Superb Political Content Letter Concerning the State

Autograph Letter Signed by Francis D. Stockton, Lt. 7th North Carolina Infantry, 8p. quarto, Statesville, North Carolina, December 23, 1860, and reads in part: "...The Capt. has not returned from Washington yet. He is staying there to see the ‘mighty fabric’ fall to pieces I suppose. Your associates here are doing nothing in particular. Jamieson is getting quite ‘fine-eating’ in his opinions, says he can’t ‘endorse’ a coercion speech, even though it came from Douglas. He endorses Douglas fully thus far though & denies that he will favor coercion...The Legislature meets again the first week in January. The proceedings in that body thus far have been quite unimportant until just at the very last the Com. on Federal Relations made two reports - the Majority declaring for a convention, the Minority against it. The report will be taken up immediately when they meet again....There will be violent opposition to it in the Body, and hot times are expected...I think the majority of the state is for a convention but probably opposed to secession at present. My private sentiments are still the same against secession, in favor of a national convention and let the south lay down her ultimatum and if the North agrees to it all right; but if she refuses, then let us demand an equitable division of all Government property, and have it, by the bayonets point if need be, and then set up for ourselves. I am disposed to think that secession gives up too much. It asks to be allowed to retire peaceably - my plan begs for nothing, it dictates. South Carolina has seceded at last; the convention passed the ordinance on Thursday last (the 20th). It has occasioned but little excitement here, being a foregone conclusion. I think they will attack the Forts shortly and then will come the ‘tug of war’. They insist they will have them by fair means or foul...I don’t think there is any tangible ‘public sentiment’ in this county yet, they are for the Union generally but how or in what way specially they don’t know, I think. Col. Mitchell holds rather peculiar doctrines. He is decidedly the strongest Union man in this state I suppose. He is in the first place for doing nothign at all even should the ‘overt act’ come, in the next place for letting the cotton states go, and N.C. staying in the Union with the Northern States, and as a third expedient, forming a great Central Confederacy of all the states except the cotton states and New England...Fraley astonished him the other morning by coming out openly in favor of a Southern ‘Constitutional Monarchy.’...The sale of the land and negroes pleased them very much. The land brought about four thousand dollars more than it was valued at when Uncle Frank died, and the negroes ten thousand more than the legatees had agreed to let them go for and about six thousand more than they were originally valued at! The Negroes all got good homes, there not being a ‘trader’ at the sale..." VG.