ship, but we are satisfied that it will derive a more than common interest and value from the service in which you are about to employ it.

And, in the language of our city motto, "Sicut patribus, sit Deus nobis," May God be with us, as he was with our fathers!

NOTE. Further details of the occasion on which this Address was delivered, and of the history of the Institution which it inaugurated, will be found in "Proceedings on the Occasion of laying the Corner Stone of the Public Library of the City of Boston," published by order of the City Council by Moore & Crosby, City Printers, 1855.

THE

FUSION OF PARTIES IN MASSACHU

SETTS.

A LETTER TO THE CHAIRMAN OF THE WHIG EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, 15 OCTOBER, 1855.

BOSTON, Oct. 15, 1855.

MY DEAR SIR,- An engagement of long standing, to preside at the Annual Meeting of the Boston Provident Association, puts it entirely out of my power to be at Faneuil Hall on Wednesday evening next. But I cheerfully avail myself of the opportunity which your invitation affords me, to say something in regard to the objects for which the Whigs of Boston are about to assemble.

It would be mere affectation in any one to deny that there is much in the present condition of political affairs in Massachusetts to embarrass and perplex those who desire nothing but to do their duty to the Commonwealth and to the country.

But there is something of compensation in the reflection, that it is eminently a moment when every man is free to give expression to his own independent and honest opinions.

I intend, with your leave, to express mine, on this occasion, without fear or favor.

It was my fortune to become early associated with the Whig party of the State and Nation, and I have had my full share in all its successes and in all its reverses, during its entire existence. I have nothing to regret in my connection with it. But I have no desire to prolong the existence of the Whig party, or of any other party, for mere party's sake. There is nothing, nothing whatever, present or prospective, in the gift of any party, which I covet. Nor would I sacrifice one jot or tittle of conscientious conviction for the highest honors which any party has to bestow. And could I perceive that any great interest was to be promoted,

or any great principle to be vindicated, or any great cause of human justice or human freedom to be advanced, by breaking up the Whig party, I would be second to no man in my efforts to bring about that result.

I have no slavish devotion to party lines or party names. Who cares whether the organization under which we act be entitled. Whig or Republican? Why, it can hardly be forgotten that most of us were Republicans before we were Whigs. National Republicans, that was the old name of the Whig party. I trust that there is not more meant than meets the ear, in the proposal to omit the first half of that old name. I trust that we shall go for the whole or none, and that we shall insist on being nothing less than National Republicans in fact, whatever we may suffer ourselves to be entitled.

I can see no advantage, however, in changing names, unless there is to be some substantial change of policy or principle. The mere addition of another alias confers no honor upon individuals or parties, and does nothing to increase the confidence with which they are regarded by the community.

What substantial change, then, of principle or of policy is the Whig party of Massachusetts called on to adopt, or what change are they ready to adopt, even if they are called on?

Now, I am not about to aver that the course of the Whig party has been always the very wisest, discreetest, and best, which could possibly have been pursued. The time has been, more than once perhaps, when I could have desired some material modification of that course. But take it for all in all, in the general direction it has pursued, and in the general results it has accomplished, what party has existed in our day and generation, which has been more pure, more patriotic, more faithful to the best interests of the country and the true principles of the Constitution? What party has ever included on its rolls and within its ranks, a larger number of the most enlightened and devoted friends and defenders of our republic and its institutions? I know of none.

I understand by the Whig party of Massachusetts, in the first place, a CONSTITUTIONAL Party, which regards the Union of the States, and the Constitution, which is the formal condition and

bond of that Union, as things- above all other things-to be respected and maintained. I understand it to be a party which, while it may perceive some provisions of that Constitution which it might wish to have been other than they are, yet recognizes and accepts the whole, every article of it, as of binding force and obligation, and that, not according to any arbitrary individual understanding, but according to solemn judicial interpretation,which justifies no reservation, equivocation, or evasion in the official oath to support that Constitution, but demands the exact and scrupulous fulfilment of that oath by all who are privileged to take it on their lips.

I understand by the Whig party of Massachusetts in the second place, a party of LAW and ORDER, which seeks reforms by no riotous or revolutionary processes, which regards the great right of revolution as having been, once for all, asserted, and the great work of revolution, once for all, accomplished, by those who have gone before us; and which looks henceforward, for the redress of occasional grievances, to the peaceful and legitimate operation of the republican institutions which they founded; which holds all nullification and disunion in utter abhorrence, and disclaims all sympathy and connection with those who would burn Constitutions or batter down court-houses.

I understand by the Whig party of Massachusetts, in the third place, a party which consents to no bargain, and tolerates no traffic, as a means of securing office; which abominates all political trading and huckstering, whether for the promotion of measures or of men; and which looks with common aversion upon the congenial corruption which purchased a coalition triumph in the Legislature of Massachusetts, or a Nebraska triumph in the Congress of the United States.

I understand by the Whig party of Massachusetts, in the fourth place, a party which looks to the advancement of our national prosperity and welfare, by a liberal administration of the public lands, by a discriminating adjustment and an honest and equal collection of the duties upon imports, and by seasonable and sufficient appropriations for the improvement of rivers and harbors.

I understand by the Whig party of Massachusetts, in the fifth

place, a party which has adopted and pursued the true WASHINGTON policy of observing good faith and justice towards all nations, and of cultivating peace and harmony with all; which would avoid all permanent antipathies and passionate attachments for other countries, and which, contenting itself with the vastness of our own territories, is opposed to every lawless scheme of foreign encroachment and aggrandizement.

I understand by the Whig party of Massachusetts, in the sixth place, a party which demands the maintenance of equal representation and of an independent Judiciary in our own Commonwealth, and which resists all tampering with our State Constitution for the purpose of breaking down the barriers of justice, or of transferring the legislative power of the State from the many to the few.

And, finally, I understand by the Whig party of Massachusetts, a party which deplores the existence of domestic slavery within the limits of the American Union or anywhere else on the face of the globe; which while it abstains from all unconstitutional and illegal interference with it whatever, would omit no legal or constitutional effort to arrest and prevent its extension; which would rejoice to co-operate in any practicable method for its gradual and ultimate extinction, and to bear its share in any pecuniary sacrifices it might involve; which stands ready to resist every encroachment and aggression upon Northern rights; and which especially condemns and protests against the recent repudiation of the Missouri restriction and the re-opening to slavery a territory consecrated to freedom.

This is what I understand the Whig party of Massachusetts to have been, and still to be. And what is there in the present condition of public affairs which calls upon us to abandon such a party, and to enlist under the recruiting flag of a new one?

As to the poor pretence that the Whig party is dead, it has been dealt with sufficiently by others. It is the old story of the profligate prince who stole the crown from the pillow of his royal parent to place it prematurely on his own brow, and of whom it was so well said, that his wish was the only father to the thought. It was the more recent pretext of the late Emperor of Russia, who discovered not long ago a desperately sick and dying patient