Edward P. Brownson communicated the opinion of his father, Orestes A. Brownson, in a letter from Elizabeth, New Jersey.
“I suppose my father has long since told you of his delight, when you introduced your Resolutions into the Senate. The joy with which he read them, and the attention he has given them, you will find very clearly expressed in the deep and careful study he has given the subject, evident in his article on State Rebellion, State Suicide; and he would much rather see them pass than win a victory in the field.”
Mrs. Maria Weston Chapman, the devoted Abolitionist, and among the earliest in the warfare, wrote from Boston:—
“Thanks a thousand-fold for the eleventh volume Pacific Railroad Survey. Your Resolutions are the great Pacific Road to Freedom,—made possible by the War Power though they be. I thank you a million-fold. To say so is no exaggeration, since all done in this behalf is done for all men and all time; and from the hour that Garrison struck the first blow, I have ever felt that the highest numbers were needed fitly to express human gratitude for services rendered to human nature.”
Jabez C. Woodman, an able lawyer, wrote from Portland, Maine:—
“You are not without some judicial authority. As much as ten months ago I heard Judge Ware[166] express the opinion that the Union troops would prevail. He then said he was in favor of coercion,—that he would subjugate the Rebel States, and, taking them at their word, he would not acknowledge them at once as States, but would govern them as conquered provinces, till they were fit to govern themselves.”
Elizur Wright, the early and constant Abolitionist, wrote from Boston:—
“Your Resolutions are the very thing. Had they been passed at the extra session, the war would have been over before now. They, or something to the same effect, must be passed before spring opens, or we are lost. Victories, without this law of the conquest, cannot save us. Quite the reverse. I beg you to press the resolutions with any amount of animosity or violence, and to know that all that is alive at the North will sustain you.
“There are thousands ready to see the present Government blotted out in blood and chaos rather than see the old curse reinstated. On us, not on our children! There has been fooling enough. Heaven bless you!”