It was his infernal policy in that state (I can hardly think of the mean and bad things he allowed there without swearing) that drove off Douglas, led to the division of the Democratic party and the consequent election of Lincoln.

As a matter of course, I rejoice in the result, for in my judgment the administration of Lincoln will do much to dissipate the feeling in the south against the north, by showing what are the real purposes of the Republican party.

They drove Buchanan from his Kansas policy; they got up this new dogma about slave protection, they broke up the Charleston convention merely to advance secession; they are now hurrying forward excited men into acts of treason, without…

If, by a successful revolution, they can go out of the Union, they establish a principle that will break the government into fragments.

If so, then comes civil war, a fearful subject for Americans to think of.

There have been many things said and done by the Republican leaders that I utterly detest.

Many of the dogmas of the Democratic party I like, but their conduct in administering the government, and especially in their treatment of the slavery question, I detest.

I know we shall have trouble this winter, but I intend to be true to the moderate conservative course I think I have hitherto undertaken.

Whatever may be the consequences, I will insist on preserving the unity of the states, and all the states, without exception and without regard to consequences.

If any southern state has really suffered any injury or is deprived of any right, I will help reduce the injury and secure the right.

These states must not, merely because they are beaten in election, or have failed in establishing slavery where it was prohibited by compromise, attempt to break up the government.

If they will hold on a little while, they will find no injury can come to them, unless, by their repeated misrepresentation of us, they stir up their slaves to insurrection.

I still hope that no state will follow in the wake of South Carolina; then the weakness of her position will soon bring her back again or subject her to ridicule and insignificance.

Even Democrats of all shades say, 'The election is against us; we will submit and all must submit.' Republicans say, 'The policy of the government has been controlled by the south for years, and we have submitted; now they must submit.'…

The quiet which I thought the usual acquiescence of the people was merely the prelude to the storm of opinion that now seems irresistible.

Politicians, by heating the prejudices of the people and running with the current, have succeeded in destroying the government.

You will, in all human probability, be involved in complications from which you cannot escape with honor.

Separated from your family and all your kin, and an object of suspicion, you will find your position unendurable.

A fatal infatuation seems to have seized the southern mind, during which any act of madness may be committed. . . .

If the sectional dissensions only rested upon real or alleged grievances, they could be readily settled, but I fear they are deeper and stronger.

It is a sad state of affairs, but it is nevertheless true, that if the conventions of the southern states make anything more than a paper secession, hostile collisions will occur, and probably a separation between the free and the slave…

You can judge whether it is at all probable that the possession of this capital, the commerce of the Mississippi, the control of the territories, and the natural rivalry of enraged sections, can be arranged without war.

If the storm shall blow over, your course will strengthen you with every man whose good opinion you desire; if not, you will escape humiliation.

But the special session of the legislature was so unanimous in arming the state and calling a convention that little doubt remains that Louisiana will, on the 23rd of January, follow the other seceding states.

Governor Moore takes the plain stand that the state must not submit to a 'black Republican President.' Men here have ceased to reason; they seem to concede that slavery is unsafe in a confederacy with northern states, and that now is the…