Shady Hill, 17 December, 1860.
. . . In these present times of alarm and suspense my chief
fear is lest we of the North should fail to see that the time has now come when
the dispute between the North and the South can be settled finally, and
therefore ought to be settled and not deferred. I am afraid lest we may yield
some part of our convictions and be false to our principles. The longer we
stave off settlement by compromises and concessions, the heavier will be the
reckoning when the day of settlement at length comes. This is no time for timid
counsels. Safety no less than honour demands of us to take a firm stand, and to
shrink from none of the consequences of the resolute maintenance of our
principles, — the principles of justice and of liberty. I believe that New England
is stronger than New Africa. A nominal union is not worth preserving at the
price that is asked for it.
For my own part I think it most likely that we shall come at
length to the rifle and the sword as the arbitrators of the great quarrel, —
and I have no fear for the result. The discipline of steel is what we need to
recover our tone. But I pity the South; and look forward with the deepest
sorrow and compassion to the retribution they are preparing for themselves. The
harvest they must reap is one of inevitable desolation. . . .
SOURCE: Sara Norton and M. A. DeWolfe Howe, Letters
of Charles Eliot Norton, Volume 1, p. 215-6
