TENNESSEE CONGRESSMAN WARNS AGAINST SECESSION Superb, historic and prophetic content letter written by Tennessee Rep. REESE B. BRABSON , 6pp. 8vo., Washington, Jan. 27, 1861 to politician John B. Cox in Knoxville graphically describing the mounting tensions in the nation's capitol as the country drifts towards war. In very small part: "...Southern Senators who favor disunion refuse to support [Crittenden's resolutions]...If we go out of the Union, the territory will have to be divided...Congress has not passed any law on the subject of slavery except to protect it, unless it be the Wilmot Proviso...We have just cause of complaint vs. the North, but I have heard of no complaint against the Government, except so far as the present Administration has brought pecuniary ruin...by its wicked and corrupt conduct... [Northern politicians] are prepared...to grant all the guarantees demanded by the South. If this be so, ought we not to wait until they have the opportunity to act, before we take a step which may not only prove the doom of slavery, but the destruction of liberty itself! This Government is worth preserving & should not be destroyed...It is hardly to be supposed that a Government as great, as powerful as this, can be destroyed without the shedding of much blood...the whole matter should be submitted to the American people...This Government was made by and for the people, & when they say it should be destroyed I will submit...a separation along the lines of free & slave states...would be fatal to slavery in the border states...Kentucky would lose every slave she has within five years...I believe that if the border southern states will stand firm & prevent a collision between north & south until the people everywhere have time to cool, & reflect, all our troubles may be settled...secession is proving rather an expensive luxury to South Carolina...it will prove doubly expensive to [Tennessee]...I will stand by the Constitution, & the Union as long as I can with honor...before I yield to a destiny which I am sure will drive the whole American people to ruin... ". Very good. This letter was in turn forwarded by Cox to fiery newspaper editor William G. "Parson" Brownlow along with Cox's A.L.S., 2pp. 4to., Louisville, Feb. 19, 1861. He writes Brownlow discussing votes in his county which had swung to secession due to a rumor that Virginia had seceded, and strongly suggesting that Brownlow run for governor so that "we may be able to grab the talons of the democratic Vampyre from the heart of our betrayed Commonwealth...". $1,000-1,500