WEST POINT, February 2,
1861.
MY DEAR BROTHER: I have not heard from you in a long
time. I want to ascertain your views on
the subject of secession. It has assumed
immense importance. The crisis has
come. How is it to be met? The Union is in extreme peril. Must it be dissolved? No! I
say, let it be preserved, if it costs years of civil war. What do you think of compromise? I am opposed to it, as a dangerous
precedent. If the Union could be
preserved without compromise, even at the expense of a war, I think it would be
preferable to a compromise, since it would demonstrate that a republican
government is adequate to any emergency.
But, rather than see the country forever disrupted, I would prefer an
honorable adjustment. These views I take
on the supposition that the South feels herself aggrieved, and that she desires
to perpetuate the Union, if possible. Northern aggression is the alleged, not
the real, cause of secession. The Legislature of South Carolina declares she
will not remain in the Union under any circumstances. They are wild on the
subject of a Southern confederacy, and they have resolved to establish it at
the price of a revolution. If this is the real cause of secession, the door to
compromise should forever be closed, and the South should be completely
subjugated. In the Union, their property is and ought to be protected; out of
the Union, slavery is overthrown. I hope some day to see it abolished peaceably;
but, if they go out, they of themselves overthrow it in blood. It is a great
evil, but we are not responsible. Let them answer for and settle it themselves.
I believe that an all-wise Providence is directing the storm, and that he will
overrule everything for good. . . . Several Southern cadets left to-day, and
many more will follow soon. Promotion will be rapid in the army about the time
we graduate, and if there is a war we will not lack employment. Probably an
assault will be made on Fort Sumter; they will meet with a warm reception. We
are on our last term. Our studies-military engineering, law, ordnance, etc.—are
very interesting and we look forward with great pleasure to our graduation.
SOURCE: Peter Smith Michie, The Life and Letters of Emory Upton,
p. 31-2
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