Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1860-06-07

f MIR EVERETT's LETTER OF AccEPsN CE.
t The Constitutional Union party ID Belton
held large ratification meeting insFm4il Hall
on Friday evening. Speeches were dexefed by
e Mr.. Henry, of Tennessee, and several dner gen.
e tlemen and the following letter was fr,,F from
V the Hon. Edward Everett, addressed tthe Hon
' Washington Hunt, accepting the noAi7 ion for
the Presidency:
2 BosToN, May 29.Ii6O
2 My Dear Sir Il have duly received Ntr let
ter of the 11th, in which you inf-rm - olicial-
ly that the National Union Conventiapsredently
in session at Baltimore, had done me ne honor
to nominate me as its candidate for Moiiice OF
? Vice-President Of the United States. q
, am deeply impressed with this mgdesation
of the favorable opinion of the ConvelNra, com
Uprising as it did among it's members 20 many
persons distinguished for public service patriot
ism and intelligence, and fairly repreanting a
considerable position of the conservatim feeling
Of the country. For the great cordially with
which, as you inform me, my name Vas pro-
due
The grateful acceptance of such Inclination
would, under ordinary circumstances, II mat
ter Of course but i has unavoidably ben. with
me the subject of long and anxious h1itation
The grounds of this hesitation owe to tis Con-
vention which has honored me with tbs mark
of its confidence, and to myself, to explin.; 10th
as am to dwell on matters of personalnterests
of no Importance to the public.
Mr.. Everett then refers to the fact ofxis hav-
ing retired from public life for several years.
and to the request he had made that in. .csse his
name was brought forward at the hltimore
Convention it should be, withdrawn. M next
alludes to his efforts towards redeemins Modnt
Vernon, and disclaims having sought through it
any political honors. He then continus as fol-
| lows
These considerations, and others Of a still
more personal nature, have necessarily OCCASION
ed me to reflect long and anxiously before ac-
cepting the nomination with which tl6 Union
Convention has honored me-. In yiading at
length to the earnest solicitations which have
been addressed to me, from the most respectable
sources in almost every part of the Union.
am led to believe public duty It has been
urged upon me, and Icannot deny thaIsuch is
my own feeling, that we have fallen updn times
which call upon all good citizens, at ahatever
cost of personal convenience, to oontriHEte their
share, however humble, to the public sSrvice.
| suppose it to be the almost universal i'm
preston lit is certainly mine) that the Existing
state OF affairs is extremely critical Our politi-
cal controversies have substantially ass6med an
| almost purely sectional character-that G 4 fear
| ful struggle between the North and the South.
1t would not be difficult to show at leagth the
perilous nature and tendency of this 4ruggle,
but can only say, on this occasion, tha, in my
opinion, it cannot be much longer kept yp with
out rending the Union l do not man that
either of the great parties in the county desires
or aims at a separation of the States "a final
object, although there are extremists illeonsid-
cradle numbers who have that object d view
While potent and baleful influence s7<efcised
by men of this class, in both sectio5 of the
Union, portion of the Conservative misses are
insensiby and gradually goaded intdfpncur-
fsshce with opinions and sentiments. 81 v6ch,
in the outset, they had no sympath q az
time, almost wholly neglecting the flbfc
Interests, our political controvefsiSs 6Si1
a5stFace the great secti1ks q com
try differ irreconcilabIy, though there is nothin
practically important at stake which require
the discussion to be kept up. These controver
sizes are carried on with steadily increasing bit
ternesS and evaporation.
The passions thus kindled have already led t.
acts of violence and bloo!s el, approaching tc
civil war in the Territories, and attempted ser
vile insurrecton in the States. The great reli
gious and philanthropic associations of the coun
try are sundered and the kindly social relation
of North and South seriously impaired Th
National House of Representatives lowering or
the verge of anarchy, requires weeks to effec
ho v,l,io + l,o IL,
an hour, and it holds its sessions (many of it
members am told, armed with concealed wea
pons,) on the crust of volcano. The candi
dates for the Presidency eprepresentng respec
lively the dominant sectional ideas will, at th
ensuing election, in all probability, be supported
by pure geographical vote. In other words
I we are already brought to pass at which Nortl
and South cannot and will not cooperate in th,
periodical reorganization of the government.
Can such state of things long continue, es
pecially with the ever-present risk of new causes
Of evaporation [ own that it seems to mt
impossible, unless some healing course is adop
ted, that the catastrophe, which the mass O
good citizens SO much deprecate, should be mucl
longer delayed. A spirit Of patriotic modera
ton must be called into action throughout thu
Union, or it will assuredly be. broken up. Tn
less the warefare Of infammatory speeches anc
incendiary publications is abandoned and good
citizens, as in 1776 and 1877, North and South
will agree to deal with the same elements O
discord (for they existed then as now) as oul
fathers dealt with them, we shall but for yer,
few years longer be even nominally brethren O
onefamily. The suggestion that the Union car
be maintained by the numerical predominanct
and military prowess of one section exerted tt
coerce the other into submission, is, in my judg
ment, as self-contradictory as it is dangerous
1t comes loaded with the death smell from field.
wet with brothers blood. If the vital principle
of all republican government is "the consent O
the governed" much more does union of CO.
equal sovereign States require, as its basis, tht
harmony of it's members and their voluntary CO.
operation in it's organic functions.
Believing, for these reasons, that healing coun
sells must be listened to, if we much longe
to remain one people, regard the late Nationa
Union Convention as movement in the righ
direction could wish that it had been earle
assembled, with less exclusive reference to off
cial nominations, and with more comprehen