| Florida Rail Road Office |
| Gainesville June 19, 1863 |
| |
| His Excy John Milton |
| Gov &c |
| |
| Sir, |
| Your letter of 8th June
postmarked 11th came here during my absence, which will account for
delay in acknowledging it. |
| I do not perceive any probable
utility in an extended correspondence upon the subject to which it
relates, nor in a discursive controversy. It is sufficiently evident
that you are desirous to effect the destruction of a considerable part
of the track of this road, and the transfer of its iron to the use of
the connections in Middle Florida and Georgia. I hope my letters have
made it equally evident that I am opposed to this movement, and will
endeavor to prevent its success. |
| It is very clear that we
entirely differ in opinion. You think it will be beneficial to the cause
and to the State to do what your propose. I, on the contrary, think that
the general cause, and the proper defence of East Florida and advantage
of the State, will be best served by preserving & holding the military
base which the Florida Railroad furnishes to the Peninsula. My reasons I
believe are sound; but I do not deem it proper or necessary to stat or
discuss them in this correspondence, as you do not claim authority to
execute what you advise. Your opinions are of course entitled to
respectful consideration; but I concur with the united sentiment of this
part of Florida, that the policy you urge is not only not advisable, but
if carried into execution, would inflict a serious injury upon the
State, and occasion more damage to the general cause than it will redeem
by its benefits. |
| In respect to many of the
facts and inferences of your letter, I deem it proper, without entering
now into a review of them, to say that I think you are mistaken: but I
do not see any present advantage to the object which alone concerns me
in contravening them. |
| I will however briefly state,
to prevent any misapprehension, the position which this Company, in
agreement with the population of this section, holds. They are all ready
to make any sacrifice to the common cause, which good citizenship, and
an earnest devotion to its success, can require. To all calls for
contribution, whether equal, or special, which the Constitution and laws
authorize and demand, they will cheerfully and promptly respond. In
cases of special contribution which officers of Government, without
legal authority, require, they will judge of the discretion and wisdom
of the requirement, and will contribute, or reuse, as their judgment,
exercised in the interest of the cause, may determine them. In the
present instance, when a contribution of what is, to them, so large an
interest, is demanded, and which no authority but that of the Congress
of the Confederate States is, by the Constitution, competent to demand,
they think they have a right to require that their judgment be
convinced, and their assent obtained before the attempt is made to
enforce it. They know that notwithstanding the project has all the while
during the provisional government and since, been urged at Richmond by
the interests, particularly concerned, with remarkable perseverance and
energy, the Legislative Department of the Confederacy has persistently
refused to regard the Florida Connection as a Military necessity, and
that the Confederate Executive has, with equal persistency, refused to
recommend it to Congress. They knew too that their own State has, by
law, at its last session, prohibited the removal of any iron new laid
upon the public roads, for use in making the only connection which in
the opinion of the Legislature had military utility. They also know that
the aid of the State to a connection which was the shortest, and was
thought by many to be the best, was defeated at the last session by the
strenuous efforts of the very interests which have since been active in
influencing the aid of Military Authority for the movement now afoot.
They knew further that the companies which run the connections have
ample length of track, of their own property, which can be diverted to
these connections, with more propriety (because for their own profit),
and with a les amount of patriotic sacrifice on the part of the
communities on the line, than is demanded of them. With such knowledge,
and with a confident belief that the roads you propose to destroy are a
material part of their defences, and that the preservation of them will
contribute more to the general cause (for reasons not deemed proper to
be produced in public discussion) than their destruction for the uses
you propose, you cannot be surprised at the earnestness of their
resolution to resist by every legal means any violent attempt to
execute, against their consent, the threatened injury. |
| I have the honor to be |
| Very Respectfully |
| Your obt st |
| D. L. Yulee |
|