Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-06-24

ISSpcCt your ODGulclll servant,
JOHN NJ. WIGHTMAN, Mayor.
His EXcellency ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Presi-
dent of the United States, Washington.
Rev. MIR. Tenney's Letter.
To HIS Ercelcency AJraham Lincoln, Presi-
dent of the United States -
MARLBORO, Mass, June %, 1862
Sir: Il am induced to write you this from
sense of duty, for the purpose of repudiating
in the most emphatic manner the idea" that
Joseph NJ. Wightman, mayor of Boston, sis
authorized to speak for the loyal citizens of
this state
"There may possibly he small sections" in
some of the cities of the commonwealth, there
probably is in Boston a rather large section,
soon to be forgotten, of whom this Mr. Wight
man may be the Ito be still more speedily for
| gotten) oracle. But II assure your excel
lency' that he and such as he do not under
stand the spirit of Massachusetts, and have
no right to speak of her intentions. There
are sections" happily growing more and
| more insignificant, part mob, part money, that
tried, soon after your election to the presiden-
cy, to suppress free speech in this state. and
of their views, there is abundant reason to
think, this official has thorough and intimate
knowledge. There is ''section," unhappily
not ''small, in our metropolis, who have so
little regard for our state ''consttution, as it
is, and the enforcement of the laws" omen
| whose ''higher law" scorning all constitu-
TONS is the CLOVER law"), as openly and de-
family to pursue an iniquitous and criminal
traffic. To this section Mr.. Wightman was
| largely indebted for his election and re-elec-
ton as mayor of Boston. Let him speak for
| them, but not for glorious old Massachusetts.
1t is my privilege, sir, to live in the very
| heart of the commonwealth, in community
instinct with the overlooking life of that free
| labor whose right and whose might this great
contest is to vindicate and settle,-farmers,
who patiently and persevcringly till the soil,
and mechanics, who make the crowded work
| shops resound with the din of their sef-reli-
| ant, unf1agging industry. l am surrounded
by families, who have given up, ungrudging-
ly, husbands, sons, brothers, to swell the hun
dreds who from this rural district rallied at
their country's call. Ny present and my past
experience enable me, l think, to appreciate
the feeling Of the old Bay State, as well as
those, who for years have trodden the pave
ments Of the city. So far as influence is con-
cerned, it is no more preposterous in me to
criticise Joseph w. Wightman, than it is for
| Joseph M. Wightman to criticse John A.
Andrew-sO ludicrously insignificant is this
mayors influence beyond the beats of his own
policemen. And | tell you, sir, that those
VINO speak through him, no more represent
the sentiment Of Massachusetts, this day, than
the tory addresses of Thomas Hutchinson
represented it in the days which ushered in
the Revolution; that they neither make our
history Except it be part of its least credi-
table part,) nor do they comprehend it. since
like the old Bourbons, they politically 'slearn
nothing and forget nothing" Idolaters of
gold, their past subserviency to that southern
slayeholding arrogance, which, grown holder
and holder by the servility of such as they,
and counting on their cooperation, plunged
this country into civil war, is as ready as ever
to repeat itself, should the future permit.
But Massachusetts, q am now saying only
what every body here knows has banished
them from her councils and hidden them an
eternal farewell. Her citizens generally" TO
quote Mr.. W. "have no sympathy" with
them.
Coy. Andrew was probably premature, but
most certainly he was only premature, in his
| reply to the requsition of the government for
more recruits. This state (do not doubt it)
will not long CONTINUE to protect slavery in a
war, which slavery (misled by its confidence
IN the power of its 'natural allies" in the
north) voluntarily and inexcusably began.
John Browns course may have been wrong,
but John Brown himself was right" wrote
John A. Andrew to a John Brown commem-
oratlye meeting and as this sentence ex-
pressed precisely the feeling of our state, she
elected the man who wrote it her governor.
In estimating her position, will you believe,
sir, a city mayor, who saved his reelection
by diminished and by no means commanding
majority, or her arge-hearted, adopted son,
whom she rechose chief-magistrate by a two
thirds vote.
Be assured, sir, how muchsoever we here
in Massachusetts may wish that some meas
ures could have been different, we believe
that president Lincoln 'hiaaself is right" We
confde in your integrity, patriotism, and wis
dom. Free labor trusts her representatives in
the presidential chair. The "mudsills" will
not believe that he can or would betray.
"Confide in the loyalty and devotion" of our
state. She evil as cheerfully respond in the
future as in the past" true to her avowed and