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[764] party from its formation and were accounted conservatives, though they disclaimed partisanship, who, from the hour of the first tidings of the bombardment of Fort Sumter by the Confederates, consecrated all they had to the maintenance of the Union. This class is fitly represented by the eminent New York merchant, A. T. Stewart, who acted throughout in the spirit evinced in the following business letter, which, unexpectedly to the writer, first reached the public through the [Rebel] Memphis Appeal:

New York, April 29, 1861.
dear Sir — Your letter requesting to know whether or not I had offered a million of dollars to the Government for the purposes of the war, and at the same time informing me that neither yourself nor your friends would pay their debts to the firm as they mature, has been received.

The intention not to pay seems to be nearly universal in the South, aggravated in your case by the assurance that it does not arise from inability; but, whatever may be your determination, or that of others at the South, it shall not change my course. All that I have of position and wealth I owe to the free institutions of the United States; under which, in common with all others, North and South, protection to life, liberty, and property, has been enjoyed in the fullest manner. The Government to which these blessings are due calls on her citizens to protect the capital of the Union from threatened assault; and, although the offer to which you refer has not in terms been made by me! I yet dedicate all that I have, as I will, if need be, my life, to the service of the country — for to that country I am bound by the strongest ties of affection and duty.

I had hoped that Tennessee would be loyal to the Constitution. But, however extensive may be secession or repudiation, as long as there are any to uphold the sovereignty of the United States, I shall be with them supporting the flag.

Yours, &c.,


The Appeal saw fit to accompany this letter by the comment that, “after the Confederates should have thrashed the hireling hordes of New York into a proper appreciation of Southern rights, Stewart and his Black Republican comrades may feel inclined to come down South on a collecting tour. If so, they will be quite warmly received.” The consummation of the War anticipated by The Appeal not having, thus far, been attained, it is presumed that the “collecting tour” has not yet been undertaken; hence, Memphis has thus far been constrained to restrict her amiable demonstrations to negroes.

VII.

while the outbreak and early stages of the Rebellion were signalized by conspicuous exhibitions not only of the blackest treachery but of amazing imbecility on the part of certain officers then serving in our Army or Navy, these were relieved by instances of heroic devotion to the Union and its flag which were the more admirable because passive, and thus unnoted and unknown. Among these may be reckoned the preservation to the Union of Fort McHenry, at Baltimore, by Capt. [since, Maj.-Gen.] John C. Robinson, 5th infantry, who, with a handful of men, held that important position during the four weeks which separated the bloody triumph of the Rebel mob in the slaughter of the Massachusetts men (April 19, 1861) from the bloodless recovery of Baltimore by Gen. Butler, May 13. Had the fort, with its arms and munitions, been given up by its defenders, its repossession, with that of Baltimore, could only have been secured by a lavish outlay of effort and of blood on the part of the Union.

VIII.

it is the author's well known conviction that Disunion was not purposed by the great body of those who originally favored Secession. They went into the movement, not to divide the country, but to obtain new guaranties and advantages for Slavery throughout the whole of it. The following dispatch to the New York Herald of Dec. 20, 1860, tends to strengthen this conviction:

Baltimore, Dec. 19, 1860.
Judge Hand, Commissioner from Mississippi to Maryland, addressed an audience of about 5,000 citizens to-night in the Maryland Institute. He advocated the right of separate secession, which was received with considerable applause. He strongly recommended that the Southern States secede before Lincoln's inauguration, and asserted that all the cotton States were determined to do so. He wanted the entire South to join them, and then to form a compact until they could be guaranteed all Southern rights, and that their institutions would be respected. The South would never be in a position to demand her rights under Lincoln's administration. They could afterward, in solid phalanx or separately, present an ultimatum to the North, and reunite, if practicable, with the present Constitution properly amended, on amicable terms.--All which was favorably received.


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