"Well, sir, the blockade is terribly severe on our friends in the South, who are our brothers. The innocent are suffering with the guilty. We should let them have food, and raiment, and medicines, but we should not let them have cannon, guns, and powder."
"When do you think the war would end if such a plan was adopted?"
He took a new tack, not replying to the question, but said,—
"The North began the trouble in an unchristian spirit."
"Was not the first gun fired by the Rebels upon Fort Sumter?"
"That was not the beginning of the war. It was the election of Lincoln."
"Then you would not have a majority of the people elect their officers in the constituted way?"
"Well, if Lincoln had been a wise man he would have resigned, and saved this terrible conflict."
There is a point beyond which forbearance ceases to be a virtue, and I expressed the hope that the war would be waged with shot and shell, fire and sword, naval expeditions and blockades, and every possible means, upon the men who had conspired to subvert the government. There was no reply, and he soon left the room.
Buell's right wing under General Crittenden, was at Calhoun, on Green River. Intelligence arrived that it was to be put in motion.