[December 24, 1860]
I am well satisfied that the Southern Party determined to
secede, to see if they could not break up the Republican Party, which they
hoped to do by a Northern Panic. They expected to break our banks, paralyze our
industry, fail our merchants, and starve our operatives. That this was and is
their game is evident by their constant endeavors, both in public and private,
to induce the Northerners to make some proposition as a bribe to induce them to
remain in the Union.
They have failed. Their plan is exposed, and the
effect will be to consolidate the Republican Party more closely than it could
be done by any other means. Neither will they be able to secede or break up the
Union. It is confessed by the leaders of the Southern Party, they have now lost
control of the movement. It is now in the hands of the masses and they tremble
before the storm they have raised. If any proof of this was wanting, the
fact that eminent Southern men of strong conservative tendencies are now most
inveterate Fire-eaters, advocating extreme measures that their private judgment
condemns, is conclusive on this point.
Here the leaders are sad; they see the signs of recuperation
at the North and the daily depreciation and distress at the South; therefore
they are anxious for a compromise. But they will not get it. First, because a
compromise is not possible in the nature of things; and secondly, because the
Republican Party are fully determined not to make one. An effective compromise
is not possible when the parties have no faith in each other, and this is the
case with the Northern and Southern parties.
Do you ask, What shall we do? I answer, Keep quiet*
I told
you a short time since that no act of Congress or resolution of a convention
could be of any avail to settle this controversy. That is in the hands of the
Lord. To-day I believe it more firmly than ever.
_______________
* This watchword explains Sumner's attitude during the
winter of 1861. Perhaps it originated with Sumner.
SOURCE: Preston Stearns, The Life and Public
Services of George Luther Stearns, p. 238-40
No comments:
Post a Comment