Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-02-11
Letter from Edward Everett OH the
state of the Country.

The following letter was received at the
recent Union meeting at Faneuil Hall. Bos-
ton:
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2, 1861.
My DEAR SIR--I much regret that it is
not in my power to be present at the meet
ing to be held in Faneuil Hall next Tuesday.
| have yielded, at the sacrifice of personal
convenience, to the advice and request that /
would prolOng my stay at Washington, with
a view to conference with members of Con-
gress and other persons from various parts
of the Union, who are uniting their counsels
and efforts for its preservation.
The crisis is one of greater danger and
Importance than has ever before existed.
Six States have declared their separation
from the Union, and the seventh is proba-
BILE event. The course Of the remaining
Southern States will be decided in few
days. They are under opposing influences.
A strong con servative sentiment binds them
to the Union; natural sympathy with the
seeding States draws them in an opposite
direction.
If they adhere to the Union there will be
no inseparable difficulty iu winding back the
sister States, which have temporarily with
drawn from US, but if the border States are
drawn into the Southern Confederacy the fate
of the country is sealed. Instead of that
psiny prosperity which has made us for two
generations the envy of the civilized world
we shall plunge into the road to ruin. We
must look forward to collision at home
fierce, bloody, deadly collision-not alone
between the two great sections of the coun-
try, but between two neighboring States
town and country. aud embittered parties in
the same city and abroad we must submit
to the loss of the rank we have hitherto sus-
tanned among the family of nations. Human
nature is the same in all ages, and the fu ture,
now impending over our once happy country,
may be read in the mournful history of the
Grecian and Italian republics, and in the
terrific annals of the French revolution. To
expect to hold fifteen States in the Union by
force, is preposterous. The idea of civil
war. accompanied as it would be, by a ser
vile instruction, is too monstrous to be en-
tertained for moment. If our sister States
must leave US, in the name of heaven let
them go in peace. agree In the sentiment
that the people alone can avert these dire
calamities. Political leaders, however well
disposed, are hampered by previous commit
tails and controlled by their associates The
action of Congress, unless accelerated by an
urgent impulse from the ultimate source of
power. is too much impeded by the forms of I
legislation aud tediousness of debate. There
is no hope from the political parties of the
unhappily too potent for
mischief, but, in the present extremity, pow
erless for good, except by a generous sacrifice
of all party views, interest and ambition to
the public veal. ft
No; it is only by the loud, emphatic, nnan-
imous utterance of the voice of the people,
that the danger can be averted, Let the cry
90 forth from Faneuil Hall, and ring through
the land, that the Union must and shall be
preserved eGreat cheering)
Your friend and fellow citizen
= EnUADn EUHr,u,Trr