with  or  without  official  power,  as  a  responsible  administration,
or  as  only  an  organized  opinion,  has  done  so  much  for  our
country,  —  our  whole  country, — and  your  responsibilities  at
this  moment  are  so  vast  and  peculiar,  that  I  acknowledge  an
anxiety  to  see  —  not  wait  to  hear  —  with  what  noble  bearing
you  meet  the  demands  of  the  time.  If  the  tried  legions,  to
whom  it  is  committed  to  guard  the  frontier  of  the  Union,
falter  now,  who,  anywhere,  can  be  trusted  ?

"  My  engagements,  however,  and  the  necessity  or  expedi-
ency of  abstaining  from  all  speech  requiring  much  effort,  will
prevent  my  being  with  you.  And  yet,  invited  to  share  in
your  counsels,  and  grateful  for  such  distinction,  I  cannot
wholly  decline  to  declare  my  own  opinions  on  one  of  the  duties
of  the  Whigs,  in  what  you  well  describe  as  '  the  present
crisis  in  the  political  affairs  of  the  country.'  I  cannot  now,
and  need  not,  paruse  to  elaborate  or  defend  them.  What  I
think,  and  what  I  have  decided  to  do,  permit  me  in  the  brief-
est and  plainest  expression  to  tell  you.
