Worcester daily spy., 1851-03-27

ted by that rash and foolish proclamation
Not all the lofty patriotism ana ardent love of
justice so solemnly assumed by that imperial
state paper, has been sufficient to save i; from
deserved ridicule and contempt. Mr.. Web
ster, feeling the reaction, is careful to inform
the municipal authorities of Boston, that the
Presldent from his early aud intimate ac-
quaintance with the history of Massachusetts
10 general, and Boston in particular, was re-
luctant TO credit the rumor respecting that re-
bellious city. According to the Secretary's
last account of the matter, Mr. fillmore was
hardly less" astonished and astounded," than
MIR. Clay himself at such reports Of tie revi-
val IN Boston of its ancient love of liberty and
its higher respect for the essential rights than
for the mere laws ofman. very wonderful
inference indeed, from such knowledge, so
early and so intimate, of the history of Boston
and of Massachusetts! Who could have sus-
pected that the children of those fathers who,
for lherty's sake, invaded the East India Com
paEy's tea chest under the flag of England,
would dare or desire TO rescue a fellow free
man from the open jaws of slavery! How in
credible at Washington, that such a passion
as the love of freedom can possibly inger
near the Cradle of Liberty and in sight of Bun.
ker Hill!
But the Secretary. moreover tells Mayor
Bigelow and the citizens Of Boston, that
whereas it was difficult for the President to
credit The accounts which were received, of the
outrage of all law, perpetrated in Boston on
the 18th. of February last !" Therefore it was
10Th the greatest relief lhst he received such
explanations Of this strange occurrence, as show
ed it 10 have been an entire surprise upon the
citizens and upon the aulhorties-an act OF
successful temerity on the part Of a very in
number of persons" Does not
the foregoing statement Of the secretary con
Iradict itself? Are not lis parts thoroughly
hostile to each other? Do not all the cir
cumstances show that the Presidents belief,
instead of being so difficult, or instead of be.
ing difficult at all, was matter of the utmost
promptness and facility-the very belief
which his early and intimate knowledge of
the history of Boston and Massachusetts natur-
ally and irresistibly wrought upon him at
once. 1t was this very history, now represen-
ted by Mr.. Webster as the prime cause of the
Presidents incredulity, which so quickly and
so completely fastened on his mind the con-
viction that the broadest rumor was only the
truest and the most authoritative. 1t was this
ease and readiness to credit such accounts"
that produced the ecstacy of reIis" consequent
on their contradiction.
Mr.. Webster, in the most rhetorical paragraph
of his whining, coaxing letter 10 the Mayor, sets
forth the substance of those incredible rumors,
rumors so difficult for the President to believe,
that in only three days after the rescue at
Boston the Presidents proclamation about
the affair was signed by Mlard Fillmore and
Daniel Webster, and sent on the wings Of
| lightning to every quarter of the land.-
Does such hot haste TO proclaim he Presidents
belief all abroad, look like the caution of in
creduity ?-the crcumspecion and the dila.
tory movements of unbelicf, founded on the
earliest, deepest and most lasting impressions
of a peoples character stamped on the mind
by the force of the most vivid portion of the
most vivid history that can fix the attention of
an American mind
Let the Secretary take care ofhis principles;
for then, and then only, will his principles
take care Of him.
|
HORACE MANN's SPEEcH.-Measures should
be taken Immediately, to place this speech in every
family in the State lis discussion of the Fugitive