MY DEAR SIR—The
Union of yesterday, which I received this morning, contains a letter addressed
to yourself and me, dated as of the 15th ult. It is signed "John
Hampden," a name over which I have heretofore seen several good articles,
but by whom it is employed I can form no conjecture.
I am quite sure that
as the actual and admirable senator of a great commonwealth, you have already
fronted the crisis as became you, and that you will retain the ground you have
occupied. But I am at a loss to conceive in what manner it is supposed possible
for the late Vice-President usefully to emerge from his privacy, affect to
advise Congress, or officiously intermeddle with business already in deputed
and able hands. Would not such intervention expose me to plausible and
unpleasant imputations, and so affect injuriously the very cause I should
desire to aid?
Certainly I have
nothing to conceal. Content with the measure of domestic happiness which God
permits me to possess, and quite willing to work to the last at the law, I do
not care to hide my opinions on public questions. They were frequently uttered
in the hearing of thousands while position as a national executive agent made
it excusable, if not becoming to do so. The extraordinary circumstances of the
times have slightly modified these opinions, and the irrepressible bias of my
head and heart, toward preserving the Federal Union, as moulded and embodied
(if that word be admissible) by the Constitution, carries me further just now,
than mere logic carried me heretofore. But I must confess to you that however
much I may naturally fondle my own views and sentiments, I shrink from openly
claiming to divert attention from the really wise and virtuous men in the
capital, toward a mere Q in the corner.
I have written this
under a strong impulse of curiosity to know whether the letter in the Union is
but an ordinary flight of anonymous vivacity, or is designed as a serious and
sober hint to us from any quarter. Pray let me have your idea: and excuse this
hasty intrusion on your time.
I am always, very
sincerely and respectfully, your friend and servant,
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