Raynors HCA 2019-05
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/30/2019
A rare printed pamphlet warning the people of Virginia not to be too eager to join the Southern states that had, thus far, seceded, entitled: "Correspondence" being the printed version of a letter to Virginia Congressman William C. Rives by his constituents asking that he represent them in an upcoming Secession Convention, along with his lengthy reply. His friends write, in part: "Albemarle County, Jan. 12, 1861, in part: "…taking it for granted that the bill for the call of a Convention, now pending…will speedily become law, we feel the necessity of selecting…those whom we desire to represent us…we believe that the time has come when questions so long pending between the North and South must be settled…in a manner satisfactory of our section…we can no longer remain a united people. In such a crisis…we are content to place our honor and our interests…in your hands…we trust that you will not shrink the responsibility which we seek to impose upon you…T. J. Wertenbaker…and five hundred and fifty others." In reply, Rives politely declines the invitation to represent Albemarle County in the upcoming convention, and he goes on to warn his fellow Virginians against being too eager to drag their state into the Confederacy. On Jan. 23, 1861, from his home at Castle Hill, Va., he writes, in small part: "…no one can be more profoundly impressed than I am without he necessity…of securing new and permanent guarantees for the rights of the slaveholding States…as are embodied in Mr. Crittenden's resolution…we must go behind and above them to the legitimate source of power-the people and the States. The General assembly of Virginia have wisely determined to take an appeal to the great tribunal; and if there shall be no attempt at coercion on the part of the General Government…and no aggression on the part of the States that have seceded, there is reason to believe that the spirit of loyalty…justice and wisdom, coming up fresh from the unadulterated fountains of the popular heart in various quarters of the Confederacy-especially the Border States…at all events, we owe it to ourselves…no less than to the memory of our fathers, that every proper and honorable expedient should be tried before we determine upon the…melancholy resort of the dissolution of the noblest…W. C. Rives. To Messrs. T. J. Wertenbaker…and others." Minor tinning, else VG
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