Opis: Letters of John Minor Botts, of Virginia, on the Nebraska Question (Classic Reprint) - Botts John Minor

Excerpt from Letters of John Minor Botts, of Virginia, on the Nebraska Question

To the Editors of the National Intelligencer:

It is my misfortune once again to find myself in a situation which obliges me to take part against many of my best personal and political friends, and upon a subject, and under circumstances that, feeling and believing as I do, it would be criminal on my part to be silent; and, however much I may regret the occasion and the necessity, I must appeal to you, as national men, and conductors of a truly national paper, to allow me the privilege of addressing a few reflections to the people of the South through your columns on a subject of the gravest consequence to their interests. I mean the Nebraska bill, now pending before the Senate, which, from all we can now see, is likely to become a law without a word against it from the South, and by which it is proposed to repeal or declare inoperative the Missouri Compromise of thirty-four years' standing and acquiescence in by all parts and parties of the country.

It is true I have little now to do with politics, and I am not in "position" to give influence and currency to what I may say. I have no Congressional seat from which I can speak "by authority," but my interest in the settlement of this question as a citizen, and my regard for the welfare of the country is none the less on that account.

After the most careful examination of this portentous question, I am satisfied that it is the most mischievous and pernicious measure that has ever been introduced into the halls of Congress.

With the institution of Slavery acknowledgedly in a sounder and better condition than it has ever been; with the public mind calmly subsiding and daily acquiescing in the peaceful and healing measures of 1850; in the absence of an- public necessity or demand from any part or section of the country; with an application from no human being outside of the political circles in Washington; without the question ever having been pi presented to the consideration of the people, who are the only proper parties to be consulted; with solemn pledges from both parties and both sections to resist all future efforts at agitation, it is proposed to throw wide open the whole question of Slavery, to unsettle all that has been done to produce harmony between the North and the South for the last thirty years, by those who were quite as wise and patriotic as the men of the present day, and to revive sectional animosities and feuds in the most aggravated and embittered form, the end whereof no man can foresee. Is it not legitimate then for any citizen, however humble, feeling an interest in his country's welfare, to ask emphatically why is this to be done

Is this last and hopeless chance for reconstructing the disordered and scattered fragments of a divided party with any intelligent mind held to be a sufficient reason for so much mischief Are the grasping and reckless aspirations of ambitious men, who seek their own advancement by a spirit of turbulence and discord throughout the land, a sufficient justification for the wholesale scenes of riot and disorder that is to follow

If the Compromise which has stood the test of one-third of a century is no longer available or operative, how long can the Compromise of three years' duration be expected to last And can it be possible that all the wisdom and patriotism that marked the struggles of 1820 and of 1850 are, within one short year after the decease of the illustrious men who then hushed the storm into silence and tranquilized the nation, to be forgotten and laid aside, without necessity, without notice, without cause, and without one justifying or palliating circumstance

As a Southern man, I raise my voice against it. I oppose it because it involves a breach of faith on the part of the South, who have for thirty odd years enjoyed the advantages obtained by them in the formation of the States

Szczegóły: Letters of John Minor Botts, of Virginia, on the Nebraska Question (Classic Reprint) - Botts John Minor

Nazwa: Letters of John Minor Botts, of Virginia, on the Nebraska Question (Classic Reprint)
Autor: Botts John Minor
Wydawnictwo: FB &c Ltd
Kod paskowy: 9781331498360
Języki: angielski
Ilość stron: 20
Format: 15.2x22.9cm
Oprawa: Miękka

Recenzje: Letters of John Minor Botts, of Virginia, on the Nebraska Question (Classic Reprint) - Botts John Minor