ey present the "Olive Branch" with the other; and so
God grant it _may be ever_.

You lament the inconceivable disasters "inaugurated by the attack on
Sumter." True enough they may have been _inaugurated_ by that _act_,
but their unconcealed cause lies _far_ back of that, as we have shown.
That was only a raising of the curtain, or rather a forcing of it to be
raised by the Abolitionists--a beginning of the bloody drama. Who
caused the attack? What meant those _human cargoes_ that approached so
close to its walls the day before the battle? Why did the worthy (?)
Lincoln so long deceive the South^rn Commissioners by promise after
promise not to make war, but to _evacuate_ the fort, & meet them, as a
sensible Pres. would have done, in friendly negotiation for peace? S.C.
was right, and acted nobly in the affair, and was as justifiable
therein, as was _Anderson_ in occupying the Fort _before_ he had a
reason for doing so, declaring by his overt act that the U.S. forces
under him were at _enmity_ with S.C. But then you say S.C. should have
_first tried_ Lincoln before determining to secede. I think she saw
with prophetic vision the end from the beginning. She took Lincoln at
his word--that itself was oppression & tyranny sufficient to burst
asunder the closest ties of Union that could exist in any Country. You
say we sh^d. give everything a fair trial. I disagree. If I saw a
_serpent_ in my path & it sh^d. attempt to make battle, or declare its
hostility by displaying its horrid fangs, do you think I would coolly
stand by & give it a fair trial, & test its friendship? I would be
impelled, even had I never seen or heard of such a creature before, to
crush it immediately, & so S.C. has sensibly said to the Administration
"_Serpent, bite a file!_" As to your Eulogium on Lincoln I have not
much to say. If he pleases you, well enough, you're easily satisfied.
_I_ take it that he is a disgrace to the Chair he occupies; and to
judge from his conversations, he is devoid of all sense of refinement &
etiquette; to look at his executive powers as displayed thus far, he
had better be _a Bey_ than helmsman of the "Old Ship"; and what of his
_efforts_ at speeches? In the language of Logan, "I appeal to any white
man" to say if they would not be a disgrace to many a "Country
'Squire"! And yet such a man elevated to the highest position in the
gift of the American people! There was a time when the soundest and
most learned men of the land