January 20, 1861, The New York Herald
It is not to be disguised that the warlike preparations are now being made in the North have produced a very bad feeling in the border Slave States. In Maryland there is a sharp contest going on between the Union party and the secessionists – the latter desiring that a State Convention shall be called as a preliminary to the seizure of Washington by a coup d etat. The same feeling is manifested in Virginia, where the party in favor of Governor Wise’s plan to prevent the inauguration of Lincoln is daily increasing in strength. The Governors of Kentucky and Virginia, both Union men, have declared solemnly that the passage of troops, intended to coerce the seceding States, across the border will not be permitted. And yet, in spite of all this, the republican leaders are arming their followers. This is worse than folly. It is absolute suicide.