Good-by now, dear mother. Do not be anxious. I should not have told
you this now--fearing you might be troubled--but I was afraid you
might see the removal in the papers, or hear of it; and I thought it
best to let you know just how it is with us, so that you might not
have a shock. Your most affectionate child,
SOPHIA.
MY DEAR FATHER,--Here is a pretty business, discovered in an
unexpected manner to Mr. Hawthorne by a friendly and honorable Whig.
Perhaps you know that the President said before he took the chair that
he should make no removals, except for dishonesty and unfaithfulness.
So that all who voted for him after that declaration pledged
themselves to the same course. You know also doubtless that there has
never been such a succession of removals of honorable and honest men
since we were a nation as since the accession of President
Taylor,--not even under Jackson,--who, however, always removed people
because they were Whigs, without any covert implication of character.
This has been Democratic conduct--to remove for political reasons.
This conduct the Whigs always disapproved, and always said that no one
ought to be removed but from disability or dishonesty. So that now
when any one is removed, it is implied that the person is either a
shiftless or a dishonest man. It is very plain that neither of these
charges could be brought against Mr. Hawthorne. Therefore a most base
and incredible falsehood has been told--written down and signed and
sent to the Cabinet in secret.
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