00000409 |
Previous | 409 of 866 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
378 HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
Again, on the 2d of February, 1861, Mr. Douglas addressed a letter to a
newspaper in Tennessee for the purpose of dissuading the people of that
State from taking part with secession, in which he said:
" You must remember that there are disunionists among the party leaders at the
North as well as at the South; men whose hostility to slavery is stronger than their
fidelity to the constitution, and who believe that the disruption of the Union would draw
after it, as an inevitable consequence, civil war, servile insurrection, and finally, the utter
extermination of slavery, in all the Southern States. . . . The Northern disunionists,
like the disunionists of the South, are violently opposed to all compromises or constitutional amendments, or efforts at conciliation, whereby peace should be restored and the
Union preserved. They are striving to break up the Union, under the pretence of
unbounded devotion to it. They are struggling to overthrow the constitution, while professing undying attachment to it, and a willingness to make any sacrifice to maintain it.
" They are trying to plunge the country into civil war, as the surest means of destroying the Union, upon the plea of enforcing the laws and protecting the public property.
If they can defeat any adjustment or compromise by which the points at issue may be
satisfactorily settled, and keep up the irritation, so as to induce the border" States to
follow the cotton States, they will feel certain of the accomplishment of their ultimate
designs. Nothing will gratify them so much, or contribute so effectually to their success
as the secession of Tennessee and the border States. Every State that withdraws from
the Union increases the relative power of the Northern abolitionists to defeat a satisfactory adjustment."
While the conservative masses of the country were despairing for the fate
of the Crittenden amendment, their hope of its final triumph was revived
by the interposition of Virginia. The General Assembly of that State, on
the 19th of January, 1861, adopted resolutions expressing "the deliberate
opinion" "that unless the unhappy controversy which now divides the States
of the Confederacy shall be satisfactorily adjusted, a permanent dissolution
of the Union is inevitable." For the purpose of averting " so dire a calamity,"
they extended an invitation " to all such States, whether slaveholding or non-
slaveholding, as are willing to unite with Virginia in an earnest effort to
adjust the present unhappy controversies, in the spirit in which the constitution was originally framed," to appoint commissioners for this purpose to
meet on the 4th of February, 1861, at the City of Washington. The resolutions expressed a favorable opinion of the Crittenden Compromise, with some
modifications, and the belief that " it would be accepted as a satisfactory
adjustment by the people of this commonwealth." Such was the origin of
the " Peace Conference." " The proposition of Virginia " says Mr. Lunt,
" was like a fire-brand suddenly presented at the portals of the republican
magazine, and the whole energies of the radicals were at once enlisted to make
it of no effect." The Border States sent men of eminent character, while the
Northern States mostly sent the most bitter partisans, and uncompromising
republicans. Indeed the Northern legislatures in general, having come under
the control of the republican party, were extremely reluctant to accede to the
invitation of Virginia; and although professing their desire for a friendly con-
| Title | History of Maryland - 3 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000409 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 378 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. Again, on the 2d of February, 1861, Mr. Douglas addressed a letter to a newspaper in Tennessee for the purpose of dissuading the people of that State from taking part with secession, in which he said: " You must remember that there are disunionists among the party leaders at the North as well as at the South; men whose hostility to slavery is stronger than their fidelity to the constitution, and who believe that the disruption of the Union would draw after it, as an inevitable consequence, civil war, servile insurrection, and finally, the utter extermination of slavery, in all the Southern States. . . . The Northern disunionists, like the disunionists of the South, are violently opposed to all compromises or constitutional amendments, or efforts at conciliation, whereby peace should be restored and the Union preserved. They are striving to break up the Union, under the pretence of unbounded devotion to it. They are struggling to overthrow the constitution, while professing undying attachment to it, and a willingness to make any sacrifice to maintain it. " They are trying to plunge the country into civil war, as the surest means of destroying the Union, upon the plea of enforcing the laws and protecting the public property. If they can defeat any adjustment or compromise by which the points at issue may be satisfactorily settled, and keep up the irritation, so as to induce the border" States to follow the cotton States, they will feel certain of the accomplishment of their ultimate designs. Nothing will gratify them so much, or contribute so effectually to their success as the secession of Tennessee and the border States. Every State that withdraws from the Union increases the relative power of the Northern abolitionists to defeat a satisfactory adjustment." While the conservative masses of the country were despairing for the fate of the Crittenden amendment, their hope of its final triumph was revived by the interposition of Virginia. The General Assembly of that State, on the 19th of January, 1861, adopted resolutions expressing "the deliberate opinion" "that unless the unhappy controversy which now divides the States of the Confederacy shall be satisfactorily adjusted, a permanent dissolution of the Union is inevitable." For the purpose of averting " so dire a calamity," they extended an invitation " to all such States, whether slaveholding or non- slaveholding, as are willing to unite with Virginia in an earnest effort to adjust the present unhappy controversies, in the spirit in which the constitution was originally framed," to appoint commissioners for this purpose to meet on the 4th of February, 1861, at the City of Washington. The resolutions expressed a favorable opinion of the Crittenden Compromise, with some modifications, and the belief that " it would be accepted as a satisfactory adjustment by the people of this commonwealth." Such was the origin of the " Peace Conference." " The proposition of Virginia " says Mr. Lunt, " was like a fire-brand suddenly presented at the portals of the republican magazine, and the whole energies of the radicals were at once enlisted to make it of no effect." The Border States sent men of eminent character, while the Northern States mostly sent the most bitter partisans, and uncompromising republicans. Indeed the Northern legislatures in general, having come under the control of the republican party, were extremely reluctant to accede to the invitation of Virginia; and although professing their desire for a friendly con- |
