Boston Herald, May 17, 1861

The record of Southern chivalry might now be closed. The Southern madmen cannot outdo their last recorded act. In the person of a representative mercenary scoundrel and thief who bears and defiles the name of Washington, they have, if we may trust the telegraph, entered the sacred precincts of Mt. Vernon and stolen the ashes of the Father of his Country! The instrument of this deed of unspeakable desecration was a perfectly fit one. Although bearing the name of Washington, we rejoice that none of the blood of that immortal patriot courses in his veins. He is only to be tolerated as an illustration of how extremes may meet in one name. While WASHINGTON stands before the world as the incarnation of all that is admirable in manhood, the living representative of his name will go down to posterity as the embodiment of all that is execrable in a human soul. Holding possession of the home of Washington until his niggardly neglect of it inspired the women of America to redeem it and hold it as the property of the nation, he scarcely yields his dishonored proprietorship before he steals back upon the premises, enters the solemn tomb of Washington, and removes those cherished relics which have made Mt. Vernon the Mecca of the civilized world!

It is said the contemptible scoundrel had reserved a proprietary title to the tomb; but it was clearly the understanding of the American people who paid for Mount Vernon, that the remains of Washington should never be removed from there. It was implied in the nature and spirit of the contract; but that was nothing to John A. Washington, who, doubtless, now proposes to enter into further negotiations with speculators in relics. If the report is true, and it is too characteristic to be improbable, a duty devolves upon the American people scarcely less noble and inspiring than the redemption of the Holy Sepulchre from the hands of the Infidel. To restore these sacred relics to their natural depository and custody should be the firm and unflagging purpose of every American heart.