Washington City, Jany. 10th, 1861.
To His Excellency
James Buchanan, President Of U. S.
Dear Sir: In
your reply to my note of 8th Inst., accepting my resignation, you are right
when you say that “you (I) had been so emphatic in opposing these
reinforcements that I (you) thought you (I) would resign in consequence of my
decision.” I came to the Cabinet on Wednesday Jany. 2nd, with the full
expectation I would resign my commission before I left your Council Board; and
I know you do not doubt that my action would have been promptly taken had I
understood on that day that you had decided that “reinforcements must now be
sent.” For more than forty days, I have regarded the display of a military
force in Charleston or along the Southern Coast by the United States as
tantamount to war. Of this opinion you & all my colleagues of the Cabinet
have been frankly advised. Believing that such would be the construction of an
order for additional troops, I have been anxious and have used all legitimate
means to save you and your administration from precipitating the Country into
an inevitable conflict, the end of which no human being could foresee. My
counsels have not prevailed, troops have been sent, and I hope yet that a kind
Providence may avert the consequences I have apprehended and that peace be
maintained.
I am now a private citizen and as such I am at liberty to
give expression to my private feelings towards you personally.
In all my official intercourse with you though often
overruled, I have been treated with uniform kindness and consideration.
I know your patriotism, your honesty and purity of
character, & admire your high qualities of head & heart. If we can sink
all the circumstances attending this unfortunate order for reinforcements, on
which though we may differ, yet I am willing to admit that you are as
conscientious as I claim to be, you have ever been frank, direct, and confiding
in me. I have never been subjected to the first mortification, or entertained
for a moment the first unkind feeling. These facts determined me to stand by
you & your Administration as long as there was any hope left that our
present difficulties could find a peaceful solution. If the counsels of some
members of your Cabinet prevail, I am utterly without hope.
Every duty you have imposed on me has been discharged with
scrupulous fidelity on my part, and it would give me infinite pain even to
suspect that you are not satisfied.
Whatever may be our respective futures, I shall ever be your
personal friend, and shall vindicate your fame and your Administration, of
which I have been a part, and shall ever remember with gratitude the many
favors and kindnesses heretofore shown to me & mine.
I go hence to make the destiny of Mississippi my destiny. My
life, fortune, and all I hold most dear shall be devoted to her cause. In doing
this, I believe, before God, I am serving the ends of truth & justice &
good Government.
Now as ever, your
personal friend,
J. Thompson.
SOURCE: John Bassett More, Editor, The Works of
James Buchanan, Volume 11, p. 102-3
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