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nation; and I need not say that this, too, is an object which eminently deserves the countenance and co-operation of all good men. We have no censorship of the press in our land. Men are free to write and to publish whatever they please in the way of books, either for the young or the old. And this liberty is exercised to an extent never before witnessed in the world. One almost trembles for the cause of order, and morality, and virtue, when he sees such loads of frivolous and corrupting literature peddled for a song at the corners of every street and at the door of every railroad car. Yet amidst all this profusion of literary production, there always has been, and still is, a lamentable dearth of sound, wholesome, instructive and entertaining Sunday reading for the young.

I know not a better service that any man, or any woman, can perform for religion or for the country, than to prepare books which shall render moral and spiritual truths intelligible and attractive to the youthful mind. What author is there, living or dead, who might not afford to exchange reputations with John Bunyan, for example, -even supposing he had never written a line except" the Pilgrim's Progress"? Who can measure the influence which that book has produced, and is destined to produce, for the good of mankind, as long as the English language, or indeed as long as any language, shall be read or spoken on earth!

I do not pretend to be familiar with the entire range of your numerous publications. But some of them I have availed myself of in my own family with great satisfaction; and one of them I have read with peculiar pleasure and instruction during the past year. I refer to the life of Martin Luther, by my excellent friend, Dr. Sears, the Secretary of the Board of Education. It is a work of great interest throughout. But nothing has interested and surprised me more, than to find how completely the Great Reformer, three hundred and twenty-five years ago, anticipated all that even we New-Englanders have said or done on the subject of education. There are few things more persuasive or more powerful than his address in 1524, "to the common councils of all the cities of Germany in behalf of Christian schools." And in the Saxon school system, as instituted under the auspices

and more

of Luther and Melancthon in 1527, we may find all, than all, that is most valuable in our own boasted American school system. I say more than all,- for religious instruction was combined and incorporated with secular education in those old Saxon schools, and lent its crowning grace and beauty to the whole organization.

But, my friends, I have trespassed too long on your indulgence. There are solemn exercises before us, in which you are impatient to unite. There are eloquent voices, to which you are anxious to listen. Let me then conclude, by thanking you once more for the honor you have done me in calling me to the chair on this occasion, and by repeating the expression of my most earnest wishes for the continued and increased prosperity and advancement of the American Sunday School Union.

NOMINATION OF WINFIELD SCOTT

FOR THE

PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES.

A SPEECH MADE AT FANEUIL HALL, JUNE 29, 1852.

I AM highly honored, fellow-citizens of Suffolk County, in being called to preside over your deliberations this evening, and I return my most grateful acknowledgments to those to whom I am indebted for so distinguished a position. On some accounts, I would willingly have been excused from the service which has been assigned me. The oppressive heat of the weather, the state of my own health, the peculiar circumstances of the hour, the painful tidings which have reached us by the telegraph, would all have made it more agreeable to me to be elsewhere; but having promised to be in attendance here, to unite in ratifying the proceedings of the late Baltimore Convention, at a moment when a different result and a different nomination were confidently predicted, I have not felt at liberty to shrink from the occasion.

We are assembled, fellow-citizens, under circumstances more than ordinarily impressive. The death of Henry Clay, which has just been announced to us, is an event which cannot fail to touch a tender chord in the breast of every true Whig, and of every true patriot, in our land. We may have agreed with him, or we may have differed from him, but none of us can have failed to admire and respect him. His lofty and chivalrous bearing, his commanding eloquence, his ardent and devoted patriotism, his long and faithful public service in every department of the government, will be remembered with admiration and gratitude to the latest generations.

It has never been his fortune to reach the highest object of his honorable ambition; but, now that he is gone, we all realize how little it would have added, or certainly how little it was needed, to his own fame. We realize, too, that not only has the country gone on in its astonishing career of prosperity and power under the Presidency of inferior men, but that he himself has done quite as much towards shaping, directing, and controlling its policy, in his capacity as a citizen or a Senator, as he could possibly have done in the executive chair itself.

It was my privilege, in the year 1833, as the very first act of my political life, to welcome Mr. Clay to Boston in behalf of the young men of the city of that day. Nineteen years have since passed away, and have left their mark upon us all; but the feelings which prompted that welcome have undergone no change; and I am confident that I express the deep, pervading sentiment of this whole assembly, and of this whole community, in paying a humble but heartfelt tribute of respect and affection to the memory of the late gallant and glorious statesman of Kentucky.

And now, fellow-citizens, let us turn with chastened hearts from the dead to the living. Men die; but principles, the Constitution, the country, and our duties to them all, survive.

We are assembled, as you know, to respond to the proceedings of the late Whig National Convention at Baltimore. We are here, I need not say, in no spirit of exultation or triumph at the particular result of that Convention. We have come together in the full remembrance, that there were other candidates commended to its consideration, and entitled to its confidence, besides those who have proved to be successful. We have come together, remembering that one of those other candidates was that illustrious and incomparable statesman, whose services to the Constitution have been so signally recognized on yonder canvas* of the painter, however they may have fared in the canvass of politicians, the undoubted favorite of a vast majority of the people of Boston, and upon whose success so many hopes and so many hearts had been devotedly and exclusively fixed.

We have come together, remembering, too, that another of those candidates was the present eminent and excellent Chief

*Healey's large picture of Webster replying to Hayne.

Magistrate of the Union, for whom we all entertain the most cordial respect and regard.

But we have come together, not forgetting, also, that we are Whigs, and not merely Boston Whigs, and Massachusetts Whigs, but National Whigs, members of a party co-extensive with our whole widespread Union. We are here, not forgetting that we have principles to maintain, which are far above all consideration of persons; that we have a cause and a country to support and uphold, independently of all questions about individual pretensions or preferences.

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Nor can we forget, fellow-citizens, that the Whigs of Suffolk and of the whole State have been represented fully, fairly, earnestly, enthusiastically represented in the Convention which has just been held; represented by able and eloquent voices of our own selection inside, and represented by great numbers of devoted and untiring spirits outside.

To that Convention we all voluntarily intrusted the selection of candidates. Wise, well-known, patriotic Whigs from every State in the Union composed it. And after a struggle of unprecedented duration and difficulty, they have announced their result.

Under these circumstances, we have come together to acquiesce in that result as a fixed fact; to recognize it as a finality; and to confirm and ratify it as binding upon all who acknowledge any thing of party obligation or allegiance.

We all know that if Daniel Webster had been nominated by the Convention, and if this meeting had been summoned to respond to that nomination, this hall, capacious and elastic as it is, would not have contained the multitudes who would have crowded and thronged its portals. We should all have been here, and the "Old Cradle" would have rocked again, as in its infancy, with your exulting shouts. And now shall it be said, for a moment, that the Whigs of Suffolk were only true to their colors when their own wishes were gratified, and when their own candidates were successful? Shall it be said of us, as it was once said of ancient Rome, that Octavius had a party, and Antony a party, but that the Republic had no party?

I observed by the papers that when that noble procession of Baltimore Whigs met and received your own not less noble pro

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