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Journal for 1861.
Jan. 1st	The sun is shining clear & bring. We could not have had a more beautiful New Year’s Day. Would that our political horizon was as free from clouds as the blue sky that bends above us but the storm which has been gathering darkly for months, seems nearly now to break upon us: Even the stoutest hearts are beginning to tremble. God alone knows what is before us may He preserve us from the horrors of civil war. The speech of Mr. Benjamen on Monday was very impressive; The papers give a very poor idea of its merit. The excitement in the galleries was very great particularly at its close when shouts of applause resounded from one side to the other. In clear musical tones he addressed his brother Senators, telling them they must leave those halls, e’er many weeks had passed, to meet no more under one common government. it was too late now to settle the difficulties between the North & South. Too late – too late – that time must come for all things it had come for the preservation of the tie which had so long united us. Our only hope now was in parting peaceably but if that were impossible he was ready to defend his [[fireside?]] with his life’s blood
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