The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1866-09-05
The Two Vice Presidents,

The announcement made in our paper YES
terday of the resignation by Hon. Hannibal
Hamlin of his Office of Collector of the port
of Boston, will probably have occasioned little
surprise among those to whom Mr.. Hamlin is
best known. 1t is an act entirely in accord
ance with that gentleman's Independent, hon
orable and manly character. In this unhappy
and unprecedented state of division which
has come upon the country he is not willing
to leave reason for the slightest misconcep-
ton IN regard to his position. He could not
even seem to "acquiese by silence" in the
course OF those who are waging war upon the
most cherished principles and purposes of
that party to which he has given his ardent
support; in a crisis SO important as the pres
ent, when the cause to which he has so long
devoted himself is assailed not only by the
persistent hate OF its foes but by the treaehery
OF its trusted friends, he would not refrain
from using the powerful influence of which
he is possessed in its Defence; yet first of all
he has chosen to free himself from every fet-
ter which even the semblance of personal
obligation might impose upon his liberty of
action. We say the semblance for certainly
IN the case OF Mr.. Hamlin there was no real
personal obligation. The office he held was
never solicited by him; and in any circum-
stances the obligations under which Andrew
johnson had been laid by Mr.. Hamlin and
his friends were such as could hardly 10 COM
pensated by dozen Collectorships. God
knows how bitterly the country has regretted
their most generous but mistaken conf dence,
their fatal unselfshness! But that fact does
not change the balance of obligation between
the man who is and the man who should be
President of the United States to-day, though
it may possibly serve to bring into more vivid
contrast the attitude and bearing of the. two
before the country. The frothy pretensions
of the Stumble individual who is Just now
enlivening his pilgrimage to the tomb of
Douglas by trying how many changes can be
rung on the pronoun of the first person singu-
lar are brought into fine relief by the simple
dignity of the position assumed by Mr.. Ham
lin.
The course pursued by the latter gentleman
is such as must secure him not alone the re-
spect, but in some measure the gratitude of
the whole loyal portion of the country By
that course he has not merely shown that he
scorns to await the decree of official decapi-
tation from man elevated through mistak-
en- ma gnanimity into the place which should
have been his; he has administered most
emphatic and singing rebuke to the whole
course of that man who with grand words Of
patriotism on his lips is trading like huckster
with treason, and while necessarily prating of
the corruptions of power is doing more to
corrupt and degrade the course of official
patronage in this country than has been done
under all his predecessors from the founda-
ton of the government until now.
We rejoice that Mr.. Hamlin has done this;
we thank him in the name of the whole
country for his truly manly and dignified
course in the circumstances, ar d we congrat-
ulate him warmly that the somewhat excep-
tional nature of his position gives a kcenness to
his rebuke and a force to his protest which
coming from any other man in the country
they might have partly lacked.