CHAPTER IX.

National Politics.-Union Sentiment.-Mr. Fillmore's Administration.-The Democratic National Convention of 1852.-It adopts fully the Compromises of 1850.-The Whig National Convention of that Year does the same.-Resolutions of the Freesoil Convention at Pittsburg, denouncing those Measures.-Insignificance of the latter Party, at that Period.-Action of the Whig Convention.-Availibility, instead of Sound Policy.Growing Conservatism of the Democracy.-The Native American Party.-How composed. Its "National Council," in 1855, adopts the Compromises of 1850.-But its "Lodges" corrupted by admitting Political Freesoilers into Fellowship.-The "National Council," in 1856, changes Front.-Decay of Public Virtue.-The faithful of the old Whig Party.-Policy of the Democrats.

IN tracing the brief story of this strange "American" movement, it is proper to recur for a moment to the condition of national politics. The administration of President Fillmore came to a close on the 3d of March, 1853, and Presiden. Pierce, who had been chosen, in the November precedin over General Scott, the Whig candidate, was inaugurated on the following day. It ought to be stated, that the difference in the popular vote given for those two candidates, though more than usual, was not so great, as to suggest any reasonable grounds of discouragement to the Whig party; suppos ing its principles to have been sufficiently patriotic and adhesive to hold it together for combined political action. The Democratic candidate received 1,590,490 votes; the Whig, 1,378,589; and it was felt, generally as a subject of sincere congratulation, that the Freesoil vote was but 157,296; which was a falling off of 134,382 votes before given for that faction in 1848.

On the whole, therefore, it appears, that a wholesome state of union sentiment prevailed throughout the country at

THE CONDITION OF THE REPUBLIC.

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that period. Nothing had tended more to foster and to uphold this patriotic feeling than the dignified and honorable course of Mr. Fillmore's administration. There are few spectacles in the history of the country more gratifying, in the retrospect, than that of its condition at the close of his term of office. Mr. Webster had been Secretary of State until his death in October, 1852, and was succeeded by Mr. Everett for the remainder of that administration. Mr. Crittenden was Attorney-General. Both of these have since followed the great Secretary, but leaving memories as enduring as the annals of the country. The members of the Cabinet, still living, are Mr. Kennedy, of Maryland, Mr. Conrad, of Louisiana, and Mr. Hall, of New York.

At no period had the country enjoyed such peaceful prosperity at home, or such unqualified respect abroad. In fact, domestic disquiets had apparently reached their culminating point, and seemed to be rapidly subsiding, as floods from the clouds, which rush down heights in a storm, fall into and are borne away upon the tide of a great stream. Foreign slurs upon democratic institutions which appeared so thoroughly tested and in successful action had ceased altogether, and the republic, at length, manifestly held a place among the nations which in promise, at least, had no parallel in the history of the world. There was no need of exaggeration on this point. The coldest calculation could but reveal the prospect of an unexampled progress for the imperial republic. Rome, indeed, unmatched, of old, in power and grandeur, had extended its sway among multitudes of distant and barbarous nations, besides the vast rule it exercised over the more cultivated population within, or not very remote from the proper limits of its empire. But the American people had already increased to nearly twenty-five millions in number; were a race chiefly of one blood, and presented only such differences as might become readily blended into one compact and sufficiently harmonious whole. The actual "world" of Rome, comprehensive as were its pretensions, was small, indeed, in comparison with the extent of productive territory

within the specific boundaries and under the direct jurisdiction of the United States.

The state of public sentiment existing, at that time, in the several political parties; or, at least, that which their conventions felt it necessary to address to the public, upon those questions which had chiefly disturbed its quiet, will best appear by extracts from the series of resolutions adopted by each. It had already become a practice with the Freesoil orators to sneer at the idea of a "crisis" in the country-just as they afterwards derided the friends of the Constitution by the title of "Union-savers -a delusion, if it were one, from which later events awoke them to surprise if not to regret. The serious tone of both the Whig and the Democratic resolves make manifest enough the light in which this subject was viewed by sober and sensible men. The Democrats were earliest on the ground, and met in convention at Baltimore, on the first day of June, 1852. They made known their principles, as follows:

Resolved, That Congress has no power, under the Constitution, to interfere with or control the domestic institutions of the several States, and that such States are the sole and proper judges of every thing appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the Constitution; that all efforts of the abolitionists or others, made to induce Congress to interfere with questions of slavery, or to take incipient steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming and dangerous consequences: and that all such efforts have an inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people, and endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, and ought not to be countenanced by any friend of our political institutions.

Resolved, That the foregoing proposition covers, and is intended to embrace, the whole subject of slavery agitation in Congress; and, therefore, the Democratic party, standing on this national platform, will abide by, and adhere to, a faithful execution of the acts known as the Compromise Measures, settled by the last Congress-the act for reclaiming fugitives from service or labor included; which act being designed to carry out an express provision of the Constitution, cannot, with fidelity thereto, be repealed, nor so changed as to destroy or impair its efficiency.

Resolved, That the Democratic party will resist all attempts at renewing in Congress, or out of it, the agitation of the slavery question, under whatever shape or color the attempt may be made.

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These propositions are sufficiently explicit; and they de termine the point with entire accuracy, that, in 1852, in the deliberate judgment of that great party which was soon to be victorious in the approaching election, the dangers which threatened the country consisted in "aggression" on the part of a portion of the North against the constitutional immunities of the South.

The Whig Convention met at the same city, on the 16th of June; and the resolutions agreed upon by that body are not a whit behind those of their political rivals in spirit and point. They resolved

1. That the Government of the United States is of a limited character, and it is confined to the exercise of powers expressly granted by the Constitution, and such as may be necessary and proper for carrying the granted powers into full execution; and that all powers not thus granted, or necessarily implied, are expressly reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

7. That the Federal and State Governments are parts of one system, alike necessary for the common prosperity, peace, and security, and ought to be regarded alike with a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment. Respect for the authority of each, and the acquiescence in just constitutional measures of each, are duties required by the plainest considerations of national, of State, and of individual welfare.

8. That the series of acts of the Thirty-first Congress, the act known as the Fugitive Slave law included, are received and acquiesced in by the Whig party of the United States as a settlement, in principle and substance, of the dangerous and exciting questions which they embrace; and so far as they are concerned, we will maintain them, and insist upon their enforcement, until time and experience shall demonstrate the necessity of further legislation to guard against the evasion of the laws on the one hand, and the abuse of their powers on the other, not impairing their present efficiency; and we deprecate all further agitation of the questions thus settled, as dangerous to our peace, and will discountenance all efforts to continue or renew such agitation, whenever, wherever, or however the attempt may be made; and we will maintain this system as essential to the nationality of the Whig party and the integrity of the Union.

Certainly, the position thus taken by the representatives of the two chief parties left nothing to be desired, in their expression of sentiments absolutely identical, in regard to the main topic of long-continued discord between the Northern and Southern States. Evidently, they held the vexatious

subject, which had so disturbed and threatened to destroy the republic, entirely within their own control; for at the previous election of President (1848), they had together cast two millions and a half of votes, against less than three hundred thousand for the Freesoil candidate. It proved, at the following election, that their combined strength amounted to very nearly three millions of votes, against the greatly reduced vote of the Freesoilers, which was little more than half as large as it had been on the previous occasion. The latter faction-for it was, in reality, nothing more—also held its convention at Pittsburg, in Pennsylvania, on the 11th of August, nominated Mr. Hale, of New Hampshire, as its candidate for President, and, in an elaborately-drawn exposition of their principles, mostly taken from the platform adopted by them in 1848, made the following new declarations:

"That to the persevering and importunate demands of the slave power for more slave States, new slave Territories, and the nationalization of slavery, our distinct and final answer is-no more slave States, no slave Territory, no nationalized slavery, and no national legislation for the extradition of slaves.

"That slavery is a sin against God, and a crime against man, which no human enactment or usage can make right; and that Christianity, humanity, and patriotism alike demand its abolition.

"That the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 is repugnant to the Constitution, to the principles of the common law, to the spirit of Christianity, and to the sentiments of the civilized world. We, therefore, deny its binding force upon the American people, and demand its immediate and total repeal."

It will be observed, that these somewhat pointed and comprehensive, not to say rebellious propositions, amount to an absolute arraignment of the Government of high crimes and misdemeanors, in its several representative, executive, and judicial departments. "The persevering and importunate demands of the slave power" had been reconciled with other demands upon the country, so far as the circumstances of the whole case permitted, a year before. Every point in dispute had been decisively settled. For, whatever "sin" or "crime" had been committed, in that adjustment, the