New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-05-20

God help our poor, distracted, unhappy country
have endeavored to write You about as thihSs
are here. May hear from you?
Most truly and aihfni J, you friend
NEW ORLEANS May.
1Fy Dea, SRI have received your very friendly
letter of the 30th ut. The anxiety you express
for reliable information on the state OF pubic ut
fairs here, which are so grossly msconceived in
your part of the country, in which misconceptions
yon appear to have largely shared, increases the
claims which an agreeable cotton OF old ao-
auaintaneeship gives you to an early and conrte-
Gus reply. My opinions are entirely at your SER
vice and shall be very much gratified if they
contribute to remove in any mind some of the hal-
lucinations which are impeling the North to
course. which most conscientiously believe to be
uDjustifable and wicked.
You propose series of seven questions, which
you illustrate by comments of your own. | shall
not follow them seridt0t, but will state such opin-
ions as shall cover them all, as well as my time
will permit.
The first three relate to the state of public
opinion here. You ask if q majority of the " solid
thinking men" of the Cotton States really desire
to break up the Union, and form separate Con
federacy? ana you imply the belief that there IS
considerable" latent but tefrorized" Union party
here, which is oVerpowered by political dema-
gogues, practicing upon the " iDfiamed passions y
of the Irresponsible portions OF our populace.
This belief has, am persuaded been the fruitful
source of grevous errors at the North. Your pub
lie men and your journals have shaped their policy
and their counses, on the assumption that there is
in the Cotton States suppressed Union feeling,
which requires some Northern support to manifest
itself and recover the ascendancy in one or more
of these States. 1t is great delnsion. So far as
ii has encouraged the exhibition OF Federal force
as @ means Of bringing back any one of these
States it has beer a very misChieVous one. What
ever there was of Uni0nism, of any degree what
soever, has been extingushed by that exhibition.
There is no UniODsm of any kind or degree, how
ever qualified, left in this region. There is none in
Ea1,.
already decreed is made eternal alienation by
unanimous popular feeling. We are more widely
divided thereby than il an ocean rolled between
us, and we spoke different languages. This is the
state of public feeling now in all the Cotton States.
It is, doubt not, spreading so as TO become pre-
dominant in the Border States.
Even before this exhibition of Federal force,
with the accompanying demonstrations which made
it hateful, there was no Union party within these
States worth counting as an element of political
calculation. You have been deceived, at the
North, if you have been taught to believe that
cession was carried by minority, or that there
was any considerable minority who were uncon.
ditionaliy for the Union. I speak for this State
what is true as believe for all the others-that,
in the Convention elections, there was no distinct
Union party After the 9th of November last,
there were scarcely any unconditional Unonists in
this State. The distinction, in the canvass and at
the polls was between separate and immediate Sc
cessonists on one side, and c01peratonists on the
other with whom voted the very few who were
for Union on any terms-the larger number who
were for the Union, provided certain named guar
antees could be obtained by constitutional amend
ments, and considerable number who were for
secession after better preparation, and by concert
with the other slave States. The immediate Seces-
sonists carried the day. They were joined in the
Convention by the cooperation Secessionsts and
the contingent Unionsts The Secession ordinance
was passed. five to one, and every other party dis
appeared Under the pressure of the menaced
war of snbJugation from the North, the Southern
A.,
is not Vestige Of Unionism The most uncom-
promising aud determined Union haters are the
men who were the last to give the hope of recon-
Citation. Louisiana is one and indivsible.
Nor is your mistake at the North less delusive
that,this is the work of demagogues, acting upon
the temporary exctements of an Irresponsible
popalace The revou ion in this State came from
the .soid, thinkingo population-the men of social
position and wealth; and there never was move
ment which owed less to party management or
party leaders. The impulse came upwards from
the masses to meet the spontaneous direction of
the men Of substance and thought. Old party
lines disappeared, the old party issues were ig-
nored, and old party chiefs disappeared from the
field. 1t was the work of the whole people.
In this speak of what know. was in the
Convention myself; and my connection with these
matters will illustrate TO you the general of
things in this State. There has been no more de-
voted friend of the Union than have been.
was, like you, follower of the illustrious Clay,
but have never, until these questions rose into
prominence, taken any interest in politics beyond
that OF my duty as voter had no more sym
pathy than you have with the Rhetts and the
Yanceys, to whom you trace the authorship of
these disorders. have prided myself on all occa-
sons in being what is termed a Conservative. The
developments Of the election of 1856 startled me
out Of my security in Northern conservatism
those of the last canvass convinced me that
Union of affection and confidence was no longer
possible, and that it would be best for both that
separation in fact and in form should take place.
WHAT has transpired since determines me that any
thing, and everything is more endurahe than the
Union of hate, which is what the North offers US,
at the pint of the bayoner. The process which
has been worked upon me, is, believe, universal
with all Southern conservatives. do most con-
scIenllously believe that, in the present state of
feeling, NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. OF the people of
Louisiana would rather seek protection under
the French Emperor, than trust 10 the fraternity
of the North in any political association. I am not
reasoning the question, but state what think to
be facts for your information.
This opinion need not to be modified by the fact
that you may have knowledge of families who are
leaving the South, and that business men write
you melancholy letters, deprecating the state of
things here. This thinning out of a few only con-
centrates to greater intensity what remains. There
are, everywhere and always, timid men who would
make any sacrifice for case, however ingIorious
and selfish men who see nothing but unmixed evil
in whatever unsetses business and reduces profits.
II would be Irrational to suppose that there not
seme men of this sordid cast among us, who vent
planning letters to their creditors. What wish to
affirm is, that such men are very few have no ill.,
iuence, and are despised. You cannot reckon
upon them for any aid in the recovery of the lost
Union. The solid thinking men, and the men of
property, are with the men of muscle and sinew,
for the total emancipation of the Cotton States,
from political association with the Northern States.
There is another proof that you utterly misinter-
pref the Southern people, when you identity the
movement of the day as the fruit of an old con-
spiracy against the Uuion, commenced thirty years
ago in South Carolina. might easily retorG, and
show with color of truth, that the North is now
banded to consummate the designs against the
South which originated quite long ago, with the
rlas of the grand army marching to the same
end. But choose to confne myself to the remark,
that the afillation of many States with the class
which have been so long marked out among our
selves for avoidance, because Dsunonist~ ia fact
of no small moment in considering the position of
the South. So long as there was conservative
power in the North sustaining in the hearty sup
port of the constitutional Union we could laugh
at these few men, and put them down at the polls.
The spread of their opinions kept pace with the
decay of that Northern support. The men have
grown into confidence az the proofs accumulated
that they were tar-sighted. Even If their motives
respect them a. prophets. 1t is not by them, or
their doings, but by an irresistible current of
events that we have all been brought up abreast
with the men whom we might still be holding to
have been rash politicians, If they Lad not been
made leaders of hosts by the rashness and OBJ
stinacy of the North.
have, with some prolixity, l fear, endeavored
to satisfy your inquiries into my opinions on the
state of feeling in the Cotton Stares. / desired,