The Lansing state Republican. [volume] (Lansing, Mich.) 1855-1874, 1860-04-25
a Letter from Hon. Jacob M. Howard.
DE1RoIr, April Is, 1860.

H.
DEAR SIR-In reply to your friendly note OF
the l4th desiring me to say whether would Dc
willing TO accept denomination to the office OF
Attorney General at the State Convention To be
held at Detro, on the seventh of June next,
I beg to assure you that if rendered to me 1
should be compelled to decline it. The reasons
which influence me are trust such a. yourself
and all other friends will readily appreciate.
Having been honored with three successive
nominations and elections to the responsible
DOS, occupy, and having served the State
therein for more than five years, thow ac'
ceptsbly and faithfully l must leave Others TO
Judge, feel that the salutary principle OF ro-
tation in Office ought, in all fairness, TO be ap.
piled to me, even were | inclined 10 indulge
the hope of a longer continuance in office.
| But the labors and cares pertaining to il,
demanding as they do the rigid appropriation
of nv time, and attention, TO the almost entire
exclusion OF my private affairs and greatly TO
their damage, are in themselves a barrier which
cannot surmount; one which will preclude me
from either expecting or accepting another
nomination. In saying this, do not imagine me
unmindful of the debt of gratitude i owe To the
people of our beloved State, and especially to
the Republican party, for the repeated and con-
tinued evidences of their confidence and good
will
Though the post have occupied haS.been
TO me any thing but bed of roses, and though
in nv endeavors to discharge its numerous, va
rious and difficult functions ! may at times
have been urged by sense OF official duty to
| act otherwise than in accordance with the views
of persons whose friendship cherished, vet
have ever been cheered and encouraged 10y
evidences of the public appreciation, and by
that still higher test, without which all human
actions are little worth, the approval Of ones
own sense of right and Justice.
The Republican party, inaugurated in our own
Stare, a. the pionser, on the 9th Of July, 1904,
has already on numerous and important occa-
sion. shown il. strength, the soundness of the
principles which gave it vitality and activity and
its cap.bilitv to endure adverse ~ well as pros.
porous fortune.
solemnly believe that if the vital principles
of human liberty which the fathers of the Re
=
TO encrcize into eternal activity in its admins
tration, are to be preserved, and this country
during the lapse OF future ages is to he coun-
try deserving the name of a free country, the
great task is to be performed by the Repub-
E~.n ra-.y That ia its Sublime mission the
GRAND of the Declaration OF Independence into
the world. For the performance of this errand,
.pI in of hat sli.,bfad declaration
your ancestors and mine, "with firm reliance
upon the protection of Divine Providence" mot
considering it "strng of glit,ering genersli-
ties nor a mere " passionate manifesto of a rev.
dictionary war;" as Mr.. Choate, the advocate,
treated il, but 4" with "A firm reliance upon the
protection of Divine Providence" fought and
shed their blood ;-dcsHing that immortal de-
claration no farce, no lie, no partisan pol
iticians snare but eternal truth, baptiscd in
the blood of the countless martyrs to liberty in
past ages.
Whatever cynics. or sophists, scofiers or skcp-
tics may argue, the truths of that declaration
still stand firm. 1t has not yet appeared that
any human being has been born with gold
spoon in his mouth or fet,er on his heels !;
and until such phenomenon shall actually take
place must hold that the fathers in that declar-
alton told all tyrants, whether high or low the
truth. Modern American democracy" moul.
ded and tutorcd in the shareholders school,
may deny it as they do deny it /; but God and
nature teach il to men.
Are to shrink from such a contest as this?
Are we TO grow tired in its Are we to give
over and say that because a few madcaps at
the South threaten to dissolve the Union, we
will abandon the principles, devotion to which
stretched our ancestors on the bloody field
martyrs to liberty Never-never, God and
nature never engaged man in holier cause,
and when we abandon il we are not worthy of
the blood that courses in our veins.
The Republican party is in the right. 1, may,
it will encounter disasters, repulses. What great
and good cause has not. 1t WILDE afflicted with
false friends and traitors bad advisers and feeble
and unwise administrators. What good cause
has not? Is il TO be abandoned because OF these
things. Are We 10 expect that, unlike other
combinations, the current Of lis destinies is 10
flow on without ripple or disturbance and that
all men connected with it are to be without spot
or blemi-h, in public or private lfc' This, my
dear sir, is to expect,
| "What neer Was, Is, e'-r hail be, -
in things human. And we must therefore be
patient, tolerant, ndulgent, charitable, consider
ing the great cause engaged in and
the great end We have in view. That object is
the liberty OF the masses of men, their equality
their freedom from restraint; the responsibility
OF their labor, their right Of participation in the
acts BY which their government is directed,
whether internal or external; their freedom of
speech, freedom Of action, freedom Of the press.
freedom of teaching and talking and discussing
any and all questions relating to their social and
political condition. Who will den, that that is q
tyranny when any Of these rights are either
withheld by law or suppressed by violence
whether authorized by law or nots
We are about TO nominate a Republican
candidate for President of the United States.
| do not regard the triumph Of the Republican
party at the next Presidential election a. by any
means essential to the success Of this grea,
cause. We need 10 be trained and Injured To
long and hard contests, in order 10 intimate the
value of our principles. No great reform, no
lasting revolutionary good, was ever affected by
sudden, spasmodic triumph. Men require to
be taught endurance, adversely, disaster even, |