The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1861-05-03

Il A friend in this city sends Us for publ
x cation the following sensible letter. from
a private correspondent. The views Of
the writer will DO found interesting to
our readers. W ~' ~ eu 'e
ss, ss------.---,MAss., April Is, '6l.
ad Y y = vi can only think of the
one topic that fills all minds and hearts
= You know have had better opportu-
: nifty than most men to see and know all
aides without taking any active, exciting
part. The ertreme North, the er,rems
p South, and the middle feeling Of the Border
G States--1 know, them all personally and in
dmateiy. We all know where the logic of
the Constitution and laws places the
whole matter; and we know. too, that to
enforce plain legal rights is some times to
lose all tights. MIR. Lincoln has now
given the secessionists, not q cause, hardly
a pretert, but an Opportunity 10 fyht Moth
+ ing but ~ar could have long kept up dis
union, even in the Confederacy; nothing
but ,ear could now force or seduce the
Border States out Of tile Union; in nothing
but peace was there any hope for the Con-
stitution, the laws. and reconstruction. -
For peace, and the consequence Of peace,
: Fort Sumter should have been abandon
ed, as the FIRST act Of the administration.
As q military question, it could not be
held, and therefore it could be no dis
grace To yield it; as a question Of policy,
IL should have been surrendered, even it
i. could have been held by force. If nee
essary for peace, il would have been
equally good policy to give up Fort Pick
! ems promptly and at once, and to have
put the act solely on the ground of policy
and peace. These things done, the Con-
fcderacy would have held the whole Of
their territory. Any act of war, on. their
part, must then have been extra territori-
. ali, an invasion of, or an aggression. if
81 dared, would probably have united all
the Border States with the free States, in
feeling and action; would have put the
Confederacy utterly and totally in the
wrong, in all mons Judgments; and then
there would have been every reasonable
hope. almost certainty, of settling the
/. whole matter by peaceful means; or it.
that sadnecessity come by force utterly re-
sistless. But they say, the President scat h!
As if an oath to obey, preserue and enforce.
bound him to do that which was. even by
his own acknowledgment, in part physic-
ally impossible, and which would, in
evitably. give up, lose and destroy the
Constitution, the laws and the country it.
self. How he should keep his oath was no
matter, IL in the highest and largest sense
twas kept To keep it in such manner
as to lose erery Thing to which the oaM applied,
and for ,chieh, alone, an oath ,oas required, was,
and is. to perjure himself in action and
spirit. and obey only in the latter. The
outside pressure on him has doubtless
been very great. His obligation, the
legal right, the honor and dignity of the
government, the temporary triumph of
defiance and rebellion, the implied con-
fession of weakness and the fear to be
called a coward; all these motives have
been urged increasingly. He had, even
nop he has the glorious opportunity to be.
come second Washington. Also, he is
the President Of q party, not of the coun-
;incapableo rising above the passions,
the phrenzy, the blindness of the hour
b He calls for troops; and war, civil war will
: be upon us; when, or how to end? The
Union is then lost al all epenls and hopelessiy
How much will be left, and phal will it be?
An American abroad will rank with a
Pole or a Mexican, and have about as
much Ola country. "rhe government
must be sustained" Yes; it never should
have required such support; it will not
lorg be worth it. Fanaticism in the North.
selfish demogogucs in the South, ,ofakness
folly and toickeiaess in the governments; this
is the whole sad, sad epitaph that history
will write ION the broken and dishonored
fragments of a once glorious Union"