Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 1.

[207] Assembly district in the State, to meet as representatives of the party in convention at Albany on the 31st of January. They assembled on that day, and the delegates were addressed by the venerable ex-Chancellor Walworth, ex-Governor Seymour, and men of less note, and a series of resolutions were adopted, expressive of the sense of the party on the great topic of the day. They declared, substantially, that a conflict of sectional passions had produced present convulsions; that the most ineffective argument to be presented to the “seceding States” was war, which would not restore the Union, but would “defeat forever its reconstruction;” that the restoration of the Union could only be obtained by the exercise of a spirit of conciliation and concession; that there was nothing in the nature of the impending difficulties that made an adjustment by compromise improper; and that the Union could only be preserved by the adoption of a Border-State policy, embodied in the Crittenden Compromise. They appointed a committee to prepare, in behalf of the Convention, “a suitable memorial to the Legislature, urging them to submit the Crittenden Compromise to a vote of the electors of the State, at the earliest practicable day.”

At about this time there seemed to be concerted action all over the State to discountenance anti-slavery movements, and to silence those men whose agency, it was alleged, had caused the “public sentiment of the North to have the appearance of a hostility to the South, incompatible with its continuance in the Union.” Anti-slavery meetings were broken up by violence; and early in March

March 6, 1861.

an association was formed in New York City, called The American Society for the Promotion of National Union, of which Professor Samuel F. B. Morse, the inventor of the perfected electro-magnetic telegraph, was chosen President.¹ Its professed object was “to promote the union and welfare of our common country, by addresses, publications, and all other suitable means adapted to elucidate and inculcate, in accordance with the Word of God, the duties of American citizens, especially in relation to Slavery.” Reiterating the idea put forth a few weeks before by the Rev. Dr. Smythe, of Charleston, in denunciation of the doctrines of the Declaration of Independence,² this society, in its “Programme,” said.--“The popular declaration that all men are created equal, and entitled to liberty, intended to embody the sentiments of our ancestors respecting the doctrine of the Divine right of kings and nobles, and perhaps, also, the more doubtful sentiment of the French school, may be understood to indicate both a sublime truth and a pernicious error.” Again:--“Our attention will not be confined to Slavery, but this will be, at present, our main topic. Four millions of immortal beings, incapable of self-care, and indisposed to industry and foresight, are providentially committed to the hands of our Southern friends. This stupendous trust they cannot put from them if they would. Emancipation, were it possible, would be ”