Toombs, however,
wanted to prevent such a situation, while Yancey was anxious to
force one. The former conceived felicity as the joy of playing
politics on the biggest stage, and he therefore bent all his
strength to preserving the so-called national parties; the
latter, scornful of all such union, was for a separate Southern
community.
Furthermore, no man could become enthusiastic about political
evasion unless by nature he also took kindly to compromise. So,
Toombs and his followers were for preserving the negative
Democratic position of 1856. In a formal paper of great ability
Stephens defended that position when he appeared for reelection
to Congress in 1857. Cobb, who had entered Buchanan's Cabinet as
Secretary of the Treasury, and who spoke hopefully of making
Kansas a slave state, insisted nevertheless that such a change
must be "brought about by the recognized principles of carrying
out the will of the majority which is the great doctrine of the
Kansas Bill." To Yancey, as to the Republicans, Kansas was a
disputed border-land for which the so-called two nations were
fighting.
The internal Southern conflict between these two factions began
anew with the Congressional elections of 1857. It is worth
observing that the make-up of these factions was almost a
resurrection of the two groups which, in 1850, had divided the
South on the question of rejecting the Compromise.
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