HANCOCK STREET,
Monday Evening, November 24, 1856.
DEAR SIR,--I am sorry to renounce any opportunity of doing honor
to Mr. Burlingame; but my careful physician does not allow me yet
to take part in the excitement of a public meeting, and I yield
to his prescription.
My best wishes attend your distinguished guest to-night and
always. His recent triumph is the occasion of special joy, not
only in Massachusetts, but everywhere throughout the free North.
Many who voted against him must, in their better moments, condemn
themselves,--as much as they have been condemned by others. If
not entirely dead to generous impulses, they must be glad that
they failed. If not entirely insensible to appearances, they
must look with regret at the means employed to accomplish the
end proposed. If not entirely indifferent to principles, they
must look with amazement at the unprecedented, incongruous, and
eccentric political conglomerate of which they constituted a part.
It was natural that the propagandists of Slavery, acting under
dictation from Washington, should vote against Mr. Burlingame. It
was natural that others, who allow themselves to be controlled
by the rancors and jealousies of party, should do likewise.
But it was hard that this blow at Freedom should be attempted
in the name of Trade, and that merchants of Boston should
be rallied against a candidate who had done so much to make
Boston respectable. And yet this extraordinary conduct is not
without parallel in history. The earliest antislavery effort of
England was against the Barbary corsairs, and this, it is well
known, was opposed by “the mercantile interest.” And this same
“mercantile interest,” as you also know, set itself against the
great antislavery enterprise of Clarkson and Wilberforce, when
they demanded the suppression of the slave-trade. Such examples
teach us not to be disappointed, when this interest is invoked
against our efforts. But I rejoice to know that in Boston there
are honorable exceptions, and, if anything be expected from me
to-night, let it be a tribute to one of these. I propose the
following toast.
_The Merchants of Boston._--May they all appreciate the
spirit of him among their number, who, when pressed to vote
against Mr. Burlingame on mercantile grounds, nobly replied
at once, “I am a merchant, but at the polls I mean to be a
patriot.”
Accept my thanks for the honor of your invitation, and believe
me, dear Sir,
Faithfully yours,