Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1858-07-23
Mr. ChOate's Fourth Of July Ora
ton.

some truths to which they were made unwilling
listeners by Rev. Mr.. Alger in his Fourth OF July
grafton. Rufus Choate to the democracy, to which
he is a late convert, and John ;. Holmes, a man
whose fame has not yet reached this corner of the
world, before the citizens generally, discoursed
against the liberal sentiments Of the ge in terme
which the civic fathers will find perfectly safe to
Put in print. Can any one blame US if we omitted
the performance Of Mr.. Holmes which is doubtless
eloquent and sensible, and INDUCED our elves as
fitting accompaniment to the garish display Of
the day in 'fts Sounding and glderfa3 generalties
Of MIR. Ghoates interminabie periods. Mr.. Choate
i Fourth Of July man What Plato was to
Socrates, Boswell to johnson, Edward Everett to
the Washington monument this splendid orator is
to our "Independent Day." He is an entire eele-
bration in himself and his grotesquc and gaudy
style OF eloquenee carries along in its orchestral
movement the thunder of the morning guns, mad
bells scolding ut their echoes, the mrth of
boys, the afternoon drivel Of drunken men, the
sputtering of India Crackers, and the rush, and
glare and hi sing Of the evening fireworks We
have read through this pyroteehnc display of
words, Washington, and 'TG, Saratoga, gea ming
through tho obscurity in transient fire; we have
followed the brilliant rocket of his argument to
see upon what poor stick it propelled; we
have tried to get the clue of sense upon which all
the gaudy glass beads were strung, and as near as
we can make it out, the Grafton is an exhortation
to the people to prese7pc Their nationality.
1t is one OF the arts Of dishonest statesmen 70
hide the real dangers that threaten the peace and
purity Of the State, by conjuring up imaginary
Mr. Choate disdains any terms that have
become stalled by use, and perhaps is little SEN
sitve to the general ridicule Of the trick of uion
sgfng but his preserving nationality is but another
word for preserving the Union, and IS the same
decoy danger with which Everett and Webster
have been trying for the last ten years to divert
the minds of the people while the slave holders
IRE stealthiiy erecting despotism and consumma-
ting comp ddat upon the constitution. In fifteen
States OF the Union a class interest built upon
the ownership of slaves effectually deprive the
great mass OF the citizens of all political power
and impose upon them the permanent terrorism
or mob law. The democratic element in the free
States facetiously spoken OF anat,cism and Sec
ronahsm opposes the quiet rule OF this mob, and
accordingly the attempt has been made by Fugi-
tive Slave Laws, Kansas nvasions and bred
Scott decisions to extend the terrorism of the slave
despotism over the Free States. Meantime the
Evcrctts and Choates and alas, even Webster, are
employed to occupy and amuse with eloquent
harangues, the people, while usurpers are robbing
them OF their liberties. Mr.. Everett stands before
us muinbing trigid conservatism over the bones
of Wash yton and telling US how dreadful it would
be II Buaker Hill monument should prove tower
OF 81 Dam and fall upon and Stay us, while MIR.
Che te, with the affected earncstnsss he has learn
ed pleading the innocence of murderers is melo
dramatic over the greater danger of the skys ia
ing. Meantime it is not the sky or Bunker Hill
monument that threatens us but the border ruff
democrat, who is stealing behind us to cut out
our pocket with his bowie knife. Messrs Everett
and Choate see him well as We do and know
what he is about because they are confeierates in
this patent safe swindle.
As to maintaining our nationality we do not
really much necessity for doing any thing . t
it. 1t is one of those things which take care of
themselves. There is as much danger of a man :
losing his individuality of a nation losing its
but we never heard of that casualty Detailing
anybody else, and doubt if any public cautions
are called for on the subject of that Liability
Tho fact Is nationality is about the last thing tia
nation loses and the poorest thing it has to lose
The Greeks kept their nationality through the
usdrpation of Philip and his successors, through
the iron rule of the Roman EMPIRE through the
subjugation Of the Venetians and the Turks, hut
lost teir liberties their arts their very civxat
ages and ages ago. The coup daat Of Louis
Napoleon is quite compatible with French nation
niiy, but was the death knell To French lbe,fv.-
The Irish bring to America ali their nationality,
but nothing else, unless it be a turbulent spirit
that reproduess every railroad cut, the bloody
heart-bfeaking of Donnybrook lar and syc-
ophant attachment to a patton, generally the
biggest demagosue that be found.
The question with nations as with men is not
the preserving of their identity but the preserv-
ing of their integrity. 1t is not whether we shall
or not continue to be nation but whether We
shall be nation of raseais, buIies, slave
holders, and ssrfs, a nation Of cultirat, d.
lava biaing, justice-loving freemen 1t is hard
for man to lose his individuality; not at all
hard for him to lose his morality Nationalities
are worthless, when they do not represent ideas
As man is worth the good and truth that is in
Lin, so Is a nation worth the liberty, Justice
and culture OF which it is the exponcut Ii this
American nationality does not mean ,l5e,tu. it is
an imposture and ought to come to an end
We understand this Mr.. Choate. He is the man
let the finger of every school boy and school girl
point at him who has ridicued, as "soaadia7 ana
giaerany genraiities," the profound truths Of the
declaration of Independence. He is the man
who following up the mali gning of those holy
principles, to establish which the American revo.
luton was fought loses no occasion to decrv as
reasonable fanatieism, that zeal for the public
liberties and the rights of man, which actuate the
legitimate successors of the revolutionary patriots
Nor Is he the only man ged in this nefaTious
task. They are eargorly sou bit and largely paid
who can bring reputation or talent to the service
Of corrupting the public morals, and smoothins .
the way for the advancing despotism. The grea,
burden of these venal orators men hired to accuse
the noblest sentiments of their fellow citizens is
that we must maintain unamended the form Of The
government, no matter what becomes of the right.
1t was formed TO guarantee. nation is far gone
in its deeadence, wien it to care for liberty
and justice, and think only of the form of the
government. Rome maintained her Uuien and
continued the forms of her republican constitution
hundreds of years after the Caesars and the
Pretorian bands bad slaughtered her liberties and
corrupted her virtues, while wise. William O.
Orange, by sending the Netherlands into two ma
lions, and dissolving the Union with the Southern
States whose religion and policy were diametri.
caly opposite to those of the Northern, made
Holland the most powerful and prosperous Repub
lie of Europe. nation can exhibit no greater
evidence of degeneracy. than to entertain the
reactionary and conservative sentiments OF such
orators, and respond to them with appla use.-
Such corrupt men always appear on the theater Of
arepubhc, just as it is about to pass forever under
the hands of master. If this is indeed the gold
age Of American eloquence, and Choate, Everett
and ebster are the great orators, let us remein-
Der that Philip was contemporary with Demos
themes, and the age of Cicero was the age of
Cesar.
How different from this blind idolatry of the
Union, this frantic clinging to the IN re- form of II
government, in faithlessness of all the natural
loyalty and truth Of man, this fear of all amend.
ment Of the constitution, of which Mr.. Choate
biaspIemously athrms: "Heapes and earth sha 4
pass atoa bsfors jot tae OF that strptw.
shall tait from TIE feeling of the REVOLUTIONARY
patriots, who within q quarter Of century dis
solved two Unions and twice changed the form Of
government the more effectually to secure the
rights of the people should be even periled, and
VINO received the gravest misgivng and dissent
Ile animus Of these reactionists is apparent
saoagh,-it is only the abuses of the government
they are eager to preserve, and what they meal
BY exalting expectancy over right, as Mr.. Choata
so seduously does, is Just this: II is more profit
able, We shall make money, to let TIL
sllvehoiders manage the government to sui
themselves than by thwarting them to interrup
trade.
Mr.. choate's own confession of what is the prim
AIRY American creed, what is the meaning of al
our history, to wi: that emery man wa' eqaai I
IL L.
pretettious sophistries. If that be true, then ar
they the true patriots, the true Americans, tn