Diary Entry by Edmund Ruffin, June 5, 1857

June 5. At daybreak, set out in the carriage, (which is to be there repaired,) for Petersburg. Thence, at 9 A.M. on the railway to Richmond—where, by previous appointment Mr. Sayre’s carriage afterwards came for me. Raining & cold. Saw & conversed with Mr. Williams, (Secry. of S.A.S.) about the affairs of the Society—had a tooth plugged by the dentist—left & returned to Marlbourne. All well. E. & Mr. Sayre alone. Newspapers & De Bow’s Review. In the latter is begun the republication of my letters in favor of disunion—prefaced by an editorial puff of myself. Gen. Walker, after having held out in Central America until his situation was hopeless, has abandoned his predatory enterprise & returned to the U.S. I heartily wished him success, in consideration of the general benefit that would result—but never viewed him otherwise than as an able villain, a robber & murderer on a large scale. As his plan has failed, I wish that he had been captured & hanged. The recent bloody election riot in Washington, & their more bloody suppression by the U.S. marines, is a serious matter. I wish that every forcible disturber of the election had been shot down. The ready authority given by the President for this effectual mode of suppression, is almost the only thing he as done that commands my applause, since the commencement of his administration. And I as heartily condemn his appointment of that political & unprincipled adventurer [Robert J.] Walker, as Governor of Kansas, whose proclamations show that he must be authorized & instructed by the President to use his official influence to make Kansas a non-slavery state. The purpose is manifested in his conduct as well as his words.—The state government of Ohio is arrayed against the lawful jurisdiction & constitutional power of the Federal government, & I earnestly hope may push the opposition to the extent of treason & rebellion. N. York, Massachusetts, & some other of the northern states, have also made like enactments, to nullify the fugitive slave law. I trust that all, like Ohio, may have an opportunity, & that they will also put their theory of opposition into practice. It would be a capital move, if one or more of theses fanatical northern states would begin the operation of secession from, or resistance to the Union…