CINCINNATI, January 12,
1861.
DEAR UNCLE: — I will write oftener hereafter. I have some
work, the days are short, and the state of the country is a never-ending topic
which all you meet must discuss, greatly to the interruption of regular habits.
I rather enjoy the excitement, and am fond of speculating about it.
We are in a revolution; the natural ultimate result is to
divide us into two nations, one composed of free States, the other of slave
States. What we shall pass through before we reach this inevitable result is
matter for conjecture. While I am in favor of the Government promptly enforcing
the laws for the present, defending the forts and collecting the
revenue, I am not in favor of a war policy with a view to the conquest of any
of the slave States; except such as are needed to give us a good boundary. If
Maryland attempts to go off, suppress her in order to save the Potomac and the
District of Columbia. Cut a piece off of western Virginia and keep Missouri and
all the Territories.
To do this we shall not need any long or expensive war, if
the Government does its duty. A war of conquest we do not want. It would leave
us loaded with debt and would certainly fail of its object. The sooner we get
into the struggle and out of it the better.
There, you can read that perhaps. If you can't, you lose
nothing. If you can, it is no more worthless than the dispatches from Congress.
. . .
Sincerely,
R. B. HAYES.
S. BlRCHARD.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and
Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 3-4
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