March 6, 1861
Came Mr Lincoln’s Inaugral. I scarcely know which to dwell most on, its wickedness or its weakness! The cloven foot is there & an attempt made to draw a drapery around it — an attempt which fails so signally as to excite ones contempt.
Rode with Patrick. Had a long & gloomy talk about the state of our country. I hope no one will say any thing more about SC to him. It needs but the spark to fall upon the carded flax. Went to the Ploughs & the Ditchers.
At Father’s. Could I have believed that any Southern person could find any thing to commend in Lincoln’s message? But so it is. Mama & Sue both think “he means well”! Heaven save the mark! Father does not like it & looks gloomy. Lincoln’s intense vulgarity disgusts him, his talk about “running the Machine as he finds it” revolts every sentiment of good taste. Rather say he will drive in his wedge where he finds the split & that Mr Lincoln will be Mason & Dixon’s line Virginia surely cannot stand every thing, nor can this so called “Peace Congress” long throw sand in her eye. Should she secede, what an odd position N Carolina would occupy, fairly “squeezed” out of the Union. Mrs Lincoln’s invitation to Mr Buchanon to stay with them when he came to Washington must have made him wince, for he at least understands how gentle folks ought to behave.
Heard Frank’s lessons. He begins to think that Mrs Devereux “dont like South Carolina at all!”
Source: Edmondston, Catherine Ann Devereux, 1823-1875, Journal of a Secesh Lady: The Diary of Catherine Ann Devereux Edmondston 1860-1866. Crabtree, Beth G and Patton, James W., (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Division of Archives and History, 1979). http://nc-historical-publications.stores.yahoo.net/478.html
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