The peculiar nature of your inquiry, and the friendship which
prompts it, do not allow me to decline an answer.
You know well that I do not seek or desire any political office,
that I am not voluntarily in my present position as candidate, and
that, prescribing to myself the rule of _non-intervention_, I have
constantly declined doing anything to promote my election, and have
refused pledges or explanations with regard to my future course,
beyond what are implied in my past life, my published speeches, and
my character.
To these I now refer. They will give a sufficient refutation to the
charge that I am a _Disunionist_. No honest person, acquainted with
them, can make this charge.
Besides, I am closely identified, as you also are, with the
well-known principles of the Free-Soil party. These, while
declaring the duty of opposing Slavery and its influence, wherever
they exist under the National Government, always recognize that
other duty of loyalty to the Union and the Constitution. We propose
to wait and work patiently under and through the Constitution,
that our purposes may be peaceably accomplished in the spirit of
that instrument and of our fathers. We are Constitutionalists and
Unionists. In this class I have always been and still am.
That I may place this matter beyond question, I beg leave to repeat
and reaffirm what I said on a former occasion: "We reverence the
Constitution of the United States, and seek to guard it against
infractions, believing that under the Constitution Freedom can be
best preserved. We reverence the Union of the States, _believing
that the peace, happiness, and welfare of all depend upon this
blessed bond_."
Faithfully yours,