Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-06-11
Ister estiue Private Letter from Edwar
H.mw.ee

Everett.
Private letter, written without thought Of
publication, to a correspondent n Virginia:l
BosroE, May 10, 1861.
NY DHAR Ma. -: Your letter OF the Och
reached me yesterday. read Il with min
rled feelinQs; Rrati6ed that your friendly
regsrd had ~ vet survived the shock of the
timts, and deeply grieved at The different
view we take Of the exis log criis.l
II Is well known to you that / Sustained
the South, at the almost total sacrifice OF
influence and favor at home, as long as !
thought she wal pursuing constitutional OBJ
iects. This / did, although the South had
placed the conservative North in a false and
i~ndefensible position by The repeal Of the
Missouri Compromise, and the ~persevering
attempts to force slavery into the Territory
Of Kansas, by surprise, fraud and violence,
against the known wish Of an overwhelming
majority Of the people. / pursued this
course for the sake of strengthening the
hands Of patriotic Union men OF the South I;
although / was well aware, partly from facts
within my personal knowledge, that leading
Southern politicians had for thirty years
been resolved TO break up the Union as soon
as they ceased to control the United States
Government and that the slavery question
wa but q pretext for keeping up agitation
and rallying the South.
Notwithstanding this state Of things, and
The wholly unwarrantable manner in which
the policy of Secession was initiated by
South Carolina, and followed up by the
other Cotton States, and in spite Of the seiz-
ure Of the public establishments and the pub
lie property-which, in the absence Of any
joint act of partition, was sheer plunder-it
was my opinion that, if they would abstain
from further aggression, and were determined
to separate, we had better part in peace. But
the wanton attack on Fort Sumter (which
took place, not from any military necessity,
for what harm was q single company, cooped
up in Charleston harbor, able to do to South
Cardinal but for the avowed purpose of
stirring the blood" of the South, and thus
bringing in the border States), and the sub
sequent proceedings at Montgomery 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 beneicient in the world,
and has made it the duty of every good
citizen TO rally to its support.
/ perceive that my having publicly exc
pressed that sentiment, and contributed my
mite toward the regiment Of Mr.. Webster
who lnherits the conservative opinions of
bis Mustrious fatherG has caused surprise on
the part of som of my Southern friends
yourself among the most valued of them-as
ifmy so doing was inconsistent with the
friendly feelings | have ever cherished to-
ward the South. But these friends forget
that as early as the 18th of April, that is,
before the Proclamation of President Lin
coin, the Secretary of War at Montgomery
had threatened that by the LIST of May the
Confederate flag should float over the Capitol
at Washington, and in due time over Faneuil
Hall. When General Beauregard proceeds
to execute this threat, his red hot cannon
ball n Soils will not spare the roof that
shelters my daughter and four little children
at Washington, nor my own roof in Boston.
Must I, because l have been the steady friend
of the South, sit still while he is burning my
house about my ears2
l certainly deprecate the choice of a Pres.
ident, exclusively by the electoral votes of
one section of the country, though consent
ing with the greatest reluctance to be my
self upon one of the opposing tickets. 1t
was, however, fully in the power. of the
South to have produced a different result.
But the d~isunionists were determined to
have their own candidate, though mistaken
| trust in the belief that he shared their dis
loyal views. l make this charge against
them without scruple, justified by subse.
quent events, as well as by the language of
the entire Union press at the South during
the canvass.
After the election was decided, the disun.
ionists would not wait for overt acts, because
they knew none could or would be com.
mitted. They knew that there was an anti
Republican majority in the Senate, and that
there would be n in the present House.
They ''precipitated" the rupture of the
Union, because they knew that if they
waited, even the pretext for it would fail.
After the Cotton States had seeded, and,
although that circumstance greatly increased
the difficulty Of compromise, measures were
nevertheless adopted or proposed in Con-
gress, which must have removed all sincere
alarm on the part of the South, that their
constitutional rights were threatened. The
accredited leaders of the Republican party,
including the President elect, uniformly
pledged themselves to that effect. The two
Houses, by a constitutional majority, pledged
themselves in like manner againsta any future
amendment of the Constitution violating the
rights of the South.
A member from Massachusetts (Mr,
AdamsG possessing the entire confidence o
the incoming Administration, proposed II
admit New Mexico as a State, and three new
Territories were organized without any anti
Congress, the States repealed OF modified tn,
laws throwing obstacles in the way of re
covering fugitive slaves-laws which. havt
never been of any practical injury to thI
Cotton States. These conciliatOry demon.
STATIONS had no effect in staying the pro,
gress Of Secession, because the leaders of tina
revolution were determined not to be salts
fed; and to maintain their policy, which, in
the light of the Constitution, is simply re
bellion and treason, they have appealed tt
the sw ord.
You say that the South desires nothing
but peace, and ask whether the North viii
not "let you alone.n But, my good friend
the South demands a great deal more thar
peace. She claims the Capitol of the c9un.
try, although she has but a third of its popu
lation. She claims the control of the outlet
of Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries; thu
right to command the most direct route II
the Atlantic from Ohio, Indiana and Illinois
States whose population amounts to FIVE and
a half millions, (the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad) the right to dragoon the State Of
Maryland and the Western part of your OWL
State, with Kentucky, Missouri and Tennes,
the right to occupy the fortresses which
protect the trade of the Gulfo of Mexico; thu
right to shut up the outlet of the Ohio, Mis-
sissippi and the Missouri; and finally, shI
claims the right for aDy State, that chooses
to pass a law to that effect, to break up th,
Union.
In enforcing these uncOnstitutional, mon
stIous, and unheard.of usurpatisns, she ask
to be "let %alone;' and when the Govern
ment of the United States, in obedience Il
the solemn oaths of its members (from whicl
the leaders of the revolt dispense them
selyes(, takes measures to defend itself, tn
capital of the Union, the public establish
ments, and the rights of the whole peopl
against this invasion, long premeditated b,
the ambitious and disappointed politician
(for Mr.. A. H. Stephens truly declares that t
be "the source of a great part of our trou
bles'l, she exclaims that the North seeks 1T
s~ubjugate the South
lean not. describe to you, my dear friend
the sorrow caused me by this state Q
things. Circumstances, as you well know
had led me to form personal friendly rels
tons at the South, more extensively tina
most Northern men, and the support giveI
especially in the border States, to the tickt
on which nv mama Waa hOPna nj tho LAT