The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1861-08-01
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
The Case Fairly stated.

LETTER FROM Ma EvERETT-Ihe following
private letter was written, without any thought
of publication. 70 q correspondent in Virginia.
4 copy has been furnished by request for inser
ton IN our columns. says the Dmiy AdrsrtisT .
BosToN, 18th May, 1851
Your letter Of the 9th reached me yesterday.
I read it with mingled feelings g~ratited that
your friendly regard had a yet survived the
shock Of the times, and deeply grieyed at the diff
ferent view we take OF the existing crisis.
IL Is well known To- you that | sustained the
South. ~ the almost total -acifce Of influence
and favor At home. a. long as 1 thought she was
pursuing constitutional objects. This / did. al
though the South had placed the conservative
North in "a false and indefen-ible position. by the
repeal of the Missouri COMPROMISE, and the per
ssveEing attempts u force slavery into the terri
tory OF Kansas. by surprise, fraud and violence.
against the known wish of An overwhelming
majority Of the people. | pursued this course
for the purpose Ut strengthening the hands Of
patriotic Union men At the south although 1
was well aware, partly from facts within my per
sonal knowledge. that leading, Southern pOliti-
clans hai for thirty year, been resolved to break
up the Union, as soon a. they ceased % control
the United States government, and that the slave
~ question was bat II pretext for keeping up
agitation and rallyIng the South.
Notwithstanding this state OF things and the
wholly unwarrantable manner in which the poll
cy of secession was initiated by South Carolina
and followed up by the other Cotton States, and
IN spite Of the seizure Of the public Establishments
and the public prOperty,-which IN the absence
OF any joint act Ut partition was sheer plumber,
it was my opinion that, if they would abstain
from further aggression and We're determined to
separate, We had better part in peace. But the
wanton attack on Fort Sumpter, (Which took
place, not from any military necessity, for wha;
harm was single company. cOOped up IN Charles
ton harbOr, able 10 do To South Carolina? but
--.-I - - 49,. 81 IL
of the South, and thus bringing in the Border
States, and the subsequent proceedings at Mont
gomery, have wholly changed the state of affairs.
The South has levied an unprOvOked war against
the government of the United States, the mildest
and most benefcent in The world. and has made
it the duty Of every good citizen to rally To its
support
| perceive that my having publicly expressed
that sentiment, and contributed my mite toward
the regiment of Mr.. Webster, (who inherits the
conservative opinions of his illustriOus father,)
has caused surprise on the part OF some of my
Southern riends-yourself among the most valued
of them as if my so doing was inconsistent
with the friendly feelings i have ever cherished
toward the South. But these friends forget that
as early as the l2th April, that is, before the
Proclamation of President Lincoln, the Secretary
of War ut Montgomery had threatened that by
the LIST of May, the Confederate flag should float
over the Capitol 1T Washington, and in due time
over Faneuil Hall. When General Beauregard
proceeds TO execute this threat, his red-hOt cam
non balls and shells will not spare the roof that
shelters my daughter and four little children at
Washington, nor my own roof in Boston. Must
/, because / have been the steady friend of the
South, sit still while he is battering my house
about my ears?
/ certainly deprecated the choice Of n President
exclusively by the electoral votes of one section of
the country, though cOnsenting, with the great
est reluctance, TO be myself upon one of the op-
rnafnO ricketts, IL bntravar fulIu in The
power OF the South to have produced a different
result But the disuniOnists were determined 10
have their own candidate, though mistaken, /
trust, in the belief that he shared their disloyal
views. | make this charge against them without
scruple, justified by subsequent events, as well as
by the language OF the entire Union press at the
South during the canvass.
After the election was decided. the disuniOnists
could not wait for Orert arts, because they knew
none could or would be committed. They knew
that there was an anti-republican majority in the
Senate, and that there would be one in the pres
ent House. They : precipitated'' the rupture of
the Union because they knew that If they waited,
even the pretext for 1t would fail.
After the Cotton States had seeded, and al
though that Circumstance greatly increased the
difficulty Of compromise, measures We're neyerthe-
less adopted OF proposed in Congress, which must
have removed all sincere alarm on the part of the
South, that their constitutional rights We're threat
ened. The accredited leaders of the Republican
party, including the President elect, uniformly
pledged themselves to that effect The two
Houses by n constitutional majority pledged
themselves IN like manner against any future
amendment Of the Constitution, violating the
rights Of the South. y member from Massachu-
-etts (Alr. Ailms) possessing the entire confidence
of the incoming administration, proposed To ad-
NIT New Mexico rs u State, and three new Terri
tories were organized without any anti-slavery
restriction. While this was done in Congress,
the States repealed OF modified the laws throwing
obstacles IN the way of recovering fugitive slaves.
laws which have never been of any practical
injury to the Cotton States. These cOnciliatOry
dem constructions had no effect in staying the pro-
gress of secession. because the leaders of that
revolution were determined not to be satisfied
and to maintain their policy, which in the light
of the Constitution IL simple rebellion and tTea-
son. they have appealed To the sword.
You say that the South desires nothing but
peace, and ask whether the North Will not - let
you aIone?'' But. my good friend. the South
demands = great deal more than peace She
claims the Capital of the country, although she
has but n third of Its population. She claims
the control of the outlet of Chesapeake Bay and
its tributaries; the right to command the most
direct route To the Atlantic from OHIO, Indiana
and llinois.-States whose population amounts
20 FIVE and a half millions (the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad) the right 10 dragon the State
of Maryland and the western part of your own
State. with Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee
into joining the Southern COnfederacy the right
90 occupy the fortre>ses which protect the trade
of the Gulf of Mexico the right to shut up the
outlet Of the Ohio. Mississippi and the Missouri
and finally, she claims the right for any State,
that chooses TO pass a law TO that effect. 10 break
MP the Union. In enforcing these uncOnstitu-
tional. monstrous, and unheard of unsurpariOns.
she asks to be - let alone :" and when the Gov
eminent of the United States, in obedience To the
solemn oaths of It's members, (from which the
leaders of the revolt dispense themselyes) takes
measures 20 defend itself, the Capital of the
Union, the public establishments, and the rights
of the whole people against this invasion, long
premeditated by ambitious and disappointed po-
liticians, (for Mr.. \. III. Stephens truly declares
that to be the source of u great part of our
troubles') she exclaims that the North seeks
az IN subiuOate the Snuth