Mr. Lincoln’s Inaugural Address is before our readers—couched in the cool, unimpassioned, deliberate language of the fanatic... Civil war must now come. Sectional war, declared by Mr. Lincoln, awaits only the signal gun from the insulted Southern Confederacy.
Original passage & context
"Mr. Lincoln’s Inaugural Address is before our readers—couched in the cool, unimpassioned, deliberate language of the fanatic, with the purpose of pursuing the promptings of fanaticism even to the dismemberment of the Government with the horrors of civil war. [...] Civil war must now come. Sectional war, declared by Mr. Lincoln, awaits only the signal gun from the insulted Southern Confederacy, to light its horrid fires all along the borders of Virginia. [...] The question, “where shall Virginia go?” is answered by Mr. Lincoln. She must go to war—and she must decide with whom she wars—whether with those who have suffered her wrongs, or with those who have inflicted her injuries."
Virginia has NOT seceded — her convention is sitting in Richmond at this moment, and has so far refused. The Enquirer reads the same speech the Quincy Whig reads two days later (se-040) and finds a declaration of war in it. This is the upper South's hinge: the Enquirer's argument is that Lincoln has removed the choice of neutrality, leaving only which side. Virginia secedes on April 17, five days after Sumter. Non-contiguous sentences from the one editorial joined with [...].