Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1856-08-19

treacherous party? Let that doubt be dssi-
pated by this ooet act which has no,o been
committed BY a party who have presented you
with leaders who are pledged to fill to the
Erim the cup Of their country's dishonor aud
overthrow Let us all lay it to heart, and
draw, if possible, from the evil that is upon us,
some corresponding good, if it only be our
firm and united resolves to resist at every haz-
ard, and to the last extremity the farther en-
encroachments of these revilers Of the CoDsii-
tuition and merciless enemies of the Union.
From the Boston Courier Of Thursday.
Hon. Rufus Choate ON the Presidential
Question.
The Wings of Maine held grand mass
meeting in the town of Wateryle yesterday
Hon. Rufus Choate was invited to be present,
but being unable to attend, he sent letter, in
which he defined his own position on the Presi.
dental question, and avowed his intention to
vote for Mr.. Buchanan. We give it below:
BosToN, Saturday, Aug. 8, 1856.
GENTLEMEN: Upon my return last evening,
after short absence from the city, found
your letter of the Both ult, inviting me to take
part in the proceedings OF the Wings of Maine,
assembled in mass meeting
appreciate most highly the honor and kind
ness OF this invitation, and should have had
true pleasure in accepting it. The Wings Of
Maine composed at all times so important a
division OF the great national party, which,
under that name, with or without official power,
as responsible administration or as only an
organized opinion, has done so much for our
country--our whole country, and your respon-
slbilites at this moment are SO vast and pecu-
liar, that | acknowledge an anxiety to see
not wait to hear-with what noble bearing you
meet the demands of the time. If the tried
legions, to whom it is committed to guard the
frontier of the Union, ialer now, Who any
where, can be trusted?
My engagements, however, and the necessity
or expediency of abstainng from all speech re-
curing much effort, will prevent my being
with you. And yet, invited to share in your
counsels. and grateful for such distinction, /
cannot wholly decline my own opinions on one
OF the duties of the Wings in what you well de-
scribe as "the present crisis in the political
affairs OF the country | cannot now, and
need not, pause to elaborate or defend them
What think, and what have decided to do,
permit me in the briefest and plainest express
sion to tell you.
The first duty, then, of Wings, not merely as
patriots and as ctizens-loving, with large
and equal love our whole native land-but as
Wings and because we are Wings, is to unite
with some organization of our countrymen, to
defeat and dissolve the new geographical party,
calling itself Republican. This is our first
duty. 1t would more exactly express my
opinion to say, that at this moment, it is our
only duty. Certainly, at least, it compartments
or suspends all others and in my judgment,
the question for each and every one oil us is,
not whether this candidate or that candidate
would be our first choices not whether there is
some good talk in the worst platform, and
some bad talk in the best platform; not whether
thus mans ambition, or that mans servity, or
boldness, or fanaticism, or violence, is respon-
sible for putting the wild waters in this uproar,
but just this: by what vote can / do most to
prevent the madness of the times from working
ITS maddest act-the very ecstacy Of its mad
ness-the permanent formation and the actual
present triumph of q party which knows one
half of America only to hate and dread it,
from whose unconsecrated and revolutionary
banner fifteen stars are erased or have fallen
IN whose national anthem the old and endear-
ed airs of the Eutaw Springs, and the King
Mountain, and Yorktown, and those later OF
New Orleans, and Buena Vista, and Chepul-
tepec, breathe no more. To this duty to this
question, all other seem to me to stand for the |
present postponed and secondary.
And why? Because, according to our
creed, it is only the united America, which can
peacefully, gradually, safely, improve, lift up
and bless with all social and personal and civil
blessings, and all the races and all the condi. |
IONS which compose our vast and various
family,-it IS such an America, only, whose |
arm can guard our flag, envelope our resources, |
extend our trade and fill the measure of our |
glory; and because, according to our convic- |
tons, the triumph of such a party puts that |
Union in danger. That is my reason. And |
for you, and for me, and for all of us, in whose |
regards the Union possesses such a value and |
to whose fears it seems menaced in such
danger, 1t is reason enough. Believing the no.
BILE ship of State to be within half cables
length OF the lee shore Of rock, in a gale OF
wind, our hrst business is to put her about,
and crowd her off into the deep, open sea-
That done, we can regulate the stowage of her
lower tier OF powder, and select her cruising
ground, and bring her officers to court-martial
at our leisure. 1Rt
If there are any in Maine-and among the
Wings OF Maine hope there is not one-but
~ t"eAo nic ANY, III whose hearts strong pas
SONS, vaulting ambition, jealousy Of men or
sections, unreasoning and impatient philan-
thropy, or whatever else have turned to bate or
GOODNESS the fraternal blood and quenched the
spirit OF national life at its source; with whom
the union of Slave States and Free States un. |
der the actual Constitution is n curse. n him |
drance, reproach; with the Sc of course, our
view oil our duty and the reason of it. are |
stumbling block and foolishness To such you |
can have nothing to say, and from such YOU |
can have nothing to hope. But if there are |
those again who love the Union as we love IT, |
and prize II as we prize it, who regard it as we |
DO, not merely as vast instrumentality for the |
protection of our commerce and navigation;
and for achieving power, eminence and name
among the soyereigns of the earth-but as a
means OF improving the material lot, and ele.
vating the moral and mental nature, aud in.
suring the personal happiness of the millions
OF many distant generations; if there are those
who think TINS iuetlv If tf--apd v., L.. - |