, 1860-12-14

Letter from John m, Bolts.

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Letter from John m. Bolts.
RICHMOND, November u, 1891
Af DEAR e1R: have been endea1oriug II
MAKE m opportunity for some days past to an
swer your very friendly and seductive letter
but ms whole time, day and night, has beer
30 constantly occupied with matters that could
not be postponed. that until the pres ent haze
been compelled to defer It, and even now
speak Of your letter a. being seductive;
refer Of course, to those portious which hold
|. out promises Of future greatness, II will
"setxe upon the present occasion with mar.
yous grasp and guide the movement in favo1
of secession" J" which you think ia t1ed and in
eTfta1le, aud 1nany i charming woman has
sacrificed her honor aud her reputation to the
'nsfdtous tempter under far les' imposing cir
cumstances tllan those you present for my
confederation; but it was because they had not
the hr1nDess to say, as do now say to you, In
The iat ianguage of our Saviour, " Gs thee 6eat"d
do not concur with you In opinion that tue
dissolution Of the Union Ia inevitable The
Ely looks threatening, grant you; but so it
has done before, and yet the clea1cst sunshine
has succeeded, without a shower Of min or q
peal Of thunder; SO trust it will he again.
l'ut If It should be otherwise, and the govern
lnsnt Of the United States is to be overthEoWn,
no part Of tie folly, the wiekedness, or the
crime, shall he charged upon me, either by the
wise aud good men Of the present age, or Of
generations yet to come
True, South Carolina has rushed on with q
hcadlong impetuosity wholly unsuited to the
gravity Of the occasion, ~ If she were afraid to
trust herself with time for calm dcliberatfou,
relying more upon the ls'ssion than the wis.,
dom Of her people; and 1t may b., that under
and true greatness, she may involve herself In
very serious difficulty; she may even declare
herself out ofthe Union; she did So BY ordI-
rance tn Convention in 1858; but stf1l the
| Cnlon was not rent asunder, nor will It now
be, as think; no other State T. likely to go
Eith her; and what is best and surrst Of Ill,
Vlrginta certainly sea9 not in her present state
| If mind.
II could see the least scmblance Of iustiti-
cation in the attitude South Carolina has as-
sumed, would sympathizc with her-but
cannot, for reasons already given ln III speech,
Ing In that position but pain, 1o|tl, daring, Jae-
Isattl rrdeiosa agafHst and fTtsoa to the rest Of
The States, and cannot, under any contInsen-
~, be Induced to take sides with her In hcr
dlsluyalty and treachcry::- WksAean ask il Of
| :nc. when her own most trusted aud active
te'des, ME. ianccy, in Lis Montgomery speech,
said:
III understand my Distinguished friend from
Virginia. tAr. Pryor). the election Of Black Re
publican President woa1d be an Issue for diam IN.
understand my learned colleague. CIR. uilliardl,
I! ray that upou that 1=sur lie would be ready to
dissolve the Cnon. eay, with ali Difference to my
colleagues here. that no more Inferior Issue could
he rendered to the South upon which we should
tl.soive the Cnion than the loss Of an cleo Ion.
When am asked to raiae the flag of revolution
::aist an ELECTION under the forms Of Law and the
Constitution. an dskfa TO 10 an unconstitutional
!sing, according t. the Constitution 1t now ex-
l.ts am asked tnput myself In the position ofa
government should succeed aud put down tie ~ rt-
!tfioH. and my friends can BE- Ar.ai.u, |, .:prc
:ae Supreme Court Uf the United States. tlnl AeTe
tt"<esd ,oa ne to o. - Aangta f. riog tit eos
Stcl' is the admission of the leader whom
| you propose to follow, and you make m rar-
| neat appeal to inc to unite with you in assum-
ing the position Of re6tl AMI traitor, for
::nlch may he sentenced to be hanged for
violating the Constitution and laws of my
country. Pardon nc, my respected, but i'm
lc;uous friend, but had rdG'er not l am inl-
i'c1lcd by every consideration of honor md
:;uty to decline your very polite invitation.
DO you doubt, or does any sensible and re-
"ectin5 man doubt, that Mr.. Yancey de-
scrlbcd truly the situation Which every man
nrenpics who tayors the movement of South
Carolina, because Of the election Of 3Ir. Lin
tOln: for even she does not pretend that she
would have occupied her present position II
Lincoln had been defeated, aud jet, are you
not surprised to see SO many Of our own peo-
.'se turning "rebels" and ''traitors' at her
yourself? Ht1d and Traitort very impoRin.:
md high sounding designations in the ssstitna-
zion Ut son1c, perhaps, but have no partict1-
lir desire that they should attach to my name
either now, or in after life. Ny axDratfoux
10 not run in that lnr.
South Carolina, spurnins the esunscls and
cooperation 0f Virginia aud other Southern
states, las, Of her own accord, aud upon her
t'sh hook, chosen to raise mighty and fearful
;:'ac with the general government, and upon
'lle general government rests the responsible
=. Of settling the question. Hands off, md
We lave nothing to do with it, aud 10 fur as /
ain concerned, 1:turn her over to "Cncle Sap,"
::.si If she cal1 maintain her position against
that respectable and powerful old gentleman, .
lei her have all the honor, and glory, and ben :
s.it Of the achievement to hersc,i. hope she
'slay have good and merry time of it. She
will still be State of tho Union In state of
rebellion, and have not shadow Of doubt
either Of the right or the power to control her;
the only question would be--Is it ,corh uhls?
Would it not be better to LET her 20 nut, aud
stay out until she has made the experiment,
10 cut up the fatted calf.
But that, unfortunately, would lead to an
uthtr pcrplcxlng difficulty. which IS. tlat it
would amount to acknowledgment that We
lavc no government, aud never had one that
CUT fathers were set of old fools and foeies.
who thought they were nakiugptor t1eir pos-
ferlfy government that wouid ENDURE forty
81, whilst 1t was nothing more than mere vol
!;lltarv association Of States. to he tolerated on
" FL long US 1t was rrtirfy convenient and
i isrctable to all the parties to remain In il,
ut HAT tho moment it became irxsomc TO any
"nc State, 1t might be broken up as readily us
III ordinary parry ut whist, whenever one Ut |
the partners happened to tire or grow drowsy:
anu it requires hut little reflection TO satisfy |
any reasoning man that if the doctrine Of the |
right OF secession Is once recognized by the |
government, all Its powers cease at once, even |
although the doctrine may not be carried into !
practical effect. The government is now sup
ported BY loans and treasury notes, and haa |
been, with the exception Of short Intervals
for the last twenty-five years. What credit |
what could II obtain, either at home or abroad,
il it were understood that any one State might
L: any moment brcak up the government, aud
thus cancel the debt, Us South Carolina now
proposes to cancel hers!
When should We be safe in declaring ,cdr for
Tie defence Of our honor, or our rights, or for
the protection Of our people, if in the midst
IF tie war the Union should be dissolved and
the government destroyed whenever some one |
of the States might be disappointed in the !
election Of hcrfayorite candidate for the Presi-
sscncy, or because her interest would be pro-
The prize ef COTTON to opcn direct trade .cih the
~te'hy! What government on earth would
thereafter treat with us as one Of the nations
Of the world? or treat us with respelts 10
not wish to be disrespectful TO anybody. and
'''ost surely not to you, but | hope you will
i:lrdon mc for saying, that one Of the incou-
teirable aud irreconcilable things of this |
world, to 1ny mind, Is, that an idea Of such
lnmixcd and unulitisated nonsenseand nbsur.
dity as that Of the right Of State to srccde at
pleasure should ever hare obtained place in |
the mind Of any man who was not an atso-
lute 1unatic. Mems minds are differently or
::.anized, know, and VIC SEE things through
different optics, and dare tag, you aud others
Lok upon me in the same Light IS Hook upon
yna and upon them. Well, be it 80: Aonory
Hrr easy, aud We break even.
ii has become quiet 2 f,vorite and fashiona-
tic mode Of expression to say, s4.i. is rot q
go147runent made By force, aud cannot be kent
hgether BY fore.
1t is very true that the government was not
made by force, aud 1t is for thai re5y rr4son that
there Il no right to hrcak it up, and that It can
lie kept together By force whether that il 4 |
desirable mode Of doing 1t is altogether diff
hrrnt question; If il had btn formt1 ty .forrt,
If som. fyrannic7I despot had forced govern
latnt Upon the people which had never nL-
tanned their approval or assent, then any ofthe
parties would be Justified in throwing it OF
whcnccer they could get rid Of 1t but i Is prr-
cisdy 1<eau%x il uds Aof made by .torte, but that
On the other hand, twas a .fffe and ,lt;ntdyr
eompdcf, entered into one with another, and
each one with sill the rest, that there il pow
Ct to enforce the compact.
Debts arr not aud cannot be created by forcs |
but il voluntarily entered into, the payment
If the obligation may be enforced by the