
"What?"
What did it mean that Parr and Seuret had arrested traitors? Why were traitors suddenly appearing in Mississippi, and what did it mean that Parr and Seuret had arrested them? While the room was in chaos due to the disconnected sentences, a representative who had received a telegram quickly read out the contents.
"They captured evidence of the 'Fire-Eaters' in Mississippi occupying the legislature and attempting a coup! They say the militia led by Colonel James Seuret raided them and arrested everyone! They've secured not only weapons as evidence but also specific hit lists and operational plans!"
They hadn't just made arrests based on suspicion. It was an arrest in the act with undeniable physical evidence. Moreover, the opponents were the Fire-Eaters, suspected of being the main culprits behind this situation.
"Chairman Parr has reportedly sent a telegram to the Federal Government immediately. He says this situation is not the will of the entire South, and that we, too, are victims of the radicals! He says that since we have cut out the rotten flesh with our own hands, we ask for a chance for the South to wash away its own sins!"
"...Huff."
A sigh escaped from someone's lips. While everyone else was trembling under their blankets, agonizing over how to avoid the North's club, it meant that—for better or worse—someone had already grabbed the culprits by the scruff of their necks, dragged them to the square, and shouted, "That man is the criminal! We caught him!"
"That old man who's crazy about horse racing... no, that elder has finally done it!"
This was a ray of light in the pitch-black South. Just before the entire South was about to be treated as traitors, Mississippi had proven through action that "this is by no means the prevailing opinion of the South."
"What is the Federal Government's reaction? What are they saying in Washington?"
"It seems they are still discussing it."
"As soon as you hear from them, bring it here immediately—don't hesitate for even a second, bring it faster than a second!"
Tennessee, Texas, Alabama. Every eye in the South began to focus on the contents of the telegram coming down from the North.
Meanwhile, in Washington D.C. at that time, the interior of the Republican Party, having received Chairman Parr's appeal and Mississippi's decision, was engaged in a debate as fierce as that of the Southern Democrats.
"Ridiculous! Those guys are just putting on a show now! We must wipe them all out at this opportunity!"
"That's right! Autonomy for the people who tried to assassinate the President? We must implement military rule and reshape them to their very bones...!"
The hardline representatives were foaming at the mouth. This was not an excessive reaction at all. Had they not dared to attempt the assassination of the President—the hero of the Republican Party and the great leader who symbolized the victory of the North? It felt as if tearing the South into a thousand pieces wouldn't be enough to satisfy their rage.
However.
"Even if we send the army ourselves, can we end this by only punishing the traitors they caught?"
"......"
"Look at Chairman Parr's report. They directly suppressed the armed forces that were trying to occupy the legislature and reported it to the Federal Government. Isn't this clear evidence that self-purifying mechanisms still exist within the South?"
"That is correct. The buds of the Southern moderates who are currently exercising restraint might be trampled instead."
The opinions of the cautious faction were also formidable. If the South had been applauding Booth and saying, "Well done!", then it would be right to crush them. But they had taken up arms themselves to suppress the radicals. If the Federal Army were to be deployed here to wipe them all out, the North might be criticized as a tyrant that trampled even those who were trying to repent on their own.
"And above all... the will of the President is what matters, isn't it?"
"But even if the President is generous, he almost got assassinated—not just any event—so would he just leave the Southerners alone?"
Everyone's gaze turned to Lincoln in the White House. The very person who had literally almost gone to the side of God. The mouth of the person who could be understood by anyone for being the most enraged finally opened.
"It is easy to reopen old wounds and see blood. But have those who hold the needle, claiming they will stitch the wounds themselves, not appeared? If so, is there any need for us to cut off their limbs with our own hands?"
"Mr. President..."
"Let us give Chairman Parr and Mississippi a chance. To see if they can truly cut out the rotten flesh. Or if they are just pretending. It is not too late to watch."
When the person who almost got shot in the head says that, who could oppose it? It wasn't as if he was saying he would just let it slide; he had clearly expressed his will that if things dragged on, the North could take the baton at any time, so the justification was secure.
Just one more time. This was the last "continue" coin the North was giving to the South.
As the Federal Government approved Chairman Parr's Emergency Committee and announced its position to watch the South's self-remediation, the entire South breathed a sigh of relief and fell into a frenzy of enthusiasm.
"Long live Chairman Parr! Long live James Seuret!"
"Those two saved our South! We are alive now!"
"The true patriots are Chairman Parr and James Seuret! Not the Fire-Eaters who only shout for independence with their mouths!"
The media, which had been cursing Mississippi just a few days ago as cowards who had surrendered to the North, changed their faces overnight. Parr became a hero of troubled times, and Seuret became a holy knight protecting the South. And the ones who switched their stance the fastest, riding this atmosphere, were, as expected, the politicians who had been gauging which side to cling to.
"I have always hated violence! The assassination of President Lincoln! It is something that should never have happened!"
"That's right. Even though our South lost the war, should we lose our honor too? Those who plotted such cowardly acts are a disgrace to Southerners!"
The very people who had been shouting in taverns just last week that Lincoln should be beheaded were now standing on podiums, possessed by the apostles of peace. What wouldn't they do to survive? If military rule were implemented, they could be branded as rebels, have their assets confiscated, and be dragged off to prison, so they needed to testify to their faith in advance like this.
Chairman Parr seized this momentum to propose the formation of a Southern Emergency Committee, and states with their feet to the fire, such as Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana, welcomed it with open arms.
"It will be troublesome if only Mississippi is seen as having self-purifying mechanisms."
"That's right. We don't know if there are hidden radicals in our regions too. We should investigate everything while we're at it!"
The stage was set. The Fire-Eaters and the radicals who had shouted for Southern independence—since all the arch-criminals who had aimed for the President's assassination and the overthrow of the legislature belonged to this group, all they had to do was throw them into the trash bin, and the South could return to the old days.
Then, the only thing left was to decide who the radicals were. The eyes of people whose survival instincts had been triggered began to glisten as they turned toward one another.
"Now that I think about it, didn't you really like the play that Booth was in last time?"
"What? You man! That was just liking him as an actor! When did I ever say I agreed with Booth's ideology?"
"Hey, I heard it at a drinking party? You said Lincoln should be shot and die during a speech!"
"N-no! I never did! Rather, didn't you say last time that you respected Albert Brown? I remember hearing that clearly!"
"Wh... what? Hey, you crazy bastard! When did I ever say that!"
The best way to prove that you are not a radical. That was to preemptively report a potential accomplice who was close to Booth or Albert and receive an indulgence.
"I! I heard it. Representative Thompson of Alabama said he was a close friend of Albert Brown!"
"Representative Brian of Georgia always bragged about being an executive of the Fire-Eaters. Don't you think he has something to do with this assassination attempt?"
If they were all going to die together, that would be one thing, but since a clear possibility of survival had emerged, everyone became sincere about passing through this small hole, even if it meant only themselves. They mercilessly cut down those who stood in their way. Exactly three days after Lincoln's attempted assassination, the South entered the Age of the Great Denunciation.