Author 
 
 Y * 
 
 2: 
 
 Title 
 
 £.... 
 
 ...4-3-5. 
 
 -,-M-5-.4..l. 
 
 Imprint. 
 
 16—47372-2 OPO 
 
TRACT FOR AMERICANS. 
 
 mm Foumi km ii Fosini. 
 
 GEORGE LAW MD CHAUNCEY SHAFFER'S 
 
 REASONS FOR 
 
 REPUDIAIING FILLMORE AND DONELSON, 
 
 id the Action of the Know-N'othing State Convention at Syracuse on the 
 Resolutions censuring JS?'Ooks^s Assault on Senator Sumner^ c&c. 
 
 PEECH OF HON. E. B. MOEGAN, OF N. Y., 
 
 IN TJ. fl. HOUSE OF EKPBE8BNTATIVE8, AUG. 4, 1856. 
 
 "hk House being in Committee of the Whole 
 the state of the Union, Mr. Morgan said : 
 [r. Chaieman: I propose to ask the at- 
 tion of the House and of the country, to the 
 bable consequences of the success of one of 
 
 candidates of the Presidency, who is a 
 zen of my own State, Hon. Millard Fill- 
 re. 
 
 'o exhibit them ftdly, it will be necessary 
 jxamine his antecedents, his personal rela- 
 is to men and parties, the platform upon 
 ich he has consented to stand, the influen- 
 
 which prevailed in his nomination, the 
 W9 and objects of those who support him, 
 ^ the principles which must control him, if 
 is elected. 
 
 fy sole object in referring to his personal 
 ecedents and relations, is to throw light 
 >n his probable line of policy, should he be 
 rated to the Presidential chair. I enter 
 )n that branch of the discussion with sin- 
 e reluctance, and only because it is essential 
 \ fuU elucidation of the subject. 
 
 Mr. Fillmore't Political History. 
 
 n 1829, Mr. Fillmore made his first entrance 
 
 public life, having been in that year elected 
 
 the New York Assembly, as an Anti-Mason. 
 
 was once or twice, re-elected to the New 
 
 York Assembly as an Anti-Mason, and in 1882 
 was elected as such a member of this House. 
 In the same year he voted for Mr. "Wirt, the 
 Anti-Masonic candidate for the Presidency. 
 
 He was afterwards a member of this House 
 for a period of six years, commencing March 
 4, 1837, during which time he was attached to 
 the Whig party. During this, his second pe- 
 riod of service in Congress, the slavery agita- 
 tion arose and was continued in the country, 
 and the records, often quoted, and to which I 
 shall now only briefly refer, show that Mr. 
 Fillmore voted with persistent firmness on the 
 side of freedom, and in company with such 
 men as John Q. Adams, Joshua R. Giddings 
 and Mr. Slade, of Vermont. 
 
 On the 21st day of December, 1887, Mr. 
 Patton, of Virginia, oflTered the following res- 
 olution : 
 
 ^^JSesolved, That all petitions, memorials, 
 and papers, touching the abolition of slavery, 
 or the buying, selling, or transferring of slaves, 
 in any State, District, or Territory of the 
 United States, be laid on the table, without 
 being debated, printed, read, or referred, and 
 that no further action whatever shall be had 
 thereon." 
 
 The resolution was adopted — yefis 122, nays 
 74 ; Mr. Fillmore voting in the negative. 
 
 r* Fob Sale at the Office of the New York Tribune. Price, per Dozen Copies 20c: 
 
 PEE HUNDBBD, $1 25 ; PEE THOUSAND, $10. 
 
8 
 
 On the 11th *f December, 1838, Mr. Ather- 
 ton oftered his celebrated resolutions in refer- 
 ence to Abolition petitioners, known in the 
 politics of that time as "Atherton'sgag." Mr. 
 Fillmore voted against their introduction and 
 against their adoption. 
 
 On the loth of December of the same year, 
 Mr. W:«f>, of Yirginia, offered a series of reso- 
 lutions declaring against the abolition of sla- 
 very in tlie District of Columbia, the abolition 
 of the inter-State slave trade, and the recep- 
 tion of Abolition petitions — affirming that the 
 laws of Congress alone govern in the prescrip- 
 tion of the mode of recovery of fugitive slaves ; 
 that Congress has no power to impose the 
 abolition of .slavery upon a State as a condi- 
 tion of its admission into the Union ; that the 
 citizens of a slave State have a right to take 
 their slaves through a free State; that the 
 General Government is constitutionally bound 
 to protect them in such right; that the lajvs 
 of the non-slaveholding States in conflict with 
 such right were null and void. The motion 
 to suspend the rules for the introduction of 
 these resolutions was lost — Mr. Fillmore voting 
 adverse to the motion to suspend the rules, and 
 against the South, and in company with Adams 
 and Giddings. 
 
 On the same day, Mr. Slade of Vermont, 
 moved resolutions against the slave trade 
 between the District of Columbia and the 
 States ; against the same trade between the 
 States? and in favor of receiving, debating, 
 printing, and referring Abolition petitions. 
 On the motion to suspend the rules for the pur- 
 pose of introducing these resolutions, which 
 was lost, Mr. Fillmore again voted against the 
 South, in favor of suspending the rules, and in 
 company with Adams and Giddings. On the 
 31st of December, 1839, Mr. Coles moved to 
 suspend the rules, for the purpose of moving 
 a resolution against the reception of Abolition 
 petitions ; which motion was lost ; Mr. Fill- 
 more voting against a suspension of the rules, 
 and in company with Adams and Gid- 
 dings. 
 
 On the 28t]i of January, 1840, the famous 
 21st rule was adopted, which precluded the 
 reception or entertainment in any way of an 
 abolition petition. On adopting this rule, Mr. 
 Fillmore again voted against the South, in the 
 negative. 
 
 On the 9th of December, 1840, Mr. Adams, 
 of Massachusetts, moved a repeal of this last 
 rule. Mr. Jenifer, of Maryland, moved to lay 
 the motion on the table ; which was carried ; 
 Mr. Fillmore voting in the negative, against 
 the South. 
 
 On the 21st of January, 1841, Mr. Adams 
 presented an abolition petition. Mr. Connor 
 moved to lay a part of it, not embraced within 
 the effect of the 21st rule, on tlie table. On 
 the votes taken in reference to this petition, 
 
 Mr. Fillmore's name is round with those ot 
 Adams and Giddings, and against the South. 
 
 On the 21st of January, 1842, Mr. Adams 
 presented an abolition petition, praying the 
 naturalization of free-negro foreigners, and 
 that they be allowed to hold real estate. Mr. 
 Wise moved to lay its reception on the table; 
 wliich motion was carried. Mr. Fillmore 
 again voted against the South, in the nega- 
 tive. 
 
 On the 12th of December, 1842, Mr. Adams 
 called up his motion to rescind tiie 21st riUe, 
 Mr. Johnson, of Maryland, moved to lay it on 
 the table ; which motion was carried ; Mr. 
 Fillmore again voting against the South, in 
 the negative. 
 
 On the 8d of January, 1843, Mr. Morgan 
 moved a resolution instructing tlie Committee 
 on Territories to bring in a bill repealing a 
 certain act of the territorial legislature of Flo- 
 rida, preventing the immigration of free ne- 
 groes into that Territory. Mr. Black moved 
 to lay the resolution on the table; which was 
 carried ; Mr. Fillmore again voting against the 
 South, in the negative. 
 
 These notes, covering every year of his 
 Congressional service after the slavery agita- 
 tion commenced, and with which all his votes 
 harmonize, show plainly enough where Mr 
 Fillmore stood at that time. 
 
 In 1838, he wrote the following letter : 
 
 "Buffalo, Oct. 17, 1838. 
 
 " Sir: Your communication of the 15th inst., 
 as chairman of a committee appointed by the 
 ' Anti-Slavery Society of the County ef Erie,' 
 has just come to hand. You solicit my an- 
 swers to the following interrogatories : 
 
 '■'■First. Do you believe that petitions to 
 Congress on the subject of slavery or on the 
 slave trade ought to be received, read, and re- 
 spectfully considered by the Eepresentatives 
 of the people. 
 
 " Second. Are you opposed to the annexa- 
 tion of Texas to the Union, under any cir- 
 cumstances, 80 long as slaves are held therein ? 
 
 " Third. Are you in favor of Congress 
 exerting all the constitutional power it pos- 
 sesses to abolish the internal slave trade bet- 
 ween the States? 
 
 '^'^ Fourth. Are you in favor of immediate 
 legislation for the abolition of slavery in the 
 District of Columbia ? 
 
 " I am much engaged, and have no time to 
 enter into an argument, or to explain at lengtli 
 my reasons for my opinion. I shall therefore 
 content myself for the present by answering 
 all your interrogatories in the affirmative, and 
 leave for some future occasion a more extend- 
 ed discussion of the subject. 
 
 " I am, respectfully, your ob't servant, 
 
 "Millard Billmobb." 
 
 W. Mills, Esq., Chairman. ,' 
 
In 1847, as a candidate for tlie Ooniptrol- 
 lership, he was the head of the New York 
 State Wliig ticket, whicli was run upon a plat- 
 form, which proclaims "since the crisis has 
 arrived when the question must bo met, un- 
 compromising hostility to the extension of 
 slavery into any territory now free, or which 
 may hereafter be acquired by any action of 
 the government of our Union." 
 
 In IS-tS, we find him instigating lion. N. 
 K. Ilall, his law partner and special political 
 friend, afterwards his Postmaster-General, to 
 move a resolution here, which has more prac- 
 tical abolitionism in it than any proposition 
 cver agitated in Congress. The resolution I 
 am about to read, was prepared by Mr. Hall 
 in concert with Mr. Fillmore, and was fully 
 approved by Mr. Fillmoi-e. 
 
 [Congressional Globe, Volume 18, p. 890.] 
 
 On the 28th of February, 1818, Hon. N. K. 
 Hall, of New York, otFered the following reso- 
 lution in the House : 
 
 '•''Resolved. That the Committee on the 
 Judiciary be, and they are hereby, directed to 
 report to tiiis House, with all 'convenient 
 speed, a bill repealing all laws of Congress, 
 and abrogating, so far as they are operative or 
 in force in the District of Columbia, aU laws 
 of the State of Maryland which authorize or 
 require the courts, officers, or magistrates of 
 the United States, or of the said District, 
 within the District of Columbia, to issue pro- 
 cess for arrest, or commit to the jail of the 
 said I)istrict, any runaways or other slave or 
 fugitive from service, or colored person claim- 
 ed as such, except on due complaint and proof 
 of, or on a conviction for, some crime or mis- 
 demeanor, the commission of which by any 
 free wliite person would authorize in the same 
 manner the arrest, commitment, and detention 
 of such white person in like manner charged 
 with or convicted thereof." 
 
 This resolution is preceded by an elaborate 
 preamble, in which, among other things, it is 
 declared that the use of the jails in the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia for the detention of fugitive 
 slaves, is '■^repugnant to thf feelings of a large 
 majority of the people of the United Statesy 
 
 In 18i8, Mr. Fillmore was nominated and 
 elected Vice-President on the same ticket 
 with Gen. Taylor. The suggestion that lie 
 Miii,ht receive this nomination, was a matter 
 of consideration and discussion for some time 
 before it was made, by Mr. Fillmore and his 
 friends. As a question of personal interest, 
 Mr. Fillmore hesitated and wavered in decid- 
 ing whether to solicit this nomination, or to 
 feservc himself as a candidate for the United 
 States Senatorship. On one point, his mind 
 was made 'ip from first to last. He would 
 not accept "t? Yice-Presidendal nomination, 
 
 if Mr. Clay *as designated for the Presidency. 
 He had early adopted the opinion that Mr. 
 Clay was unpopular and unavailable. So 
 thinking, he got up and managed a caucus of 
 the New York members of Congress in 1839, 
 at which a letter was agreed upon and signed, 
 Mr. Mitchell only dissenting, advising the 
 New York delegation in the Harrisburg Con- 
 vention, to bring out Gen. Harrison, and not 
 Mr. Clay, for the campaign of 1840. He re- 
 tained the same opinion of Mr. Clay's unavail- 
 ability in 1848, which was increased by his 
 apprehensions that Mr. Clay's declarations in 
 the meantime in reference to the slavery ques- 
 tion, would make him fatally obnoxious to the 
 free sentiment of the North. Mr. Fillmore 
 doubted whether it would be possible to sup- 
 port even Gen. Taylor at the North, in conse- 
 quence of the prevalence and warmth of these 
 sentiments. His final conclusion, communi- 
 cated at the last moment to his friends leaviug 
 for the Philadelphia Convention, was, abso- 
 lutely to refuse the use of his name if Mr. 
 Clay was nominated for the Presidency, and 
 that he did not desire his name to be used, if 
 the nomination fell upon Gen. Taylor. 
 
 In fact, he was nominated upon the ticket 
 with General Taylor, and it is ordy necessary to 
 observe that this was so done, for the sole pur- 
 pose of conciliating anti-slavery support to 
 the ticket. Mr. FiUmore was known through- 
 out the country, as a decided anti-slavery 
 man, and it was hoped and believed that his 
 name would reconcile Northern voters to the 
 support of General Taylor, and so the event 
 proved. 
 
 The original draft of Mr. Fillmore's letter, 
 accepting the nomination for the Vice-Presi- 
 dency, was submitted to his friends, and un- 
 der their advice, was not published, until cer- 
 tain extreme anti-slavery sentiments were 
 stricken out, which, in their judgment, would 
 have been fatal to the Whig party at the South. 
 
 After his elevation to the Vice-Presidency, 
 Mr. FiUmore took a new departure in poli- 
 tics, and I propose to point out some of the cir- 
 cumstances which preceded and attended it. 
 
 In the year 1839, Mr. Seward being Gov- 
 eraor of New York, a biU was passed by the 
 Legislature of that State, creating the office 
 of Vice-chancellor for Western New York. 
 This office was given by Gov. Seward to 
 Frederick Whittelsey of Eochester, the bill 
 creating it having passed the Legislature with 
 the general understanding that that appoint- 
 ment would be made under it. Before the 
 final completion of these proceedings, Mr. 
 Fillmore, then at Washington, wrote a letter 
 to a distinguished gentleman at Albany, ex- 
 pressing his own wish for this appointment, 
 if it could be given to him consistently with 
 the arrangements of the Whig party. In re- 
 ply, Mr. Weed apprised him of the circxira 
 
stances attending the creation of the office. 
 Mr. Filhnore, however, never forgave Gov. 
 Seward for his failure to gratify him in this 
 matter. 
 
 In reference to some of the appointments 
 made by Geuerjil Taylor for the State of New 
 York, opposing recommendations were made 
 by Gov. Seward and Mr. Fillmore. The lat- 
 ter gentleman complained, although really 
 without cause, that he did not have that 
 weight with General Taylor to which he was 
 entitled. In the end, a coolness grew up be- 
 tween Gen. Taylor and Mr. Fillmore, which 
 carried Mr. Fillmore by insensible degrees 
 into the camp of their common enemies. Be- 
 coming more and more estranged from General 
 Taylor, he joined himself to the opposition 
 raised by the South and by the democratic 
 party to General Taylor's territorial policy, 
 and at length became a prominent and con- 
 spicuous member of the coterie of Union sa- 
 vers. Nor did he fail to take an early advan- 
 tage of his new political connections, to grati- 
 fy the views in respect to the distribution of 
 office, disappointment in which was the sole 
 cause of his opposition to the soldier and pa- 
 triot then administering the government. 
 
 In a speech delivered in California in the 
 fall of 1854, Mr. Foote of Mississippi lets us 
 into some of these secret movements. After 
 recapitulating the points of one of his speeches 
 in the United States Senate, in which he had 
 denounced the free-soil movements and nomi- 
 nations to office of General Taylor, Mr. Foote 
 says : — 
 
 " I had not long taken my seat before Mr. 
 Badger of North Carolina, one of the purest and 
 most patriotic men that ever occupied a place 
 in the national council, came to me and stated 
 that Vice-President Fillmore, the then presid- 
 ing officer of the Senate, had requested him 
 to make known to me that he perfectly con- 
 curred in the views which I had just express- 
 ed, and that lie would be pleased to have an 
 interview with me on the subject in the official 
 rooms of the Capitol, at the hour of nine 
 o'clock on the next morning. I promised to 
 attend upon him at the time and place speci- 
 fied. I did so. 
 
 " Without going into particulars at present, 
 it is sufficient for me to say that I obtained by 
 the direction of Mr. Fillmore from the hands 
 of an accredited friend of his, a list of the 
 nominees subject to the objection of being 
 agitators on the question of slavery. This 
 whole catalogue of worthies was disposed of hi 
 the Senate, in other words they were sacrificed 
 to the peace of the country ; save one or two, 
 whose nominations remained to be acted upon 
 on the last night of the session of Congre-;s. 
 They were disposed of by Mr. Fillmore him- 
 telf oii the same night; for just before the 
 
 clock struck twelve, this gentlemaa, being 
 then President, sent in a special message, 
 withdrawing all the offensive nominations, 
 and substituting others in their stead." 
 
 From this period, Mr. Fillmore was against 
 his old friends and his old principles. As 
 President he acted with the South and wiib 
 the Democrats. Whig members of Congress 
 had no access to him, and no influence with 
 him. It was at the end of his administration 
 that honest John Davis of Massachusetts, with 
 bowed head and desponding heart, made the 
 memorable declaration that '■'■slavery rules 
 everything^ A distinguished member of this 
 House from Maine, Mr. Washburn, has in- 
 formed the public that Mr. Davis said to him, 
 that he felt himself as much a stranger in the 
 White House after the accession of Mr. Fill- 
 more, as he did during the administration of 
 Mr. Polk. What was true of Mr. Davis, the 
 tried and trusted leader of the Whigs of Mas- 
 sachusetts, was true of all the Wliigs of the 
 North who held fast to old principles. Mr, 
 Fillmore received his reward in the unani- 
 mous support of the South in the Whig con- 
 vention of 1852. But between himself and 
 the true Whigs of the North, he had, with 
 his own hands, erected an impassable wall of 
 separation. 
 
 No personal disappointments could justify 
 Mr. Fillmore in forming his new alliances 
 against Gen. Taylor, but in truth, nothing had 
 occurred of which he had the least right to 
 complain. Gen. Taylor was a just, uprigiit and 
 sagacious man. Instead of finding Mr. Fill- 
 more an impartial counsellor, taking a broad 
 view of things, he found him intent at all 
 times on advancing his peculiar, personal in 
 terests. At the first interview between them 
 in Washington, Mr. Fillmore demanded that 
 his partner, Mr. Hall, should be appointed 
 Governor of Minnesota, and that Mr. Foote, 
 the editor of his paper, the BuflTalo Commer- 
 cial Advertiser, should be appointed Minister 
 at Constantinople. Gen. Taylor could not but 
 see, and he did see, that Mr. Fillmore was a 
 mere office broker, for hid particular friends, 
 instead of being a reliable adviser for the ge- 
 neral good of a common party. Again, at 
 Erie, when Gen. Taylor was lying there sick, 
 and so sick, that, to use his own expression, he 
 " could not tell night from day,'''' Mr. Fillmore 
 came up from Buffalo, not to minister to him, 
 not to comfort him, but to extort a promise 
 from him, the performance of which he after- 
 wards exacted, that his friend, Mr. Stuart, 
 should be appointed Architect of public build- 
 ings. Gen. Taylor noted these and similar 
 things, and often, before his death, spoke of 
 them with grief and indignation. 
 
 I know that there are many Whigs at the 
 North, who still hold In good faith to the old 
 
principles of the "Whig party of the North, 
 who incline to support Mr, Fillmore. Let 
 me warn snch men, that the rancor of a rene- 
 gade always surpasses the hostility of an ori- 
 ginal enemy, and that we have more to hope, 
 (I speak now as an original Whig,) from Mr. 
 Buchanan, than from Mr. Fillmore, who hates 
 his old associates and his old principles, from 
 the consciousness, which he cannot escape, 
 that he has been false to both. Implacable 
 enmity to all the true men of the North, and 
 thorough devotion to the politicians of the 
 South ; these make up the personal relations, 
 never again to be changed, of Mr. rUlmore. 
 
 The American Party Platform. 
 
 The present platform of the American party, 
 adopted in February last, and upon which 
 Mr. Fillmore now stands, is precisely the 
 same as the Cincinnati platform, so far as the 
 Kansas-Nebraska policy is concerned. This 
 is clear from its language, and equally so from 
 its history. 
 
 The first platform of the American party, 
 adopted in June, 1855, contained the celebrated 
 '■'• Twelfth section^'''' now expunged, and which 
 was as follows: 
 
 "XII. The American party having arisen 
 Tipon the ruins, and in spite of the opposition, 
 of the Whig and Democratic parties, cannot 
 be in any manner responsible for the obnoxious 
 acts or violated pledges of either. And the 
 systematic agitation of the slavery question 
 by those parties having elevated sectional hos- 
 tility into a positive element of political pow- 
 er, and brought our institutions into peril, it 
 has, therefore, become the imperative duty of 
 the American party to interpose for the pur- 
 pose of giving peace to the country and per- 
 petuity to the Union, And, as experience 
 has shown it impossible to reconcile opinions 
 80 extreme as those which separate the dispu- 
 tants, and as there can be no dishonor in sub- 
 mitting to the laws, the National Council has 
 deemed it the best guarantee of common jus- 
 tice and of future peace, to abide by and 
 maintain the existing laws upon the subject 
 of slavery as a final and conclusive settlement 
 of that subject, in spirit and in substance. 
 
 "And regarding it the highest duty to avow 
 their opinions upon a subject so important in 
 distinet and unequivocal terms, it is hereby 
 declared, as the sense of this National Coun- 
 cil, that Congress possesses no power under 
 the Constitution to legislate upon the subject 
 of slavery in the States whero it does or may 
 exist, or to exclude any State from admission 
 into the Union because its Constitution does 
 or does not recognize the institution of slavery 
 as a fart of its social system; and expressly 
 pretcr -nitting any expression of opinion upon 
 
 the power of Congress to establish or proW 
 bit slavery in any Territory, it is the sense oi 
 the National Council that Congress ought not 
 to legislate upon the subject of slavery within 
 the Territories of the United States, and that 
 any interference by Congress with slavery as 
 it exists in the District of Coltmibia would be 
 a violation of the spirit and intention of the 
 compact by which the State of Marylaud ceded 
 the District to the United States, and a breach 
 of the national faith." 
 
 Here was no approval of the repeal of the 
 Missouri Compromise. On the contrary, the 
 reference to "obnoxious acts" and "violated 
 pledges," was intended, either to condemn it, 
 or to carry the appearance of condemning it. 
 But in respect to all present and future action, 
 which is its only practical aspect, this section 
 sustains the Nebraska act as a thing settled 
 and not to be disturbed. 
 
 This twelfth section ofl:ended the great body 
 of the northern Americans, and at a separate 
 convention holden at Cincinnati in the fall of 
 1855, in which this northern wing was largely 
 represented, the following resolution was 
 adopted : 
 
 "That the repeal of the Missouri Compro- 
 mise was an infraction of the plighted faith 
 of the nation, and that it should be restored; 
 and if efforts to that end should fail, Congress 
 should refuse to admit into the Union any 
 State tolerating slavery, which shall be formed 
 out of any portion of the Territory from 
 which that institution was excluded by that 
 compromise." 
 
 This was the most moderate form to which 
 the demands of the northern Americans could 
 then be reduced. 
 
 In February last, the party met again in 
 national convention, and having set aside the 
 platform of June, 1855, adopted a new one, 
 of which the two following are the only 
 clauses which relate to the Nebraska contro- 
 versy : 
 
 '■^Seventh. The recognition :f the right of 
 the native-born and naturalized citizens af 
 the United States permanently residing in 
 any Territory thereof, to frame their consti- 
 tution and laws, and to regulate their domes- 
 tic and social affairs in their own mode, sub- 
 ject only to the provisions of the Federal 
 Constitution, with the right of admission into 
 the Union whenever they have the requisite 
 population for one Representative in Con- 
 gress." 
 
 " Thirteenth. Opposition to the reckless and 
 unwise policy of the present Administration, 
 in the general management of our national 
 affairs, and mor«i' especially as ^hown in 
 
6 
 
 removing Araericans' (by designation) and 
 conservatives in principle from office, and 
 placing foreigners and nltraists in their places; 
 as shown iu a truckling subserviency to the 
 stronger, and an insolent and cowardly bra- 
 vado towards the weaker powers; as shown 
 in reojieniiig sectional agitation, by the repeal 
 of the Missouri compromise," &c. 
 
 As to the past, this new platform differs 
 from the old platform, inasmuch as it ex- 
 pressly condemns the repeal of the Missouri 
 Compromise, whereas the old one does so 
 only by inference and construction, if it does 
 so at all. 
 
 As to the present and future, the two plat- 
 forms are identical, both upholding the Ne- 
 braska jiolicy of Judge Douglass, and both 
 repudiating Ccnigressioual control over the 
 Teri'itories, under pretence of giving to the 
 citizens thei'eof the right to govern them- 
 selves. 
 
 Practically, it is of no moment, what indi- 
 viduals, or parties, think of the repeal of the 
 Missouri Comj)romise. The important ques- 
 tion is, wliat shall now be done? Shall the 
 Douglass swindle be acquiesced in, or shall 
 the Cumpntmi.se be restored, in letter or sub- 
 stance? 15ut while this is the only practical 
 question, I must take occasion to say that I 
 find it easier to respect those who sustain the 
 Douglass policy, as right in principle, than 
 those who condemn it, and at the same time 
 sustain it. 
 
 The Northern members of the February 
 Convention, saw at once that this new jtlat- 
 form was as complete a repudiation of tlicir 
 views as the old one. 
 
 A resolution was offered by one of them 
 that "^re will nominate no candidate for Pre- 
 sident or Vice President, who is not in favor 
 of interdicting the introdi.iction of slavery 
 north of 36° 30'." 
 
 A motion was made to lay this resolution 
 on the table, and it was carried — yeas 141, 
 nays 59. 
 
 Tiie resolution to proceed to a ballot having 
 passed, the Convention was about to do so, 
 when ^Ir. Perkins of Connecticut, announced 
 the secession from the Convention of the del- 
 egates of that State, which was followed by 
 Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Ohio, and por- 
 tions of the delegates of Illinois, Iowa, and 
 Pennsylvania. 
 
 These seceding members put forth an ad- 
 dress to tlio public, of which the following is 
 the material i>ortit)n : 
 
 '' Tlia uudersigned, delegates to the Nomi- 
 nating Convention now in session at Philadel- 
 phia, tind themselves compelled to dissent 
 from tlie principles avowed by that body ; and 
 liolding the opinion, as they do, that the resto- 
 ration of the Missouri Compromise demanded 
 
 by a majority of the whole people, is a re- 
 dress of an undeniable wrong, and the rest6- 
 ration of it, iu spirit at least, indispensable to 
 the repose of the country, they have regarded 
 the refusal of that Convention to recognize the 
 well defined opinion of the country, and of 
 the Americans of the free States, upon this 
 question, as a denial of their rights, and a re- 
 buke to their sentiments. 
 
 Many Northern members having left the 
 Convention upon these grounds, Mr. Fillmore 
 obtained the nomination, receiving tlie South- 
 ern votes, with the exception of a few given 
 to Garret Davis, ©f Ky., and General Houston. 
 14 of the 15 delegates from Virginia voted for 
 Mr. Fillmore, and so did unanimously the del- 
 egations from Maryland, Delaware, North Ca- 
 rolina, Missouri, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, 
 and Mississippi, And thus the Soutli obtain- 
 ed the platform it wanted, and the man of its 
 choice. 
 
 This thing was and is understood by the 
 Southern members of that Convention, precise- 
 ly as it wjis by the Northern members. The 
 South came off the substantial winner, al- 
 though, for theatrical effect, it was tliought 
 best to shed a few tears over the departed 
 " twelfth sectiony 
 
 Mr. Zollicoffer, a member of this Hoiise, 
 from Tennessee, was a member of tliat Con- 
 vention, and he has told us hero, exactly what 
 the true scope of the new platform is. I will 
 quote from his reported speech. 
 
 In the House on the 3rd of April, 1856, 
 [Appendix to Cong. Globe, 1st session, 34th 
 Cong, page 355,] 
 
 Mr. Zollicoffer said : 
 
 " My colleague makes the point against me, 
 that the thirteenth section embraces a specifi- 
 cation against the Administration, for ' re- 
 opening sectional agitation by a repeal of the 
 Missouri Compromise.' I will inform my col- 
 league that I proposed to strike out that spe- 
 cification, and every specificationin the thir- 
 teenth section ; but there being much disorder 
 at the time, I failed to succeed. * =»= * The 
 question was subsequently about being put in 
 the American council, — shall the new platform 
 be adopted in lieu of the old ? when some 
 member proposed a division of the question, 
 which was iigreed to, and the vote was first 
 taken upon striking out the old jilatform, I 
 voted against striking out, but the proposition 
 was carried. Then the question recurred upon 
 adoption of the ncic platform. I voted for its 
 adoption. I did it just as I voted for the Kan- 
 sas-Nebraska bill in 1854, with some minor 
 objections, which I stated at the time. * * * 
 But to make the most of that specification in 
 the platform, it is but an expression of oi)in- 
 ion as to a Vygone ism, while the seventh sec- 
 tion of the platform lays down a vit.'^l prin- 
 
dple of action for the present and the future, 
 covering the whole ground, and REASSERT- 
 ING THE LEADING PRINCIPLE EMBOD- 
 IED BOTH IN THE OLD TWELFTH SEC- 
 TION AND IN THE NEBRASKA ACT." 
 
 Thus it is clear, that the American platform, 
 for all suhstantial purposes, is identical with 
 the Cincinnati platform. 
 
 To the same effect, another Fillmore mem- 
 ber of this House, Hon. Charles Ready of Ten- 
 nessee, in a recent letter to his constituents, 
 
 " It is true, Mr. Fillmore was opposed to 
 the repeal of the Missouri restriction ; and 
 some, it may be many, of his supporters, were 
 also opposed to it. Therein, there was a dif- 
 ference of opinion between us. 
 
 " But all those things are past. We must 
 now look to the future. Will there, in tlie 
 future, be an issue between us ? Is Mr. Fill- 
 more now, and will he hereafter be, in favor 
 of r^toring the Missouri restriction ? He is 
 known to be opposed to alt agitation on the 
 subject of slavery, axd to stand by the kxist- 
 ING LAWS. Then, there is no practical issue 
 between us upon this point, nor is there be- 
 tween him and Mr. Buchanan. He also holdtj 
 to the right of the Territory to admission into 
 tlie Union, with a constitution prohibiting or 
 establishing Slavery, as the people may there- 
 in provide. In this, we also agree with each 
 other, and with Mr. Buchanan, Surely, then, 
 I can support him without any inconsistency 
 or change of political opinion." 
 
 Mr. Fillmore'a Position. 
 
 Mr. Fillmore talks, just as his platform 
 reads. Following that lead, he condemns the 
 repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and he 
 Bays that he was opposed to it when it was 
 done. I believe this to be au after thought. 
 Not one word, not one line, was given to the 
 public by Mr. Fillmore in 1854-, against the 
 repeal of the Missouri Compromise. He was 
 then making a tour through the South, deliver- 
 ing speeches, and whining about the "Union," 
 just as he is now. Not a lisp did he utter 
 against the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, 
 until the cue was given him in this platform. 
 Following the same cue, he avoids saying any 
 thing about restoring the Compromise. 
 
 Not only does Mr. Fillmore thus adopt a 
 platform, in no respect better than the one 
 which is sinking Mr. Buchanan, beyond flie 
 reach of the plummet, but he himself super- 
 adds to it, nullificiition, disunion and tre:\son. 
 This is strong language, but it is borne out by 
 the truth. Mr. Fillmore docs not merely pre- 
 dict disunion, but he incites and approves it. 
 Uo does not merely say that the South will 
 
 dissolve the TJnion if CdI. Fremont is dected, 
 but that they ought to dissolve it, and would 
 be doing no more than the North would do 
 under similar circumstances. 
 
 At Albany, June the 26th, Mr. Filbnore 
 said : — 
 
 " We see a political party presenting caudi 
 dates for the Presidency and Vice Presidency, 
 selected for the tirst time from the ire^ States 
 alone, with the avowed purpose of electing 
 these candidates by suffrages of one part of 
 the Union only, to rule over the whole United 
 States. Can it be possible that those who are 
 engiiged in such a measure can have seriously 
 reflected upon the consequences which must 
 inevitably follow, in case of success? [Cheers.] 
 Can they have the madness or the folly to be- 
 lieve that our southern brethren would sub- 
 mit to be governed by such a Chief Magis- 
 trate? [Cheers.] Suppose that the South 
 having a majority of the electoral votes, 
 should declare tliat they would only have 
 slave-holders for President and Vice President; 
 and should elect such by tlieir exclusive suf- 
 frages to rule over us at the North ; do you 
 think we would submit to it? No, not for a 
 moment. [Applause.] And do you believe 
 that your southern brethren are less sensitive 
 on this subject than you arc, or less jealous of 
 their rights V 
 
 Certainly, Mr. Fillmore advances rapidly. 
 In 1848, an abolitionist; in 1850, a Union 
 man; in 1856, a NuUifier. What next? 
 
 Who will support and control Ifr. Fillmore ? 
 
 By no possibility can Mr Fillmore get a 
 northern vote in the electoral colleges. In all 
 probability, he can get none anywhere. If, 
 however, the election is accidentally thrown 
 into this House, not a solitary northern State is 
 in his favor, as represented here. In any wise, 
 his whole strength is at the South. His party 
 is there. The control of it lies there. The 
 northern Americans are mere bobs to a south- 
 ern kite, just as the northern Democrats are. 
 The only (piestion between tlie ]')nchanan and 
 Filbnore parties is, which of two parties, both 
 intensely and exclusively southern, shall vault 
 into power. 
 
 Now, I assert here, that the thirty Fillmore 
 members of tliis House from the Sor.th, are 
 even more rapidly aiul furiously pi'o-slavery 
 thnu the Democrats from the South are. They 
 united in the attemi)t to make Governor Aiken, 
 with his fifteen hundred slaves, Speaker. They 
 resisted, to a man, the investigation into the 
 Kansas outrages, and to a m;m, they resist 
 every measure of redress. To a man, they 
 voted against the restoration of the ilissouri 
 compromise, as provided m }ilf. Dunn's bill. 
 
% 
 
 To a man, they voted to keep General Whit- 
 field, the hogus Delegate from Kansas, in hi; 
 Beat. On everything, bearing directly or in- 
 directly upon slavery, they vote to a man. 
 They did 80 on the contested seat between 
 Messrs. Allen and Archer, of Illinois. 
 
 They threaten disunion if the Missouri re- 
 striction is restored. On the 20th of last 
 December, (Appendix to Congressional Globe, 
 page 30,) Mr. Cox, of Kentucky, said : — ■ 
 
 "When you tell me that you intend to put 
 a restriction on the Territories, I say to you, 
 that upon that subject the South is a unit, and 
 will not submit to any such thing." 
 
 On the 19th of last December, (Appendix 
 to Congressional Globe, page 56,) Mr. Camp- 
 bell, of Kentucky said : — 
 
 " It is an interference with our institutions 
 when our citizens are denied the same rights 
 in the new territories with the citizens from 
 the North, for that territory belongs to us as 
 much as it does to you. * * * * 
 
 " Whenever this Government makes a dis- 
 tinction between a southern and northern con- 
 stituency or citizenship, then w« shall no 
 longer consider ourselves bound to support the 
 Confederacy, but will resort to the right of 
 revolution, wliich is recognized by all." 
 
 The, following is one of the resolutions of 
 the last American State convention in Ala- 
 bama: — 
 
 " Eeaoh«d, That in view of the increased 
 dangers that threaten the institutions of the 
 South, this convention deems it necessary to, 
 and does hereby, reindorse and adopt the fol- 
 lowing resolution, known as the Georgia 
 platform, to wit : That the State of Alabama, 
 in the judgment of this convention, will and 
 ought to resist, (as a last resort,) to a disrup- 
 tion of every tie which binds her to the Union, 
 any action of Congress upon the subject of 
 slavery in tlie District of Columbia, or in 
 places subject to the jurisdiction of Congress, 
 incompatible with the safety, the domestic 
 tranquillity, the rights and honor of the slave- 
 holding States; or any act suppressing the 
 slave trade between the slavcholding States; 
 or any refusal to admit as a State any terri- 
 tory applying, because of the existence of sla- 
 very therein ; or any act prohibiting the intro- 
 duction of slaves into the territories ; or any 
 act repealing, or materially modifying, the 
 laws now in force for the recovery of fugitive 
 daves." 
 
 It is useleM to multiply quotations further. 
 The whole thiug is stated with exactness and 
 truth in a letter addrosoed, on the 2d inst., to 
 eitiMDjs of NttW Jersey, by a member of this ^ 
 
 'House, [Mr. Watkins, of TeLJiessee,] himsell 
 elected as an American to his seat here : — 
 
 " Taking the record of this Congress in the 
 various tests that have been applied and the 
 relative position and votes of the three par- 
 ties, I am forced to the conclusion, by every 
 principle of reason, policy, and philosophy, 
 that the South Americans must and will, 
 ultimately unite with the Democratic party, 
 and those who claim to be Americans North 
 with the republican party." 
 
 And again, in the same letter, Mr. Watkins 
 says : — 
 
 "The interests, sympathies, and legitimate 
 and proper identity of the South Americans 
 are with the national democratic party of the 
 country." 
 
 Undoubtedly this is so, and to sincere men, 
 holding sincere opinions upon the great ques^- 
 tion of slavery extension, it must be apparent, 
 that as affecting the result, the election 5f Mr. 
 Fillmore will be precisely the same as the 
 election of Mr. Buchanan. They are both 
 southern candidates, having their strength 
 at the South, and certain to be controlled 
 by the South, if elected, I am aware^ as I 
 have said once before, that many persons at 
 the North, honestly opposed to the extension 
 of slavery, are still inclined to Mr. Fillmore, 
 from a misapprehension of his true position. 
 To such men I have particularly designed to 
 address myself. Can they believe, upon a 
 fair review of the whole case, that freedom 
 has anything to hope from the success of Mr. 
 FUlmore ? 
 
 We are upon the eve, sir, of important 
 political movements, and I intend to speak 
 plainly. It is fast becoming apparent that 
 Mr. Fillmore has no effective strength and 
 can carry no single State. His friends still 
 cling to Maryland as a forlorn hope, but they 
 must soon abandon even that State. If Mr. 
 Fillmore is not formaUy withdrawn, he will 
 be substantially dropped. The bulk of his 
 present supporters at the North will, in that 
 event, rally under the broad banner of Fre- 
 mont and Freedom. Not so, I fear, with Mr, 
 Fillmore himself and his immediate advisers. 
 It is my most deliberate judgment that they 
 prefer Mr. Buchanan to Col. Fremont, and 
 that they will keep Mr. Fillmore in the field, 
 or withdraw him, just as may be thought best 
 for the interests of the democratic party. In 
 my opinion, there is not in all the Northern 
 States a man more completely and irretrieva- 
 bly wedded to the South, by his sympathies 
 on the one hand and his hatreds on the other, 
 than Mr. Fillmore. Since 1850, he has been 
 with the South and with the democratic party, 
 and he will never retam to the friends whc«i» 
 
he has betrayed. They expect nothing from 
 him bat implacable hostility to the last. 
 
 Bat to the great body of his present sap- 
 porters at the North, I appeal with confidence. 
 Come over to yoar natural allies. Unite the 
 North and thereby tranquilize the Union. In 
 the presence of an united and irresistible 
 North, the madness of Southern nullification 
 would be arrested. Men of all parties of 
 the South are rushing to the support of Mr. 
 Buchanan, as the pledged representative of 
 Southern sectional interests. Has freedom 
 less power than slavery, to produce concert, 
 and arouse sympathies ? 
 
 The support of Mr. Fillmore at the South, 
 at this moment, is a mere sham to keep alive 
 a Fillmore party at the North, so as to defeat 
 the election of Col. Fremont. Will the intel- 
 ligent people of the North be longer deceived? 
 
 Mr. Fillmore has delivered many speeches 
 since his return from Europe, but in not one 
 of them has he expressed either sympathy for 
 the down-trodden people of Kansas, or indig- 
 nation against those who have oppressed them. 
 He has proposed no measure of redress for 
 their wrongs, and he has offered co-operation 
 in no such measure. For the cause of liberty, 
 so fearfully imperiled by the wants in Kansas, 
 he has uttered no word of cheer, or counsel, 
 or hope. He has been as silent and as cold as 
 the grave, upon a theme which has stirred the 
 freemen of this country, as they have not been 
 stirred since the days of the Revolution. He 
 has eyes and ears for nothing but the Presi- 
 dency, and that to be reached by the support 
 of the South. He has no voice, and no heart, 
 for the North which he has abandoned. 
 
 And for what cause, and on what pretence, 
 is the North to be persuaded to divide its 
 strength at this crisis? For an issue and a 
 question, which, in all its political aspects, 
 has been abandoned by his friends upon the 
 floor of this House. A session of Congress 
 of nearly nine months is near its termination, 
 and no friend of Mr. Fillmore here has moved 
 any change in the Naturalization laws, a change 
 in which is the only substantial object pro- 
 posed by the American organization. The 
 thirty Southern friends of Mr. Fillmore have 
 been active enough and zealous enough, when- 
 ever or wherever the interests of slavery have 
 been concerned. Not one thought, or one mo- 
 ment, have they given to this pretended issue of 
 Americanism, with which they hope to divide 
 thr North and secure to themselves the con- 
 
 trol of this continent forever. Is it possible 
 that the intelligence of the free States will be 
 deceived by pretences so flimsy? 
 
 "Who has forgotten the declaration made en 
 this floor, during the contest for the Speaker- 
 ship, by Hon. Humphrey Marshall, of Ken- 
 tucky, the bold and frank leader of Mr. Fill- 
 more's thirty Southern members of this House? 
 " I will FIRST take care of the niggers, and then 
 take care of the Irish and Dutch .'" This was 
 the out-spoken declaration of Mr. Marshall. 
 Slavery first, and Americanism afterwards; 
 this is the motto and the practice of the South. 
 Slavery swallows up everything else, and con- 
 trols everything else. 
 
 And who is running for the Vice-Presidency 
 on the same ticket with Mr. Fillmore ! Mr. 
 Donclson, of Tennessee, who, on the day of 
 his nomination, "boasted of his '^e hundred 
 negroes, as the proof and gu^tfantee of his 
 fidelity to the " institutions " of the South I 
 The ticket presented to us is not Fillmore 
 alone, bad as that would be, but Fillmore and 
 Donelson, "niggers" and all. 
 
 The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, urging the 
 claims of Mr. FUlmore upon the South, makes 
 the following statement as to the sentiments 
 which he expressed during the Southern tour 
 of 1854: 
 
 " Having made the tour of the South westenl 
 Slave States, he announced on the steps of th* 
 State House door in Montgomery, that ths 
 anti-Slavery prejudices of his early education 
 had been, obliterated by what he had seen in tht 
 South of the happy condition of the slave.'''' 
 
 Of the fact that Mr. FUlmgjjfe's original 
 opinions or ^^anti-Slavery prefmuices'" have 
 been thoroughly " obliterated " there can be na 
 question, but the date and caitse of the oblite- 
 ration are not correctly given in this extractl 
 It was not the Southern tour of 1854, but the 
 Washington intrigues of 1850, which did the 
 work. It was not what Mr. Fillmore saw of 
 " the happy condition of the slaves " at ttie 
 South, but what he had seen of " the h/tpfy 
 condition " of politicians at this seat of pow:er, 
 attaining fortune and prosperity by subservien* 
 cy to the interests of slavery. It was tiiis- 
 spectacle of what has been, but may not al- 
 ways continue, which ^^ obliterated''^ every 
 single free principle of Mr. Fillmore's youtV 
 and manhood- 
 
10 
 
 LETTER FROM GEORGE LkW ON THE POLITICAL CRISIS. 
 
 New Tobc, July 8, 185«. 
 
 Dear Sir : I beg to acknowledge the receipt of 
 Tour letter of the 26th ult. I have carefully re- 
 sected upon itsj contents. In reply, I beg to state 
 %o you that I de(!ply regret no more perfect union 
 has been effected by those whose duty it was to 
 have accomplished tliat object — to unite the whole 
 elements of opposition to the present corrupt ad- 
 ministration, wielded as it is by the extreme slave 
 oligarchy of the South. For the last tliree years, 
 this same oligarchy hits used the entire power and 
 patronage of the General Government to crush 
 out all independent action and honest representa- 
 tion on the part of the North, to purchase up 
 Northern men who were willing to misrepresent 
 their constituents from personal motives, and for 
 promises of favor from the present corrupt admin- 
 istration. 
 
 All good men who have the love of their coun- 
 try at heart, both in the North and in the South, 
 should unite cordially in a common effort to de- 
 stroy the vLpcr that has coiled around the free- 
 <Jom and independence of the American people. 
 Freedom of speech is prohibited in the halls of 
 Congress : bowie-knives and revolvers are worn 
 •9 daily appendages at the Capitol as a means of 
 assault and defence. The Senate declares itself 
 not only powerless for punishment, but even pal- 
 med for protection. Its members look quietly on 
 and see a member stricken down in open day in 
 the Senate chamber, without even the common 
 effort of humanity that would be exercised in a 
 t>ar-room to save a man prostrated, without an 
 opportunity of defending himself Thus you see 
 that those who represent their constituents 
 honestly, and by unanswerable arguments, and 
 -who cannot be purchased by Executive favor, 
 must be awed into silence by bowie-knivc^ blud- 
 geons, and revolvers. Such is the scheme of 
 Government inaugurated under the Pierce dynasty, 
 and fostered by the Southern sectional power that 
 supports it. Upon this basis, and into the arms 
 of this power, the nominee of the Cincinnati Con- 
 Tcntion surrenders himself before the country, 
 without the slightest reservation or individual in- 
 dependence of his own. What has the country to 
 •xpect if Mr. Buchanan succeeds? Nothing bet- 
 ter than what it has experienced under Mr. Pierce, 
 and perhaps something worse. One is an old man 
 without independence of mind, or energy of cha- 
 racter, which the country is forewarned of by his 
 declaration, that he is no longer James Buchanan, 
 and ha" lo views or opinions of his own, and is 
 ihcreicf/'e the pliant instrument of the Slave 
 power that nominated him at Cincinnati, and 
 must reflect their views only. It will be well for' 
 the American people to remember this when they 
 cast their vote for chief magistrate in November 
 oext. 
 
 The other came into office, a man in the prime 
 of life, wMhout any such submission or pledges, 
 backed up by almost the unanimous voice of the 
 country in his election, and yet he was not three 
 weeks in office before ho surrende-ed himself to 
 
 the same oligarchy that has wielded his power 
 during his administration, as absolutely as if he 
 had no will or mind of his own, and had no re- 
 sponsiljility to any section of the Union except to 
 the :^.50,000 slaveholders of the South, who now 
 control the Executive, the Judiciary, and the 
 Senate. The only voice the Free States have in 
 the Federal Government is in the House of Repre- 
 sentatives. 
 
 Is it not fair to expect that if Mr. Buchanan 
 should be elected, the evils that the country Lad 
 experienced for the la.st three years will go on in- 
 creasing daring his administration until the North- 
 ern niind will submit no longer to be cheated, 
 bullied, defied, and deprived of its just rights and 
 fair representations in the Federal Govern 
 ment. 
 
 As one of the leading features of the coming 
 administration, slavery is to be forced into Kan- 
 sas. The rivers, the great highway of the nation 
 through Missouri, a Slave State, are to be closed, 
 as they are at present, to the freemen of the 
 North who desire to emigrate to that territory. 
 Those great thoroughfares which have heretofore 
 been looked upon as the pride of the nation, and 
 that steam has rendered so valuable for the tran- 
 sportation of persons or property, must be closed 
 to the freemffn of the North, or they must be sub- 
 jected to examination, insult, loss of property, 
 and turned back, unless they proclaim themselves 
 in favor of the institution of slavery in this terri- 
 tory. Such means as these are made use of to 
 force slavery into Kansas. When free emigrants 
 arrive there, after all these difficulties and delays 
 have been surmounted, they must undergo an- 
 other examination, and swear allegiance to the 
 government of the slave power organized in Kan- 
 sas by the Missouri mob, or be deprived of the 
 right of franchise and of holding office. This is 
 the operation of squatter sovereignty, which de- 
 prives a man of his citizenship, unless he swears 
 fidelity to slavery ; and all this is to be carried 
 out and put in execution by an armed force, fur- 
 nished from Missouri — the adjoining Slave State ; 
 and the Federal Government, with Federal troops 
 in the Territory, will look on calmly without in- 
 terfering, so long as the Missouri mob succeeds 
 to enforce slavery upon Kansas; but if tlie men 
 from the Free States, who believe in free speech, 
 free territory, free labor, free press, and free men, 
 should be too numerous for the slave labor, then 
 the Federal troops organized for this special pur- 
 pose, under the command of a Southern favorite 
 of a Southern secessionist Secretary of War, are 
 to interfere and decide the conte.-^t in favor of 
 Slavery in Kaiisa.?. So much for the chances of 
 Northern princij)les and Northern men in Kansas, 
 and all that vast territory North of 36° 30', so- 
 cured to freedom by solemn compact, in which 
 the great minds of the country united to Iniild up 
 and preserve to freedom, and which the pigmies 
 and traitors, aided by this corrupt administration, 
 have attempted to pull down and destroy. Here 
 is where Gen. Pierce stands, nnd hero is whor» 
 
11 
 
 James Buchanan stands, while asking for the sup- 
 port of the freemen of the Xorth. 
 
 A few words about Mr. Fillmore. Let us ex- 
 amine with what consistency we, as Americans, 
 or Nortbtrz freemen, can support hira. What 
 are his antecedents? When President of the 
 United States, was lie not entirely subservient to 
 the Slave Power? Did he resist the overtures of 
 the Slave Obligarchy of the South, or did he be- 
 come a wiUing in.strument in their hands? I ask 
 you to look at his acts while President, and let 
 them be the answers to these questions I will 
 refer you to the Fugitive Slave Law, that makes 
 the freemen of the North slave catchers — that re- 
 fuses to them the right of trial by jury — that 
 centres the right of freedom of the man in one 
 judge, and pays him a double fee if he declares 
 him a slave, and only half the fee if he finds hira 
 a freeman. This is the power that the slave oli- 
 garchy of the Soutli exercise at the North, where 
 we have prohibited property in men to our own 
 citizens ; and this act bears the signature of Mil- 
 lard Fillmore as President of the United States. I 
 ask you how he can expect the vote of the free 
 North. Can you give him your vote? Can I give 
 him mine ? Are these the views you and I enter- 
 tain in relation to the rights and the duty of the 
 people of the North or mankind ? Now, sir, upon 
 this question alone, without going into all his 
 other act*) of subserviency to the South and the 
 slave power, let him stand for the suffrages of the 
 freemen of the North. 
 
 As to the Americanism of Mr. Fillmore, you 
 and I have some knowledge of how much he has 
 done to sustain that party. Has he ever been 
 identified with it either in principle or in feeling ? 
 If so, where are his acts — on what occasion here- 
 tofore has he proclaimed it ? What assistance has 
 he ever i-endered us in all our contests ? What 
 were his antecedents to Americanism when Presi- 
 dent of the United States ? Did he then protect 
 American interests or American men ? I well 
 recollect that he did not, and the country will 
 recollect it too. 
 
 When the Captain-General of Cuba issued his 
 decree prohibiting the steamship Crescent City 
 fro-m touching at Havana so long as Mr, Smilh, an 
 American citizen, was aboard of her as Purser, 
 because, as they alleged, the Herald and other 
 papers in New York had published some informa- 
 tion from Havana that was distasteful to the Cuban 
 Government, and which they charged to have 
 been furnished by Purser Smith, and, therefore, 
 neither the Crescent City nor any other American 
 ship should be allowed to touch at Havana having 
 ilr. Smith on board, or any other person who 
 would dare to furnish to the American press in- 
 formation disagreeable to the Captain-General of 
 Cuba — Mr. Fillmore was apprised of this order 
 by the owners of the Crescent City, and he was 
 desired to take some action in relation to it for 
 protection of American property and American 
 citizens ; he miserably skulked the responsibility 
 of his position, and used his interest with the 
 owners to have Mr. Smith dismissed as purser, 
 and to be replaced by some one who was satisfac- 
 tory to the Captain-General of C>iba. 
 
 Thi.s the owners refused to do, and sent M". 
 
 Smith back in toe ship. Mr. Fillmore ordered th« 
 United States mails to be Uiken from the vessel, 
 and notified the owners that if the ship was fired 
 upon by the Cuban authorities, and damaged or 
 destroyed, that they would have no claim upon 
 this Government for remuneration. The com- 
 mander of the Crescent City was removed by his 
 order, he being an officer of the United States 
 Navy, and under the President's control. Anothei 
 commaiider was appointed by the owners. He, 
 too, was removed by Mr. Fillmore's orders. The 
 ship was fined j;i,000 for not carrying the United 
 States mails, when the United States Government 
 or Mr. Fillmore withheld them. The insurance 
 offices in New- York were either frightened by the 
 course of Mr. Fillmore, or influenced by him to 
 withhold their insurance from property shipped by 
 the steamer that Purser Smith was on board of, 
 Tlie owners of the Crescent City had to insure the 
 property of the shippers. The passengers on 
 board of her were not allowed to bo landed in 
 Cuba. Tlie owners persevered in what they con- 
 sidered their proper rights, and the rights of an 
 American citizen, and refused to dismiss Purser 
 Smith, until the Captaia-General of Cuba was 
 obliged to rescind the mandate against Purser 
 Smith. This is the mode in which the rights of am 
 American citizen had to be vindicated while Mr. 
 Fillmore was President. Tliis is the same Mr. 
 Fillmore that you recommend nie to support as an 
 American. Now, sir, can you support him as an 
 American ? Can the American Party support hira 
 as an American? Is he the proper representative 
 of the American people ? These are facts for the 
 American people to look at before they vote. 
 For my part, Mr, Fillmore would be the last maa 
 I would support in the whole comitry as the stan- 
 dard bearer of the great American Party. 
 
 What has Mr. Fillmore ever done for this coun- 
 try or the American Party ? Where are his acta 
 that are to be remembered or treasured up in the 
 hearts of the people ? What great interests has 
 he ever advanced ? Or has he been a mere office- 
 holder, without merit, except the merit of doing 
 nothing ? 
 
 You are aware of the manner in which he was 
 forced upon the American party by the Slave OB- 
 garchy at Philadelphia, when he apparently re- 
 ceived the nomination of the Convention. 
 
 In the letter to me you appear to lay great stress 
 upon the course that the Republican party has 
 seen fit to pursue, and that it has not met the 
 American party half way in the great work of unit- 
 ing the whole North against tlie corrupt policy of 
 the present Administration and the power that 
 controls the Cincinnati nominee. We will suppose 
 that all this ia true in relation to the Republican 
 party. I myself do not think the Republican Con- 
 vcution acted as wisely as it might have done, 
 when the object was harmony of action to accom- 
 plish a great good for the whole country ; but is 
 this any reason why I should be diverted from the 
 great purpose I have at heart, which is to unite all 
 parties that think as I do in relation to the cor 
 rupt policy of the present Administration, and thf 
 continuation of that policy if Mr. EuclianaB 
 should be elected ? No man, or set of men, what 
 ever theV conduct m.iy be, shall divert me for on 
 
12 
 
 ■tement from the course I have marked out in the 
 eoming Presidential campaign. 
 
 lintend to go for the man teho rnont nearly re- 
 presents the American sentiment, and the senti- 
 ment in relation to Slaveri/ of the freemen of the 
 North, which declares that Slavery is sectional and 
 that Freedom is national. At the same time I 
 desire to have the best representative of the pro- 
 gress of the age in which we live. I want a man 
 who has done something for the great material in- 
 terests of the country. I want to see his foot- 
 prints, not promised, but already made in the di- 
 rection that has led to the development of the 
 resources of our country — who has enlarged the 
 field upon which the labor and intelligence of our 
 country is to be applied — one who has done some 
 thing for American interests and American rights — 
 one who has done something forthe area of freedom 
 — something for material progress and benefit to 
 his fellow men. I want no old poHtician, with 
 his host of dependents as seedy as himself. 
 Let us have a man in the prime of life, full of en- 
 ergy, and yet sufficiently faniiKar with the vicissi- 
 tudes of life to judge of men correctly — to appre- 
 ciate the wants of the whole country — to avoid the 
 intrigues and traps of politicians— to devote him- 
 self honestly and fearlessly to the interests of the 
 country — to apply the resources of the Govern- 
 ment to the accomplishment of such improvements 
 as are national in their character, and that will 
 result in the greatest benefit to the whole country 
 — one who has no old political friends to reward, 
 and no old political enemies to punish — one who 
 will feel that he is elevated by the people and not 
 by intrigue. Now, Sir, of the candidates who are 
 before the people for the exalted position of Chief 
 Magistrate, I prefer Joh.v C. Fkemont. I prefer 
 him because he is not an old hackneyed poli- 
 tician, ana all sold out. He is in i\m prime of 
 life — 43 years old. He has been brought into 
 notice by the energy and exertion that he has 
 evinced as a great explorer of the route to the 
 Pacific Ocean. He first opened up the pathway 
 through the wilderness that others followed to the 
 golden fields of California, and gave the most ac- 
 curate and extended view to the American people, 
 of all that Tast region of country between the bor- 
 ders of cirilization on the Atlantic slope and the 
 Pacific Ocean. He took an active part and was 
 fbremost in raising and sustaining the American 
 flag in Calif#nia, He commenced first and went 
 all through fie campaign with signal success, that 
 ended in the acquisition of all that vast territory 
 •od wealth — that opened up to American enter- 
 prise and American energy such a field as has no 
 parallel in history — which has advanced the coun- 
 try at least 25 years at a single bound. It gave 
 UB the facilities of increasing our commerce. It 
 eoablcd us to extend largely our railways and 
 other internal improvements, and thus has 
 greatly increased our manufacturing and agri- 
 
 cultural interests by enlarging the field of pro- 
 duce and consumption. It has added hundreda 
 of millions to the capital of the nation. By hia 
 explorations he has opened up the most central 
 and convenient railroad route to California. 
 He aided in the organization of California as a 
 State, and devoted her institutions to freedom, and 
 she acknowledged h'er indebtedness to Fremont, by 
 sending him as her first Senator to Congress. 
 He protected American interests in California. 
 He protected and advocated American interests 
 in the Senate of the United States. His antece- 
 dents are American. Ue rose by his own energv, 
 his own industry, and his own merit. These are 
 antecedents that will be appreciated by the Ame- 
 rican people. They are not the promises of to- 
 day of American principles under the expectation 
 of the suffrages of the American party, but they 
 are a history of his life from .^^is youth upward, 
 when actuated by no other motives than a true 
 American heart, thoroughly devoted to the inte- 
 rests of his country. 
 
 With this view of the subject, who are we to 
 support? I have fairly canvassed the difl'erent 
 candidates. So far as Americanism is concerned, 
 we may as well support Mr. Buchanan as Mr. Fill- 
 more. He has a fairer American record than Mr. 
 Fillmore ; and, as for the promises of old poHti- 
 cians, we all know what they are worth on the eve 
 of an election. I do not mean to be cheated by 
 them, nor do I wish to see the American people, 
 by pretensions that have no value, but that are 
 entirely worthless. 
 
 In relation to the subject of the extension of 
 Slavery, we may as well support Mr. Buchanan as 
 Mr. Fillmore. Mr. Buchanan promises that he 
 will be governed by the Southern slaveholders, 
 and Mr. Fillmore we know has already been go- 
 verned by them. 
 
 As to advancing the interests of the country, 
 we may as well support Mr. Buchanan, as Mr. 
 Fillmore. Neither of them has ever advanced, by 
 any act of his own, the great industrial interesta 
 of the country. They have both been drones, 
 living on office. The only difference that I see is, 
 that Mr. Fillmore is about five years younger than 
 Mr. Buchanan, and has that many chances less to 
 die. 
 
 You would laugh and ridicule the idea if I were 
 to ask you to vote for Mr. Buchanan as a proper 
 representative of the American party ; it seems 
 to me equally ridiculous that you should ask me 
 to vote for Mr. Fillmore as the American Can- 
 didate. 
 
 I shall give my support to John C. Fremont, as 
 the best representative, in my estimation, of the 
 American people and the American party. 
 
 I am, with much respect, yours truly, 
 
 GEORGE LAW. 
 
 To O. ▲. Soaoooi, Ksq., Buffalo, N. T. 
 
18 
 
 CHAUNCEl SHAFFEK, ESQ., RENOUNCING FILLMOEE. 
 
 Saratoga Spkinos, August 14, 1856. 
 
 W. Dunn, Esq. — My Dear Sir: 
 
 I hare just received, by way of New- York 
 city, your note of the 9th inst., enclosing the fol- 
 lowing extract from the Ithaca Citizen, to wit : 
 
 "Coming Back. — Chauncey Shaffer, who was 
 one of the most prominent bolters from the Phila- 
 delphia American Convention, and who has been 
 stumping the river counties in this State at the 
 Fremont meetings, has returned to the hearty 
 support of Fillmore and Donelson. Mr. Shaffer 
 is an eloquent speaker, and was District Attorney 
 in New York city. He belongs to the Methodist 
 church, and his recent conviction that Mr. Fre- 
 mont is a Roman CathoUc, is the reason why he 
 withdraws his su'/iport from the Republicans. He 
 has candidly examined all the evidences for and 
 against, which have appeared, and he looked closely 
 into the statements of Fulmcr, and the opposition 
 against them, and declares that'the evidence in fa- 
 Tor of his being a Papist is conclusive, for which 
 reason he cannot support him." 
 
 You assure me that the above is producing an 
 impression in your region, and desire me to inform 
 you whether it is true or not. I answer that it is 
 a sheer fabrication — a " Roorback." That no fur- 
 ther mischief may occur from the circulation of 
 that article, I will set the matter of my prefer- 
 ence of candidates right at once. 
 
 In the first place, I was not a prominent or 
 other "bolter from the Philadelphia American 
 Convention." I was not a delegate to that Con- 
 vention. There were reasons why I should not 
 be a delegate. I had too much to do with undo- 
 ing the work of a previous Council in Philadelphia 
 assembled ; too much to do against the dare pro- 
 pagandists at Binghamton last August, and was 
 too little incHned to see Americanism sold out, 
 to be considered a safe man to go to Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 I staid at home against my will, I admit. More- 
 over, that Convention was not an " American 
 Convention." 
 
 As far as the North was concerned, it was a 
 Silver Grey Whig Convention ; as far as the South 
 was concerned, it was a Convention for the pro- 
 pagation of human slavery, and the result was the 
 nomination of two men, one of whom glories in 
 being the owner of a hundred slaves, and the 
 other (Mr. Filhnore), in being a most subservient 
 instrument of the slave power, as is manifestly 
 proved by his course while acting as President of 
 the United States ; also, by his speeches made 
 during his southern tour, in pursuit of a re-nomin- 
 ation, as well as by his nullification speeches at 
 Albany and elsewhere, on his return from his visit 
 to the Pope. 
 
 Hence the leading Silver Grey newspapers of 
 ihe North (including the New York Express), 
 claim Mr. Fillmore as the regular Whig nominee 
 for the Pre.«idcncy, while the South claim him as 
 the champion of Southern rights (meaning the ex- 
 
 tension of human slavery by the action of ..2« 
 General Government), while Mr. Fillmore, to .jus- 
 tify the claims of the South, in effect says, " Elect 
 me, or the South, that loves me so well, shall not 
 remain in the Union." 
 
 As an American, I am not bound by the action 
 of that Convention ; rather let me say, I cannot 
 submit to be bound by its action, any more than 
 can my brethren of Massachusetts or Connecticut, 
 and of every New England State. The American 
 party of Massachusetts, in solemn council assem- 
 bled, has declared for Mr. Fremont, and nominut- 
 ed electors favorable to his election : and so has 
 the State of Connecticut, and so will all New 
 England do (for New England has a history), and 
 so will the American party of this State act, ex- 
 cepting always a portion of the Silver Grey por- 
 tion of that party. The latter portion will stand 
 by Mr. Fillmore, notwithstanding he "has adopted 
 the leading principles of that platform," the 
 seventh section of which commits the American 
 party to Slavery extension under the guise of 
 squatter sovereignty ; because this " portion of a 
 portion " came into the order with the design of 
 retrieving the fallen fortunes of Mr. Fillmore, as 
 is proved by the attempted ostracism of the lib- 
 eral-minded men of the order, and by the threats 
 preceding and accompanying the Philadelphia 
 Convention, that in the event of George Law's 
 receiving the nomination for the Presidency, they 
 with the Whig party proper, would nominate an 
 out-and-out American Whig (meaning Mr. Fil^ 
 more, I presume), and also by letters now in ex- 
 istence, and which, I hope, will yet be pub- 
 hshed. 
 
 I have not " returned to the hearty suppor t of 
 Fillmore and Donelson," nor will I do any act or 
 thing tending to sanction the outrages of pro- 
 slavery, nullification border ruffians, who, in ad- 
 dition'to their outrages in Missouri and Kansas, 
 of themselves sufficient to turn the cheek of dark- 
 ness pale, have from 1852 until now, wrested the 
 high powers of the nation from their legitimate 
 purpose, to the strengthening of the slave oli- 
 garchy. 
 
 There arc other objections to my supporting Mr. 
 Fillmore, founded upon the fact stated by the 
 Citizen, that I belong to the Methodist Church. 
 
 The church owes slavery no particular good 
 will ; for slavery has rent that church in twain ; 
 has imprisoned women for teaching slaves to read 
 the Bible, and has sought in every way to destroy 
 that church, as being the opponent of slavery 
 most to be feared. Let facts speak. Last winter 
 a minister of the Methodist Church, in Missouri, 
 was arrested while in the pulpit by a gang of men 
 (who, if they live, will probably vote for Mr. Fill- 
 more), who wantonly and falsely charged him with 
 horse-stealing, and without allowing him time to 
 put on his overcoat, mounted him on a horse, 
 drove him some seventeen miles, (the weather 
 being intensely cold,) threw him into a cheerless 
 room, without fire, and there left him to die, and 
 there he died. 
 
14 
 
 5fy informant is a bishop of llie Methodist 
 Church, and spoke of his own l;uowledp;e. 
 
 Another instance : The Rev. Mr. Wiley, and 
 about 30 other ministers of tlie Methodist Church, 
 have been assaulted in their cliurches, and driven 
 from phicc to place like wild beasts of prey, their 
 Eves being every day in imminent peril. 
 
 Another instance: In Kansas, a Methodist min- 
 ialer was whipped, tarred, and feathered, tied to 
 ft log, and set afloat on the Missouri river. 
 
 Another instance : Very recently, a Methodist 
 minister in Missouri, while preaching was dragged 
 from his pulpit and tarred and featliered ; while an 
 old Methodist layman for the crime of expostulation 
 against such conduct, was shot ; and it is a notor- 
 ious fact, and one which will not admit of contro- 
 versy, that a minister of my church cannot preach 
 the gospel in the State of Missouri, or the Terri- 
 tory of Kansas, but at the peril of his life ! And 
 yet I find no reproof of these outrages either in 
 the Philadelphia platform, or in any of the speeches 
 of Mr. Fillmore. 
 
 As to my having examined " all the evidence "' 
 in relation to Mr. Fremont's religious creed, I 
 have to say that I have examined ail the evidence 
 including Alderman Fulmer's statement, and have 
 exhausted the means of information within my 
 reach, and have arrived at the following conclu- 
 sions: 
 
 1st. That Mr. Fremont's father was a French 
 Huguenot, and his mother an American Protest- 
 ant lady. 
 
 2d. That Col. Fremont was born a Protestant, 
 and baptized a Protestant, married a Protestant 
 lady, has had his children baptized by a Protest- 
 ant clergyman, educates them in the Protestant 
 faith, while he is a Protestant in practice in all 
 the relations of life. 
 
 I admit that he was married by a Catholic 
 clergynuvn, under circum.'^tances peculiar to him- 
 self, and with which tlie public is already 
 acquainted. 
 
 3d. I conclude that Alderman Fulmer's state- 
 ment is altogether untrue. Col. Fremont was 
 not in Washington at the time Fulmer says he 
 conversed with him, nor within several months of 
 that time, lie was on the Pacific Ocean, or the 
 Isthmus of Darien, or on the steamer George 
 I.nw from Aspinwall to New York city, at the time 
 fixed by Fulmer. 
 
 I should add that upon Col. Fremont's arrival in 
 New-York city, he sailed to Europe without visit- 
 ing Washington at all, and that he remained in 
 Eirope more than a year. 
 
 I should further add, that the conviction \a mj 
 mind that Alderman Fulmer has borae fulse wit- 
 ness against his neighbor, is strengthened by the 
 contradictory statements that I am credibly in- 
 formed he has made concerning this p'-ctended 
 conversation, and by the further facts that 
 amongst his immediate neighbors his statement is 
 not believed. 
 
 But if I should refuse to vote for Mr. Fremont, 
 because of his being a Roman Catholic, I could 
 not vote for Mr. Fillmore ; and for the reason that 
 the Convention which nominated Mr. Filhnore was 
 controlled by Roman Catholics as well aa by 
 slavery propagandists. This is the proof: 
 
 Two sets of delegates, appeared from the State 
 of Louisiana, one Protestant, and tho other 
 Roman Catholic, both demanding admission. The 
 Roman Catholic delegation was received, and the 
 Protestant delegation was rejected. The reason, 
 I understand, assigned for this singular admission 
 and rejection was, that the Roman Cathoiic dele- 
 gation did not acknowledge the temporal .suprem- 
 acy of the Pope — but did the Protestant dele- 
 gation acknowledge the temporal supremacy of 
 the Pope ? 
 
 There are other objections to my supporting 
 Mr. Fillmore, and as an American, and a man who 
 at the commencement of his political life rCMohitely 
 set his face against the further aggressions of the 
 slave power, I cannot be induced by an> ;necial 
 pleading or by any "Roorbacks" that iviy be 
 hatched in the hotbed of political zeal, to . te for 
 any other man for President than Col. Fj nont, 
 inasmuch as I see no other way of putting <j i cud 
 to the terrible aggressions of the slave por ■•. 
 
 I believe upon the election or defeat o Ool. 
 Fremont, will depend the questions, wheti i or 
 not the black column of slavery will be pusi. d to 
 the Pacific ocean ; whether or not the A' icMJ 
 slave trade, the sum of all wickedness, wi^l be 
 revived ; and whether or not practical sl« -ei 
 shall be Jbrced upon the Free States under th, 
 cisions of Federal judges, appointed as Mr. "^•' 
 more sought to appoint and did appoint somd'jj 
 his judges ; and in short, whether this coun>. 
 shall have a constitutional government for '. 
 slave oligarchy ; whether or not we shall recoi 
 our lost national honor, and go on in peace, 
 progress to the cHmax of hunan greatnea, 
 whether we shall be destroyed by Ihe aggres3i\ 
 system of the slave power. 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 CUAUNCEY 1HAFFER. 
 
15 
 
 THE SOUTH AMEBIC AIs^S ON BORDER-RrFFIANISM. 
 
 Freedom of Speech Infamous. 
 
 Thk Fillmore Americans held a State Conven- 
 tion at Syracuse on the 26th of August, which 
 lasted two days. At this Convention, Euch dele- 
 gates as were supposed to favor freedom in the 
 Territories were excluded by the arbitrary dictum 
 of the President of the Council. Nevertheless, a 
 few delegates or Deputies, as they call them, es- 
 caped the vigilance of the President, and passed 
 into the Hall. Among these was Luther Cald- 
 well, Esq., of Rockland County, who offered the 
 following resolutions : 
 
 Resolved, That the attempts made in Congr°,ss dur- 
 ing its late session, and particularly in the United 
 States Senate, to suppress freedom of speech, as 
 manifested in the brutal, clandestine and cowardly 
 attack of Brooks upon Senator Sumner, deserve and 
 Bhould receive the execration of the people of the 
 United States, and that all those, irrespective of 
 party, who, by their votoa '"n Congress or otherwise, 
 ^ . . ^ ■-.v..>c'' P- ;oii.s in his infamous conduct, are 
 justly obnoxious to the same reprobation, 
 
 Resolved, That the well-nigh fatal assault upon 
 Freedom, in the outrages perpetrated in Kansas un- 
 der the protection of the present National Adminis- 
 tration, and the failure of Congress effectually to in- 
 terpose and prevent those enormous aggressions 
 upon the sovereignty of the actual inhabitants of 
 that Territory, merit the unqualified condemnation 
 of all lovers of republican liberty, and that no true 
 American should be indifferent to the same, or fail, 
 by word and act, in all fitting ways, to vindicate the 
 oppressed against their oppression and oppressors. 
 
 Resolved, That the provisions of the Kunsas-Ne- 
 
 braska act for the government of the Territories are 
 
 'allacious in theory ; and that this Convention deem 
 
 *. he duty of the American party in this State an 
 
 ion boldly to assert and firmly maintain the doc- 
 
 iC of our fathers, that the government of the "er- 
 
 )rie9 is vested in, and should be exerci&ed by, 
 
 agress. 
 
 Reserved, That this Council denounces the repeal 
 
 the Missouri Compromise as destructive to the re- 
 
 sc, harmony and fraternal relations of the country; 
 '" d that the Territory which was covered by it must, 
 ► .d shall be preserved to Freedom, so that Slavery 
 
 ay not exist therein, nor Slave States, formed 
 . lerefrom, be admitted into this Union. 
 
 This effort of Mr. Caldwell to bring the party 
 p to the adoption of something like the Bing- 
 hamton Platform, on which, a year before, they 
 had gone before the people and succeeded in 
 the election, utterly failed, when he and a few 
 others, who sympathized with him, left the Con- 
 vention and went over to the other American 
 Convention, then in session at CoUipean Hall, in 
 the same city, where they were warmly received. 
 Mr. Caldwell was invited to the stand, and related 
 his experience among the South American con- 
 epirators against liberty, as follows : 
 
 These resolutions, Mr. C. said, he offered in that 
 
 body, with the statement that he believed th* 
 American party in the State of New York to b« 
 Anti-Nebraska in sentiment, and that he wished 
 to place it upon record that such is its position ; 
 that, in his view, the adoption of his resolutions 
 would promote the success of the American ticket 
 in the North — particularly in the States of New 
 York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania — while at 
 present the party is daily losing ground in those 
 States from the position in which it is placed be- 
 fore the people on the subject of slavery ; that 
 with these and such like arguments he urged 
 their adoption ; that the Council was thereby 
 thrown into the wildest state of excitement; 
 that scores of members flocked around him and 
 besought him to withdraw the resolutions — 
 some urging that if adopted, the South would b© 
 driven from the support of Fillmore, and for this 
 reason, that however truly they embodied the 
 views of the party in New York, it would not do 
 to set them forth. Moreover, that their adoption 
 would repel from them the Administration-Nebras- 
 ka voters, whom they were expecting would sup- 
 port Fillmore in the State of New York ; and 
 more seriously still, that their rejection, should 
 they be offered, would drive from the support of 
 Fillmore thousands of Anti-Nebraska voters, now 
 acting with the party in this State ; that by such 
 considerations they had sought to influence him, 
 but failing, President Sammons summarily ended 
 the difiiculty by declaring the resolutions out of 
 order ; that he thereupon appealed from that de- 
 cision, but President Sammons was sustained by 
 the Council, which thus rejected the resolutioni ; 
 that he then returned to President Sammons hi« 
 commission as Deputy for Rockland County, with- 
 drew from all connection with that organizatien, 
 and retired. 
 
 The statement of Mr. Caldwell was listened to 
 with the profoundest interest, and a touching and 
 eloquent address made by him, upon the princi- 
 ples of the North Americans, and expressive of hia 
 sympathy with and determination henceforward 
 actively to support them, was greeted with rounda 
 of applause. 
 
 The resolutions of Mr. Caldwell were immedi- 
 ately adopted by the North Americans unani- 
 mously, together with the following : 
 
 Resolved, That the State Council now in session ia 
 this city is repudiated by this body : that its uncon- 
 stitutional and illegal action has freed Americana 
 from all obligation of allegiance to it or its decrees, 
 and that this body is the true American organization 
 of the State of New York. 
 
 Resolved, That the nominations of Fillmore and 
 Donelson be and the same are hereby repudiated b/ 
 this body. 
 
 Resolved, That John Charles Fremont, the nomhie* 
 for the Presidency of the American National Con- 
 vention, held in the City of New York, June IX, 
 standing upon the positions of the Binghamtoa 
 platform, as the opponent of the present NatiouaJ 
 
16 
 
 Administration, and as opposed to Slavery exten- i 
 •ion, be and he is hereby adopted as the candidate 
 •f true Americana of the State of New York. I 
 
 Resolved, That the State Committee bt recom- 
 mended to call a State Nominating Convention, to 
 consist of two Delegates from eacn Assembly Dis- 
 trict, to meet in the city of Syracuse, Sept. 17, at 
 12 o'clock noon. 
 
 Subsequently, the Piermont Council, of which 
 Mr. Caldwell was a member, expelled that gentle- 
 man, and branded him infamout as follows : 
 
 Whereas, At a Convention of the American p' .y, 
 held at Syracuse, in this State, on the 24th 'ay of 
 August last, Luther Caldwell, Deputy for P .ckland 
 County, did present, without the authonV. of this 
 party, and in direct and willful violation 5f its prin- 
 tiples, a series of resolutions oppose^' o its Presi- 
 dential nominees and the platform which they 
 
 Resolved, That Luther Caldwell, by his tre-^chery 
 to his party, has rendered him? S wholly nuv^orthy 
 of confidence as a politician, a- i respect as a citizen: 
 and has shown himself to be - man utterly devoid of 
 integrity and manly principle. 
 
 Resolved, That thiS council unequivocally approve 
 the action and endorses the proceedings of the lat 
 State Council ai Syracuse, in rejecting all mattei 
 foreign to thr issue ot the American party. 
 
 Resolved, That this Council (the members bein, 
 largely in ttendance,) does hereby heartily expel th 
 said Lut'.er Caldwell from the said Council, and thu 
 justly /rands him wiih infamy, and that we hoi 
 him ' ^ contempt as a traitor to hi* party and hi 
 cov iry. 
 
 In estimating the extent of Mr. Caldwell's In 
 famy and Treason, we beg the reader to refer t 
 the resolutions which he offered, and on whicl 
 these grave charges are founded. It will there b 
 seen that in the estimation of Mr. Fillmore's part; 
 the defence of freedom of Speech is infamous, an' 
 that opposition to Slavery Extension and condcm 
 nation of RuflBanism, either in the U. S. Senate or ii 
 Kansas, are held to be traitorous. In this view o: 
 the case we should not be surprised at seeing .■ 
 very large crop of Traitors in this State nex 
 November. 
 
 REPUBLICM DOCUMENTS NOW READY, 
 
 LIFE OF COLONEL FREMONT. 
 An original and authentic Biography of the 
 People's Candidate for President, prepared ex- 
 pressly and with great care for Thb Tribu.ve 
 Office, is now ready. It la coadensed into a 
 pamphlet of 32 large octavo pages, on good type, 
 wWi spirited illustrations. 
 
 Price per doeen, $ 40 
 
 Price per hundred, . . . • % ^ 
 Price per thousand, . • . . 20 00 
 
 A German Edition of the above it no* ready, 
 price. 
 
 THE EEPORT OF THE KANSAS INVESTIGAl 
 ING COMMITTEE; 
 
 Submitted on Tuesday, the Ist Inst., by the Hon. Messr 
 Howard of Mich, and Sherman of Ohio, with 2,500 pages < 
 evidence, the fruit of three months' faithful labor in Kansa 
 Price per single copy, . . . $ 04 
 
 Price per dozen, ..... 40 
 Price per hundred, .... 2 50 
 Price per thousand, . . . . SO 00 
 
 HON. CHARLES SUMNER'S SPEECH m the 
 
 Senate, on Kansas AfiTairi — S2 pages. 
 
 Price per dozen, $ 40 
 
 Price per hundred, . • « 2 50 
 
 Price per thousand, . . . . 20 00 
 
 GOVERNOR SEWARD'S SPEECH on the Immedia 
 Admission of Kansas, is now ready— H large octavo pagt 
 
 Price per doxen, $ 20 
 
 Price per hundred, . . . . 1 26 
 Price per thousand, . . . . 10 00 
 
 HON. SCHUYLER COLFAX'S SPEECH on t 
 " Laws " of Kansas, 16 octavo pages, same price m t 
 above. 
 
 BORDER RUFFIAN CODE IN KANSAS U now 
 
 r«ady— IC large octavo pages. 
 
 Price per dozen, . . . . $ 20 
 Price per hundred, . . . . 1 25 
 
 Price per thousand, . . . 10 00 
 
 JAMES BUCHANAN, HIS DOCTRINES AS 
 POLICY, as exhibited by himself and his friends. 16 off 
 vo pages, same price as above. 
 
 TRACT FOR AMERICANS-Kmbracing the Bpe« 
 of Hon. E. B. MOBOAB, in reference to Millard PlUmor 
 Political History and Position; also George Law a 
 Chauncey Shaffer's reasons for repudiating Fillmor. • 
 Donelson, and the Action of the Know-Nothing State O 
 vention at Syracuse on the Resolutions censuring Brool 
 Assault on Senator Sumner, *c. 16 octavo page^ sa 
 price as above. 
 
 Orders melonng the eath are retpeetfvdly solicited. 
 
 GREELEY 4 McELEATH, 
 
 TBiBrxH Okkick, Nkw Yobs. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 011 898 308 7