The Price of Silence
About a week before the phrase "James Sett is a man of his word" was plastered all over Boston, the correspondents of the Boston Advertiser returned. The moment they arrived, the attention of everyone who had been following the incident was instantly riveted.
Just how vivid were the eyewitness accounts they had managed to salvage from that land of demons? What kind of spoils of war had these "heroes" brought back after boldly throwing down the gauntlet to James Sett?
If the Boston Advertiser published a special feature, the criticism currently directed at Boston would vanish in an instant. Everyone waited with bated breath for the next special edition.
Yet, the editorial board of the Boston Advertiser had debated all night about how to handle this situation, and still, they had reached no conclusion.
"...We have to keep the promise we made to Sett. He said he would sue us for illegal trespassing on private property if we didn't."
"Wouldn't it be better to just get sued and not publish the phrase?"
"If a lawsuit is filed, the court might order us to keep our promise. Then we would be humiliated twice over."
At the young reporter's realistic point, the air in the conference room grew even heavier. Whether they drank from one of the two poisoned chalices placed before them, the result—death—would be the same.
Editor-in-Chief Harris rubbed his temples and asked, "Let's say we publish the phrase. Then... what do we do about this special feature we risked our lives to report on?"
No one could readily answer his question. In everyone's mind flashed the scene Thompson had tried to sketch in secret before it was torn to shreds, and the "terrible things" Will had vomited out in a scream.
One reporter opened his mouth, looking nearly on the verge of tears.
"How... how can we write that as an article? Are you telling us to write with our own hands that 'Slaves in the South are happier than free laborers in the North'? The day that article goes out, our newspaper will be branded as a 'pro-Southern press' bought off by Southern money, and even if angry citizens swarm here and burn this building down, we won't even be able to plead our innocence."
"Before that, the citizens of Boston won't even believe we wrote the truth. They'll be convinced that James Sett bribed us all with a massive sum."
Even though it seemed like they had several options at a glance, in the end, there was almost nothing they could do.
"Isn't there only one way, then? We publish only the promised phrase in a small corner on the front page and pretend the special feature never existed. Then..."
"Then we're finished, Editor-in-Chief!"
This time, the veteran reporter Thompson stepped forward. On his face was a mixture of confusion and defeat regarding the surreal spectacle he had witnessed.
"People will think we surrendered to Sett. 'The heroes of Boston went to the den of evil, got scared of something, tucked their tails, and came back. Sett must be holding something so powerful that they couldn't even bring themselves to publish an article.' Suspicions will pile up one after another, and our credibility will hit rock bottom."
"Then are you suggesting we write an article about what you saw?"
Naturally, that didn't make sense either. Thompson shook his head and let out a hollow laugh.
"Of course, even if I wrote an article about what I saw, I'd be treated like a madman. 'White overseers and Black slaves arm-in-arm, enjoying baseball'... who would believe that? I'd be lucky if I didn't get mocked for having eaten hallucinogenic mushrooms from the South."
Another reporter cautiously added a word.
"Will's letter is even more serious. The moment a letter saying 'A repatriated slave finds Natchez better than Boston' is printed, Northern society will fall into massive chaos. And all the arrows of blame will be pointed at us, at Boston."
He pointed to the dark street outside the window and said bitterly, "Do you know what newspapers in New York or Philadelphia are calling our Boston right now? The 'City of 50 Cents.' They are mocking us as a city of hypocrites who exploited a Black man who came seeking freedom for 50 cents and then sent him back to the South! If Will's letter is made public, we will never be able to shed this infamy. We will be condemned as the culprits who caused this whole situation. We have no choice but to bury it. Everything."
In the end, everyone agreed. There was no other way.
They had gone to denounce injustice, but they had encountered a truth they could not bear, and they had been crushed by the weight of that truth.
Finally, Editor-in-Chief Harris opened his mouth heavily, his face having aged ten years in just a few days.
"...I understand. As promised to James Sett, we will publish the phrase on the front page of the newspaper."
He paused for a moment. Like a judge delivering a death sentence.
"And... all the manuscripts and sketches reported from Mississippi... will be destroyed entirely. Consider this special feature as never having happened."
"What should we do about Will's letter?"
"...The full text of the letter is absolutely out of the question. Only the final greeting... publish it very small, in a corner. Only the phrase, 'May God bless all those who have worried for me.' Make it look like a final farewell he is sending to us."
That was the best, and the worst, choice they could make.
A week later, the Sunday edition of the Boston Advertiser, which had been the subject of anticipation across North America, was published.
People scrambled to unfold the newspaper, expecting a shocking article denouncing the horrors of the South.
But what they encountered was an empty page and a single sentence awkwardly placed at the bottom of the front page.
[James Sett has faithfully kept all his promises to this newspaper. He is by no means a man who says one thing and does another.]
In the special feature on the South that they had prepared so ambitiously, this was the only sentence the readers could salvage.
"What the hell is this!"
"Has the Boston Advertiser finally gone crazy?"
"These bastards acted like they had something huge to say, and this is all it is?"
[The special feature originally scheduled for publication has been postponed due to circumstances at this newspaper.]
When asked until when this "next time" would be, there was, naturally, no answer.
There wasn't a single line of the article they had waited so long for, and all that was printed was a phrase saying Sett kept his promise, so he was not at fault.
Doesn't it lead to a very obvious conclusion without having to rack your brain about what this means?
"Did these bastards get bought off by Sett?"
"If they were bought off, that would be a relief. They might have gone down there, gotten absolutely wrecked in a logic battle, and run away."
"Damn, it really is the City of 50 Cents. Come to think of it, a Southern slave might live better than a city laborer who gets 50 cents a day."
A massive storm of criticism poured in from Boston and neighboring cities, and the staff of the Boston Advertiser were reduced to a state where they could barely show their faces in the city.
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have become this big of a deal. It was common for newspapers to prepare special features and then scrap them.
But this time, it overlapped with the runaway slave incident that had set the entire United States ablaze following the Anthony Burns case, and Boston's largest media outlet had declared its intention to dig into that slave owner. Yet, instead of digging, they had tucked their tails and hung their heads like a dog that had lost a fight, so it was inevitable that they would attract aggression.
It was impossible for politicians not to bite on such a widely discussed piece of bait.
In the end, this Boston Advertiser surrender incident drew the attention not only of general intellectuals but even of Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
"...James Sett? Wasn't he involved in that baseball commotion last time?"
"It's a name that keeps popping up lately. It's not that he's blatantly annoying, but should I say it's just uncomfortable?"
"Isn't he known as a notorious villain in Natchez? Then isn't he a piece of scum who can never be reconciled with our party?"
"To say that, he is supplying hospitals well in the North, and above all, he is a great man who released oral rehydration solution for free. It is said that its excellent effect is being proven one after another in cities where cholera has broken out."
In fact, although it is said that James Sett ruthlessly squeezes Black people in the South, there was no one among the Republican lawmakers who had actually seen that scene. However, on the contrary, countless patients were receiving help every day in the hospital James Sett had built, and not only ordinary people but even Republican politicians were receiving a lot of help from the oral rehydration solution he had released.
Lawmakers whose own districts had outbreaks of cholera were openly praising James Sett until their mouths went dry.
"Common sense dictates that not all Southern planters are human trash. Sett is certainly exemplary enough."
"...To say that, Boston has become a laughingstock because of him right now."
Originally, Boston was one of the most representative anti-slavery cities. This was because Senator Charles Sumner, who had been beaten for criticizing slavery more fiercely than anyone else, was one of the politicians representing Boston.
But now, the modifier "City of 50 Cents" follows Boston first.
Lincoln, who had been listening to the story quietly, cautiously raised his hand.
"But isn't that not really Sett's fault?"
"Lincoln, are you defending Sett too? Did one of your relatives catch cholera and get better?"
"I have also had conversations with James Sett. I will neither agree nor disagree with the statement that he is a 'good slave owner,' but I am certain of the fact that he is not hostile to the North or the Republican Party."
"What is the basis for that?"
"First of all, even looking at the baseball incident from before, Sett did not provoke this side first. The side that suggested playing baseball. The side that declared a unilateral victory. The side that used the media to blow the incident out of proportion was all Mr. Opdyke of New York."
Republican figures who retraced their memories nodded, saying that was true. Sett hadn't even shown the tolerance of ending the game early so the North wouldn't be embarrassed, or that he had used rules favorable to himself.
"There is also the hospital matter that many people mentioned, and in this trial, all Sett did was return Will according to the court's ruling. Unless Sett bribed Boston's employers to pay Will only 50 cents a day."
It looks too pathetic to be crushed by a disaster you brought upon yourself and then shift the blame, saying, "Ah, I'm ruined because of James Sett."
At Lincoln's cold analysis, other lawmakers nodded one by one.
"Certainly, it's too early to draw a conclusion, so let's wait and see a little more."
"Still, it doesn't change the fact that James Sett is a person of interest. I don't think it's a bad idea to investigate thoroughly and grasp how big of a threat he can be to us."
"Then let's compromise and decide to stop at the line of investigating thoroughly without touching him right away."
Since there's no benefit in poking a hornet's nest for no reason, let's decide to stop at the line of finding out how many hornets are inside and how deadly a poison they carry.
Although they couldn't be certain of James's tendencies, the Republican Party was now clearly convinced of one fact.
The piece named James Sett is clearly on the giant chessboard called the United States of America. Whether this will be a Knight, a Bishop, or just a piece used like a Pawn and then finished, they couldn't know, but it was a piece that could jump anywhere.
At least, for now.
* * *
1858. The media invasion of the Boston Advertiser ended in a grand self-destruction, but the damage from the panic showed no signs of improving.
What was the measure taken by the Buchanan administration in the midst of this desperate crisis?
It was exactly this.
"The economy of the United States is solid and is recovering every moment. Everyone can rest assured and engage in their livelihoods!"
"The visit of the British Secretary of State is just to attend a regularly held meeting as always! The claim that the aftermath of the panic is too horrific is all a lie by the Republican Party!"
What else could it be? It's exactly reality denial.
Still, for a person who is the president of a country to have this little sense of reality.
Since he kept making such magnificent missteps, I even seriously suspected whether Buchanan might be a spy for the Republican Party.
If not that, how could he make such breathtaking missteps?
The only way to eliminate slavery in this world. That is for a Democratic president to show the worst performance in history, making people support the Republican Party.
Since there is a record that Buchanan personally didn't like slavery that much, could this be the hidden truth of history?
"...I made this inference, what do you think?"
"To say it's a nonsensical delusion, Buchanan's recent moves are indeed ruinous. Wouldn't the Republican Party win the House election this year 100 times out of 100?"
Of course, even if the Republican Party wins, a landslide victory that occupies more than 70% of the seats will not happen. However, I don't think there's anyone who doesn't know how serious a signal it is that the ruling party, which has 40 more seats than the opposition, is pushed to the second party in the first general election held after the presidential election.
"But such a period is an opportunity for those with sufficient cash to acquire decent companies cheaply. Rockefeller, did you acquire all the companies you had your eye on smoothly?"
"Yes. I acquired companies that will find their place once the panic ends, and bought stocks of blue-chip companies at bargain prices."
"Good. And while acquiring companies is good, as the economy is difficult, there will be talented people who are establishing their own standing in companies who are wavering. I would like it if you also worked on recruiting them."
Rockefeller is the same, but in the mid-to-late 19th century, talented people with the ability to copy money are alive and breathing everywhere in America. Furthermore, since I am also gaining fame in my own way through this incident, wouldn't I be able to instill trust in them more easily?
Mr. Buchanan, the precious opportunity you created by burning your whole body. I will never let it go to waste.