cil, it addressed itself to the work of ward- or not, regarded the peril as imminent. ing off or mitigating the consequences which Meetings were held, speeches made, and it had foretold. Its great champion and resolutions adopted, in various parts of the leader, he who now declines to his setting, country, that seemed to show that it would flushed though burthened with the toils of be impossible for the old parties to come. a beneficent life-day, and radiant with the together again on common ground for that glory which his own light and heat have necessary national action which was apspread around, and which irradiate even proaching the nomination of candidates the clouds that attend his departure he, for the Presidency. Congress in the mean our unrewarded Aristides, addressed himself, time adjourned, and gradually the pacific as the last task of his beneficent career, to measures it had passed began to produce the godlike work of bringing good out of their legitimate effects. The incessant atevil. Nerved by the inspiration of that tacks of the extremists of Massachusetts and patriotism which has ever animated his South Carolina awakened men's minds to career, he shook off the infirmities of disease the equality and justice of the measures and age, and, as in the prime of his man- against which they were directed. A genhood, framed and advocated that series of eral acquiescence became obvious throughwise measures which, whilst sacrificing or out the country. The whole force of the compromising no principle, conceded to each Administration was brought to bear to party the rights they claimed under the recommend the measures to the free assent Constitution; on the one hand admitting of the country; and the provisions of to the Union a large free State that had such as the President was required to act suddenly sprung into existence on the west- upon were rigidly executed without fear ern shore of the continent, and on the other or favor. Thus was the country brought purchasing from Texas her unjust claim back to a condition of harmony and peace. upon New-Mexico, and erecting it into common territory without any act excluding the introduction of slaves; to this side granting the abolition of the slave-trade in the District of Columbia, long an eye-sore to the North, and to the other giving a law which, though stringent, was required by the exigencies of the time and the obstacles thrown in the way, to give efficacy to a plain and undenied requirement of the Constitution.

In illustration and confirmation of the conclusion to which we have thus far arrived, we may refer to the operation of these matters in the State of New-York, which presents a fair epitome of the general condition of the question throughout the country. At the Whig State Convention held shortly after the adjournment of the Congress which passed the measures in question, so hostile were the feelings manifested upon them that a division took place, and a part of the body seceded, and two Whig State Central Committees were formed holding hostile opinions upon them. The discussions that followed were bitter, and the breach seemed irreparable; but the causes we have mentioned operated so effectually that a committee of the Legislature, confiding in the effect of reflection and the patriotism of the party, confidently invited the two Committees to meet in Albany, with a view to harmonize the Whig party of the State. The invitation was accepted. A conference was held, and a statement of principles and measures was made, which was agreed to with great unanimity.

The discussion of these measures aroused all the elements of sectional strife that exist among us. The North and South stood in fierce hostility. A Southern caucus was held, and the members of it threatened a secession from Congress. So bitter had been the contest, that the hostility and excitement was by no means put at rest by the passage of the laws in question. Extremists North and South kept up the clamor. Both these factions contended that their respective sections had been sacrificed. Long-tried and faithful Whigs on both sides threatened to give up all those principles to which their whole political life had been devoted, for the views they entertained on this one We wish at this time to call particular subject, so great seemed to them the dan- attention to that statement, as being espeger of the dissolution of the Union of cially instructive and suggestive for the the States. The gravest and best men in future. Its preamble was worded as folall parts of the country, whether politicians | lows: "Believing that an expression of the

views and principles of the Whigs of this | New-York, for the eminent ability and patriotism State, as they are understood by us, in relation particularly to questions which now agitate the country, should be made, in order to induce an intelligent, cordial and honest coöperation among ourselves, and with the Whigs of the other States of the Union, the State Committees appointed have agreed upon the following, as presenting what they believe to be the sentiments of the great body of the Whigs of the State of New-York." After setting forth the well

"It will be seen that reflection and patriotism have combined to produce a reconciliation of the "That the Whigs of the State, as a body, are conflicting elements. There must in all questions inflexibly opposed to the subjection of any terri- be some absolute principles, which are ascertaintory of the United States, now free, to laws im- able by reason and candor combining to discover posing involuntary servitude, except as a punish them. In this case we believe these principles ment for crime, and they rejoice that no proposi- have been ascertained and set forth. In this tion to that effect is now pending, or is likely to be statement we conceive each division has conceded presented; while, at the same time, they unquali to the other the abstract principles that lay at fiedly acknowledge the right of every soverign the foundation of their opinions. The right of obState to regulate its own municipal institutions, injection and constitutional resistance has been consuch manner as its people may deem most conducive to their safety and happiness, without interference, directly or indirectly, by citizens of other States, or subjects of other countries:

thorough discussion. These Committees express no desire to disturb that settlement, but, on the contrary, yield an unqualified submission to the laws that have been passed to effect it. They recognize the right. without any reservation, of every State to regulate its own municipal institutions without any interference, directly or indirectly. Any action tending to resist, or defeat, or render ineffectual any laws passed by Congress, they unqualifiedly condemn. They have unreservedly expressed their confidence in, and demanded the support of the party for, the administration of President Fillmore; an administration whose principles in reference to that subject are emphatically

summed up in the following sentiments:

braced.' *

*

*

*

*

*

“The series of measures to which I have alluded are regarded by me as a settlement, in principle and substance--a final settlement of the dangerous and exciting subjects which they em By that adjustment we have been rescued from the wide and boundless agitation that surrounded us, and have a firm, distinct and legal ground to rest upon. And the occasion, I trust, will justify me IN EXHORTING MY COUNTRYMEN TO

RALLY UPON AND MAINTAIN THAT GROUND as the

best, if not the only means, of restoring peace and quiet to the country, and maintaining inviolate the integrity of the Union.'- President Fillmore's Message.

political arena, by resisting those projects which it saw would inevitably lead to this. That failing in this, it addressed itself to an amicable arrangement of the difficulties entailed, and that to its great champion and leader are we mainly indebted for the wisdom upon which the final adjustment was made. And now we ask whether the country, which we know as a whole desires that this question should no more impede legislation and excite internal hostility and sectional bitterness, requires any more as surances from this party than it has in these its acts? It surely may be trusted not to reopen a subject which it sacrificed so much to prevent the introduction of; a subject that has separated it into geographical divisions, rendering utterly inoperative and dormant all the great principles for which it has heretofore existed; so that during a Whig administration the ascendency of false principles of economy and finance have been maintained by the opposition, to the destruction of the manufactures, and great injury to the general industry, of the country.

"The President's Message, at the opening of the present session of Congress, expresses fully and plainly his own and the unanimous opinion of all We say, that a party which has this histhose associated with him in the executive ad- tory and these motives can surely be ministration of the Government, in regard to what trusted without any further pledges, to not are called the adjustment or Compromise measures of last session. That opinion is, that those reopen a subject from which no possible measures should be regarded in principle as a final practical good can come. Certainly no settlement of the dangerous and exciting subjects party purpose can be served thereby; but, which they embrace; that though they were not on the contrary, a breaking up of parties free from imperfections, yet, in their mutual dependence and connection, they formed a system of must inevitably ensue therefrom, to the decompromise the most conciliatory and best for the triment of every interest and the leaving in entire country that could be obtained from con- abeyance of every principle of governmental flicting sectional interests and opinions, and that policy and action. therefore they should be adhered to, until time and experience should demonstrate the necessity of further legislation to guard against evasion or abuse. That opinion, so far as I know, remains entirely unchanged, and will be acted upon steadily and decisively. The peace of the country requires this; the security of the Constitution requires this; and very consideration of the public good demands this. If the Administration cannot stand upon the principles of the message, it does not expect to stand at all.'-Daniel Webster's Letter to the Union Meeting at Westchester."

This brings up the history of the question as near to the present time as is essential to our purpose.

From the points we have brought out, it has been our purpose to exhibit the character and temper and the action of the Whig party upon the vexed questions involved. We have shown how it strove to avoid their introduction at all on the

The sensitiveness of the South on the question we can fully understand and appreciate, and we would have the North never to lose sight of its reasonableness. It is cruel and unjust to do so. The danger to them is not merely, as they conceive, political, but social and vital. If an opening is made in the political walls which protect them, they feel that an element would break in upon them that would desolate and destroy, drenching the country perhaps in blood, and covering it with ruin. On the other hand, opposition to human bondage in any form is a principle of conscience in the northern mind; one of those things for which men sacrifice every thing else, even life itself, if individual responsibility for it is forced upon them. It stands in this country in that position where this is not the case to

them, and the great duty of all to every interest or right involved is to leave it in this position. It has become plain to every rational person that it is as it were fighting against Providence to attempt to change this relation by political action, and that every attempt made to do so by either section reacts directly upon themselves, either by aggravating the evils complained of or arresting the national progress in other

matters.

upheld, by almost the entire body of its in-
dividual members. This being the case, we
can conceive of no reason drawn from the
subject itself that renders
any resolutions by
the Convention on it at all necessary. Those
men who, although generally acting with
the party, most opposed, and endeavored to
keep up prejudice to these measures, do not
even offer a candidate to the Convention
who they will dare to say represents their
views upon the subject. One of the three
distinguished men from whom the choice
will be made, whose name has been for so
many years in a position to be suggested to
any national nominating convention, is by
the common voice named with the other
two. The men we have referred to conclude
to give their support to him. Why? Not
because he is an exponent of their views
upon this question; not even because they
expect, or probably even desire, to sway him

The political barriers, which on the one hand guard the firesides of the South from desolation and blood, and on the other the conscience of the North from violation, being disturbed and shaken by the causes we have referred to, it became necessary to readjust them precisely upon the ground on which they were originally built. This was done in the adjustment, or as they are called, Compromise measures of 1850, by which California was admitted into the Union; the disputed to their purpose; but solely because, the region was purchased from Texas; New-Mexico and Utah were erected into territories; the sale of slaves was prohibited in the District of Columbia; and a law was passed to render effectual the provision of the Constitution giving to the master the right to recover his runaway slave in all the States of the Union.

Thus the whole field of controversy, opened up by the acquisition of this new territory forced upon us, was covered by the adjustment; and at the same time, the opportunity was taken to grant the demands of the two sections upon each other, in refer ence to the slave-trade in the District of Columbia, and the constitutional provision for the recovery of fugitives in the nonslaveholding States.

With this cursory view before us of the whole matter, which we have endeavored fairly to present, let us come to the direct question as to the action which should be taken by the National Convention upon it. In the first place, it would be entirely legitimate and in accordance with the great majority of sentiment in the party, for the Convention to pass resolutions directly approving of the settlement made; but at the same time it is perfectly obvious, from the view of the history of the matter we have given, that this would be only adding a verbal approval to what has been more legitimately and forcibly approved by the acts of the marty, and really acquiesced in, if not warmly

other two having been in the thick of the fight, although the victory they achieved was a beneficent one to all alike, the personal enmities engendered remain, and the aim is to displace them rather than to disturb their measures. Besides which, political positions are to be regained, which, being a personal matter, requires attachment to some man, even at the sacrifice of some principle; or probably, as we should rather say, the relinquishment of a position which they find to be mistaken and untenable.

That this is the fact of the case we think will be obvious upon the slightest reflection. For who is the man they are willing to support? He is one who, so far as we know, is in no quarter suspected of holding or of having held their former views. There is no evidence that, on any occasion, he has ever opposed any of the adjustment measures. On the contrary, Southern gentlemen themselves, of the highest standing, assert and maintain his entire soundness in this respect; and state that he used his influence to obtain the passage of those measures. The recent letter of Mr. Botts, of Virginia, is positive and conclusive upon his present opinions, and in other respects sustains the view we are now illustrating. We present the following from it in confirmation:

"General Scott occupies no doubtful or equivocal position on the Compromise, nor does he desire to

do so; and if he did, I would not support him, | dicates a want of candor that is without a parallel, even if nominated. His views are freely expressed or it betrays a want of reason that amounts to to every man who approaches him, no matter to foolery. It can only serve to create prejudices, what party or section he may belong. He is ac- that we ourselves may be called on in a few weeks cessible to every respectable man in the country, to remove, when, in the meantime, we have put the who chooses to approach him; and he has never weapon in the hands of our adversaries to be used hesitated to say that he is in favor of the Compro- against us. The truth is, all the Democratic canmise measures in all their parts, and opposed to didates, and all their friends, want the vote, and any disturbance, agitation, or alteration of the Fu- because they can't get it, they unite in a complaint gitive Slave Law; and he enjoins confidence and against Scott, because he can. They know that secrecy on no man to whom he makes this commu- none of them can be elected without it. These nication. same gentlemen could do a great deal to get it for Mr. Fillmore, and the Democrats would move the "very stones of Rome" to carry it for their candidate, shocked as they profess to be, that the Whigs should trust any man for whom they would vote. For my part, I hope Mr. Fillmore, General Scott, or Mr. Webster, whichever may be the candidate, may get every Free-soil and Abolition vote in the country, with a small sprinkling of the Democracy; and I should not apprehend that either of them would thereby become either Abolitionists or Democrats. But so far from Mr. Seward's leading and managing this matter, he is only following a current of public sentiment that he has not the power to resist, and he is striving by this means to get back himself into the Whig ranks.

"For my own part, I cannot perceive the wisdom of the South agitating this question at all, and especially of our agitating for the benefit of those we have labored for more than twenty years to defeat. I think the Compromise has no business in either the Whig or Democratic National Convention. The fugitive law has passed; it remains not only unrepealed, but no proposition is made, nor, as I believe, ever will be made to repeal it; and if it is, it cannot succeed. It is acquiesced in by the North more and more every day, and if the South will let it alone, all opposition to it will cease in two years. It has already been reaffirmed by the representative body that has been elected since its passage, and since the appeal to the higher law; and I see no more propriety in press. ing the North to the wall on this subject, when they are submitting to the quiet and peaceable execution of the law, than there would be in requiring them to reaffirm the principles of the Missouri Compromise, which is quite as likely to be repealed as the Fugitive Slave Law. In point of fact, I question if in a few years the fugitive law will not have fulfilled its work and become inoperative, as it will have been enforced against all those slaves that are now settled in the North; and it is only as to those that have been long settled and have made friends that we can have any serious trouble; and already the practice of slaves leaving their masters for the North has been greatly arrested.

'By the way, let me ask, who are the agitators now? No matter which section presents this question, the other must and will oppose it. Now suppose those in favor of the repeal of the law were to omit no opportunity, when Northern and Southern men were collected together, to introduce resolutions declaring the Fugitive Slave Law unconstitutional and unsatisfactory, and that it ought to be repealed; would they not be denounced by the South as agitators and disturbers of the public peace? And if, on every like occasion, the South will persist in presenting resolutions of an opposite character, do they not themselves become agitators and disturbers of public repose? As long as we have the law, and it is executed, we should be satisfied. What more should we ask? What more have we a right to demand?"

"If we know that our candidate is sound, what do we care for the abstract opinions of Mr. Seward and his associates upon the general principles of the Compromise? If the law was not already Thus, we conceive, is it plain that the seton the statute-book, there might be some show of tlement of the question is a fixed fact, and reason and good sense in requiring the North to yield their idiosyncrasies before we would cooperate even so regarded by those who apparently with them; but when before was it known that think otherwise. This action of theirs, in our party, or any other party, objected to Aboli- favor of a man who does not represent their tionists, Free-soilers, Native Americans, Democrats, professed views, is stronger confirmation of or Whigs, helping them to elect their own candi- this than any words they could be required dates in a presidential or other election? What party or candidate ever yet complained that those to endorse. Why, then, need any portion of another party would help them to success? If of the South or of the North (for it is only Mr. Clay were now before the people, I do not a portion of either) require the introducdoubt he could get a large Free-soil, Abolition, tion of resolutions upon this subject into

and Democratic vote; and would he or his friends

complain of it or make it an objection to him? And why should we object to their support of General Scott, if he should be the nominee of the party! For myself I can say, (however it may be with others,) that when I have been a candidate, I was never so proud or so foolish as to object to any good vote I could get. This absurd cry in the South against the Abolition vote for Scott in

the National Convention? Such resolutions, as we have said, we do not conceive would be at all wrong in themselves, as they would only reassert what we maintain is a fixed fact; but the danger is that they would disturb the harmony of the Convention and of the party. They would throw those in