Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-03-31
Letter from Judge Loring.
SALEM. Mass. ] Feb. %. ]


DEAR SIR In yours Of the 9th instant, you
remark !" Strange, strange times these, when
such heresy comes from Massachusetts, MS is
promulgated in the Knownothing address of
Governor Gardner. The times are, indeed,
strange; and considering the position Of Mas.
sachusetts, as State aboundng in wealth and
intelligence, 1t is a matter Of interest 10 every
patriot to inquire in what way she has reached
her present anomalous political condition.
More particularly is it matter of interest to
every Virginiau, whose political lessons have
taught him that his own State and Massachusetts
have always occupied the opposite poles Of the
political universe, and who is now invited to
follow the lead Of his long-est established and ma.
tural political opponent. Let him look well TO
the political history of Massachusetts, before
he follows her example. Let him remember,
that in the earliest days Of our Republic the
principles which received the support of JEFF.
ferson and Madison, met here with their bit.
terest opposition. Let hiB-remember, that the
peculiar doctrines, whose establishment in the
Constitution has given tone to our whole
Union, started forth from Virginia, and were
received with bitter hostility on the very boun-
daries of Massachusetts. And rs he SURVEYS
the political condition Of this latter State, let
him shrink back in horror and disgust at lend
ing his hand to plunge the Old Dominion into
that slower deep" which now furnishes room
and verge enough for every species Of Mas
sachusetts fanaticism, and arrays her against
the safety and prosperity Of our Union.
II cannot be that Virginia and Massachu.
sets are destined to travel together the road of
Know nottingham Here the way has been
prepared. BY slow and persistent labor the
popular mind of Massachusetts has been cult
waited for just the political paradox which now
startles the prudent and patriotic portions Of
the community. In no State in the Union
have there been such pertinacious resistance
to the prevailing sentiment Of the times-such
determined devotion to selfish interests-such
disregard of the rights and wants Of other sec
tons Of the Union--such bigoted political
faith, and such short-sighted political endeavor
as have marked the course Of the dominant
party here for years. Massachusetts, federal.
ism, however honorable il may have been in
its origin, has at last brought forth that very
fruit which its early rejection of the true inten.
ton of our government promised. Devoted in
its youth to measures of such doubtful utility
that the nation speedily repudiated them, if
passed on into a manhood which has left not
one brilliant republican act to adorn its history
and it has now found its calumniation in tho
political thoughts and deeds, which
make Massachusetts, politics reproach in tho
Union. This is no fiction OF the imagination.
Her devotion to the alien and sedition laws
Of John Adams her opposition TO the large
pure, liberal democracy of Jefferson her deca-
ration in the Missouri debate in 1920, through
her senator, Mr.. Otis, that the States were sub