E A4e /mt f&f^ ^/dl^y^^' 
 
 h, L E T T E T^"^ 'i^r^', 
 
 THE PRESENT CRISIS; 
 
 ADDRESSED T« 
 
 HON. GILMAN MARSTON, 
 
 Pcmbcr sf (Touqrrss frim Xlcfa-liumpsbire, 
 
 BY NATHANIEL G. UPHAM, 
 
 FEBEUAIIY 2f, 18G1 
 
 C ® X ( * HI) : 
 
 STEAM niESS QF :SI(FAULAND & JENKy. 
 
 1861. 
 

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 Aj jt^AS^. / ^/&^ 
 
 
LETTER 
 
 Concord, February 20, 1861. 
 
 Hon. Gilman Marston ; 
 
 My dear Sir — I partly promised I would write you. 
 on my retuin, in reference to tlie impressions received 
 from my visit to "Washington, and as to the present 
 crisis in our National Affairs. There has been no time 
 since the organization of the government when a fidl 
 and free interchange of opinion has been of more 
 importance than now, or when greater unanimity of 
 sentiment was to be desired in regard to the course of 
 action to be pursued. 
 
 LOVE 01' THK UXIOX FORGOTTEN IN TJIE GROWTH OF SEC- 
 TIONAL PARTIES. 
 
 You will readily agree with me, I tliinlv, that the 
 love of the Union is deeply implanted in the hearts 
 of our people : yet it is manifest that, for a series of 
 years, a course of political policy has been adopted 
 in different sections of our country, whose practical 
 consequences have l)een in open conflict with this 
 feeling. 
 
 Parties, sectional in their character, have grown up 
 at the North and South, and a new confederated gov- 
 ernment has Ijeen recently installed, claiming to exer- 
 cise an independent sovereignty, and ready for the 
 issue of war with the remaining States. 
 
Under these circumstances the inquiries — How 
 this state of things has been brought about, and 
 What is to be the remedy, are questions which deeply 
 agitate the pubHc mind. 
 
 It is quite clear that there has been no deliberate, 
 preconceived design, on the part of the North to orig- 
 inate any system of measures to destroy the Union — 
 nothing intended to effect such a result ; and yet the 
 calamity is forced upon us by the South as a retalia- 
 tory measure, and we are now awaiting the sober, 
 deliberate judgment of the people whether such an 
 act shall be permitted. 
 
 But, admitting there was no such design, it is con- 
 tended by the South that measures have been taken 
 of such oppressive character, and so destructive of 
 the equal rights of their section, as to compel a sepa- 
 ration. 
 
 ADEQUATE REMEDIES WITHIN THE CON^STITUTION FOR ALL 
 COMPLAINTS MADE. 
 
 It is a sufficient answer to such allegations, that, if 
 any wrongs have been committed, tlie Constitution 
 itself furnishes a remedy. There are at least two 
 sufficient means of redress of such grievances, before 
 it can be necessary to resort to the measure of an 
 overthrow of the government. We can appeal to 
 the calm, deliberate decision of our National Judi- 
 ciary, Avhose duty it is to construe the Constitution 
 according to the original intent and design of its 
 framers. We also have the power of frequently 
 recurring appeals to the people, the ultimate effect of 
 whose suffrages may be relied upon to insure redress 
 of every wrong which is now complained of 
 
Over and aljove these reasons for forljearance from 
 violent action, the section of country from which 
 these complaints originate had, for the time being, 
 the power of the House of Representatives and the 
 Senate, and the claimed judgment of the Judiciary to 
 support them in the practical enjoyment of their 
 rights. There was, therefore, no great emergency 
 pressing upon them, and no immediate danger that 
 could arise from delay. The rendition of fugitive 
 slaves had, for the most part, been enforced, and up 
 to the period of secession the entire territory of the 
 Union was open to the occupation of the slaveholders 
 where there was the least probability that slavery 
 could ever prevail. 
 
 Under such circumstances as to the nature of the 
 grievances complained of, the absence of all imme- 
 diate necessity of action, and the plain and evident 
 means of redress yet unexhausted, there can be no 
 question but history and posterity will pronounce 
 their deliberate judgment that there was no justifiable 
 pretence to cause a dissolution of the Union. 
 
 ALIEXATION OF FEELINO. 
 
 But there is another view of the existing contro- 
 versy, that tends fiir more, in my belief, to justify and 
 sustain the Southern people in their course than any 
 ground yet alleged. They contend, with great force 
 and justice, that in order to constitute United States 
 we must be a united people. 
 
 They say they participated witli us in the war of 
 the Revolution, and in tlie subsequent formation of 
 the Constitution, on terms of jjcrfect equality, and 
 with mutual feelings of union and harmony. That 
 
6 
 
 this union of feeling has passed away ; that an habit- 
 ual crusade has been preached against them as slave- 
 holders, to destroy their political equality ; that mur- 
 derous raids have been promoted within their States ; 
 that their servants are stolen through the agenc}^ of 
 regularly organized northern associations ; that they 
 are denounced extensivel}^ at the North as thieves 
 and murderers, and the risino; o;eneration are tauQ-ht 
 to regard them as such ; and that the whole spirit 
 and tenor of the farewell words of Washington, incul- 
 cating union and love among us as one people, has 
 been persistently and wantonly violated by inspiring 
 sectional divisions and hatred : and thus the Union 
 has been virtuall}^ dissolved by us, and is now merely 
 declared to be so by them, after all hope of mutual 
 peace and harmony has ceased. 
 
 They omit to say, that very many of these acts 
 were occasioned by their own unwarrantable and 
 aggressive spirit on the subject of slavery ; but, inde- 
 pendent of this, and of the fact that slavery must 
 always constitute a subject of moral consideration, 
 there is very much for serious consideration in these 
 assertions ; and if in the future, as recently in the 
 past, political harangues on slavery are to keep the 
 public mind in a constant state of excitement and 
 anxiety, and are to form the continual theme and ele- 
 ment of party strife and commotion, it is indeed time 
 that a Union composed of such discordant materials 
 should be dissolved, and that there should be a final 
 separation between us, as hopelesslj' conllicting and 
 irreconcilable communities. But we think a careful 
 examination of the circumstances under which these 
 feelings have been caused, and of the crisis through 
 
which the country is now passing, will satisfy us that 
 there is no necessity of any such result. 
 
 CAUSES OF ALrKXATIOX OF FKHLIXd PASSING AWAY. 
 
 It should be borne in mind that the whole question 
 of slavery, so far as it has been made a matter of 
 political discussion, has originated from our acquisi- 
 tion of new territories, and that, precisely so far as 
 the position of those territories has been settled and 
 determined, the causes of such discussion have, to 
 that extent, been diminished. 
 
 The occasions, then, for controversy on this subject 
 are rapidly passing away, Avitli a result as favoraljle 
 to Southern acquisition of power as could reasonably 
 have been anticipated. From our newly acquired 
 territories, the South has gained the Stq,(;es of Flor- 
 ida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and Texas ; the 
 latter embracing sufficient area for three or four 
 States. It would seem as if these acquisitions should 
 be satisfactory to her. The location and topograph- 
 ical formation of our remaining territory, exclusive 
 of the portion of country guaranteed to our Indian 
 population, present a final barrier to the farther 
 extension of slavery within our present limits, and it 
 may be regarded as a fixed fact — that there will never 
 be a second tier of slave States west of the Missis- 
 sippi, or north of the present limits of Texas. 
 
 There has l)een no basis of compromise presented 
 to heal our present dissensions that would, in the end, 
 prevent this result. The l)Ounds and limits of farther 
 slavery extension in this country are fixed by laws 
 and circumstances anterior to and superior to the 
 mere effect of legislative enactment. The territory 
 
adapted to slavery is now so reduced, if indeed any 
 be left, that hardly any final arrangement which can 
 be made in the adjustment of our present difficulties, 
 can help the South or harm the North. 
 
 Under such circumstances, with a reasonable degree 
 of conciliation, it might seem that the bitter personal 
 and party feuds that now exist would cease, as soon 
 as it became fully, and clearly understood, that the 
 causes of them had terminated. 
 
 We may hope much, moreover, from the fact that 
 we have learned something of the exceeding danger 
 of bitter sectional denunciation. Its injustice and 
 fearful consequences are becoming recognized, and 
 the words of Washington are beginning to be heard, 
 as he points, over the long vista of our history, to the 
 yawning gulf to which we are hastening. Our people, 
 who have been so prone to repent of other people's 
 sins, are beginning to realize that, placed in the posi- 
 tion of our Southern brethren, they would be very 
 much like them, and that they can hardly exult much 
 longer in their self-righteousness, that they are not 
 like this slaveholder. They begin to see that meas- 
 ures of Christian reform must be supported with a 
 Christian feeling and spirit ; and already symptoms 
 are apparent that charity and brotherly love are 
 about supplanting a reign of discord and hate. 
 
 SOUTHERN SECTIONAL FEELING. 
 
 Our Southern brethren should also remember, 
 while complaining of the North as sectional, that the 
 controversy has not been on one side merely. As the 
 strength of the Democratic party declined in the Free 
 States, its power became concentrated at the South, 
 
so as to bo almost entirely under Southern govern- 
 ance and lead. Its control, therefore, was sectional, 
 and its sectional antagonism has, more than any thing 
 else, called forth a like si)irit at the North. Both 
 parties have been alike in fault. 
 
 TRUE POLICY OF THE SOUTH AS TO SLAVERY EXTENSION. 
 * . . 
 
 It was a great mistake in Southern policy to 
 attempt to carry the institution of slavery into debat- 
 able territory. It should be a maxim of the true 
 slaveholder every where — to scorn the desire of the 
 introduction or maintenance of slavery in any section 
 of territory where the spontaneous will of the people 
 is not ready to sustain and encourage it. It was a 
 blunder, and, so far as fraud was put in requisition to 
 sustain it, a crime, to attempt to fix on Kansas an 
 institution where its growth could only be weak and 
 sickl}^ and it could never exist except by a continual, 
 and, in the end, hardly doubtful conllict. It is b}^ 
 fighting the battle unnecessarily and impoliticly, in 
 such remote outposts, that slavery has been compelled 
 to tremble in its very citadel and strongholds, where, 
 without such foolish peril, it had been politically im- 
 pregnable. We have mutual lessons to learn from 
 the sad teachings of our present experience, and it is 
 to be hoped that neither party is so Bourbon-like as 
 not to profit by them. 
 
 TENDENCIES OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Alarm has been expressed at the general tendencies 
 of the Republican party, and there would be ground 
 for alarm if, in the new phase of its position, it should 
 attempt to govern and control in the ultra sectional 
 
10 
 
 spirit in wbicli it lias won its way to power. But 
 much toleration must be extended to the aggressive 
 movements of an attacking party. When such a 
 part}' assumes the reigns of government and the 
 responsibilities of power, it necessarily changes its 
 character ; its tendencies and necessities become con- 
 servative ; it stands by, and acts with, and under the 
 Constitution ; and Avith such tendencies, and with the 
 manifestly large mass of conservative men in the 
 Republican party, who, from choice, will aid in giving 
 it this direction, it may well be questioned whether 
 there is any just ground of apprehension. At any 
 rate, very soon the only actual strife and issue before 
 the people will be, What party shall first gain the 
 hearts and confidence of the people as a truly Na- 
 tional Union party ; and, unless the Republicans shall 
 attain to that position, their hold on power is lost. 
 
 There is nothing, then, in the acts complained of, 
 in the apprehensions excited, or the alienation that 
 exists, to justify the awful calamity that is bringing 
 unparalleled distress upon this country, and that 
 appalls the whole civilized world with its crime and 
 w^rong. 
 
 TRUE CHARACTER OF SECESSION. 
 
 But it is said, by the present head of the new 
 Confederacy, that this is a mere " secession" of States 
 that have reverted back to their right of self-govern- 
 mentj and " that it is by an abuse of language that 
 their act has been denominated a revolution," and 
 " that within each of the States its government has 
 remained." 
 
 No one denominates this movement, as yet, as a 
 
11 
 
 revolution, and no one is deceived as to the character 
 of the movement, by the assertion that the exercise 
 of the h>c<d power of the State is contimu'd. The 
 fact still remains of the denial of allegiance to the 
 general g-overnnient, and the disiuption and over- 
 throw of all the duties and oldiii-ations that hind 
 these Stnites to the Union, and the assertion, hy 
 force of arms, if need l)e, of an entire, independent 
 sovereignty, and these acts make a rebellion which it 
 is far better openly to acknowledge, than to attempt 
 covertly to disguise, under the assumed name of se- 
 cession. 
 
 Then, again, for mere secession it is said there can 
 be no coercion. This new array of Avords, to conceal 
 illegal acts on the one hand, and to stay their punish- 
 ment on the other, is not the bold language usualW 
 adopted by men Avho strike openly for conscience and 
 liberty. 
 
 CAUSES OF I'RESEXT EVILS A NEGLECT TO CIIEIUSH FEELINGS 
 OF LOVE roil THE UNION. 
 
 Whatever evasive words may be used, the crisis of 
 disunion is upon us, brought upon us by the connnon 
 thoughtlessness and willfulness of our people ; by a 
 disregard of the value of that priceless inheritance 
 left us by our fathers, and achieved for us by an 
 immense expenditure of blood and treasure. We 
 have failed to remember that the l)lessings of liberty 
 are to be purchased only jjy moderation, charity and 
 a watchful eye against all dissension, and the cultiva- 
 tion of a common spirit of naitonal union and love. 
 We have forgotten the wise cautions of the Father 
 of our Country, who held it '-of infinite moment that 
 
12 
 
 we should properlj' estimate the immense value of 
 our National Union to our collective and individual 
 happiness ; that we should cherish a cordial, habitual 
 and immovable attachment to it ; should accustom 
 ourselves to think and speak of it as the palladium 
 of our political safety and prosperity; watching for 
 its preservation with jealous anxiety ; discountenanc- 
 ing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can 
 in any event be abandoned ; and indignantly frowning 
 upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate 
 any portion of our country from the rest." 
 
 MEANS OF PRESERVING THE UNION. 
 
 What, then, is to be done ? We must act at once, 
 according to the emergency of the crisis, and with a 
 wise reference to the entire future. It may be a 
 long and painful journey to retrace our steps, but 
 the government of this great country is not to be 
 surrendered, or its destinies thwarted. 
 
 The immediate salvation of the country rests, under 
 Providence, in the action of the party coming into 
 power. If its rulers take their position on the stand- 
 point of a dismembered, divided people, and act up 
 to the necessity of the occasion, they may save the 
 country ; if they look back to the mere narrow lines 
 of party, adapted to other circumstances, as their 
 guide, they will lose, for the time being, both party, 
 and country. 
 
 There is but one way, in the present crisis, to 
 preserve the Union, and that is the adoption of a 
 policy that shall secure a united North, and at the 
 same time gain the sound, conservative strength of 
 the border States, until, gradually, confidence shall be 
 
18 
 
 restored, and the Union shall again be consolidated 
 and perfected. To do this, every measure of concilia- 
 tion, not really inconsistent with the honor of the 
 North as men and citizens, should l)e grantcfl. tiiat 
 tends in any way to ([uiet the excited apprehensions 
 of the South, and reassure their confidence in us as a 
 people. 
 
 The most exaf»;<ji;erated attacks and bigoted views 
 that have at any time l)een put lorth by misguided 
 zealots here, have been freely and actively circulated 
 at the South, until the}' have 1)ecome regarded there 
 as the common expression of the Northern public 
 mind, ll" tiie sentiments there attributed to us, a.s 
 our common belief, were fully known here, our people 
 would rise en uiasse to repel them with scorn and 
 indignation. For this reason, expressions of opinion 
 that might seem wholly immaterial to us, ma}' be of 
 vital iuiportauce in correcting erroneous impressions 
 prevailing elsewhere ; and we should be careful to 
 repeat them over and over again, in resolutions, in 
 platforms and in statutes, until such erroneous im- 
 pressions are thorouLdily refuted and eradicated. 
 Thus we should continue to refute, in every way 
 in which it can be done, all idea of our power or 
 desire of interference with the local institutions of 
 other States ; should, agreeably to the provisions of 
 the Constitution, enact all suitable laws to protect 
 any State from invasion, and discontinue in every 
 way any sympathy with or aid in promoting raids on 
 their territory ; should discharge fully- the ])rovision 
 of the Constitution that all persons, held to service 
 or labor under the laws of one State, escaping into 
 another, should be delivered up on claim of the party 
 
14 
 
 to whom service or labor is clue, and should repeal at 
 once all acts conflicting with such provisions. 
 
 With regard to the future extension of slaver}^, we 
 should accurately weigh any possible contingency of 
 evil that might arise from an}^ of the various sugges- 
 tions that have been made for the settlement of this 
 question, witli the known and certain evils of a disso- 
 lution of the Union, and the strife and bloodshed of 
 civil M'ar. Acting on this principle, matters of mere 
 pride, form, or party spirit would vanish, and whatever 
 would best promote the good of the whole country 
 Avould be adopted. A kind Providence has taken 
 this matter into its own keeping, and has marked as 
 sureh^ the laws and character that limit the growth 
 and progress of slavery, as it has the bounds of the 
 sea ; how far its proud waves shall come, and where 
 they shall be stayed. 
 
 MEASURES FOR MAINTAINING THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 But connected with these acts, and sustained at the 
 same time with them, must be all necessary acts for 
 the maintenance of the government of this country ; 
 and there is but one limit to the power and efficiency 
 to be put forth for this end — the consideration that 
 we should rely mainly for our best hope of success 
 on the returning aflection and regard of our friends 
 at the South. 
 
 We should collect our duties ; we should control 
 the fortifications at our principal Southern ports, and 
 on the Gulf of Mexico, and the outlet of the Missis- 
 sippi, and Washington should be retained : beyond 
 this, except to repel invasions, or in retaliation of any 
 piratical crusades that might be made, the result 
 should be left to time. 
 
15 
 
 Coupled with these measures, every means should 
 be taken kindly to correct the erroneous impressions 
 existing as to tlie advantages ol' a separate Southern 
 government. Acquisitions of new territory, pride of 
 power, and increased inlhience of the main staple of 
 the South, have passed as dazzling visions before the 
 eyes of our Southern brethren, and will continue to. 
 do so, until more thorough examination shall fully 
 satisfy them of the futility and lallaeiousness of anj- 
 such orround of advantage. 
 
 IMrOLICY OF FARTHER EXTENSION OF THE GOVERNMENT IN 
 MEXICO OR SOUTH AMERICA. 
 
 An increase of territoiy to a Southern republic, or 
 to our own, would be an increase of burdens and 
 trouble. It would bring us in conflict with the pres- 
 ent possessors of the country, and excite the jealousy, 
 if not hostility of the nations of Europe. Possibly if 
 our own country should make conquest of portions 
 of Mexico or Central America, it might be tolerated. 
 It certainly would not be, if done by a Southern Con- 
 federacy, as a propagandist of slavery. 
 
 The Anglo-Saxon race may, in the end, control 
 these countries. It is perhaps desirable they should. 
 But a government of those regions, adequate to the 
 control of theii present population, with its large 
 mixture of bigoted and ignorant subordinate races, 
 would not be of a character which would harmonize 
 in spirit with the States of our Union ; and these 
 people could hardly be allowed to share with our free 
 and enlightened citizens in the common choice of our 
 rulers. Their interest and ours would be better pro- 
 moted by a distinct and independent government, in 
 
16 
 
 close alliance, and on terms of friendship and amity 
 with us, but not identical. Safe and sure passages 
 across the isthmus should be guaranteed, but it will 
 be a happy day for us when the public mind, North 
 and South, shall settle upon the fixed determination 
 of limiting our boundaries permanently by the Eio 
 •Grande. 
 
 MISTAKEN VIEVvS OX THE BENEFITS OF A SOUTHERN CON- 
 FEDERACY. 
 
 The impressions of new pride and consequence to 
 be attained by the Southern States as an independent 
 Sovereignty, will never be realized. The respect of 
 foreign governments, as meted out to us, has been 
 entirely in proportion to our power. A new Southern 
 government, based on its position exclusively as a 
 slaveholding power, whose fundamental law refuses 
 all admission of free States, would be a dark spot in 
 this enlightened era of the world. If it could be 
 sustained at all as an independent sovereignty, it 
 must be at great and ruinous expense, and subject 
 to continued uneasiness and alarm. 
 
 Secession is not only secession from territory, but 
 from all the glorious common recollections of the 
 Revolution. The sons of the South could never look 
 back to the early struggles of their fathers, except 
 with feelings of humiliation at the noble birthright 
 they had parted with. It would be secession from 
 our star-spangled banner that has floated, and will 
 continue to float, in honor on every sea, while a 
 palmetto flag or vessel would be so rarely seen as to 
 be a wonder and mystery. Their country, hemmed 
 in b}^ comparatively narrow limits between the Alle- 
 ghanies and seaboard, with no prior history to excite 
 
17 
 
 their pride, and no diversity of pursuit or association 
 to awaken their interest — except to work negroes and 
 raise cotton — would be in strikinn; contrast with their 
 former situation as free and equal members of a great 
 Republic, with all its hallowed memories and diversi- 
 fied interests, extending from sea to sea, and from the 
 Gulf of Mexico to the Northern Lakes ; a country 
 regarded as the home and birth-place of freedom, and 
 whose memory throughout the world is blessed. 
 
 WELCOME RETURN OF THE ^OlTH TO THE UNION, Wmi ITS 
 FULL SHARE OF POLITICAL POWER. 
 
 It has been said that return would be humiliating 
 to the South, and that our present dissensions would 
 deprive them of all hope of future political power. 
 This is a mistake. The North, though measurably 
 united now, will often hereafter be divided as to 
 matters of policy, when the element of slavery has 
 been removed from political discussion, and the South, 
 coming in as a third interest, w^ill ever be likely to 
 retain more than its fair share of power. Present 
 political distrust will soon be removed, and the deep 
 regret of separation will 1)0 more than paralleled in 
 the joy of their return, and the settled conviction of 
 an ultimate permanent Union. 
 
 EFFECT OF THE PRESENT MOVEMENT ON THE CULTIVATION OF 
 COTTON ELSEWHERE, AND THE CIVILIZATION OF AFRICA. 
 
 The peculiar product of the Southern States has 
 been greatly relied upon to sustain them in their 
 position. Its production will always be valuable to 
 them, but its value as a monopoly is greatly overrated. 
 AVhile the South claim cotton as king, they should 
 
18 
 
 remember that an American king can never reign 
 over Europe. Louis Napoleon, who is practically the 
 wisest man of Europe, has well said that " Cotton 
 may be king, but he is not crowned yet." The present 
 excitement in this country has settled that question. 
 Neither cotton or the black man are indigenous to 
 this country. They are both so to Africa. Discoveries 
 made within a few years have just prepared the way 
 for a movement in Central Africa that will awake 
 that country at once to civilization ; and Cotton, if 
 ever king, will be crowned there. 
 
 The influence of the cultivation of cotton in Africa 
 will be as rapid and certain on the destinies of that 
 country, as the discovery of gold in California. The 
 movement at the South has hastened this crisis a 
 century. It has started a revolution in this respect 
 which w^ill not go backward, and the great secret of 
 this unhappy commotion with us may be the provi- 
 dence of God pointing to the civilization of a conti- 
 nent. Ten years hence will show the certainty of its 
 fulfdlment. Europe will never consent to be limited, 
 as to the great staple of her manuflictures, to a supply 
 from a single country that arrogantly asserts for it, in 
 her hands, its despotic control as king. She is now 
 awake to the danger, and will never sleep till that 
 danger is removed past all contingency. In various 
 other countries, also, the supply of cotton will at once 
 become vastly increased. 
 
 NECESSARY CLAIMS AND POSITION OF A NORTIIKRX (JOVERN- 
 MENT IN CASE OF A UTSSOLUTION OF THE UNION. 
 
 There is another difficulty, and a most serious one 
 to be encountered by the new government. The 
 
19 
 
 Northern Repuljlic consists of a manufacturing and 
 commercial people. It must ever constitute a great 
 people even if the entire South shoukl leave us. In 
 that case there would be certain national necessities 
 that must govern our policy. We should control the 
 sea, and we should never rest until along all the great 
 lines of our commerce the great fortresses of the 
 countr}' were held for our protection. We should 
 not permit our progress through the highways of the 
 ocean to he placed in jeopardy, or suffer any border 
 government to control them. This would be our 
 right rather than that of the South, and it would be 
 our duty to maintain it. We should also demand, as 
 a strategetical necessity, a safe and well defined border 
 line adjoining any Southern Confederacy, and that 
 line would never be north of the Potomac. 
 
 But any such contingencies need hardly be looked 
 forward to. It can not be, that, with the deep-seated 
 love of the Union that lives alike in the hearts of 
 our countr^'men North and South, these evils, which 
 so fearfully loom up in the distance, can ever be 
 experienced. 
 
 NECESSITY OF UNIOX AT THE NOPvTir. 
 
 Many years ma}' pass by of trial and sullering, and, 
 perhaps, of Ijloodshed, ere wisdom assumes her reign ; 
 but the love of the Union, compelling a just spirit of 
 mutual concession and conciliation, will in the end 
 prevail. The great dilliculty lying immediately 
 athwart our path, is the jealousy of party. Concilia- 
 tion, so far as conciliation may justly be demanded, 
 can alone unite the North so as to present that moral 
 power and influence that can insure success. The 
 
20 
 
 LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 011 895 804 
 
 South is already united, and with a divided North we 
 shall be held hopelessly at bay, till the South shall be 
 strengthened and consolidated as with bands of steel. 
 The Republican party can save us from this ca- 
 lamity. Should they place themselves in a position 
 so that all national conservative men can act with 
 them, we can harmlessly pass through this fiery trial. 
 All that is necessary, is, that, under a just and kind 
 rule, Time, the healer of all dissensions, may be per- 
 mitted to come to our aid, and Truth, the daughter 
 of Time. 
 
 INFLUEXCE AND POWER OF THE INCOMING PRESIDENT. 
 
 The Chief Executive Magistrate of the Nation has, 
 in his single hand, the power to roll back, in a great 
 degree, the tide of dissension and alarm. By a wise, 
 conciliatory, and yet energetic course, he may render 
 greater service to his country than has ever yet been 
 rendered by any man save Washington, and may ob- 
 tain a hold on the affections of the people, such as no 
 one but him has acquired. The difficulty of his posi- 
 tion entitles him to the earnest sympathy and prayers 
 of the people, and their generous confidence, until 
 such time as he can be fairly judged of by his acts. 
 With high regard, 
 
 I am, very truly, yours, 
 
 N. G. UPHAM.