Charles Sumner to Lord Morpeth, January 8, 1850

The slavery question has become paramount here at last. The slave States threaten to dissolve the Union if slavery is prohibited by Congress in the new Territories or abolished in the District of Columbia. I trust that Congress will do its duty, regardless of threats. What the result may be it is impossible to determine. The Canadian question promises to help antislavery. The annexation of that colony to the United States would 'redress the balance' which has been turned in favor of slavery by the annexation of Texas. I do not observe, however, any disposition at present to interfere in the question between that colony and the imperial government. I am anxious that it should be left to the parties without any intervention. I shall enclose this in a note to a friend now in London,—Mr. Burlingame.¹ Though young in years, he has won a brilliant reputation as a public speaker.

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¹ Anson Burlingame.

SOURCE: Edward L. Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 211-2