Letter from Gov. Letcher.
A correspondence between Gov. Letcher, of Virginia, and a person named Jas. S. Brisbin, of Centre county, Pa., is published in the Enquirer of yesterday. To a full understanding of Gov. Letcher's letter, it is necessary to publish that of his correspondent, and we therefore give them both: Centre Democrat Office,
Bellefonte, Centre County, Pa,
November 15th, 1860.
Governor John Letcher, of Virginia. --Dear Sir:
The present position of South Carolina and the sympathy manifested for her by many of the southern States, is to some a matter of amusement — to others a matter of alarm.
The disunion sentiment, which has been growing gradually in this country since the nullification of 1833, has at length assumed huge proportions, and, in my opinion, this spirit of rebellion should now be crushed, and effectually crushed.
If we are to have disunion, let it come now; we will never be better to grapple with the monster than at the present hour.
The rapid growth of ideas and sentiments in this country render delays dangerous to the stability of our Government and the welfare of our people.
If we wish to crush an obnoxious doctrine, we must do it a one, or it will grow to be formidable, and ultimately distract the peace and harmony of our Government.
Polygamy is an example of this fact.
Twenty years ago, and man who dared to mouth disunion was looked upon askance and shunned by his fellow-citizens as a traitor; now it is in the mouth of millions; and men, to gaping multitudes and in our market places, every day toast themselves disunionists.
The South will never be satisfied until she has attempted to separate these States--sooner or later that test of the stability of our Government must come, and the sooner the bitter.
I would rather have this danger in the past than in the future.
Twenty-eight millions of free men in the North are ready to meet disunion now, and crush it as the strong man crushes an egg-shell in his hand.
States cannot reserve the right to secede.--They are the common property of the Government.
Texas cost us many millions of dollars, and shall Texas now be permitted to walk out of the Union with those millions of our money?
Suppose we pay two hundred millions for Cuba one day, shall we permit her to go out of the Union the next with those two hundred millions!
This doctrine of the reserved right of States to secede is preposterous.
The people of the North will never peaceably submit to the secession of the South.
If the worst comes to the worst, let brother go to war with brother, and let the stronger party take possession of the whole Government.
We must have no Southern Confederacy--no Northern Republic, but a Union of "many in one."
Two hundred of your Virginians have tendered me their command in the event of disunion.
I am at your service — I will march at a moment's warning, and, if necessary, give my life for the maintenance of the Constitution and the Union.
I hold that the election of Abraham Lincoln is not just cause for secession.
It is the result of our system of government.
The majority of our people pave declared through the ballot box that he is their choice, and the minority should acquiesce.
I await your orders.
Believing you to be a pure minded statesman, and a true lover of your country, I am, with sentiments of respect, truly your, Bellefonte, Centre County, Pa,
November 15th, 1860.
Governor John Letcher, of Virginia. --Dear Sir:
Jas. S. Brisbin.
Please answer.
Please answer.
Richmond, Va., Nov. 19, 1860.
Sir:
--Yesterday morning I received your extraordinary letter of the 15th instant.
I am really at a loss to understand what good end you expected to accomplish by the preparation and transmission of it to me.
The country is deeply excited.
Sectional feeling reigns supreme.
The Union is seriously threatened with disruption.
Patriots and conservative men of all parties, East, West, North and South, are looking to the future with fearful and alarming apprehensions.
The prudent, considerate, reflecting minds of the nation are engaged in laudable and noble efforts to allay the excitement, restore confidence and kind feeling, remove all irritating causes of difference, and, if possible, save the Union from dissolution.
It is at this time, and under such circumstances, that you send me a letter denunciatory of the motives and conduct of a portion of the Southern people, and which, in its tone and spirit, is well calculated (I hope it was not so intended) to add fuel to flame that is burning with sufficient intensity now.
In your haste to assail your Southern fellow-citizens you seem to have forgotten that your own State is, to some extent at least, responsible for the present alarming crisis in public affairs.
If I am not greatly mistaken, Pennsylvania is one of the eleven non-slaveholding States which has passed statutes, now in full force and effect, designed to obstruct the execution of the Fugitive Slave Law. This is one of the grievances of which the Southern people have complained for years, and although earnest and respectful appeals have been addressed to you to remove this cause of irritation and complaint, those appeals have passed unheeded.
As a conservative man, who ardently desires the perpetuity of the Union, under the Constitution, I appeal to you and to the conservative element of the North to arouse yourselves at once and initiate the proper measures to secure a repeal of those obnoxious laws.
Such action on the part of your Legislature will have a most happy influence in relieving the Southern mind and restoring peace and quiet throughout our now fearfully excited country
The South asks only for the fair and faithful execution of the laws passed for the recovery and protection of her property — that you will cease to embarrass and lend your aid to effect their execution, according to their letter and spirit — that if her property shall escape and be found in the non-slaveholding States, you will see that it is promptly restored to the rightful owner.
Surely there is patriotism enough in Pennsylvania and the other non-slaveholding States to grant what the law has declared to be our due, especially when the preservation of the Union depends upon it. In concluding this branch of the subject, permit me to add, that if the North will respect and uphold the rights of the States, the Union will be perpetual, our country will continue to grow in power and influence, the people of all sections will have secured to them the blessings of peace, quiet and order, and a prosperity, such as has never been known or appreciated in our past history, will be the necessary result.
It will require prudence, wisdom and patriotism to avert the evils now impending over our country.
Crimination and inflammatory language can have no other effect than to exasperate and thus precipitate a result that is already imminent.
In this hour of danger to the Union, it is the duty of patriots in all sections of our country to cultivate a kind, generous and conciliatory spirit one towards another.
Your letter, however, breathes nothing of this kind; you taunt the South with your superiority of numbers, and threaten to crush them by your fancied power.
You assure me that ‘"two hundred Virginians"’ have agreed to place themselves under your ‘"command, in the event of disunion,"’ and that you are at my ‘ "service"’ and await my ‘"orders."’ Virginians owe allegiance to this Commonwealth, and I have too much respect for my fellow-citizens of all parties, to suppose that ‘"two hundred"’ of them in any part of the State are willing to go to Pennsylvania for a commander, even if they had determined to aid in the ungracious work of reducing a Southern sister State to the abject condition of a conquered Province of the Federal Government.
All true Virginians will, I am sure, recognize their obligations to the State and will hold themselves in readiness to respond to the call of her constituted authorities.
We now have in Virginia duty and legally organized, eighty-eight troops of cavalry, twenty-six companies of artillery, one hundred and nine companies of infantry, and one hundred and ten companies of riflemen, uniformed and well prepared for service.
Think you, my dear sir, under these circumstances, that any ‘"two hundred"’ men in Virginia would seriously propose to import a commander from Pennsylvania?
No! No! You have been cruelly hoaxed by some wag, who desired to play off a good joke at your expense
You have no right to come into Virginia to raise troops for any purpose whatsoever, and I take the occasion to say to you, in the kindest spirit imaginable, that such a course will be taken at your peril.
It is made my duty to see that the laws are executed, and in the contingency referred to they will be executed to the letter.
If you desire to march against a Southern State, for the purpose mentioned in your letter, raise your troops at home, and present them to the sons of the South, as ‘"food for gunpowder."’ We have other and better uses for Virginians.
As your letter is of a public character, and as the people of this State may feel some interest in your views, I have thought it advisable to publish it, accompanied with my reply.
A number of the "Enquirer" containing the correspondence will be sent to your address. Sir:
