Year: 1861

The annexed letter is addressed to a leading man


u!acturer in Wilmington, Delaware
WASHINGTON, December %, 1860
DEAR SIR: have delayed nv answer to your


letter ct the 8th inst. until could feel entirely


assured, from the tendency of the debates and pro
ceedIngs OF Congress- that the opinion which had
previously formed to the causes which have


ed TO the present crisis, and the only remedy which
could be applied, was correct


! Believe me, | sympathize deepIy not only with


the suffering which the "helpless and unoffsndino
| laoorlng classes have Undergone but also with


that which all classes will have to undergo during
the continuance of the present distracted and pT
cited state of the whole country. We must, how


ever, first investigate the causes which have pro.


duced the disastrous condition of affairs before we


can determine on the remedy, if, indeed, remedy


can be found Political ambition and the struggle


for power have doubtless increased ard hurried on


the present passionate and excited antagonism of


feeling and sentiment which pervades different


tions of our common country; but the source of the


evil lies deeper, and am unable to see any mode


IN which harmony cam be restored and the Union


preserved but by an appeal to the patriotism and


practical character of the American people in the


election OF delegates to convention Of all the


States.


There is prevailing and deep.seated excitement


and direct antagonsm Of opinion between the peo-


pie OF the slaveholdng and non-sayeholding States
in relation to negro slavery This antagonistic
opinion has been the growth of years, and ever
since it found powerful enough to rend asunder
three of the great churches of the country, have
dreaded its effect if brought into political con-
ficts. 1t has been so brought by the Republican
party.


l have, however, the hope that if the Legisla-
lures OF the larger States will initiate movement
for National Convention; that when the people
come to elect delegates to such Convention, with
the question of Union disunion directly present
ed, their choice will fall upon those who will be
able to adjust, on a rational basis, the subject in
controversy. From Congress, as now constituted
1t I'd vain to expect ' cotton calculated to restore
li"I tiiVHJ.


The members generally have been elected on par
ty divisions, and the array of parties is sectional
in its character. No single measure could now be
passed through both branches tending to allay the
existing excitement; but, on the contrary, impru-
dent and violent, or extreme men will, by debate,
only further exasperate the passions and increase
the alienation already existing.


If the fell spirit of aboitionism has not become
too deeply implanted in the more Northern States,
as feel confident it has not in some at least of
the Middle StateS-we may keep, or rather restore
that Union which our fathers framed; but other
wise there is no room for hope. On the one side
is an opinion taught for years past by the pulpit
the schools, the literature, and above all, bv the
mothers, that slavery, under all circumstances is
sin and crime; and this opinion has become a
sentiment, and is extensively prevalent and in.
deed, dominant in the New England States w est
ern New York, part of Pennsylvania, and through
out the Northwest, and it is also deeply implanted
in Ohio, and fear now in Indiana and Illinois.


On the other side is involved So 900 OOOO O0O in
value of property in slaves, interviewer with the
social structure of nearly every slavehOdng State;
upon the pr servatOn of which property the civil
lzatioD, progress and very existence of most of
them depend. Coupled with this right of property
is the fixed and confident opinion, that where su-
perior and inferior exist in the same country
in large relative numbers the happiness and pros
perity OF both require that should live in
ubieet0n to the other. coincide in this view of
the relation of races under such circumstances;
but, the difficulty which presents itself is, that the
counter opinion in the non-slavehodng States,
though, in my Judgment, erroneous and fanatcal,
and founded in practical ignorance of the rela-
tions of race from the small relative proportion of
negroes who reside among them, is, with the mass
es, honest opinion, and having become a received
opinion, and a sentiment, can be reasoned with and
changed only by time and the occurrence of events
which demonstrate its impractical character, and
its inconsistency with the welfare of either
the black or the white race. Being also opin-
ion or sentiment which affects the conscience of
those by whom it is entertained, it is necessarily
aggressive in its character, its past action, both
in Church and State, has abundanty proved
Since its influence was demonstrated, it has, with
in six years past, been seized hold oby disappoint
ed political men as the basis by which power and
office were to be obtained and ambition gratied;
and most unfortunately, this anti-slavery sentiment
now constitutes the sole Jondof Union of that party
which has lately triumphed by a purely sectional
vote in electiug President and Vice President of
the United States, and thus obtaining the control
of the powers of the General Government.


1t is vain to hope that the political men who, by
force of this opinion and sentiment, have attained
power, will not be influenced in the conduct Of al
fairs by the source from which their power is de.
rived, or that any measure can be expected from
them which will lessen the of excitement and
disuniOn when their power rests the conflict of
opinion as its basis of support. | DO not doubt,
however, that there are thousands of men in non
slaveholdng States who, uninlluenced by the anti
slavery sentiment, have sustained the Republican
party on other nOn-seCtiOnal grounds in the late
conte t; and | cannot but believe that when the
IF Of -tol+
people directly, and discussed in canvass for the
election of delegates to national convention free
from the complications of party bias and the strug-
gle for office and power, large majority will de.
eide practically, as the American people have hith-
erto decided, on the application of theories and
general principles to the government OF mankind.


1t is but too true that the President elect dis
cards the relation of inferior to superior race
as exception to the general language of the De-
claraton of independence, 'that all men are created
aqua;" but am unwilling to believe that ma
orty of the people Of the nOn-slave-hOlding States
will ratify this perversOn of the general principle
It enunciates which, like all other general prin-
,ipIes, can only be nationally interpreted and ap-
piled with exceptions, and correct construction
given to its intent and meaning by the subject mat
er and state of facts to which it had relation At
he time of that Declaration, slaves were property
)y the law of nations, and slavery of the negro
race existed in every State whose independence was
achieved under it, Should be mistaken as to the
decision of the people in such an election then the
Federal Union can neither be preserved nor re-
stored and all that be hoped for is that States
20 severed by rreconcilabe differences of opinion
and sentiment may part in peace. In the interim,
ill this decision can be made, the sword must not
De drawn; and if, as | deem certain, five or more
States withdraw from the Union we must hasten
the assembling of a Convention, which alone can
reunite the whole country.


1t seems worse than idle to discuss the right of
secession; for whether the act be constitutiOnaly
legal, or revolutionary, whenever large section
of the country, composed of pOpulous and wealthy
States, becoming dissatisfied with the existing Gov
determines to withdraw from the Union
coercion means but civil war. Nor could coercion
in such a possibly effect the proposed object of
those who vindicate its exercse-the preservation
Of the Federal Union. To conquer and subdue
large section, if practicable, would not restore the
| Mon, but merely devastate and blot out tn
quered States. Our Government is based upon
opinion, and from its peculiar structure, partly fed
eral and partly national, can be maintained only by
fraternity and nationality of feeling, Cancellation,
and due regard to the diversites of habits and
tones of thought and difference of social structure
in the several States which exist under, and organ
lied it, for the benefta and protection of the
people and property of each and all.


1t is but vain to moot the question whether
coercion would be within the powers of the Gen
era Government, and could be benefcially used to
achieve its object if single State seeded from the
Union without cause. No such state of things ez-
sts though it is true that one State has already
from the Union on what she deems sut-
hcient cause But the public opinion in nearly
every Southern State is almost unanimous, that
grave of complaint exists and the resistance
in some mode is requisite; and in five or more
States, it is also unanimous, greatly preponder-
ant, that the only mode of redress is Sy withdraw
ing from the Federal Union. Should they do so,
though the act of severance may be separate, COM
bined action will Immediately follow, and any at
tempt by the Federal Government to restrain and
coerce their action by force, will but increase the
combined resistance. This seems to me so evident
that should seriously distrust that mans attach
ment to the Union, hold in light estimation his
capacity and Judgment, who, on the occurrence of
events which nearly certain, should advise
the use of force by the General Government as a
means of preserving the Union.


The conflicting opinions and sentiments OF differ
euL parts or tile CuuutIy In relation tn negro sa-
very mustbe reconciled, or we must separate.


If we must separate, much as | deploTe such
result, we may in general Convention, by agree
ment, settle and adjust all those rights and Obliga
tons of the respective governments into which the
country may be divided, which otherwise might
lead to collision such as the use Of coterminOuS
rivers the division of common property, and the
assumption of common debt, more nationally and
etfectually than by civil war.


The particular and exact results OF any war car
not be predicted by human foresight but it is very
clear, If civil ensues, that after years Of suffer


ing and widespread devastation, this country will %
side into seperate nationalities perhaps under diff
ferent forms of government, and thus war, with
all its mseries, will only attain, II be-
come ineUitaJe what can be attained by agreement
in convention unless insane inhospitaiy and hatred
rules the hOur. | confess cannot realize that the
intelligent people of the United States in this nine
teenth century, with the spectacle of Mexico be-
fore them, can, By any excess of anmosity, suffer
themselves to be plunged into the horrors Of an in