I have been writing letters the whole day, and now conclude.
I suppose I can hardly add anything to what you have already heard of the
condition of things here. Public affairs certainly wear a very bad aspect at
present. South Carolina will leave the Union, so far as she has the power, this
week, beyond question. Five or six States may follow her, and I think
that some of them will be sure to. There will be an effort to go peacefully,
but war of a most bitter and sanguinary character will be sure to follow in a
short time. We can never divide the army, the navy, the public lands, the
public buildings, the public debt, the Mississippi River, etc., in peace. All
these questions must be submitted in the end to the arbitrament of the sword,
and the strongest battalions will be victors. This is certainly deplorable, but
there is no help for it. No reasonable concession will satisfy the rebels. It
is not that Lincoln is elected, or that there are personal liberty laws in some
of the States, or that their negroes occasionally run off, that troubles them.
They want to debauch the moral sentiment of the people of the North, by making
them agree to the proposition that slavery is a benign, constitutional system,
and that it shall be extended in the end all over this continent.
There is, as you have heard, much talk about all sorts of
compromises, but there is not the slightest probability that anything will be
done. We have a rumor every few hours of bloodshed that is to be, but I do not
imagine that anything of the kind is to be apprehended here. A great many men
make a great many foolish remarks, and they are sure to increase in magnitude
and nonsense as they pass from mouth to mouth.
General Cass has resigned, as well as Mr. Cobb. The whole
cabinet is tumbling to pieces, and what remains is without influence. Mr.
Buchanan, it is said, about equally divides his time between praying and
crying. Such a perfect imbecile never held office before. When Cobb resigned,
he sent him a letter, saying that he was going home to Georgia, to assist in
dissolving the Union, and breaking up the Government; and Buchanan replied to
the letter, and complimented Mr. Cobb, as you have seen.
SOURCE: William Salter, The
Life of James W. Grimes, p. 132
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