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MILLARD FILLMORE.

[A portion of the subjoined biographical sketch | pable of sustaining; and, though frequently was written four years ago, and has been extensively circulated in newspapers and pamphlets. It has been revised by the author, with corrections and additions, to accompany the portrait of the Hon. Millard Fillmore, presented to our readers in this number of the Review.]

Ir is the peculiar boast of our country that its highest honors and dignities are the legitimate objects of ambition to the humblest in the land, as well as those most favored by the gifts of birth and fortune. Ours is a government of the people, and from the people, emphatically, have sprung those who in the army or navy, on the bench of justice, or in the halls of legislation, have shed the brightest lustre on the page of our country's history. So universally almost is this the case, that, when we find an instance to the contrary, of one born to a fortune and enjoying the advantages of influential connections, rising to a high place in the councils of the nation, the exception deserves especial note for its rarity. No merit therefore is claimed for MILLARD FILLMORE, on account of the fact that from comparatively humble parentage, he has attained his present eminent position. His history, however, affords a useful lesson as showing what may be accomplished in the face of the greatest obstacles, by intellect, aided and controlled by energy, perseverance, and strict integrity, in a public and private capacity.

John Fillmore, the great-grandfather of Millard Fillmore, and the common ancestor of all of that name in the United States, was born about the year 1700, in one of the New England States, and feeling a strong propensity for a sea-faring life, at the age of about nineteen went on board a fishing vessel, which sailed from Boston. The vessel had been but a few days out when it was captured by a noted pirate ship, commanded by Capt. Phillips, and young Fillmore was kept as a prisoner. He remained on board the pirate ship nine months, enduring every hardship which a strong constitution and firm spirit was ca

threatened with instant death unless he would sign the piratical articles of the vessel, he steadily refused until two others had been taken prisoners, who also refusing to join the crew, the three made an attack upon the pirates, and after killing several took the vessel and brought it safe into Boston harbor. The narrative of this adventure has been for many years in print, and details one of the most daring and successful exploits on record. The surviving pirates were tried and executed, and the heroic conduct of the captors was acknowledged by the British Government. John Fillmore afterwards settled in a place called Franklin, in Connecticut, where he died.

His son, Nathaniel Fillmore, settled at an early day in Bennington, Vermont, then called the Hampshire Grants, where he lived till his death in 1814. He served in the French war, and was a true Whig of the Revolution, proving his devotion to his country's cause by gallantly fighting as a Lieutenant under Stark, in the battle of Bennington.

Nathaniel Fillmore, his son, and father of Millard, was born at Bennington, in '71, and early in life removed to what is now called Summer Hill, Cayuga county, where Millard was born, Jan. 7th, 1800. He was a farmer, and soon after lost all his property by a bad title to one of the military lots he had purchased. About the year 1802, he removed to the town of Sempronius, now Niles, in the same county, and resided there until 1819, when he removed to Erie county, where he still lives, cultivating a small farm with his own hands. He was a strong and uniform supporter of Jefferson, Madison, and Tompkins, and is now a true Whig.

The narrow means of his father deprived Millard of any advantages of education beyond what were afforded by the imperfect and ill-taught common schools of the county. Books were scarce and dear, and at the age of fifteen when more favored youths are far advanced in their clasical

studies, or enjoying in colleges the benefit. of well-furnished libraries, young Fillmore had read but little except his common school books and the Bible. At that period he was sent into the then wilds of Livingston county, to learn the clothier's trade. He remained there about four months, and was then placed with another person to pursue the same business and wool-carding in the town where his father lived. A small village library that was. formed there soon after, gave him the first means of acquiring general knowledge through books. He improved the opportunity thus offered; the appetite grew by what it fed upon. The thirst for knowledge soon became insatiate, and every leisure moment was spent in reading. Four years were passed in this way, working at his trade, and storing his mind, during such hours as he could command, with the contents of books of history, biography, and travels. At the age of nineteen he fortunately made an acquaintance with the late Walter Wood, Esq., whom many will remember as one of the most estimable citizens of Cayuga county. Judge Wood was a man of wealth, and great business capacity; he had an excellent law library, but did little professional business. He soon saw that under the rude exterior of the clothier's boy, were powors that only required proper development to raise the possessor to high distinction and usefulness, and advised him to quit his trade and study law. In reply to the objection of a lack of education, means and friends to aid him in a course of professional study, Judge W. kindly offered to give him a place in his office, to advance money to defray his expenses, and wait until success in business should furnish the means of repayment. The offer was accepted. The apprentice boy bought his time, entered the office of Judge Wood, and for more than two years applied himself closely to business and study. He read law and general literature, and studied and practised surveying.

Fearing he should incur too large a debt to his benefactor, he taught school for three months in the year, and acquired the means of partially supporting himself. In the fall of 1821 he removed to the county Trie, and the next spring entered a law in Buffalo.

There he sustained himself by teaching, and continued his legal studies until the spring of 1823, when he was admitted to the Common Pleas, and being too diffident of his then untried powers to enter into competition with the older members of the bar in Buffalo, he removed to Aurora in that county, where he commenced the practice of law. In 1826 he was married to Abigail Powers, the youngest child of the Rev. Lemuel Powers, deceased, by whom he has two children, a son and a daughter. She is a lady of great worth, modest and unobtrusive in her deportment, and highly esteemed for her many virtues.

In 1827 Mr. Fillmore was admitted as an attorney, and in 1829 as a counsellor of the Supreme Court. Previous to this time his practice had been very limited, but his application to judicial studies had been constant and severe, and it is not to be doubted that during these few years of comparative seclusion, he acquired that general knowledge of the fundamental principles of the law which has mainly contributed in after-life to give him an ele vated rank among the members of that liberal profession. His legal acquirements and skill as an advocate, soon attracted the attention of his professional brethren in Buffalo, and he was offered a highly advantageous connection with an older member of the bar in that city, which he accepted, and removed there in the spring of 1830, in which place he continued to reside until his election as Comptroller and removal to Albany last winter.

His first entrance into public life was in January, 1829, when he took his seat as a member of the Assembly from Erie county, to which office he was re-elected the two following years. The so-called democratic party in those three sessions, as for many years before and after, bed triumphant sway in both houses of the legislature, and but little opportunity afforded a young member of the opp tion to distinguish himself. But let integrity, and assiduous devotion to pair business will make a man felt and respect ed, even amidst a body of opposing par sans; and Mr. Fillmore, although in a hopeless minority, so far as any quest of a political or party bearing was involved, on all questions of a general character soon won the confidence of the House in

an unexampled degree. It was a common remark among the members, "If Fillmore says it is right, we will vote for it."

The most important measure of a general nature that came up during his service in the State Legislature, was the bill to abolish Imprisonment for Debt. In behalf of that great and philanthropic measure, Mr. Fillmore took an active part, urging with unanswerable arguments its justice and expediency, and, as a member of the committee on the subject, aiding to perfect its details. That portion of the bill relating to justices' courts was drafted by him, the remainder being the work of the Hon. John C. Spencer. The bill met with a fierce, unrelenting opposition at every step of its progress, and to Millard Fillmore as much as to any other man, are we indebted for expunging from the statute book that relic of a cruel, barbarous age, Imprisonment for Debt.

He was elected to Congress in the fall of 1832. The session of 1833-34 will long be remembered as the one in which that system of politics, known under the comprehensive name of Jacksonism, was fully developed. During his first term, Gen. Jackson, and those who filled the high affices of Government, and shaped the policy of the administration, pursued a comparatively cautious course. But the ordeal of the election of 1832, having been passed, the mask was thrown off. The re-election of Gen. Jackson was construed into a popular approval of all his acts, whether committed or only meditated, and then by gross usurpations of executive authority, and unwarrantable exercise of powers constitutionally granted, were perpetrated those gross outrages, which, defended as they were, by an unscrupulous spirit of partisanship, have done more to demoralize and corrupt public sentiment, foster a licentious spirit of radicalism, miscalled democracy, and fill the heart of every patriot with sad forebodings of the future, than all that the open assaults of republican institutions could have done in a century. It was in the stormy session of 1833-4, immediately succeeding the removal of the deposits, that Mr. Fillmore took his seat. In those days the business of the House and debates were led by old and experienced members-new ones, unless they enjoyed a wide-spread

and almost national reputation, rarely taking an active and conspicuous part. Little chance, therefore, was afforded Mr. Fillmore, a member of the opposition, young and unassuming, of displaying those qualities that so eminently fit him for legislative usefulness. But the school was one admirably qualified more fully to develop and cultivate those powers which, under more favorable circumstances, have enabled him to render such varied and important services to his country. As he has ever done in all the stations he has filled, he discharged his duty with scrupulous fidelity, never omitting on all proper occasions any effort to advance the interests of his constituents and the country, and winning the respect and confidence of all.

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At the close of his term of service he resumed the practice of his profession, which he pursued with distinguished reputation and success, until, yielding to the public voice, he consented to become a candidate, and was re-elected to Congress in the fall of 1836. The remarks above made in relation to his service in the 23d Congress will measurably apply to his second term. Jacksonism and the pet bank system, had in the march of the progressive Democracy," given place to Van Burenism and the Sub-Treasury. It was but another step towards the practical repudiation of old republican principles and an advance to the locofocoism of the present day. In this Congress Mr. Fillmore took a more active part than he did during his first term, and on the assembling of the next Congress, to which he was reelected by a largely increased majority, he was assigned a prominent place on what, next to that of Ways and Means, it was justly anticipated would become the most important committee of the House-that on elections. It was in this Congress that the famous contested New Jersey case It would swell this brief biographical sketch to too great a length to enter upon the details of that case, and it is the less necessary to do so, inasmuch as the circumstancess of the gross outrage then perpetrated by a party calling itself republican, and claiming to respect State rights, must yet dwell in the recollection of every reader.

came up.

The prominent part which Mr. Fillmore

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majority whose enlightened patriotism has rarely been equalled, and never surpassed, succeeded in its accomplishment.

The measures he brought forward and sustained with matchless ability, speedily relieved the government from its embarrassment, and have fully justified the most sanguine expectations of their benign influence upon the country at large. A new and more accurate system of keeping accounts, rendering them clear and intelli gible, was introduced. The favoritism and

took in that case, his patient investigation of all its complicated, minute details, the clear, convincing manner in which he set forth the facts, the lofty and indignant eloquence with which he denounced the meditated wrong, all strongly directed public attention to him as one of the ablest men of that Congress, distinguished as it was by the eminent ability and statesmanship of many of its members. indignation was awakened by the enormity of the outrage, and in that long catalogue of abuses and wrongs which roused a long-peculation, which had so long disgraced suffering people to action, and resulted in the signal overthrow of a corrupt and insolent dynasty in 1840, the New Jersey case stood marked and conspicuous.

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On the assembling of the next Congress, to which Mr. Fillmore was re-elected by a majority larger than was ever before given in his district, he was placed at the head of the committee on Ways and Means. The duties of that station, always arduous and responsible, were at that time peculiarly so. A new administration had come into power, and found public affairs in a state of the greatest derangement. Accounts had been wrongly kept, peculation of every kind abounded in almost every department of the government, the revenue was inadequate to meet the ordinary expenses, the already large existing debt was rapidly swelling in magnitude, commerce and manufactures were depressed, the currency was deranged, banks were embarrassed, and general distress pervaded the community. To bring order out of disorder, to replenish the national treasury, to provide means that would enable the government to meet the demands against it, and to pay off the debt, to revive the industry of the country, and restore its wonted prosperity-these were the tasks devolved upon the committee of Ways and Means. To increase their difficulties, the minority, composed of that party that had brought the country and government into such a condition, instead of aiding to repair the evil they had done, uniformly opposed almost every means brought forward for relief, and too often their unavailing efforts were successfully aided by a treacherous Executive. But with an energy and devotion to the public weal, worthy of all admiration, Mr. Fillmore applied himself to the task, and, sustained by a

the departments and plundered the treas ury, were checked by the requisition of contracts. The credit of the government was restored, ample means were provided for the exigencies of the public service, and the payment of the national deba incurred by the former administration. Commerce and manufactures revived, and prosperity and hope once more smiled upon the land. The country even yet too keenly feels the suffering it then endured, and too justly appreciates the beneficent and wonderful change that has been wrought, to render more than an allusion to these matters necessary. The labor of devising, explaining, and defending measures productive of such happy results, was thrown chiefly on Mr. Fillmore. He was nobly sustained by his patriotic fellow Whigs: but on him, nevertheless, the main respon sibility rested.

After his long and severe labors in the committee room-labors sufficiently ar duous to break down any but one of a iron constitution-sustained by a spira that nothing could conquer, he was required to give his unremitting attention t the business of the House, to make any explanation that might be asked, and be ready with a complete and triumphant refutation of every cavil or objection that the ingenious sophistry of a factious nority could devise. All this, too, was required to be done with promptness, dear ness, dignity, and good temper. For the proper performance of these varied dua few men are more happily qualified that Mr. Fillmore. At that fortunate age whe the physical and intellectual powers displayed in the highest perfection, and the hasty impulses of youth, without any he of its vigor, are brought under control đế large experience in public affairs, with a

mind capable of descending to minute de- | tails, as well as conceiving a grand system of national policy, calm and deliberate in judgment, self-possessed and fluent in debate, of dignified presence, never unmindful of the courtesies becoming social and public intercourse, and of political integrity unimpeachable, he was admirably fitted for the post of leader of the 27th Con

gress.

Just before the close of the first session of this Congress, Mr. Fillmore, in a letter addressed to his constituents, signified his intention not to be a candidate for reelection. He acknowledged with gratitude and pride the cordial and generous support given him by his constituents, but the severe labor devolved upon him by his official duties demanded some relaxation, and private affairs, necessarily neglected in some degree during several years of public service, called for attention. Notwithstanding his declaration to withdraw from the station he filled with so much honor and usefulness, the convention of his district, unanimously, and by acclamation, re-nominated him, and urgently pressed upon him a compliance with their wishes. Mr. Fillmore was deeply affected by this last of many proofs of confidence and regard on the part of those who had known him longest and best; but he firmly adhered to the determination he had expressed, and at the close of the term for which he was elected, he returned to his home, more gratified at his relief from the cares of official life, than he had ever been at the prospect of its highest rewards and honors. But though keenly enjoying the freedom from public responsibilities, and the pleasures of social intercourse in which he was now permitted to indulge, the qualities of mind and habits of systematic, close attention to business, that so eminently fitted him for a successful Congressional career, were soon called into full exercise by the rapidly increasing requirements of professional pursuits, never wholly given up. There is a fascination in the strife of politics, its keen excitements, and its occasional, but always tempting brilliant triumphs, that, when once felt, few men are able to resist so completely s to return with relish to the comparatively tame and dull occupations of private life.

But to the calm and equable tem

perament of Mr. Fillmore, repose, after the stormy scenes in which he had been forced to take a leading part, was most grateful. He had ever regarded his profession with affection and pride, and he coveted more the just, fairly-won fame of the jurist, than the highest political distinction. He welcomed the toil, therefore, which a large practice in the higher courts imposed upon him, and was as remarkable for the thoroughness with which he prepared his legal arguments, as he was for patient, minute investigation of the dry and difficult subjects it was so often his duty to elucidate and defend in the House of Representatives.

In 1844, in obedience to a popular wish too strong to be resisted, he reluctantly accepted the Whig nomination for Governor. The issue of that conflict has become history, and though deeply pained at the result, he was only so in view of the national calamities that he foresaw would follow the defeat of the illustrious statesman and patriot, Henry Clay, who led the Whig host. For his own defeat, Mr. Fillmore had no regrets. He had no aspirations for the office, and with the failure of his election, he trusted would end any further demand upon him to serve in public life.

In 1847, a popular call, similar to that of '44, was again made upon him, to which he yielded a reluctant assent, and was elected Comptroller of the State, by a majority larger than had been given, to any State officer at any former election in many years. There were some peculiar causes that contributed to swell his majority at that election, but, independent of them, there can be no doubt that the general conviction of his eminent fitness for the office, would, under any circumstances of the opposing party, have given him a great and triumphant vote. That such evidence of the confidence and esteem of his fellowcitizens was gratifying to his feelings, cannot be doubted, but few can justly appreciate the sacrifices they impose. The duties of his present office could not be discharged without abandoning at once and foreverfor who ever regained a professional standing once lost?-a lucrative business which he had been years in acquiring, nor without severing all those social ties, and breaking up all those domestic arrangements,

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