Walley  is,  or  as  Mr.  Eockwell  was.  —  with  a  truer  devotion
to  liberty  —  more  obedient  to  the  general  sentiment  and  the
specific  exactions  of  the  free  States  —  with  a  better  chance
to  touch  the  reason  and  heart,  and  win  the  co-operation  of
'  good  men  in  all  sections,  —  when  he  proves  this,  you  may
believe  him.  We  know  that  the  Whig  representatives  of
Massachusetts  in  Congress  do  and  must  completely  express
the  anti-slavery  sentiment  of  Massachusetts,  so  far  as  they
may  be  expressed  under  the  Constitution.  More  than  this
we  do  not  seek  to  express  while  there  is  yet  a  Constitution.
Fusion  is  needless  for  the  honest  objects  of  the  fusionist.
"  But  the  evils  of  disbanding  such  a  party  as  ours  and
substituting  such  a  party  as  that !  See  what  it  fails  to  do.
Here  is  a  new  and  great  political  party,  which  is  to  govern,  if
it  can,  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  and  to  govern,  if  it  can,
the  American  Union.  And  what  are  its  politics  ?  It  has
none.  Who  knows  them  ?  Even  on  the  topic  of  slavery,
nobody  knows,  that  I  am  aware  of,  what  in  certain  it  seeks  to
do,  or  how  much  or  how  little  will  content  it.  Loud  in
general  demonstration,  it  is  silent  or  evasive  on  particular
details.
"  But  outside  of  the  topic  of  slavery,  what  are  its  politics  ?
What,  in  the  most  general  outline,  is  its  creed  of  national  or
State  policy  ?    How  does  it  interpret  the  Constitution  ?    What


286  MEMOIR  OF  RtlFTJS   CHOATE.  [Chap.  IX.
