1861 May 7 New York American Tract Society

My dear Christian Friend
Your kind letter of 1st
inst arrd yesterday. I was very glad to hear from you,
and fully sympathize with you in lamenting
the sad of state of things in our midst. I
fear for the resulting demoralization that will
be consequent on war, unless God in his
great power & mercy interfere with the natural
course of the passions of men & overrule all for
his glory. What we need is, the special
ourporing of the Spirit on every part of our
land. And when we see what has been done
during 3 years past, may we not hope that the
work of conversion will go on till all the
people being the children of God, shall feel
they are brethren, & ask themselves why they
differ. And Thousands of prayers go up daily for
this end, & we know that God hears prayer offered
in a right spirit. Surely he has a great
work for this people yet to do, or He would not

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have shown us such mercies. The interest
of Christians in the religious welfare of the
soldiers as daily exhibited in our prayer meetings
is a good sign. the officers & men thankfully
receive testaments & tracts, & many of them
are glad to attend religious services in their quarters.
One of the Coles wrote to a gentleman offering a
supply of testaments, that he was glad that
somebody thought that soldiers needed some-
thing more than food & clothing. About 15,000
testaments have been furnished to the regiments
which have gone from this city, & offers we have
furnished tracts where an officer offered to distribute
them. For a week past the 20th State regiment
from Ulster Co has been quartered in the Park. As
no clergyman offered to accompany them, Mr.
Reynolds, Cashier of the Bank at Kingston, came as
Chaplain, for as he told me, he could not bear to
see the so many of the best young men of their
county go away to be demoralized & none to look after
them. Since arriving here, he has obtained the help of
a minister & religious services have been nightly
attended in the barracks. On Sunday both
there & at other places where troops are quartered

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there was preaching in the morning & prayer
meetings in the afternoon. One col. expressed
his desire that there should be as large a
proportion, as possible of praying men in his
company. I suppose every church in this
city has sent some of its congregation to
Washington for its defense.

I hope you will be as much interested
in reading Dr Adams' book as we were.
I think it ought to have come out a year ago.
You need not fear his being "tarred & feathered,"
first because that institution is unknown
here, & secondly, like all our other ministers
except a few abolitionists, he holds, as always,
that government is an ordinance of God, and
must be obeyed & maintained. Otherwise we have
no security from anarchy. On this principle
they have ^'sustained' and still faithfully sustain the
Fugitive Slave Law, and the rights of the South
under the constitution. The feeling here
is that the government, and the constitution as the
supreme law of the land must be maintained,
at whatever cost. I venture to inclose two slips

[[page 4]
The first written by Mr. Russell the well known
correspondent of the London Times in the Crimea
& India may be considered impartial testimony
to the president's consistent & constitutional course,
and desire to avoid war if possible.

The other is an extract from the Secretary of State's
letter to our Minister in France. As he says
the opportunity of seeking redress constitutionally
is still open to the seceding states.

The South when they charge all the existing
evil on the North, seem to overlook what has
been the chief occasion of all the excitement
here, Namely the events of last winter, especially
the seizing of government ships, public
buildings and the mint with their treasure.

These things were borne with, conservative men
trying to apologize that it was the work of a mob, &
not countenanced by the people. But the first blow
on Sumter was too much to brook. This called
forth the President's proclamation & the subsequent
rising through the North. It was considered sufficient
evidence that the government of the land was
to be defied, & 'at once' men who had prayed for and
sustained the South against all opposers,

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whose fathers had fought & bled to establish
for their descendants a free government,
these men said, this must not be, the best
government on earth, that to which we owe our
prosperity & other blessings must be defended,
even if assailed by our dearest friends.
This is not a pro-slavery or anti-slavery war here,
and the spirit that prevails I do not think
is one of hate or revenge toward the South,
but simply one of maintaining the existing
government. Our best men would just
as soon fight against northerners should
they oppose it, as they have done in some cases
in past times. Should the administration
needlessly carry the war into the seceding states
further than to occupy again its own property, it
would not receive the undivided countenance
of the North.

Dear General, I have hastily written the
above in the midst of interruptions, & therefore
not very carefully. But I wish to give you what
information I can as to the state ^'of' feeling here.

As to the city, I think there rather less dis-
order than usual, & the policemen seem to have

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little to occupy them besides walking the streets
& showing themselves wherever an unusual crowd
gathers & to see that no contraband goods are
shipped from our wharves. Tho' there must have
been many business failures, I am not aware
that there is any personal suffering more than
in past years. Some of the volunteers have met
with hardship, as when marching 20 or 30 miles
over muddy roads without necessary food, but their
letters home, show that they are cheerful & contented.
The only discontent I have observed is among some
regiments which are not yet called into service. Some
of the officers prefer to resign rather than be kept in
longer suspense as to whether their services are desired.

I saw Dr Marsh today, as healthy as ever, pre-
paring for his temperance Soc'y anniversary this week.
I see by the N.Y. [?] a new book on Intemperance
is just published--Our Tract soc. annivy comes
off tomorrow morning, & I am busy today giving out
tickets to members--I may send you a copy of
one of the pictorials this week--Inclosed is the new
annivy hymns, which all our 1000's of S.S. children are
singing this afternoon at their gatherings. I thought your grand-
daughter (Mary I believe her name is)would like it, & perhaps
play it on the pianno --Please write again & believe me
yours with high regard & affection
B. T. Eastman

[on side margin of page 5]
Gen Butler at Annapolis returned to their rightful masters 3 slaves who escaped to him,
Lieut Slimmer did the same at Fort Pickens. Gen. Scott will not
allow running off slaves, I think.