Chapter D: Burwell to Cassidy

"I pray you read this letter immediately!

"_Jan'y 29th, 1861._

"MY DEAR CASSIDY,--I received your telegraph this evening--and so kind a message would have started me at once for Albany, but one side of my face is badly swollen, and unless it is better to-morrow I must keep within doors.

"From the names of the delegates to the convention, and the disrelish now almost universally expressed against coercion, do not doubt its expression will be strongly against war.

"I hope they will make Gov'r Throop president, and that they will name Mr. Fillmore or Gov'r Hunt, Gov'r Seymour and Mr. Brady or O'Connor and Mr. Belmont to visit Washington and such other places as they shall think advisable for the purpose of persuading all belligerents to defer all hostile demonstrations for a period of 15 months, or until the 4th of July, 1862, in order to give the people time to consider the whole subject and to act upon it in such way as may be agreed upon.

"_Time is necessary. It is indispensable._ And if the convention will confine itself to that one point and ask time for consideration it cannot very decently be refused.

"Time is wanted--

"1st. That Mr. Lincoln may dispose of his patronage.

"2nd. Until elections can be held in all the Northern States, in most of which the Republicans would be defeated.

"3rd. That the South may try the Southern confederacy, in which they will probably fail to realize the golden advantages, and will be quite willing to resume their places in the Union when they can do so with honor.

"I think Legislatures may be elected next fall in 2/3 of the States, a convention called, good amendments proposed and ratified, so as to bring all the States again into the Union, and that your convention is the proper body to _start this project at this time_.

"If it takes this course it should appoint an executive or corresponding committee to act and correspond with other States, and should omit expressing any opinion as to the _particular amendments now before Congress_, so as to be free from all commitments to special and particular projects.

"I think this the only way of preventing war and saving the Union.

"I hope the resolutions will refrain from condemning the seceding States, also from demanding the forts to be reclaimed, and, in fact, everything that can lead to war.

"I had a talk yesterday with Mr. Loomis, and he understands my views, and will, I believe, act in accordance with them, as they seemed to be his also.

"_Wednesday Morning._

"The two sides of my face are too unequal to show it in Albany, so I will add a few words which I think the most important I have ever penned, unless there should be some one or more who have by careful reflection come to the same conclusion; and I hope you will not reject them on the first perusal, but weigh them, reflect upon them, suggest them to Richmond, Van Buren, O'Connor, etc.

"_To direct the whole action of the convention to initiate a call of a national constitutional convention through a requisition upon Congress by the States, and demand the necessary and indispensable time to effect this object._

"Such action will drive the Republicans to abandon their warlike measures, and will very likely hurry them either to the adoption of some of the measures before Congress or to take the initiative this winter for the call of a national convention while they have the apparent power of controlling it.

"Such a movement would carry every Northern State except Massachusetts and Vermont, would restore the Democracy to power, and revive and invigorate the Union. Start it, I implore you, and do not let the convention exhaust itself on the rubbish now before Congress. We must strike a blow at the overwhelming patronage of the Federal government, and restore it to the States to augment their power. We must place the South in a position where it will feel its equality, and have the means of defending itself in its own hands.

"By taking this course, simple and pure, invigorating it with all the spirit and vehemence of the convention so as to arrest the attention of the whole country, you will open a door for the reunion of all Democrats at home and abroad, and save all that is worth saving in our institutions.

"You recollect Act. 5--Cons. U. S.--that Congress _shall_, on the call of 2/3 of the States, call a convention.

"You initiate this proceeding, then you have a reason for demanding peace, for you have a constitutional remedy to propose. You have an object always ahead to accomplish, all old, obsolete issues are dead, and you have always hope to influence the masses and the _Union to love_ to incite all men to its restoration to health and vigor.

"If this plan of action is proposed by others, encourage it if you have resolved upon it; be confirmed in your resolution, but do not, I beseech you, reject it because it comes from so humble a source as myself. I fancy I have bestowed as much calm reflection upon all the phases of this state of the country as all the members of the convention. I believe no one can be personally less interested, whether we all go to chaos and confusion, or come out with renewed vigor from the dangers of this dark hour.

"If it shall appear that I am a suggester, then I beg you to place the matter in Van Buren's hands and let him at the first practicable moment lay the subject fairly and squarely before the convention. And as more think upon it they will admit it is the thing to kill the Republican party. If John is obdurate try Seymour and some one else.

"Yours truly,
"D. BURWELL."

"_Wm. Cassidy, Esq._"

BURWELL TO CASSIDY

"_Jan'y 30th, 1861, 11 A.M._

"MY DEAR CASSIDY,--I have just put a letter in the post-office explaining why I am here instead of being in the cars on my way to Albany, and now I acknowledge the receipt of yours of last evening. It would have been a most agreeable surprise to me had I seen you and Cagger on Saturday or any other day approaching my domicile through banks of snow. And I hope, as you have conceived the project, you will not abandon it but come at any time.

"The letter I post you this morning is of grave import, as it opens a practical work for the convention to do, and will put you on the right road to save all that is savable of our present Union.

"Do not let the Democratic sink into an Opposition party, but present an attainable object--a work to be accomplished. One that does not bring into discussion any of the questions which have heretofore divided persons possessing the same principles.

"The only fear I have is that, if the convention shall prove unanimous in demanding time until a convention of the States can be called, it will drive Weed and Seward into the same measure, and they will endeavor, through their present legislators, to accomplish the same object; but this is balanced by the consideration that they must then preserve the peace.

"Another fear I have is about the forts p. p. Let this be left in the discretion of the committee you send South. I think no harm could come from surrendering those posts to the States where they are located--during the stay of proceedings; of giving them, the seceding States, the benefit of postal and other benefits on their stipulating to collect the same revenues as are collected in other ports of the United States, until it becomes apparent that the Union cannot be restored.

"In any event, I hope and pray that no harsh, unkind, or reproachful word will be used against the seceded States, and that they may see that there is a real, substantial body of men who can and do look at the matter in its true light.

"Yours truly,
"D. BURWELL."

G. W. NEWELL TO TILDEN

"WASHINGTON, _D. C._, _Feby. 6_, _1861_.

"DEAR TILDEN,--I got here Tuesday night. I cannot say I have got any new ideas, except that it is important for such Northern men to be here as can command the ears of our Southern friends--I mean of the border States, for the rest either have none at all or they are _very long ones_, and are attended by the other peculiarities of the animal whose head they adorn. The bordermen complain of the precipitancy of the South. They, themselves, take _time to deliberate_, in the presence of such weighty action, though the _aggrieved party_. How much more time do the _people_ of the North need to determine what to do, dumbfounded, as they are, and slow to see precisely where they are, and what they have done, and how far they may make reparation. It is about out of the question to expect anything from men elected on the Chicago platform, unless from the action of their constituents, in some way. Some bordermen I have seen admit this. Your letter has given you power to influence these men, and it is a moment when you should make a sacrifice to exert it, if a sacrifice is necessary. I think you should come at once.

"I found at Mr. Eames' last evening Mr. Everett, Crosswell, Guthrie, W. B. Lawrence, Col. Berrit, and Count Garowski.

Yours, &c.,
"G. W. NEWELL."[32]

"_S. J. Tilden, Esqr., New York._

"Mr. E. wishes me to be emphatic."

GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT TO WM. H. SEWARD

"WASHINGTON, _March 3, 1861_.

"DEAR SIR,--Hoping that in a day or two the new President will have happily passed through all personal dangers and find himself installed an honored successor of the great Washington, with you as the chief of his Cabinet, I beg leave to repeat in writing what I have before said to you orally, this supplement to my printed 'views' (dated in October last) on the highly disordered condition of our (so late) happy and glorious Union.

"To meet the extraordinary exigencies of the times, it seems to me that I am guilty of no arrogance in limiting the President's field of selection to one of the four plans of procedure subjoined:

"1. Throw off the old and assume a new designation--the Union party. Adopt the conciliatory measures proposed by Mr. Crittenden or the peace convention--and my life upon it, we shall have no new case of secession, but, on the contrary, an early return of many, if not of all, the States which have already broken off from the Union. Without some equally benign measure the remaining slave-holding States will probably join the Montgomery Confederacy in less than sixty days, when this city, being included in a foreign country, would require a permanent garrison of at least 35,000 troops to protect the government within it.

"I stop here to call your attention to the fact that Maryland did not join the Montgomery Confederacy, and yet with Maryland on our side to-night, it requires a garrison of 150,000 men to protect Washington.

"2. Collect the duties on foreign goods outside the ports of which this government has lost the command, or close such ports by act of Congress and blockade them.

"3. Conquer the seceded States by invading armies. No doubt this might be done in two or three years by a young and able general--a Wolfe, a Desaix, or a Hoche, with 300,000 disciplined men, estimating a third for garrisons, and the loss of a yet greater number by skirmishes, sieges, battles, and Southern fevers. The destruction of life and property on the other side would be frightful, however perfect the moral discipline of the invaders.

"The conquest completed at that enormous waste of human life to the North and Northwest, with at least $250,000,000 added thereto, and _cui bono_? Fifteen devastated provinces! not to be brought into harmony with their conquerors, but to be held for generations, by heavy garrisons, at an expense quadruple the net duties or taxes which it would be possible to extort from them, followed by a protector or an emperor.

"4. Say to the seceded States, Wayward sisters, depart in peace!

In haste, I remain,
"Very truly yours,
"WINFIELD SCOTT."

"_Hon. Wm. H. Seward, &c., &c., &c._"

J. L. O'SULLIVAN[33] TO TILDEN

"LISBON, _May 6_, _1861_.

"MY DEAR TILDEN,--The heart-breaking news has just reached us here, first of the attack and capture of Sumter, for which the signal was so madly and wickedly given by the administration (dominated, evidently, by the war portion of that party) in its despatch of reinforcements; and, secondly, of Lincoln's declaration of war by his proclamation for 75,000 volunteers for the recapture of all the Southern forts, that is, for the invasion of the South--an act followed, of course, by secession of Virginia, and soon to be followed, I have no doubt, by that of all or nearly all the border States. Also the telegraph tells of a Massachusetts regiment resisted in an (insane) attempt to force a passage through Baltimore. Gracious God, that we should have lived to see such things! You can better judge, than I could describe, my affliction. At first it drew from me convulsions of tears. I think it is a greater grief than that I passed through a little short of a year ago. What doom is sufficient for the mad authors of all this! By that I mean, for 9/10 of the crime, the ultra portion of the Republican party. The papers say that there is a common enthusiasm of all parties at the North for the support of the admn. I may stand alone, but I do not share this. I am extremely anxious to hear from you. Do write me your views. I chafe terribly under the impossibilities which alone prevent my hastening home. Not only have I not the means, but I cannot leave my debts here, when a short, prolonged stay will probably assure me the means of paying them. Then I shall come, to do my best in the fight at home for _peaceful_ separation if reunion has become indeed impossible. What will New York do? I trust devoutly that if any troops march from our State southward they may consist only of Republicans. My hope now is that the North will at last realize the mad horror of the whole thing, and that a cloud of witnesses will arise to protest against its being carried further. Thus far the country has drifted along, both sides standing obstinate to the consistency of their opposite _theories_. But surely all should now agree to pause and hold back! But the Republican leaders, I fear, will now move heaven and hell to push and drag forward the North to sustain them in the position to which they have brought things. And I fear much from the fighting character of our people. I dread the next news. If Maryland goes with Virginia there will probably be dreadful fighting for the possession of Washington, unless the wise and patriotic like you can stop it.

"We are exemplifying the fable of the dispute between the head and tail of the snake for the right to lead. The Democratic party is the natural and the only possible government of our Democratic confederation. It alone has ever understood the idea of State rights. The tail has taken its turn of leadership, and you see to what a pass it has brought the country.

"Were it not for the immediate question of the fighting to grow out of the question of the possession of Washington, I should say it were best that the border States should now all go at once, so as to make the North feel the absurdity of further prosecution of war. But reunion is now, I fear, scarcely to be hoped for!

"My wife sends you her affectionate regards.

"Ever yours,
"J. L. O'SULLIVAN."

"The great question for me here of the success of our copper establishment is not yet decided. I had expected to find the works in operation. They will not be ready to begin short of a week or fortnight, and then there may be further delay from changes required in details of machinery. Everything is very encouraging. I have good prospects of a contract for rifles and artillery from this government--it is under consideration now. Could not do anything _at present_ in France, though the plan was recognized as superior to their own or to anything known. But in the present state of Europe they could not introduce a _change_, their existing armament on their own plan being on so vast a scale. But I was encouraged for a later day.

"In regard to politics, I suppose the North will be too hot to hold _me_ hereafter, if the papers are right in their account of the Northern feeling."