Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-12-07
SAVING the Constitution Again.

There is evidently need OF another
Oliver Wendell Holmes 10 arise and
save the old historic frigate Constitu-
| ton. 1t was in 1888 that Holmes wrote
for the Boston Advertiser his immortal
| verses beginning AYE, tear that tat
tered ensign down." with the result
| that public opinion was so aroused that
| the destruction of the vessel was in
definitely postponed. Since that day
| as before it, the Constitution has faced
| many dangers, but each time the
patriotic sentiment of the nation has
| prevented 1.-THE harpies OF the shore
from plucking "the eagle of the sea-.
The present crisis rises from the at
titude taken by Secretary of the Navy
| Bonaparte. In his annual report ~
frankly declares that the frisate Coll
stitution. now at the Charlestown navy
yard ;s not the old vessel with winch
Hull captured the Guerrero. he ad-
r,its that some portion OF the materials
from that ship was doubtless used in
!
| building the new one to which her
name was subsequently given, but con-
tends that only very small part OF
these materials can now be identified
with any confidence, and that in any
event they constitute only small part
of The new ship. He declares, there
fore. that to exhibit the Constitution as
the genuine "Old Ironsides," charging
a fee for admission to inspect her
would i'll agree with the dignity of the
government; and would amount to OBJ
tanning money under false pretences.
He opposes also the idea of rebuilding
her on the old lines as that would in
volve an expense of several hundred
thousands of dollars, and the ship when
rebuilt would be absolutely useless.
He. therefore. makes two suggestions.
The, first is that as much of the ma
teriaIS of the present ship as can De
shown to have belonged TO the original
Constitution and to be also of some
utility, be transferred to new vessel
to be named the Constitution, and that
the remainder of the vessel be broken
up. In case this is not done, he
recommends that if public sentiment
demands for this supposed veteran OF
our old wars Il fitting maritime end.
she be lowed far out to sea and used as
a target for some of the ships of our
navy and sunk by their fire.
This is the suggestion that brought
down upon the head of Secretary Bona
Darte the wrath of patriotic Boston.
Boston papers touch lightly, if at all,
upon the secretary's assertion that the
old hulk at the Charlestown navy yard
is not really the Constitution which
triumphed over the Guerrero. and fill
their columns with protests against the
destruction of what is left of the ves-
sci. Prominent men who have been
interviewed declare that such pro-
ceeding as the secretary recommends
would be nothing less than sacrilege.
An ex-mayor of Boston says that such
treatment of the vessel as the secre-
tary of the navy recommends would be
an outrage; the president of Harvard
Robert Treat Paine says it would be
a serious mistake and that every public
citizen should read Holmes poem
again; Charles Francis Adams says
that it would be Il brutality which
should arouse the contempt and in
dignation of the American people.
After such a storm Of protests from
the patriotic descendants of those who
threw overheard the tea in Boston
harbor, Il century and Il quarter ago, 1t
is hardly likely that the government
will either break up the Constitution
at sea- 1t may be the old vessel is to
a large extent a fraud, as Secretary
Bonaparte points out, but generations
of Americans have looked with rever-
ence upon her battered and decaying
hulk and honorcd her as a national
relic worthy of preservation. Her
name is associated with some of our
most glorious naval victories, and the
spirit that inspired the poem of Oliver
Wendell Holmes in 1898 will not toler-
ate i'll treatment Of her.