y and preeminently the
motto of the State of Massachusetts, "_Ense petit placidam sub libertate
quietem_," which, freely, but faithfully, translated, means, "We must
conquer a just and abiding peace."

And now, my dear Andrew, I am curious to know what answer you will make
to the general views which I have advanced on these vital questions.
Will you say that I have misrepresented the record of the Northern
Democratic party? that I have charged them with a submission and
subserviency to the dictates of their Southern allies, which truthful
history will not confirm? You surely remember the uncontradicted
assertion of Mr. Hammond, Senator from South Carolina, made on the floor
of the Senate in 1856, at a time when fears were entertained by the
Democracy that Mr. Fremont might be elected:--"The South has now ruled
the country for sixty years." Do you believe that this rule could have
been maintained for so many years without the connivance and cooeperation
of Northern Democrats? Will you venture to say that Texas could have
been annexed, the Fugitive-Slave Law passed, the Missouri Compromise
Bill repealed, without the consent and active assistance of Northern
Democrats? In fact, my friend, when, in our frequent conversations, you
have repeatedly charged Southern Democrats with ingratitude and want of
good faith, have you not intended to assert, that, having complied with
all the demands of the South, you looked upon their deliberate
destruction of the Democratic party as a wanton act of political
treachery?

Do you deny that I have presented a truthful picture of the present
position of your party? Can there be any doubt about the issue now
offered to the North by Peace Democrats? I say _Peace_ Democrats,
because all War Democrats are acting heartily and zealously with the
Administration. Is not the policy which the Peace Democracy support in
their papers, platforms, and public addresses, an immediate cessation of
hostilities on the part of the North? And do they not select, as the
exponents of this policy, men who have, from the commencement of the
war, sympathized with the South, and denounced the military measures of
the Government as unjustifiable, oppressive, and iniquitous? Open any
newspaper of "Copperhead" complexion, and tell me, candidly, if you can
approve of the manner in which the all-engrossing questions of the day
are discussed.

You know, in advance, as well as I know, that you will find both open
and in