|
"Where were the soldiers of the Revolution who were not natives? They were either already retired or else retiring to that great reckoning where discounts were not allowed. If the honorable gentleman (opposing the proposition) would point his finger to any such kind of person now living, he would agree to his being made an exception to the amendment. It was time that the American people should have a character of their own, and where would they find it? In New England and in Virginia only, because they were a homogeneous race—a peculiar people. They never yet appointed foreigners to sit in that house (of Congress) for them, or to fill their high offices. In both States this was their policy: it was not found in, nor was it owing to their paper constitutions, but what was better, it was interwoven in the frame of their thoughts and sentiments, in their steady habits, in their principles from the cradle—a much more solid security than could be found in any abracadabra which constitution-mongers could scrawl upon paper.
"It might be indiscreet in him to say it, for, to say the truth, he had as little of that rascally virtue, prudence, he apprehended, as any man, and could as little conceal what he felt as affect what he did not feel. He knew it was not the way for him to conciliate the manufacturing body, yet he would say that he wished with all his heart that his bootmaker, his hatter, and other manufacturers, would rather stay in Great Britain, under their own laws, than come here to make laws for us, and leave us to import our covering. We must have our clothing home-made, (said he,) but I would much rather have my workmen home-made, and import my clothing. Was it best to have our own unpolluted republic peopled with its own pure native republicans, or erect another Sheffield, another Manchester, and another Birmingham, upon the banks of the Schuylkill, the Delaware, and the Brandywine, or have a host of Luddites amongst us—wretches from whom every vestige of the human creation seemed to be effaced? Would they wish to have their elections on that floor decided by a rabble? What was the ruin of old Rome? Why, their opening their gates and letting in the rabble of the whole world to be their legislators!"
"If (said he) you wish to preserve among your fellow-citizens that exalted sense of freedom which gave birth to the Revolution—if you wish to keep alive among them the spirit of '76, you must endeavor to stop this flood of immigration! You must teach the people of Europe that if they do come here, all they must hope to receive is protection—but that they must have no share in the government. From such men a temporary party may receive precarious aid, but the country cannot be safe nor the people happy where they are introduced into government, or meddle with public concerns in any great degree."
* * * * *
"This (said Mr. Randolph) is a favorable time to make a stand against this evil (immigration,) and if not this session, he hoped that in the next there would be a revisal of the naturalization laws."
A few short epistles from the pen of Gen. WASHINGTON, and we will close this chapter. These we take from the "Papers of Washington by Sparks." George Washington, justly styled the "father of his country," was a great and good man—a primitive Know Nothing—a praying Protestant—and withal, the man who was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." Here are the honest sentiments of this man:
TO RICHARD HENRY LEE.
"MORRISTOWN, May 17, 1777.
"DEAR SIR:—I take the liberty to ask you what Congress expects I am to do with the many foreigners they have at different times promoted to the rank of field-officers, and, by the last resolve, two to that of colonels.... These men have no attachment nor ties to the country, further than interest binds them. Our officers think it exceedingly hard, after they have toiled in this service and have sustained many losses, to have strangers put over them, whose merit, perhaps, is not equal to their own, but whose effrontery will take no denial.... It is by the zeal and activity of our own people that the cause must be supported, and not by a few hungry adventurers....
"I am, &c.,
"G. WASHINGTON."
[Vol. IV., p. 423.]
* * * * *
TO THE SAME.
"MIDDLEBROOK, June 1, 1777.
"You will, before this can reach you, have seen Monsieur Ducoudray. What his real expectations are, I do not know; but I fear, if his appointment is equal to what I have been told is his expectation, it will be attended with unhappy consequences. To say nothing of the policy of intrusting a department, on the execution of which the salvation of the army depends, to a foreigner who has no other tie to bind him to the interests of this country than honor, I would beg leave to observe that by putting Mr. D. at the head of the artillery, you will lose a very valuable officer in General Knox, who is a man of great military reading, sound judgment, and clear conceptions, who will resign if any one is put over him.... I am, &c.,
"G. WASHINGTON."
[Vol. IV., p. 446.]
* * * * *
TO GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, ESQ.
"WHITE PLAINS, July 24, 1778.
"DEAR SIR:—The design of this is to touch cursorily upon a subject of very great importance to the well-being of these States: much more so than will appear at first view. I mean the appointment of so many foreigners to offices of high rank and trust in our service.
"The lavish manner in which rank has hitherto been bestowed on these gentlemen, will certainly be productive of one or the other of these two evils—either to make us despicable in the eyes of Europe, or become a means of pouring them in upon us like a torrent, and adding to our present burden.
"But it is neither the expense nor trouble of them that I dread: there is an evil more extensive in its nature and fatal in its consequences to be apprehended, and that is the driving of all our own officers out of the service, and throwing not only our army but our military councils entirely into the hands of foreigners.
"The officers, my dear sir, on whom you must depend for the defence of this cause, distinguished by length of service, their connections, property, and military merit, will not submit much, if any longer, to the unnatural promotion of men over them who have nothing more than a little plausibility, unbounded pride and ambition, and a perseverance in application not to be resisted but by uncommon firmness, to support their pretensions: men who, in the first instance, tell you they wish for nothing more than the honor of serving in so glorious a cause as volunteers, the next day solicit rank without pay, the day following want money advanced to them, and in the course of a week want further promotion, and are not satisfied with any thing you can do for them. The expediency and the policy of the measure remain to be considered, and whether it is consistent with justice or prudence to promote these military fortune-hunters at the hazard of your army.
"Baron Steuben, I now find, is also wanting to quit his inspectorship for a command in the line. This will be productive of much discontent to the brigadiers. In a word, although I think the Baron an excellent officer, I do most devoutly wish that we had not a single foreigner among us, except the Marquis de Lafayette, who acts upon very different principles from those which govern the rest. Adieu.
"I am most sincerely yours,
"G. WASHINGTON."
[Vol. VI., p. 13.]
* * * * *
TO JOHN ADAMS, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
"PHILADELPHIA, Nov. 27, 1794.
"DEAR SIR:—... My opinion with respect to immigration is, that except of useful mechanics and some particular description of men or professions, there is no need of encouragement. I am, &c.,
"G. WASHINGTON."
[Vol. XI., p. 1.]
* * * * *
TO J. Q. ADAMS, AMERICAN MINISTER AT BERLIN.
"MOUNT VERNON, Jan. 20, 1799.
"SIR:—... You know, my good sir, that it is not the policy of this country to employ aliens where it can well be avoided, either in the civil or military walks of life.... There is a species of self-importance in all foreign officers that cannot be gratified without doing injustice to meritorious characters among our own countrymen, who conceive, and justly, where there is no great preponderancy of experience or merit, that they are entitled to the occupancy of all offices in the gift of their government.
"I am, &c.,
"G. WASHINGTON."
[Vol. XI., p. 392.]
* * * * *
SAME DATE, TO A FOREIGNER APPLYING FOR OFFICE.
"DEAR SIR:—... It does not accord with the policy of this government to bestow offices, civil or military, upon foreigners, to the exclusion of our own citizens. Yours, &c.,
"G. WASHINGTON."
[Vol. XI., p. 392.]
* * * * *
INSTRUCTIONS OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR TO THE INSPECTOR-GENERAL.
"WAR DEPARTMENT, Feb. 4, 1799.
"... For the cavalry, for the regulations restrict the recruiting officers to engage none except natives for this corps, and those only as from their known character and fidelity may be trusted."
[From the Knoxville Whig for March, 1856.]
WHO IS MILLARD FILLMORE?
A Brief history of the American nominee for the Presidency is this: He was born in the year 1800, in Cayuga county, New York, and is now fifty-six years of age. His father was then, as he now is, a farmer, in moderate circumstances; and now lives in the county of Erie, a short distance from Buffalo. The limited means of the family prevented the old gentleman from giving his son Millard any other or better education than was obtained in the imperfect common schools of that age.
In his sixteenth year, Mr. Fillmore was placed with a merchant tailor near his home to learn that business. He remained four years in his apprenticeship, during which time he had access to a small library, improving the advantages it offered by perusing all the books therein contained. Judge Wood, of Cayuga county, pleased with his intellectual advancement, urged him to study the profession of the law; and as his poverty was the only obstacle in his way, Judge Wood advanced him the necessary means, relying upon his making a lawyer, and being able by the practice of the profession to refund the money again. With a portion of this money young Fillmore bought his unexpired time, which was for the winter, and he pursued his legal studies with energy and success, in the office of the noble Judge.
In 1822, he removed to Buffalo, where he was admitted to the bar. His object in removing to Buffalo was to complete his studies and to obtain a license. This accomplished, he removed to Aurora, not far from where his parents resided, and there commenced the practice of his profession. The confidence of his neighbors in his integrity and abilities was such that he found himself in the midst of a lucrative practice at once. In 1826, he was married to Miss Powers, the daughter of a clergyman in the village of Aurora, and this excellent woman lived to see him elected Vice-President of the United States.
In 1829, Mr. Fillmore was elected from the county in which he married and where his parents lived to the General Assembly of New York, and for three years continued a member of this body, distinguishing himself by his energy, tact, and wisdom in legislation. Through his energy and speeches, Imprisonment for Debt was abolished, and this so increased his popularity throughout the State, that it was apparent that he could be elected to any office in the gift of the people of that State.
In 1829, he was admitted a counsellor in the Supreme Court of New York, and in 1832 he removed to Buffalo, where he settled permanently and enlarged his practice as an attorney. In 1832, he was elected a representative in the 23d Congress, in which he served with industry and credit to himself and his district. At the end of his term he renewed the practice of the law, of choice, but, in 1836, was prevailed on to again serve his district in Congress; and in the celebrated New Jersey contested elections, distinguished himself. He was chosen to the next Congress by the largest majority ever given to any man in the district; and as Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, acquired a reputation that any man might be proud of.
At the close of the 27th Congress, his friends were anxious for his continuance in public life, but he declined. And in his address to his constituents, dated at Washington, July 11th, 1842, he says:
"Pardon the personal vanity, though it be a weakness, that induces me to recur for a moment to the cherished recollections of your early friendship and abiding confidence. I cannot give vent to the feelings of my heart without it. It is now nearly fourteen years since you did me the unsolicited honor to nominate me to represent you in the State Legislature. Seven times have I received renewed evidence of your confidence by as many elections, and, at the expiration of my present term, I shall have served you three years in the State and eight years in the National Councils. I cannot recall the thousand acts of generous devotion from so many friends, without feeling the deepest emotions of gratitude. I came among you a poor and friendless boy. You kindly took me by the hand and gave me your confidence and support. You have conferred upon me distinction and honors, for which I could make no adequate return, but by honest and untiring effort faithfully to discharge the high trust which you confided to my keeping. If my humble efforts have met your approbation, I freely admit, next to the approval of my own conscience, it is the highest reward which I could receive for days of unceasing toil and nights of sleepless anxiety. I profess not to be above or below the common frailties of our nature. I will therefore not disguise the fact, that I was highly gratified at my first election to Congress; yet I can truly say that my utmost ambition has been gratified. I aspire to nothing more, and shall retire from the exciting scenes of political strife to the quiet employments of my family and fireside, with still more satisfaction than I felt when first elevated to distinguished station."
During this same year he returned to the practice of his profession, and, in 1844, the Whig State Convention of New York put him in nomination for the office of Governor, in opposition to Silas Wright. This was the only conflict in which he ever suffered defeat, and the race was close. In 1847, without seeking or desiring the highly responsible office, he was elected Comptroller of the Finances of the State, and removed to Albany, where he discharged the duties of the office with great credit to himself and usefulness to the State, resigning the office in February, 1849, to enter upon the duties of the office of Vice-President, to which he had been called by the election in 1848. Gen. Taylor dying, he became President, and every patriot in the land remembers and admires the history of his administration. Gen. Cass and other distinguished Democrats said his career had been one of genuine patriotism, honor, and usefulness; and Gov. Wise, upon the stump in Virginia, characterized it as "Washington-like;" while the Democratic papers and orators, from Maine to California, declared that he ought to have been nominated in lieu of Gen. Scott, because he was one of the best men in America.
He is now in Europe, familiarizing himself with the workings of the despotic governments of that country. Before leaving, almost one year ago, he told his friends, in answer to questions relating to the presidency, not to start any newspapers for his benefit—not to publish any documents—not to make any speeches, or even electioneer—and added, that if the American people nominated him, of their own free will and accord, he would accept their nomination, and if elected, he would serve them to the best of his abilities. His nomination, therefore, under the circumstances, is a great honor, and shows the implicit confidence the real people have in the integrity, patriotism, and qualifications of the man. That he will go into the presidential chair almost by acclamation, we have not the shadow of doubt.
As to Mr. Fillmore's chances, we consider them excellent, and growing brighter every day. The indications are now very clear that he will obtain a plurality, if not a majority vote, in most of the Northern States; and under the most unfavorable circumstances, he will be sure to divide the electoral vote of the South, so as to carry more States than MR. BUCHANAN. Virginia, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama, are the only four States we concede to the Cincinnati nominee and one of these, we confidently expect to carry. Georgia and Arkansas we set down as doubtful, and we contend that Buchanan can't get either of them without a severe struggle.
We then make this estimate, and claim as certain for FILLMORE and DONELSON the following States, viz.:
Massachusetts 13 Rhode Island 4 New York 35 New Jersey 7 Pennsylvania 27 Maryland 8 Kentucky 12 Tennessee 12 North Carolina 10 Louisiana 6 Missouri 9 California 4 Delaware 3 Florida 3
This makes a total of 157—eleven, more than is necessary to an election. This is not an extravagant, but a very fair estimate. The friends of the American ticket have a right to feel encouraged. With proper exertions our ticket will carry. Let every American consider himself a sentinel upon the watch-tower—let every friend of the party do his duty, and the result will not be doubtful. And let all who believe that "Americans ought to rule America," take courage—"the skies are bright and brightening."
As it regards MR. FILLMORE'S Americanism, that is settled—he has been a Protestant American fifteen years in advance of the party, as it now exists. The Hon. J. T. HEADLEY, Secretary of State of New York, delivered a speech at the Capital of his State, March 7th, 1856, in which he spoke of Mr. Fillmore in the following language:
"Now, in the first place, he was an American years before those who denounce him ever thought of Americanism. The Police constable of Newburg elected last year on the American ticket, told me, that years ago, when that well-known conflict occurred between the citizens of Buffalo and the foreign population, that a combination was formed called the "American League." The members of this League entered into a solemn compact to stand together and fight together for the rights of Americans. This constable was at the time an humble mechanic in Buffalo, and he said that he constantly met Mr. Fillmore (who was a member of that League with him) at the Council Room. Thus you see that those who would arrogate to themselves the title of Americans, and yet carp at Mr. Fillmore as wanting in American sentiment, are really recent volunteers compared with him. Mr. Fillmore carried his American principles still farther and became (so an officer in the same order informs me) a member of the United Americans. He has always been a true American, he is now, and ever will be, and is worthy to move at the head of the glorious column over which floats the flag bearing the inscription, 'Americans shall rule America.'"
After the defeat of MR. CLAY, in 1844, MR. FILLMORE addressed him this noble American letter:
"BUFFALO, Nov. 14, 1844.
"MY DEAR SIR:—I have thought for three or four days that I would write to you, but really I am unmanned. I have no courage or resolution. All is gone. The last hope, which hung first upon the city of New York, and then upon Virginia, is finally dissipated, and I see nothing but despair depicted upon every countenance.
"For myself, I have no regrets. I was nominated for Governor much against my will, and though not insensible to the pride of success, yet I feel a kind of relief at being defeated. But not so for you or the nation. Every consideration of justice, every feeling of gratitude conspired in the minds of honest men to insure your election, and though always doubtful of my own success, I could never doubt yours, till the painful conviction was forced upon me.
"The Abolitionists and Foreign Catholics have defeated us in this State. I will not trust myself to speak of the vile hypocrisy of the leading Abolitionists now. Doubtless many acted honestly and ignorantly in what they did. But it is clear that Birney and his associates sold themselves to Locofocoism, and they will doubtless receive their reward.
"Our opponents, by pointing to the Native Americans and to Mr. Frelinghuysen, drove the Foreign Catholics from us and defeated us in this State.
"But it is vain to look at the causes by which this infamous result has been produced. It is enough to say that all is gone. I must confess that nothing has happened to shake my confidence in our ability to sustain a free government so much as this.
"MILLARD FILLMORE."
But here is one other letter, written to ISAAC NEWTON, just before MR. FILLMORE left the United States for Europe. A more patriotic letter, breathing more of the genuine American spirit, we have never met with:
"BUFFALO, N. Y., Jan. 3, 1855.
"RESPECTED FRIEND ISAAC NEWTON:—It would give me great pleasure to accept your kind invitation to visit Philadelphia, if it were possible to make my visit private, and limit it to a few personal friends whom I should be most happy to see; but I know that this would be out of my power, and I am therefore reluctantly compelled to decline your invitation, as I have done others to New York and Boston, for the same reason.
"I return you many thanks for your information on the subject of politics. I am always happy to hear what is going forward, but, independent of the fact that I feel myself withdrawn from the political arena, I have been too much depressed in spirit to take an active part in the late elections. I contented myself with giving a silent vote for Mr. Ullman, for Governor.
"While, however, I am an inactive observer of public events, I am by no means an indifferent one, and I may say to you in the frankness of private friendship, that I have for a long time looked with dread and apprehension at the corrupting influence which the contest for the foreign vote is exerting upon our elections. This seems to result from its being banded together, and subject to the control of a few interested and selfish leaders. Hence it has been a subject of bargain and sale, and each of the great political parties of the country have been bidding to obtain it, and, as usual in all such contests, the party which is most corrupt is most successful. The consequence is, that it is fast demoralizing the whole country; corrupting the very fountains of political power; and converting the ballot-box—that great palladium of our liberty—into an unmeaning mockery, where the rights of native-born citizens are voted away by those who blindly follow their mercenary and selfish leaders. The evidence of this is found not merely in the shameless chaffering for the foreign vote at every election, but in the large disproportion of offices which are now held by foreigners at home and abroad, as compared with our native citizens. Where is the true-hearted American whose cheek does not tingle with shame and mortification to see our highest and most coveted foreign missions filled by men of foreign birth to the exclusion of native-born? Such appointments are a humiliating confession to the crowned heads of Europe that a Republican soil does not produce sufficient talent to represent a Republican nation at a monarchical court. I confess that it seems to me—with all due respect to others—that, as a general rule, our country should be governed by American-born citizens. Let us give to the oppressed of every country an asylum and a home in our happy land, give to all the benefits of equal laws, and equal protection; but let us at the same time cherish, as the apple of our eye, the great principles of constitutional liberty, which few who have not had the good fortune to be reared in a free country know how to appreciate and still less how to preserve.
"Washington, in that inestimable legacy which he left to his country—his farewell address—has wisely warned us to beware of foreign influence as the most baneful foe of a republican government. He saw it to be sure in a different light from that in which it now presents itself; but he knew it would approach us in all forms, and hence he cautioned us against the insidious wiles of its influence. Therefore, as well for our own sakes, to whom this invaluable inheritance of self-government has been left by our forefathers, as for the sake of unborn millions who are to inherit this land—foreign and native—let us take warning of the Father of his Country, and do what we can justly to preserve our institutions from corruption and our country from dishonor, but let this be done by the people themselves in their sovereign capacity by making a proper discrimination in the selection of officers, and not by depriving any individual—native or foreign-born—of any constitutional or legal right to which he is entitled.
"These are my sentiments in brief; and although I have sometimes almost despaired of my country when I have witnessed the rapid strides of corruption, yet I think I perceive a gleam of hope in the future, and I now feel confident, that when the great mass of intelligence in this enlightened country is once fully aroused, and the danger manifested, it will fearlessly apply the remedy, and bring back the government to the pure days of Washington's administration. Finally, let us adopt the old Roman motto, 'Never despair of the Republic.' Let us do our duty, and trust in that Providence which has so signally watched over and preserved us for the result. But I have said more than I intended, and much more than I should have said to any one but a trusted friend, as I have no desire to mingle in political strife.
"Remember me kindly to your family, and believe me truly your friend,
"MILLARD FILLMORE."
In March, 1851, LEWIS CASS, than whom there is not a more devoted partisan in the Democratic ranks, delivered a speech on the floor of the United States Senate, in the course of which he paid the following just compliment to Mr. Fillmore's integrity, and to his efficiency in "pacifying the country," while he was President. We quote from the Congressional Globe, and hold it up as a withering rebuke to those "lesser lights" of Democracy, who are now defaming this pure and patriotic statesman:
"The Administration has placed itself high in the great work of pacifying the country, and they received the meed of approbation from political friends and political foes. I partake of the same sentiment. I do them justice. But I am a Democrat, and, God willing, I mean to die one. This is a Whig administration, but there is no reason I should not do them justice; and I do it with pleasure, in this great matter of the salvation of this country—if I may say so. I have done so; shall continue to do so, whatever sneers their papers may contain; for I do it not for their sake, but for the sake of their country."
The Democratic Review—the highest Democratic authority in the United States—for December, 1855, commenting upon the Compromise Measures of 1850, thus spoke of Mr. Fillmore, in a moment of candor, long before Mr. Fillmore was nominated by the American party for the Presidency:
"Momentous events were transpiring. The agitation of the question of slavery was paramount in the public mind. In this crisis, it was well that so reliable a man as Mr. Fillmore was found in the Presidential chair. The safety and perpetuity of the Union were threatened. Already had fanaticism raised its hydra-head. Schemes and 'isms' leaped from a thousand ambuscades. The enemies of the Union started forth on every side—Abolitionism here; secessionism there; acquisition and filibusterism elsewhere. These were the formidable elements of misrule with which the Executive had to cope. How well he met, and how entirely he for the time overcame these enemies of the peace of the republic, we leave the historian to relate; but our retrospect would be incomplete and disingenuous, did we not accord the meed of praise justly due to high moral excellence and intellectual and administrative honesty and talent, as developed in the administration of Mr. Fillmore."
Since the foregoing was prepared for the press, Mr. Fillmore's letter of acceptance has come to hand, greatly to the annoyance of the Democratic and anti-American fuglemen and politicians. We congratulate the country upon the patriotic, national, and truly American spirit which pervades this chaste and well-written document. It is just what we expected from one of the very first men in the Nation. His reference to his past course as a guaranty for the future is well-timed. Sectional legislation he is opposed to; and sectional agitation he will use his influence to suppress. We ask every man into whose hands this work shall fall, to read this admirable letter for himself: it is worthy of the man and the times; nay, it is the letter of a patriot and a statesman—
"Who for his country feels alone, And loves her weal, beyond his own."
[COPY.]
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 26th, 1856.
To the Hon. Millard Fillmore:
SIR:—The National Convention of the American party, which has just closed its session in this city, has unanimously chosen you as the candidate for the Presidency of the United States in the election to be held in November next. It has associated with you Andrew Jackson Donelson, Esq., of Tennessee, as the candidate for the Vice-Presidency.
The Convention has charged the undersigned with the agreeable duty of communicating these proceedings to you, and of asking your acceptance of a nomination which will receive not only the cordial support of the great national party in whose name it is made, but the approbation also of large numbers of other enlightened friends of the Constitution and the Union, who will rejoice in the opportunity to testify their grateful appreciation of your faithful service in the past, and their confidence in your experience and integrity for the guidance of the future.
The undersigned take advantage of this occasion to tender to you the expression of their own gratification in the proceedings of the Convention, and to assure you of the high consideration with which they are yours, &c.
ALEXANDER H. H. STUART, ANDREW STEWART, ERASTUS BROOKS, E. B. BARTLETT, WM. J. EAMES, EPHRAIM MARSH.
Committee, &c.
PARIS, May 21st, 1856.
GENTLEMEN:—I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter informing me that the National Convention of the American party, which had just closed its session at Philadelphia, had unanimously presented my name for the Presidency of the United States, and associated with it that of Andrew Jackson Donelson for the Vice-Presidency. This unexpected communication met me at Venice on my return from Italy, and the duplicate, mailed thirteen days later, was received on my arrival in this city last evening. This must account for my apparent neglect in giving a more prompt reply.
You will pardon me for saying that when my administration closed in 1853, I considered my political life as a public man at an end, and thenceforth I was only anxious to discharge my duty as a private citizen. Hence I have taken no active part in politics. But I have by no means been an indifferent spectator of passing events; nor have I hesitated to express my opinion on all political subjects when asked; nor to give my vote and private influence for those men and measures I thought best calculated to promote the prosperity and glory of our common country. Beyond this I deemed it improper for me to interfere. But this unsolicited and unexpected nomination has imposed upon me a new duty, from which I cannot shrink; and therefore, approving, as I do, of the general objects of the party which has honored me with its confidence, I cheerfully accept its nomination, without waiting to inquire of its prospects of success or defeat. It is sufficient for me to know that by so doing I yield to the wishes of a large portion of my fellow-citizens in every part of the Union, who, like myself, are sincerely anxious to see the administration of our government restored to that original simplicity and purity which marked the first years of its existence; and, if possible, to quiet that alarming sectional agitation, which, while it delights the Monarchists of Europe, causes every true friend of our own country to mourn.
Having the experience of past service in the administration of the Government, I may be permitted to refer to that as the exponent of the future, and to say, should the choice of the Convention be sanctioned by the people, I shall, with the same scrupulous regard for the rights of every section of the Union which then influenced my conduct, endeavor to perform every duty confided by the Constitution and laws to the Executive.
As the proceedings of this Convention have marked a new era in the history of the country, by bringing a new political organization into the approaching Presidential canvass, I take the occasion to reaffirm my full confidence in the patriotic purposes of that organization, which I regard as springing out of a public necessity, forced upon the country, to a large extent, by unfortunate sectional divisions, and the dangerous tendency of those divisions towards disunion. It alone, in my opinion, of all the political agencies now existing, is possessed of the power to silence this violent and disastrous agitation, and to restore harmony by its own example of moderation and forbearance. It has a claim, therefore, in my judgment, upon every earnest friend of the integrity of the Union.
So estimating this party, both in its present position and future destiny, I freely adopt its great leading principles as announced in the recent declaration of the National Council at Philadelphia, a copy of which you were so kind as to enclose me, holding them to be just and liberal to every true interest of the country, and wisely adapted to the establishment and support of an enlightened, safe, and effective American policy, in full accord with the ideas and the hopes of the fathers of our Republic.
I expect shortly to sail for America; and, with the blessings of Divine Providence, hope soon to tread my native soil. My opportunity of comparing my own country and the condition of its people with those of Europe, has only served to increase my admiration and love for our own blessed land of liberty, and I shall return to it without even a desire ever to cross the Atlantic again.
I beg of you, gentlemen, to accept my thanks for the very flattering manner in which you have been pleased to communicate the results of the action of that enlightened and patriotic body of men who composed the late Convention, and to be assured that
I am, with profound respect and esteem,
Your friend and fellow-citizen,
MILLARD FILLMORE.
Messrs. Alex. H. H. Stuart, Andrew Stewart, Erastus Brooks, E. B. Bartlett, Wm. J. Eames, Ephraim Marsh, Committee.
WHO IS ANDREW J. DONELSON?
This gentleman being now the nominee of the American party for the office of Vice-President, naturally attracts much of public attention; and as a matter to be looked for, and not at all to be regretted, draws down upon him great abuse and slander from the hireling editors of the corrupt party opposing him. We will let a neighbor of Major Donelson, who has had access to his papers, and who has prepared and published in the Nashville Banner a sketch of his life, answer the question propounded at the head of this chapter:
"MR. DONELSON is the second son of Samuel Donelson, deceased, who was the brother of the late Mrs. Jackson. His eldest brother died in 1817, soon after the Creek War, in which he participated as a soldier under General Jackson. His death was announced to Mr. Donelson by General Jackson in the following terms: 'Whilst we regret his loss, he has left us the endearing recollection that there was not a stain upon his character. He has performed his duty here below, and has taken his flight to realms above, as unspotted as an angel. What a lesson he has given us! How delightful to dwell upon the idea that he has walked in the paths of virtue during his whole life, without a blemish on his character, and that all his friends may recount his acts with pride and pleasure!' The younger brother is still living in the paternal mansion, and was a member of the last Legislature of Tennessee. The mother of these children afterwards married Mr. James Sanders, of Sumner county, Tennessee, and is still enjoying good health. She is the only daughter of Gen. Daniel Smith, who was one of the surveyors of the line between Virginia and North Carolina, and succeeded Gen. Jackson in the Senate of the United States.
"General Smith had an important agency in shaping the early history of Tennessee—having represented a portion of the people in the North Carolina Legislature, and in the Convention which ratified the Constitution of the United States. He was also Secretary of the Territory, and a member of the Convention of 1796. He was a native of Virginia, and emigrated to Tennessee soon after he had surveyed the line between that State and North Carolina, having, while in the execution of that service, seen the fine lands in Middle Tennessee. He settled the lands upon which his grandson, Henry Smith, now resides; and built the mansion, which is still there, at a period when the men engaged in quarrying the rock had to be guarded from the attacks of the Indians.
"The father of Samuel Donelson, Col. John Donelson, was also a native of Virginia, and at onetime a Representative of one of her oldest counties, Pittsylvania, in the House of Burgesses. He possessed in an eminent degree the respect of the Provincial Governor of that Commonwealth, from whom he received the appointment of Indian Commissioner about the year 1770; and it is to his bold and enterprising spirit that we are in a great measure indebted for the Indian Treaties which extended the settlements of Virginia through Kentucky to the Ohio river. He left Port Patrick Henry in 1779, descending the Tennessee river with all his family, in boats built on the Holston, and came up the Cumberland in those boats as high as the Clover Bottom, encountering incredible toils and dangers. Three years afterwards, in 1793, in conjunction with Col. Martin, he concluded an Indian Treaty, by which the settlements on the Cumberland river were greatly benefited; but he had, previously to his departure from Virginia, under a contract with Georgia, explored the country, and run the line between that State and North Carolina, as far west as the Mississippi river. After settling his family near the present site of the Hermitage, he was killed by the Indians, on a journey to Kentucky, near the Big Barren River, at the advanced age of 75.
"Samuel Donelson was a lawyer by profession, and the intimate friend and associate of Gen. Jackson, after whom he named his son Andrew, who was born on the 25th of August, 1800. On the second marriage of his mother, this son was taken into the family of the General, who became his guardian and patron; and he remained the most of his time with him until he was prepared to enter the Cumberland College. After finishing his studies at this school, Gen. Jackson obtained for him a Cadet's warrant, which enabled him to enter the Military Academy at West Point, in 1816. He was one of the first class which was graduated under the superintendence of Col. Thayer—finishing the course of studies in three, instead of four years; as is customary. Throughout his service at West Point, he was distinguished for his proficiency in mathematics, and for the facility with which he mastered all the studies which appertain to military science. No higher proof need be adduced of this fact, than the position assigned to him by the Board of Examiners and Visitors, when he graduated. He was placed No. 2, in a class of great merit, notwithstanding he had the studies of two years to pass through in one year, and was recommended to the Department of War for a commission in the Engineer Corps—a compliment accorded only to the most distinguished of the class.
"After obtaining his commission, Mr. Donelson was ordered to the Western frontier to build a fort; but before he reached this destination, the War Department, on the application of Gen. Jackson, allowed him to accept the appointment of Aide-de-camp in the staff of the General. In this capacity he attended the General when he took possession of the Floridas, and remained with him until the latter resigned his commission in the army.
"At this period, Mr. Donelson seeing no prospect for rapid promotion in the corps of Engineers, and sharing the conviction then so prevalent in the army, that the conclusion of the war with England had shut the door for a long time to come against those military enterprises which are so tempting to the officer and soldier, and feeling also that he could be more useful in the pursuits of civil life, turned his attention to the study of law. He accordingly resigned his commission; and after attending the course of law lectures in the Transylvania University, then under the presidency of Dr. Holly, he received his license, and appeared at the Nashville bar in 1823, having formed a partnership with Mr. Duncan. Circumstances, however, soon occurred, which withdrew him in a great degree from the practice. General Jackson was again in the field as a candidate for the Presidency, and needed the services of a confidential friend to aid him in repelling the bitter assaults which were made upon his character and services. Animated by a deep sense of gratitude, no duty could be more pleasing to Mr. Donelson than that of contributing his labor to advance the great popular movement which aimed, by the elevation of his benefactor and friend, to promote the highest interests of the country. He therefore cheerfully entered again into the General's family, and travelled with him to Washington City after the elections in 1824. Those elections devolved the choice of President upon the House of Representatives. Mr. Adams was the successful candidate, although Gen. Jackson had a much larger popular vote, and was evidently the favorite of the people.
"As is well known to the country, the result of that election gave increased force to the sentiment which had placed Gen. Jackson in nomination. The efforts of his friends throughout the Union became more active, and were never abated until the decision of the House of Representatives in 1824 was reversed, and Gen. Jackson placed in the Presidential chair. During these four years, Mr. Donelson, who had married in 1824, settled upon his plantation adjoining the Hermitage, and continued there to promote the cause he had espoused so warmly in the beginning.
"When the elections of 1828 were over, Gen. Jackson insisted upon the acceptance by Mr. Donelson of the post of private Secretary. Mr. D. accordingly set out with him in the winter of 1828 for the city of Washington, taking with him his wife, whom he had married in 1824. This lady was the youngest daughter of Capt. John Donelson, and was invited by Gen. Jackson to do the honors of the White House—a position which she held throughout the greater portion of his Presidency.
"It was in this capacity that Mr. Donelson endeared himself still more than ever to the Hero of the Hermitage. He spent the prime of his life, from 1828 to 1836, in his service, and he felt himself amply rewarded by the knowledge he thus acquired of public men and measures.
"At the close of Gen. Jackson's Presidency, Mr. Donelson declined to take office under Mr. Van Buren, being anxious for a respite from public affairs, and to enjoy the pleasures of his farm; upon which he remained until he was called unexpectedly to take a part in the negotiation which brought Texas into our Union. It was upon this theatre that he displayed the judgment and tact which brought him prominently before the country as a man that understood the public interests, and knew how to take care of them.
"The commission appointing Mr. Donelson Minister to Texas is dated the 16th of September, 1844. Mr. Calhoun, then Secretary of State, in the letter enclosing the commission, says:
"'The state of things in Texas is such as to require that the place (Charge d'Affaires) should be filled without delay, and to select him who, under all circumstances, may be thought best calculated to bring to a successful decision the great question of annexation pending before the two countries. After full deliberation, you have been selected as that individual; and I do trust, my dear sir, that you will not decline the appointment, however great may be the personal sacrifice of accepting. That great question must be decided in the next three or four months; and whether it shall be favorable or not, will depend on him who shall fill the mission now tendered you. I need not tell you how much depends on its decision for weal or woe to our country, and perhaps the whole continent. It is sufficient to say that, viewed in all its consequences, it is one of the first magnitude; and that it gives an importance to the mission at this time, that raises it to the level with the highest in the gift of the Government.
"Assuming, therefore, that you will not decline the appointment, unless some insuperable difficulty should interpose, and in order to avoid delay, a commission is herewith transmitted, without the formality of waiting your acceptance, with all the necessary papers.'"
President Polk, after this, confided an important and most critical foreign negotiation to Major Donelson; and his estimate of the prudence, discretion, and ability with which Major Donelson discharged his trust, appears from a letter to Major D. from the Hon. John Y. Mason, President Polk's Secretary of War, dated August 7th, 1845. From that letter, complimentary from beginning to end, we copy only this portion:
"The services which you have rendered your country in the delicate negotiations intrusted to you, are justly appreciated. Your prudence, discretion, and ability have inspired the President with a confidence which would make him feel much more at ease if that delicate task could be in your hands.
"It gives me great pleasure to assure you that the publication of your official correspondence will give you a most enviable reputation for the highest qualities of a statesman and diplomatist.
"The President unites in the kindest regards, with your friend,
"J. Y. MASON."
PRESIDENT PIERCE'S opinion of Major Donelson may be learned from the following letter, written by him to the Major when the latter was the editor of the Washington Union, the National Organ of the Democratic party:
"CONCORD, May 30, 1851.
"MY DEAR SIR: I rejoice that the leading organ of our party is now under your control, and regard the change as most auspicious at this juncture. There is a great battle before us—a battle for the Union—a battle for the ascendency of the principles, the maintenance of which so nobly signalized the administration of General Jackson. THE TONE, VIGOR, AND STATESMANLIKE GRASP which you have brought to the columns of the Union are not merely important, they are ABSOLUTELY INDISPENSABLE in this crisis.
"With great respect, your friend and servant,
"FRANK. PIERCE."
The following article is from the Nashville Union, of October 15, 1844, the Tennessee Organ of Democracy, published within a few miles of where Major Donelson lives, and has passed most of his life. This article shows what opinion was entertained of him before he became a Know-Nothing:
"The diplomatic agency of this government in Texas is, at this moment, the most important mission abroad; although it ranks with those of the second class, its high and important duties require the talents of one every way qualified for the first foreign mission on the globe.
"We congratulate the administration on having been able to secure the services of one so eminently qualified in all respects for the station, whose thorough knowledge of the relations subsisting between the two countries, and whose intimate acquaintance with the prominent statesmen of this and that government, will place him in the enjoyment of advantages which cannot fail to secure to us the most desirable results.
"Major Donelson leaves his plantation near the Hermitage to-day—proceeding overland to the Mississippi river on his way to the Texan Capital—and we cannot but participate in the painful emotions with which the word 'farewell' will be exchanged between himself and his venerable patron, friend, and relative, 'The Sage of the Hermitage.'
"In view of the advanced age of General Jackson, it is more than probable that they may never meet again. A relationship next to that of father and son, if, indeed, it be not equally near and dear, will be severed perhaps for ever. And we feel assured that nothing short of a sense of DUTY TO HIS COUNTRY could have induced an acceptance of the mission. Nor, for this patriotic reason, would the aged veteran advise him to decline it.
"Major D. leaves a host of good and true friends, who will continue to have an abiding solicitude for his health and happiness, and for his early and complete success in 'extending the area of freedom.'"
Mr. Clayton, Secretary of State under Gen. Taylor, wrote to Major Donelson, announcing the expiration of the diplomatic relations between the United States and Germany, (where the Major was stationed,) and closed with the following complimentary expressions:
"I am directed by the President to express to you his entire approbation of your conduct, and I cannot take leave of you in your public character without adding my testimony to that of the President to the ability and faithfulness with which you have discharged the arduous and delicate duties which your mission imposed upon you.
"JOHN M. CLAYTON."
The Democratic party having always boasted that Gen. Jackson was unsurpassed in his keen and unerring insight into the characters of men, we must be permitted to call their attention to a clause in the Last Will and Testament of Gen. Jackson, as recorded in the county of Davidson. This clause sets forth the estimate placed upon Mr. Donelson by the old General, after this fashion:
"HERMITAGE, June 7, 1843.
... "I bequeath to my well-beloved nephew, Andrew J. Donelson, son of Samuel Donelson, deceased, the elegant sword presented to me by the State of Tennessee, with this injunction, that he fail not to use it when necessary in support and protection of our glorious Union, and for the protection of the constitutional rights of our beloved country, should they be assailed by foreign enemies or domestic traitors. This, from the great change in my worldly affairs of late, is, with my blessing, all that I can bequeath him, doing justice to those creditors to whom I am responsible. This bequest is made as a memento of the high regard, affection, and esteem I bear for him as a high-minded, honest, and honorable man."
And now, to show that Gen. Jackson had not changed his opinion of the Major, we give about the last epistle he ever wrote to him, as it bears date but a few days previous to his death:
"HERMITAGE, May 24, 1845.
"MY DEAR ANDREW: I received last night your affectionate letter of the 15th inst., with the enclosed for your dear Elizabeth, which I sent forthwith, and your kind letter of the 13th this morning. Your family were here yesterday. All well, but looking out for you hourly. I assured Elizabeth that you could not leave your mission before the Texan Congress acted upon the subject with which you were charged. I shall admonish her to be patient and await your return, which will be the moment your honor and duty will permit.
* * * * *
"My dear Andrew:—What may be my fate God only knows. I am greatly afflicted—suffer much, and it will be almost a miracle if I shall survive my present attack. I am swollen from the toes to the crown of the head, and in bandages to my hips.
"How far my God may think proper to bear me up under my weight of afflictions, he only knows. But, my dear Major, live or die, you have my blessing and prayers for your welfare and happiness in this world, and that we may meet in a blissful immortality.
"Your affectionate uncle,
"ANDREW JACKSON."
While editor of the Washington Union, Major Donelson frankly admitted, in his account of the election in Tennessee, between Gov. Campbell and Gen. Trousdale, that the latter owed his defeat to his opposition to the Compromise measures, and his sympathies with the Disunionists. In the Hartford Convention held in Nashville, the Major appeared in person, and denounced the whole concern as a blow at the Union, and its prime movers and advocates as traitors to their country and to the Constitution. These Secession Democrats, headed by A. V. Brown, Eastman & Co., are uncompromising in their hatred of the Major, and they never will forgive him, while he remains true to the Union of these States, and the Constitution as it is, which will be to the latest hour of his earthly existence! Had he never opposed the treasonable designs of the Nashville Convention—and had he not advocated the doctrines of the American party, these same men would now be loud in his praise, as the relative, the political student, and the successor of the Sage of the Hermitage!
[From the Knoxville Whig of June 14, 1856.]
BUCHANAN NOMINATED AT CINCINNATI.—DISPERSION OF FALSTAFF'S ARMY!
The Cincinnati Anti-American, Anti-Protestant, Foreign Catholic, Locofoco Pow Wow, has met—transacted its appropriate business—nominated old Federal James Buchanan, of Pennsylvania, for the Presidency, and Robert C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, for the Vice Presidency—and dispersed: dealing largely in the old game of brag, as to the nationality, soundness, and ability of their ticket; when it is notorious, that they have at the head of their ticket one of the most vulnerable men in the nation; an old political hack, who has been "every thing by turns and nothing long;" advocating and opposing all the leading measures which have agitated the country for the last forty years, as we shall show in the sequel!
They had an awful time at Cincinnati! They organized by calling to the chair, temporarily, the notorious Sam'l. Medary, the Abolition editor of the Ohio Statesman. Either the anti-slavery forces were in the majority, or the "odds and ends" of all parties represented in the Convention desired to conciliate the Abolition and Black Republican wings of their Foreign Corporation!
The Missouri Delegation were refused their seats, and they openly rebelled, forcing their way into the Convention with clubs, knocking down and cruelly mangling the head and shoulders of the poor doorkeeper! From this, it would seem that they were doing business with closed doors! Wonder if they had a password! Had they "signs and grips," other than those by which they made themselves known to the doorkeeper?
Did they carry with them "dark-lanterns?" Not they—they are opposed to all secrecy—they are opposed to all disorderly conduct—they are the "harmonious Democracy," and labor alone for the good of the country, and of posterity! What a farce their Cincinnati Convention was! And what hypocrites they are!
But two full sets of Delegates appeared from New York, and claimed their seats; these were Hards and Softs—Pierce and anti-Pierce—Nebraska and anti-Nebraska—pro-Slavery and anti-Slavery, Filibustering Foreign Catholic Democrats! Being unable to agree among themselves, and the Convention not wishing to offend either of these wings of the "great Harmonious Democratic Party," they rejected both delegations! This was having a bad effect, as a portion of each delegation was out of doors cursing the majority, and making threats as to what they would do. So the Convention reconsidered their cases, and ADMITTED BOTH DELEGATIONS TO SEATS. They then progressed "harmoniously," much after the style of a rickety old cart on a hill-side, drawn by a balky horse, whose driver curses him when at fault, and curses him when faultless.
Frequently the scenes of confusion and excitement were alike disgusting and alarming. The friends of Douglass, Pierce, and Buchanan, were alike bitter, and each disposed to ruin the party if they should fail to get their man nominated. The anti-slavery portion of the Convention were much incensed against the South for the "lam-basting" given to Senator Sumner by Representative Brooks, for words spoken in debate. One of Buchanan's men boasted that the assault of Brooks on Sumner had gained twenty votes for "Old Buck!" And others of the Buchanan wing, out of doors, were stating that they had reliable evidence that "Old Buck" did not approve the assault, while Pierce and Douglass did! We have no doubt that this sort of influence, added to Buchanan's known hostility to slavery, secured for him the nomination. And, as if desirous to atone for the sin against the South of nominating an old Anti-Slavery Federalist, they came into a Southern State, Kentucky, and selected a young and inexperienced politician, Mr. Robert C. Breckenridge, for the Vice Presidency. As Breckenridge is brave, and has challenged his man for a duel, they can now turn about and appeal to the Church-going folks to sustain their ticket for what they implored them to repudiate the Whig ticket in 1844! Besides, Breckenridge approves the basting of Sumner by Brooks, and this will offset Buchanan's opposition to that Southern Democratic measure! Breckenridge has another virtue, which aided in securing his nomination. Though the nephew of those able Know-Nothing Presbyterian Preachers of that State, he has the independence to come out in opposition to them, and the insulting claims set up by Protestants generally, and to advocate and defend the Roman Catholics.
The "rich and racy" scenes that came off in the Convention, we will leave our several friends from Nashville, who were there as reporters in the Convention for the American papers, to set forth. With more truth than poetry, the "unterrified Democracy" convened at Cincinnati can say, "Our army swore terribly in Flanders!" And how could it have been otherwise? The Convention was large—composed of several hundred delegates, drawn together from all sections of the country, East, West, North, and South—"held together by the cohesive power of public plunder"—and representing every variety and shade of opinion known and held under the much abused but comprehensive name of Democracy! Nor was the moral and personal character of the Convention less mixed and many-colored than was its politics.
In looking over the proceedings of this coalition and combination of Bogus Democrats, Foreign Pauper Advocates, and anti-Protestant lovers of Religious Liberty, we have looked in vain for the names of distinguished Tennesseeans, who ought to have been second best, to say the least of it, in the ballots for a nomination! It was that Aaron V. Brown, "the son of a now sainted father," was put in nomination for the office of Vice President, by a Mr. Brown, supposed to be his nephew; but making no run at all, he was taken off the track instantly—rubbed down and salted away!
But Andrew Johnson, who was to have been nominated for the first office within the gift of the American people and no mistake, (!) was not even named, and some say he was not even thought of for the position. We had supposed that there existed among the leaders of the self-styled Democracy, a determination to doom to utter extinction the light that has guided the children of Political Reform in Tennessee, and throughout the known world, and now we know it! The opposers of intellectual emancipation, of "Jacob's Ladder Democracy," so superior to Christianity, have triumphed at Cincinnati, and trampled under foot, with impunity, the soul-stirring doctrine of "converging lines." The next steps with these "enemies of righteousness" will be the rack, the gibbet, and a second edition of the infernal inquisition! Will the friends of the "White Basis" Governor of Tennessee tamely surrender their dearest rights to these Cincinnati crusaders, without a single struggle? Will they allow the saddle of Federal domination to be quietly thrown on their backs? Ye Greene county delegates forbid it!
But Johnson is doomed to an inglorious retirement from public life. He can console himself with the reflection, that rank only degrades—wealth only impoverishes—ornaments but disfigure him! The man who discovered that the Bogus Democracy of the nineteenth century leads fallen sinful man to the throne of God, needs no office to elevate him. These Johnson Democrats enjoy the pure religion of Democracy—a religion which enters the closet—pours forth its supplications in private, feeds the poor, clothes the naked—inflames not the prejudices of Protestant sects—is modest and unassuming in its demeanor—is charitable and kind to the persecuted and pious Catholics—bears with the infirmities of Foreign Paupers—is not ambitious and designing, seeking to accomplish vast schemes by doubtful means!
While Old Federal Buck was nominated on the seventeenth ballot, after much excitement, wrangling and abuse, young Breckenridge, whose only merit is his having challenged the Hon. Francis B. Cutting, of New York, to fight a duel, two years ago, was nominated on the second ballot. The ballot for a candidate for the Vice Presidency resulted as follows:
John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, 55 John A. Quitman, of Mississippi, 59 Linn Boyd, of Kentucky, 33 Benjamin Fitzpatrick, of Alabama, 11 Aaron V. Brown, of Tennessee, 29 Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, 31 Thomas J. Rusk, of Texas, 2 Wm H. Polk, of Tennessee, 5 J. C. Dobbin, of North Carolina, 13
A second ballot was entered into, when Hon. John C. Breckenridge, of Kentucky, was unanimously chosen.
Tennessee, in voting for a Presidential candidate, voted SIX times for Pierce, and EIGHT times for Douglass, and never came over to old Federal Buck until they could do nothing for Pierce or Douglass. Buck seems to have been a fill for Tennessee! But now, the Tennessee Democracy say:
"With hounds and horn, At rosy morn, We Bucks a hunting go!"
Well, we Americans will get after Old Buck's venison too, and between this and November next, many will be the steak we shall eat out of his old Federal carcass. It is venison worthy of the chase, for
——"Finer or fatter Ne'er roamed in the forest, Or smoked in a platter."
So—
"Hi, ho, Chevy, Hark away, hark away, tantivy, Here rests the burthen of my song, This time a stag must die."
But Democracy have commenced their old game of brag, by puffing their ticket as a national and conservative ticket, the very thing they denied. Now let us look into the soundness and nationality of the HEAD of the ticket. We have before us a copy of a work published in 1839, by Robert Mayo, M. D., entitled, "Political Sketches of Eight Years in Washington, in four parts." This work has gone through various editions, having been published by Fielding Lucas, Jr., of Baltimore; Garret Anderson, of Washington; J. R. Smith, of Richmond; Carey, Hart & Co., of Philadelphia, and by others in New York and Boston. On page 38 of this work, which Mr. Buchanan has never contradicted, he is reported to have denounced the visions, patronage, and corruptions of the Democratic Administrations, while he, Buchanan, was a member of the Old Federal Party.
On page 6 of this work, in the preface, the author says, in speaking of Buchanan before he turned Democrat:
"The declarations of some of these new disciples of Democracy in past times are striking enough. MR. BUCHANAN of PENNSYLVANIA, while he acted in his true character, DECLARED THAT IF HE HAD A DROP OF DEMOCRATIC BLOOD IN HIS VEINS, HE WOULD LET IT OUT! He put his royal declaration on paper, and it has risen up against him."
A recent brief memoir of Mr. Buchanan, put forth in Pennsylvania, states that he was elected to the Legislature in 1815, where he distinguished himself by those exhibitions of intellect which gave promise of future eminence. The Lancaster Register, published in the immediate vicinity of Mr. Buchanan's residence, asks by whom was he elected? and thus supplies the record for 1815:
ASSEMBLY.
For JAMES BUCHANAN, Federal 3051 " Molton O. Rogers, Democrat 2502
The memoir sets forth that Mr. Buchanan was elected to Congress in 1820, and that he retained his position in that body for ten years, voluntarily retiring.
The Lancaster Register inquires if he were elected as a Democrat, and answers the inquiry by the following historical facts:
CONGRESS.
1820—James Buchanan, Federal 4642 " Jacob Hibsman, Democrat 3666 1822—James Buchanan, Federal 2153 " Jacob Hibsman, Democrat 1940 1824—James Buchanan, Federal 3560 " Samuel Houston, Democrat 3046 1826—James Buchanan, Federal 2760 " Dr. John McCamant, Democrat 2307 1828—James Buchanan, Jackson 5203 " William Hiester, Adams 3904
The Lancaster Register then pursues its criticism as follows:
"On the 4th of July, 1815, Mr. Buchanan, when he was a candidate for Assembly on the Federal ticket, delivered 'an oration' in Lancaster, in which he showed his love of Federalism and hatred of Democracy, by attacking the Administration of James Madison. He said:
"'Time will not allow me to enumerate all the other evils and wicked projects of the Democratic administration.'
"And again, in the same oration, he said:
"'What must be our opinion of an opposition whose passions were so dark and malignant as to be gratified in endeavoring to blast the character and imbitter the old age of Washington? After thus persecuting the saviour of his country, how can the Democratic party dare to call themselves his disciples?'"
And who does not recollect, in Tennessee, with what force and effect JAMES C. JONES used to point out JAMES BUCHANAN as one of the rank old Federalists who had come over to the Democratic ranks, and was battling with Col. Polk, side by side, while he was consuming half his time in abuse of the Federal party? When the Democratic candidate for Congress in this District, JULIUS W. BLACKWELL, charged Federalism upon the Whig party, who does not recollect with what effect and spirit JOHN H. CROZIER ran over the list of ODIOUS OLD FEDERALISTS, then fighting under the Democratic flag, among them naming out JAMES BUCHANAN? And will not the files of the KNOXVILLE POST, edited by Capt. JAMES WILLIAMS, show how he held up JAMES BUCHANAN and others as an old Federalist of the first water?
On the subject of Slavery the memoir is not definite, and the Lancaster Register comes to its aid by publishing the following proceedings of a public meeting held in that city on the 23d of November, 1819:
"WHEREAS, the people of this State, pursuing the maxims and animated by the beneficence of the great founder of Pennsylvania, first gave effect to the gradual abolition of slavery by a national act, which has not only rescued the unhappy and helpless African within their territory from the demoralizing influence of slavery, but ameliorating his state and condition throughout Europe and America; and whereas, it would illy comport with those humane and Christian efforts to be silent spectators when this great cause of humanity is about to be agitated in Congress, by fixing the destiny of the new domains of the United States: therefore,
"Resolved, That the representatives in Congress from this district be and they are hereby most earnestly requested to use their utmost endeavors, as members of the National Legislature, to prevent the existence of slavery in any of the Territories or new States which may be created by Congress.
"Resolved, As the opinion of this meeting, that as the Legislature of this State will shortly be in session, it will be highly deserving of their wisdom and patriotism to take into their early and most serious consideration the propriety of instructing our representatives in the National Legislature to use the most zealous and strenuous exertions to inhibit the existence of slavery in any of the Territories or States which may hereafter be created by Congress; and that the members of Assembly from this county be requested to embrace the earliest opportunity of bringing this subject before both Houses of the Legislature.
"Resolved, That, in the opinion of this meeting, the members of Congress who at the last session sustained the cause of justice, humanity, and patriotism, in opposing the introduction of slavery into the State then endeavored to be formed out of the Missouri Territory, are entitled to the warmest thanks of every friend of humanity.
"Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be published in the newspapers in this city.
"JAMES HOPKINS, WM. JENKINS, JAMES BUCHANAN."
"The foregoing resolutions being read were unanimously adopted, after which the meeting adjourned. (Signed)
WALTER FRANKLIN, Ch'n.
"Attest—WM. JENKINS, Sec'y."
The "Perry County Democratic Press," for April 9th, 1856, an able paper published at Bloomfield in Pennsylvania, shows up the Federal anti-slavery, anti-Democratic, turn-coat character of Mr. Buchanan, after this fashion:
JAMES BUCHANAN'S SOMERSETS.
"No man in the United States has turned his political coat as often as James Buchanan. He has espoused the principles of every party that has had an existence since the memorable Hartford Convention, and has been on all sides of political questions.
"A brief reference to his history will establish conclusively our assertions."
HIS FEDERALISM.
"He entered political life in 1814 as a rank Federalist, and by the Federal party he was elected to the Legislature of the State. He was re-elected in 1815, defeating Molton C. Rogers, the Democratic candidate, and afterwards one of the Supreme Judges of the State.
"In 1820, he was the Federal candidate for Congress, and was elected over Jacob Hibsman, the Democratic candidate, by 976 majority. In 1822, he was reelected over the same man by 813 majority. In 1824, he was the Federal candidate for Congress, and elected over Samuel Houston, the Democratic candidate, by 519 votes. In 1826, he was re-elected over Dr. John McCamant, the Democratic candidate, by 453 votes. His majorities were becoming less each time, and in order to satisfy his Federal friends of his fidelity to the party, he had to declare that 'if he had a drop of Democratic blood in his veins, he would open them and let it out.'"
HE BECOMES A DEMOCRAT.
"Two years after this, he changed his coat and became a full-blooded Democrat, and ran for Congress as the Democratic candidate, and was elected by virtue of General Jackson's popularity. He was afraid to run a second term, and he declined."
HIS TEN CENT SPEECH.
"In 1843, in the United States Senate, he made a speech advocating the principle that ten cents is a sufficient compensation for a day's labor. Hence he is called 'Ten Cent Jimmy.'
"In 1845, he became Secretary of State under Polk's administration, and consented to give away about half of the Territory of Oregon to the British government, after he had proven that they had not a spark of title to it.
"He extolled the Federal administration of John Adams, and endorsed the abominable Alien and Sedition laws of the Federal reign of terror. He bitterly denounced the administration of that pure Democrat, James Madison, and ridiculed what he termed the follies of Thomas Jefferson."
HIS SLAVERY SOMERSETS.
"In 1819, at a meeting in Lancaster, he reported resolutions favoring resistance to the extension of slavery and the admission of the State of Missouri as a slave State.
"In 1847, he wrote to the Democracy of Berks county, saying that the Missouri Compromise had given peace to the country, and that instead of repealing it he was in favor of its extension and maintenance.
"In 1850, in a letter to Col. Forney, he rejoiced over the settlement of the slavery agitation by the passage of the compromise measures during Fillmore's administration, and hoped that before a dissolution of the Union he might be gathered to his fathers, and never be permitted to witness the sad catastrophe.
"In 1852, he wrote to Mr. Leake, of Virginia, concerning Fillmore's compromise measures of 1850, which had been passed by Congress, and said, 'that the volcano has been extinguished, and the man who would apply the firebrand to the combustible materials still remaining, will produce an eruption that will overwhelm the Constitution and the Union."
BUCHANAN'S LAST SOMERSET.
"On the 28th of December, 1855, about three months ago, Mr. Buchanan, in a letter to John Slidell, of Louisiana, says: 'The Missouri Compromise is gone, and gone for ever. It has departed. The time for it has passed away, and the best, nay, the only mode now left of putting down the fanatical and reckless spirit of the North is to adhere to the existing settlement without the slightest thought or appearance of wavering, and without regarding any storm which may be raised against it."
Here, then, is an authentic record—if the reader please, a GILT-FRAME PENNSYLVANIA LOOKING-GLASS, in which the Democracy of the South who admire the nominee of the late Cincinnati Convention can see him as he is! Heretofore, to use the language of Holy Writ, they have seen him "through a glass darkly, but now face to face." Here they see him standing erect upon the floor of the United States Senate, in all the pride of that aristocracy which has characterized his course in life, and giving vent to the old and bitter feelings of the royalists in Pennsylvania, by advocating the oppressive British doctrine, that TEN CENTS PER DAY is enough for a poor white man as a day-laborer! And here, too, our hard-fisted working-men, North and South, can see what sort of a man the Democracy are asking them to vote for for the Presidency!
In his Fourth of July oration in 1815, delivered in the hearing of an immense crowd, and afterwards published in all the leading papers of Pennsylvania, Mr. Buchanan came out as a Know-Nothing, which he has now to repudiate in stepping upon the Anti-American Catholic Platform prepared for him at Cincinnati! Here is what he said in that celebrated oration:
"The greater part of those foreigners who would not be thus affected by it, have long been the warmest friends of the party. They had been one of the great means of elevating the present ruling (Democratic) party, and it would have been ungrateful for that party to have abandoned them. To secure this foreign feeling has been the labor of their leaders for more than twenty years, and well have they been paid for their trouble, for it has been one of the principal causes of introducing and continuing them in power. Immediately before the war this foreign influence had completely embodied itself with the majority, particularly in the West, and its voice was heard so loud at the seat of government, that President Madison was obliged either to yield to its dictates or retire from office. The choice was easily made by a man who preferred his private interests to the public good, and therefore hurried us into a war for which we were utterly unprepared."
And then again:
"We ought to use every honest exertion to turn out of power those weak and wicked men whose wild and visionary theories have been tested and found wanting. Above all, we ought to drive from our shores foreign influence, and cherish American feeling. Foreign influence has been in every age the curse of republics—its jaundiced eye sees every thing in false colors—the thick atmosphere of prejudice by which it is ever surrounded, excluding from its sight the light of reason. Let us then learn wisdom from experience, and for ever banish this fiend from our country."
And here is what JACKSON thought of BUCHANAN. The Democratic Washington correspondent of the New York Evening Post, who was favorable to the nomination of Pierce, makes this statement—a statement we have often heard before, and never heard contradicted:
"On the night before leaving Nashville to occupy the White House, Mr. Polk, in company with Gen. Robert Armstrong, called at the Hermitage to procure some advice from the old hero as to the selection of his cabinet. Jackson strongly urged the President-elect to give no place in it to Buchanan, as he could not be relied upon. It so happened that Polk had already determined to make that very appointment, having probably offered the situation to the statesman of Pennsylvania. This fact induced Gen. Armstrong subsequently to tell Jackson that he had given Polk a rather hard rub, as Buchanan had already been selected for Secretary of State. 'I can't help it,' said the old man: 'I felt it my duty to warn him against Mr. Buchanan, whether it was agreeable or not. Mr. Polk will find Buchanan an unreliable man. I know him well, and Mr. Polk will yet admit the correctness of my prediction.'
"It was the last visit ever made by Mr. Polk to the old hero when this unavailing remonstrance was delivered, but the new President, long before the end of his administration, had reason to acknowledge its propriety and justice, and in the diary kept by him during that period may still be read a most emphatic declaration of his distrust of Mr. Buchanan. Every one is aware of two marked instances in which, as Secretary of State, the latter failed to support the policy of the administration, viz., on the question of the tariff of 1846, and the requisition of the ten regiments voted by Congress for the Mexican war. On both of these measures he was known to be opposed to the wishes of Mr. Polk."
Mr. Charles Irving, the Democratic editor of the Lynchburg Republican, and a delegate at Richmond in the State Convention, thus disposes of Mr. Buchanan in a long and able letter, dated May 7th, 1856:
"If silence during the battle constitutes a claim for office, how can the South expect Northern statesmen to uphold her banner, when abolitionists are seeking to tear it to tatters? If an ability to get free-soil votes makes a candidate available, and that species of availability is recognized as a merit at the South, Northern statesmen should court free-soilers, and not struggle with them, if they wish to be Presidents. Such availability may be very desirable to those who wish success alone, but those who look to the interests of the country may well be excused if they prefer a different standard. I certainly prefer that the South shall PREFER the selection, not only of a sound man, but that she shall vote for the nomination of no man upon any such ground of availability. The coming election must settle the slavery agitation. I do not wish a single free-soiler to vote the Democratic ticket, nor will I willingly afford them the slightest excuse for so doing. A prominent North-West Democrat told me to-day, that the nomination of Mr. Buchanan would enable Trumbull, Wentworth, and other free-soilers to come back into the party. I am not anxious to get back such characters. These are some reasons for not preferring Mr. Buchanan.
"But there is still another reason. That reason is in his record. To carry the entire South, we must have not only a sound man, but one who is above impeachment—whose record is as stainless as the principles he advocates. Is such the case with Mr. Buchanan? Let the record answer.
"On the 27th of December, 1837, Mr. Calhoun submitted to the Senate that celebrated series of resolutions, the great objects of which were to set forth with precision and force the constitutional rights of the slaveholding States, and to attract to their support an enlightened public opinion against the attacks of Northern fanaticism. The second resolution was in these words: (Calhoun's Works, volume 3, page 140.)
"'Resolved, That in delegating a portion of their powers to be exercised by the Federal Government, the States retained severally the exclusive and sole right over their own domestic institutions and police, and are alone responsible for them, and that any intermeddling of any one or more States, or a combination of their citizens, with the domestic institutions and police of the others, on any ground or under any pretext whatever, political, moral, or religious, with a view to their alteration or subversion, is an assumption of superiority not warranted by the Constitution, insulting to the States interfered with, tending to endanger their domestic peace and tranquillity, subversive of the objects for which the Constitution was formed, and, by necessary consequence, tending to weaken and destroy the Union itself.'
"Mr. Morris of Ohio, who was then the only avowed Abolitionist in the Senate, moved to strike out the words 'moral and religious.' Had the motion prevailed, the effect would have been to encourage agitation in the form in which it would be most likely to be fatal to the South. It would have been a direct encouragement to the Abolitionized clergy of the North to take the very course which was taken by the 'three thousand and fifty divines' who, in 1854, sacrilegiously assumed, 'in the name of Almighty God, and in his presence,' to denounce the repeal of the Missouri Compromise as 'a violation of plighted faith and a breach of a national compact.' Subsequent events have abundantly attested the truth of what Mr. Calhoun said, when arguing against the motion, 'that the whole spirit of the resolution hinged upon that word religious.'
"The vote taken on Mr. Morris's amendment stood as follows: (Congressional Globe, volume 6, page 74.)
"Yeas—Messrs. Bayard, BUCHANAN, Clayton, Davis, McKeon, Morris, Prentiss, Robbins, Ruggles, Smyth of Indiana, Southward, Swift, Tipton, and Webster—14.
"Nays—Messrs. Allen, Black, Brown, Calhoun, Clay of Alabama, Clay of Kentucky, Cuthbert, Fulton, Hubbard, King, Knight, Linn, Lumpkin, Lyon, Nicholas, Niles, Norvell, Pierce, Preston, Rives, Roane, Robinson, Sevier, Smyth of Connecticut, Strange, Walker, Wall, White, Williams, Wright, and Young—31.
"The fifth resolution to which Mr. Calhoun here referred, and which he justly regarded as the most important of all, and struggled most perseveringly to have passed without amendment, was strictly as follows:
"'Resolved, That the intermeddling of any State or States, or their citizens, to abolish slavery in this District, or in any of the Territories, on the ground, or under the pretext, that it is immoral or sinful, or the passage of any act or measure of Congress, with that view, would be a direct and dangerous attack on the institutions of all the slaveholding States.'
"This resolution covered the whole premises. It met the issue boldly and fully. No Southern Democrat can hesitate to say that it embodied a great truth, to which events have borne emphatic testimony. Mr. Clay, of Kentucky, moved to strike it out, and insert the following as a substitute:
"'Resolved, That when the District of Columbia was ceded by the States of Virginia and Maryland to the United States, domestic slavery existed in both of those States, including the ceded territory; and that, as it still continues in both of them, it could not be abolished within the District without a violation of that good faith which was implied in the cession, and in the acceptance of the territory, nor unless compensation were made for the slaves, without a manifest infringement of an amendment of the Constitution of the United States, nor without exciting a degree of just alarm and apprehension in the States recognizing slavery, far transcending, in mischievous tendency, any possible benefit which would be accomplished by the abolition.' (Congressional Globe, vol. 6, page 58.)
"The utter insufficiency of this temporizing amendment scarcely need be pointed out. Objectionable as it was in conceding to Congress the constitutional power to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and declaring against the exercise of that power only on the ground of inexpediency, it was still more so in this, that it made no reference whatever to the territories of the United States. The passage of Mr. Calhoun's resolution would have committed the Senate, not only against the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, but against the application of the Wilmot Proviso and kindred measures to the Territories. Mr. Clay's amendment was entirely silent on the subject. It is true, that in another resolution which he proposed to have adopted as an additional amendment, it was declared that the abolition of slavery in the Territory of Florida would be highly inexpedient, for the principal reason 'that it would be in violation of a solemn compromise made at a memorable and critical period in the history of this country, by which, while slavery was prohibited north, it was admitted south of the line of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude.' The defect in the first amendment can hardly be considered by Southern men as remedied by another which recognized the binding force of the Missouri Compromise.
"On the question to strike out Mr. Calhoun's resolution, and insert Mr. Clay's as an amendment, after it had been modified by striking out the part relating to compensation for slaves, the vote stood—yeas 19, nays 18. (Congressional Globe, vol. 6, page 62.) Mr. Buchanan's name stands recorded in the affirmative.
"On a subsequent occasion, Mr. Calhoun, with a view to infuse vitality into Mr. Clay's amendment, moved to insert that any attempt of Congress to abolish slavery in the Territories, 'would be a dangerous attack upon the States in which slavery exists.' Mr. Buchanan opposed the amendment, and it was in reply to his speech that Mr. Calhoun made the remarks which may be found in the third volume of his works, pages 194 to 196, and which he commenced by saying that 'the remarks of the Senator from Pennsylvania were of such a character that he could not permit them to pass in silence.'
"From these votes, and this language of Mr. Buchanan, it is clear:
"1st. That he was not opposed to the religious agitation of the slavery question—a species of agitation which Mr. Calhoun justly regarded as more fatal than any other.
"2d. That he recognized the constitutional power of Congress to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, opposing its existence only on the ground of its inexpediency—a proposition which the position of Mr. Van Buren shows affords no reliable protection to Southern institutions.
"3d. That he refused to commit himself fully on the great question as to the power of Congress over the Territories of the United States, and as far as he did go, evidently left it to be understood that the abolition of slavery by Congress in those Territories would be no attack on the States in which it exists.'
"If his opinions, in these respects, have undergone any material change, the country has not yet been authoritatively apprised of the fact. The reflections cast by him on the institution of slavery, in one of his speeches in England, and the studied design he has manifested to keep aloof from the excitement growing out of the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, are not well calculated to inspire confidence, that if his views have undergone any change, it has been a change for the better."
After thus disposing of the slavery issue, Mr. Irving thus turns to the Tariff Question:
"So much for the slavery issue. How does Mr. Buchanan stand upon the tariff? Will the Sentinel say that he is sound, or justify his 'low wages' speech? How does he stand upon the French Spoliation bill, which President Polk and President Pierce vetoed? Everybody knows that he was in favor of it. How does he stand upon the Pacific Railroad? He declared himself in favor of an appropriation of public money to build it, as is notorious. In fact, is there a single Federal measure except that of the United States Bank, upon which he is not recorded against Democratic principles? How can we hope to carry the united South with such a record? Will Southern Democrats overlook this record? Will Northern Nebraska men overlook this ignoring of Pierce and Douglass? Is there no danger that in admitting the abolitionist Trumbull, we may not dishearten the gallant Douglass? Is there no fear that in reinstating the free-soil Hickman, who is in favor of Reeder, we may not palsy the arm of Richardson? In fine, is there no fear that in hoping for free-soil aid, we may not lose the few real friends the South has in the North? It is evident to the commonest understanding, that the first step of Northern Black Republicanism is to kill off all those influential men at the North, like Pierce or Douglass, who have actively participated in the fight for our rights. Is not the South aiding them in this first step, when it not only ignores its own sons, but also ignores, upon the ground of availability, those Northern men identified with the late Kansas-Nebraska bill? This is a question the South would do well to ponder. If Mr. Buchanan is to be nominated, and Pierce and Douglass in the North ignored, let the responsibility rest elsewhere than upon the State of Virginia. He may be, and probably is sound, but these are times when more than ordinary caution is necessary. It may become the duty of the South to support him. When that time arrives I can discharge the duty; but I do think that the reasons above stated exempt me from any blame for not advocating him until that responsibility devolves upon me. Very respectfully, CHAS. IRVING.
The Southern Dough-faces of the Foreign Catholic party pretend to hold Mr. Fillmore responsible for a letter he wrote more than twenty years ago, in which he answers certain interrogatories in reference to slavery, affirmatively, and in opposition to the extension of slavery! The latest record of Buchanan is in 1844, and proves him to be an ABOLITIONIST OF THE BLACKEST DYE. About the last speech he ever made in Congress, was IN OPPOSITION TO SLAVERY, in secret session of the Senate, just before Mr. Polk, in opposition to the wishes of Gen. Jackson, gave him a seat in his cabinet. This speech will be found in the Congressional Globe for 1844, an extract from which is in these explicit and memorable words:
"In arriving at the conclusion to support this treaty, I had to encounter but one serious obstacle, AND THAT WAS THE QUESTION OF SLAVERY. Whilst I have ever maintained, and ever shall maintain, in their full force and vigor, the constitutional rights of the Southern States over their slave property, I yet feel a strong repugnance by any act of mine to extend the limits of the Union over a new slaveholding territory. After mature reflection, however, I overcame these scruples, and now believe that the acquisition of Texas will be the means of limiting, not enlarging, the dominion of slavery.
"In the government of the world, Providence generally produces great changes by gradual means. There is nothing rash in the counsels of the Almighty. May not, then, the acquisition of Texas be the means of gradually drawing the slaves far to the South to a climate more congenial to their nature; and may they not finally pass off into Mexico, and THERE MINGLE WITH A RACE WHERE NO PREJUDICE EXISTS AGAINST THEIR COLOR? The Mexican nation is composed of Spaniards, Indians, and Negroes, blended together in every variety, who would receive our slaves on terms of perfect social equality. To this condition they never can be admitted in the United States.
"That the acquisition of Texas would ere long convert Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, and probably others of the more Northern Slave States, into free States, I entertain not a doubt....
"But should Texas be annexed to the Union, causes will be brought into operation which must inevitably remove slavery from what may be called the farming States. From the best information, it is no longer profitable to raise wheat, rye, and corn, by slave labor. Where these articles are the only staples of agriculture, in the pointed and expressive language of Randolph, if the slave does not run away from his master, the master must run away from the slave. The slave will naturally be removed from such a country, where his labor is scarcely adequate to his own support, to a region where he can not only maintain himself, but yield large profits to his master. Texas will open an outlet; and slavery itself may thus finally pass the Del Norte, and be lost in Mexico. One thing is certain, the present number of slaves cannot be increased by the annexation of Texas.
"I have never apprehended the preponderance of the slave States in the councils of the nation. Such a fear has always appeared to me visionary. But those who entertain such apprehensions need not be alarmed by the acquisition of Texas. More than one-half of its territory is wholly unfit for the slave labor; and, therefore, in the nature of things must be free. Mr. Clay, in his letter of the 17th of April last, on the subject of annexation, states that, according to his information—
"'The Territory of Texas is susceptible of a division into five States of convenient size and form. Of these, two only would be adapted to those peculiar institutions (slavery) to which I have referred; and the other three, lying west and north of San Antonio, being only adapted to farming and grazing purposes, from the nature of their soil, climate, and productions, would not admit of these institutions. In the end, therefore, there would be two slave and three free States probably added to the Union.' |
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