LETTER TO THE WIDE-AWAKES OF BOSTON, AT THEIR FESTIVAL, AFTER ELECTION,
NOVEMBER 9, 1860.
The defeat of Mr. Burlingame, as a Representative of Boston,
which was keenly felt by Republicans, and especially by Mr.
Sumner, opened the way to his wider career as Minister of the
United States to China, and then as Minister of the Chinese
Empire to the Western Powers. The vote stood 8,014 for Hon.
William Appleton, and 7,757 for Mr. Burlingame.
BOSTON, November 9, 1860.
DEAR SIR,--An engagement out of the State will prevent me from
uniting with the gallant Wide-Awakes this evening in their
festival at Music Hall. But my heart will be with them in their
joy and in their sorrow.
They will naturally rejoice in that great victory by which the
American people have solemnly declared that _Slavery is sectional
and Freedom is national_, so that, wherever Slavery exists, if
it exist at all, it must be by virtue of local law, and not by
virtue of the National Constitution.
But even this victory, opening a new epoch in our national
history, cannot make us forget the backsliders of Boston, through
whose desertion of principles the delegation in Congress,
pledged to Freedom, has been weakened, and a blow struck at
an eminent Representative which has fallen upon the hearts of
Republicans everywhere throughout the country. To the honor of
Mr. Burlingame, all good Republicans feel wounded through him;
and it is also to his honor that he was made the mark of special
assault.
All experience shows that the partisans of Slavery stick at
nothing, where the imagined interests of Slavery are in question.
The essential brutality of Slavery showed itself lately in New
York, when Marshal Rynders personally assaulted a venerable
citizen who appeared at his office on public business, cursing
him with most blasphemous oaths; and it showed itself here in
Boston, when the supporters of Mr. Appleton for weeks traduced
the Republican candidate, uttering calumnies which were as
basely false with regard to him as if they had been uttered
in detraction of Mr. Appleton. Such conduct must make us hate
Slavery more, and add to our mortification that it prevailed
among us.
It belongs to the Republican party, at last triumphant in the
nation, inflexibly to sustain its principles, and also to sustain
the men who are true to these principles. In this duty I doubt
not it will be guided by that temperate judgment which is in
harmony with the consciousness of right.
God bless the Wide-Awakes! And believe me, dear Sir,
Faithfully yours,