OPPOSITION TO THE CIVIL WAR.


"Acceptance of Gov. Dana." IN: Western Argus, Extra. Fryeburg, ME: August 21, 1861. Printed broadside, 365 x 225 mm. Mild creasing and toning, some discoloration at center right.Upon learning that he has been renominated by his party to stand for Governor of Maine, John W. Dana penned this letter to the Western Argus addressing the topic of impending war, which he opposes: "I give full and cordial support to President Lincoln in the pace policy indicated ... [in] his inaugural, and by his once intended, and almost consummated, withdrawal from Fort Sumpter. But I protest, in the name of our common country, against the coercive policy which has been forced upon him, against his better judgment, by the ultras of his party, who are looking to no other result than the extermination through civil war, or ultimate permanent separation ... I am not a secessionist, I am not a disunionist. On the contrary, it is deep devotion to the Union that inspires me to appeal to my countrymen, that they pause and reflect before it is too late." He calls for a cessation of hostilities and immediate negotiation, and a cessation of the "bitter, malignant war which the North has waged for years, in every form of attack, upon the institutions of the South...."