he questions of
the day for themselves, uninfluenced by the dictation of party
leaders on either side, they will, doubtless, find many and
cogent reasons to return to their first love.

"But to such of the old-line Whigs as have not already gone
over to the Democratic party, I do feel that I have the right
through this or any other medium to address a few words. It is
well known that I have been a Whig from my boyhood, and until I
attached myself to the American party about twelve months ago;
and that, in some form or other, I have labored in behalf of
the Whig cause from my youth up--in good report and evil
report, in prosperity and in adversity, and without fee or
reward. And, with great deference to the opinions of others, I
would inquire what has any old-line Whig to gain, either for
his country or himself, by listening to the seductive
flatteries of Democracy, as he looks upon the dismembered
fragments of the Whig party, or sits, like Marius, amid the
ruins of Carthage? What party is it that has brought about the
desolation you behold? To whose strategy was it owing that the
once impregnable city was betrayed and surrounded, and its
lofty battlements levelled with the dust? What foul coalition
circumvented you, and whose pestilential breath is now
whispering in your ear? Has that party against which you have
fought for twenty years--which you have regarded as essentially
corrupt and dangerous to the Union--all at once, and by some
magical and unknown process, been cleansed of its impurities,
and does it stand before you clothed in a white and spotless
robe? What are some of the reasons why you opposed it?

"It denounced proscription for opinion's sake before it came
into power, but kept the guillotine in continual motion
afterwards. It rebuked any interference with the freedom of
elections, and then denied its doctrine, and sought in
countless ways to control them. It charged the administration
of John Quincy Adams with reckless extravagance, and has
expended as much, or nearly as much, of the public treasure in
one year as he did in the course of his administration. It was
favorable to _a_ bank, a judicious tariff, and internal
improvements by the general government, but has crushed beneath
its iron heel the whole American s