Our movement here is
part of the great liberal movement of Europe; and as “law and order” are the
words by which reaction has rallied in Europe, so these very words, or perhaps
the “Constitution and Union,” are the cry here. The Fugitive Slave bill has
aroused the North; people are shocked by its provisions. Under the discussion
which it has called forth, the antislavery sentiment has taken a new start. You
have seen that in Massachusetts the Whigs are prostrate; I doubt if they are
not beyond any resurrection.1 They are in a minority from which they
cannot recover. In the Senate the opposition will have ten or twelve majority,
in the House fifty majority. It is understood that Boutwell will be chosen
governor, and a Free Soil senator in the place of Daniel Webster.
_______________
1 They regained power in the State in 1852, by
the interposition of President Pierce's Administration, which prevented the
Democrats from co-operating further with the Free Soilers, but were again
finally defeated in 1854.
SOURCES: Edward L.
Pierce, Memoir and Letters of Charles Sumner, Vol. 3, p. 230
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