Very rare large broadside of a circular letter issued in North Carolina following Lincoln's announcement of the Emancipation Proclamation, one page, 13.25 x 20, September 24, 1862. The letter was issued by Bryan Tyson, a Unionist North Carolina slaveholder and farm implement manufacturer who waged a one-man war against what he considered equivalent evils: abolition and secession. In the summer of 1862, he published his views in a clandestinely printed volume, Ray of Light: a vicious attack on abolitionists in the North and on the secessionist leadership of the Confederacy, urging an end to the war and an immediate return to the Union to avoid inevitable defeat. Confederate authorities immediately suppressed the work as it reflected the views of many in North Carolina's Piedmont region who opposed secession. In mid-September, Tyson was arrested and marched off to Raleigh as a conscript—saved from the army only through the intercession of some influential friends.
Very soon after his release, an unrepentant Tyson published the present broadside to promote his suppressed book. Printed in three columns, Tyson urges re-entry into the Union, "provided we can get our rights, as the surest and best mode of putting a stop to this cruel war." The best course of action, according to Tyson, was to "get an Armistice of some two or three months, and if possible depose Lincoln, and let an election for a new President take place." In addition to Lincoln's removal, the abolition sentiment must be "expunged from the Northern people…But in case they are for abolishing slavery; I think it perfectly inconsistent that they should desire a farther Union." He argues that should the South "drive the enemy completely from our shores; we then reach the Blockade," and that is something they have not been able to effectively break in seventeen months. "I therefore think we had best take the bull by the horns at once, and advocate the Union upon just and honorable terms while there is…some hope of getting our rights." But another matter has come up: "Since writing the above Lincoln has issued his proclamation emancipating the slaves of all States that shall be in rebellion against the United States on the first day of January, 1863. This makes the prospect for Union more gloomy than ever…But I still think it was an act resorted to more for the purpose of putting down the rebellion, than as a special benefit to the African race. Therefore, if we will strike for compromise upon terms already mentioned, I think this thing can be knocked up, and the Union yet saved upon just and honorable terms." In very good to fine condition, with staining to the margins, and professional repairs and reinforcements on the reverse.
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