Washington, Dec. 14, 1860.
My Dear Sir,—It may seem presumptuous in me, an humble subordinate, to address you on great matters of state, but my apology, if any is necessary, must be that I am an American citizen, with all that ardent love for my country and its government which should ever animate the true patriot, and especially in times of danger like the present.
I am amazed that some decided action is not taken by the Government to cut itself entirely loose from disunion and disunionists. Look at the Constitution newspaper of to-day—and, indeed, I may say, of every issue since the Presidential election. Its whole bearing is for disunion; and, say what you will, the Government is held, and will be held, in a great degree responsible for it. It was the organ to which the message was confidentially intrusted, and its columns are daily filled with advertisements which it receives and can receive only by favor of the President, for its circulation would not secure them to it by law.
I saw, as every person of observation must have seen, the very day after the election, that its influence was directed toward secession, and I felt myself compelled immediately to call the attention of the President to it, as I did in a letter, a copy of which I herewith inclose for your perusal.
I know how the President is pressed by the secessionists, and I sympathize fully in all reasonable measures to be taken within the Union to secure the rights of the South, and consign to infamy the leaders of black republicanism at the North; but, as his devoted friend and the friend of every member of his Cabinet, I cannot restrain myself from the expression of the deepest astonishment and mortification that the Government should for one moment allow itself to occupy such a position as to afford even its enemies a pretext to charge it with giving the slightest countenance, either directly or indirectly, to secession or secessionists.
Is it not possible to relieve the administration from the infamy which must attach to it for all time, so far as it is made responsible for the course of the Constitution, and for keeping men in responsible positions who are known and avowed disunionists? For God’s sake, let us see the Government placed squarely and unequivocally on the side of the Union!
With great respect,
Very sincerely your friend,
Horatio King.
Hon. J. S. Black, Attorney-General U. S.