“I hope that you will allow an old Whig, who has often
differed from you in political opinion, though never
seduced into supporting Mr. Buchanan or Mr. Bell, to
congratulate you on the position you have taken and
so ably maintained on Neutral Rights. From the first
moment I trembled for the consequences of the seizure
of the insurgents. Captain Wilkes’s act appeared to be
a portentous blunder, matched only by the truculent
indorsements that followed it. It consoles me, however,
that this deed has become the occasion for teaching our
people their own antecedents, and proving to the world
their ability to mortify their pride in the presence of
higher claims.… You have nobly substituted the _argumentum
ab humanitate_ for the _argumentum ad hominem_, which you
so justly condemn.”
Rev. Convers Francis, the learned Professor, wrote from
Cambridge:--
“Most heartily do I thank you for your _great_ speech on
Maritime Rights, which adds another to your many claims
on the nation’s gratitude. It is a thorough, exhaustive,
and most able piece of argument,--by far the most so which
that question called forth,--and extorts praise even from
enemies.”