The North-Carolina standard., 1848-09-13
DISCUSSION AT FR1NKLINToN.s

A. .hout o'clock in accordance with arrangements
entered into by the friends of the respective chamPf
ons. Mr.. McRae opened the discussion, and spoke LOT
two hours. Mr.. Kerr replied, consuming the same
amount of time and then Mr.. McRae :rejoined Tor
half an hour, and was followed by Mr., Kerr also IN
speech OF half an hour We took notes Of this IN
terestinp discussion; but cannot Pretent TO- give
thing more than the heads Of the arguments and
the main points which were presented ." q
MI. McRae alluded, in the outset of his remarks,
to the past and present condition Of PARTIES ana 70
the necessity which existed for giving light and tact
to the people. He contrasted the two parties-said
that the Democrats had nothing to fear from public
scrutiny and investigation, but they coured ana ask
ed it. They had right to congratulate themselves.
All their principles had been submitted to the people
the people had approved them-and they werene"
the laws of the land: The Democrats bad nocon-
cealments and no DISCUSSES. They presented men
for Office who had been soldiers in war and states
men in time of peace and instead Of deiiberating
with elosed doors in their National C"nVenton, and
declaring it out of order to enquire about prnci-
pes, their proceedings had been open to all the Peo
pe and they had made it of their rstobJects to
announce their doctrines and their measures to the
world, He then drew vivid picture of the Wing
Conyenton--its closed doors- its jarripg and dis
cordant eements-its efforts to shun the lght ana 10
get the people take its doings and its onlnees on
trust-its Understandings, its arrangements, Its oar
gains, if bargains there were, all IN the dark-"S
talk about no-partysm, and this from the bltterest
and strictest of all party menand finally, the resni'
of its acton-a military cheftain, who had won his
laures in war pronounced by these very leaders 10
be unjust and unrghteous for the Presidency ana an
abolitionist for the Vice Presidency. He also read
from Gen. Taylors letters. written before and after
his nomination to show his contradictions of himself
and his glaring inconsistencies, well as deceP-
ton which had been practiced on the Independent
Taylor men in Maryland and elsewhere. He demon
strated that while the Wings were opposing the an
nexation of Territory, and voting against it, they
were willing to take man for President who had
avowed himself in favor of seizing and holding sew
en- States of Mexico that while they condemned Mr.
Polk for the march to the Rio Grande, which they
said produced the war; they advocating the pre-
tensions of the very General who suggested and ad-
yised that march and that although theya party,
with Mr. Clay at their head, had uniformly denoun-
ced military chefains, and warned the people of the
danger of committing their interests and their liber-
ties to their hands, yet they were now IN the held
urging for the highest civil Office in the land, man
now had his epaulees his shoulders and his sword
at his side, and who, according to Mr.. Webster.
destitute of all qualifications for the Presidency, ex-
cept such as might have been acquired in the mill
tary service of the country! 80 d. q
He dwelt at some length and with thrilling effect,
upon the aid and comfort" " afforded by the course
of the Wing leaders to Mexico during the late war;
and he proved what he said from the evidence fur
nshed by returned officers and soldiers. Here, as
matter of course, he spoke of Corwin-of his infa-
NOUS advice to the Mexican people to "greet" our
soldiers with bloody hands" and to give them ''hos
pitable graves and then, turning to Mr.. Kerr, he
asked him if he would have supported Corwin for
the Presidency the Vice Presidency. Mr.. Kerr
,Cas silent.
Towards the conclusion of his remarks Mr.. McRae
alluded to the Abolition party, and to the relations
which it bears to the Wing and Democratic parties.
Gen. Cass, he showed, sound on the question of
slavery and he prored from the late speech of Dan
iel Webster, that he in aUor Of the Missouri Com
PROMISE and opposed to the WiLnot ProrisO But where
was Gen. Taylorl He refused to answer-he was
" mum '-silence and darkness like that which char
acterized the Wing Convention with its closed
doors," had settled down on his opinions;-at the
North he was advocated by all the Whig papers, by
Truman Smith, by Caleb B. Smith, by Senator Bald
win, and by Webster and Corwn in favor of the
Provso and opposed to the extension Of the slave
powers and in the South, his Signal and Allison let
ters written before his nomination, against him,
while his friends, unable to answer for him, could
only point to his location Was this the man who
" asked no favors and shrunk from responsible
ty''! In conclusion, Mr.. McRae examined the po-
litical character and conduct of Mr. Fillmore; and
from the record, which Mr.. Kerr did not pretend to
question, and which man cen question, he demon
strated that his sympahes had always been with the
Abolitionsts; that he had voted with them against
the South not less than FoRIY-sEvEN TTsfEs during
his term of service in the House of Representatives
and that from all his votes and recorded opinions
taken together-and especially his letter tothe Erie
Anti-slavery Society, in which he expresses him
self in favor of immediate Legislation for the abo-
ton of slavery in the District of Columbia, and OPP
posed to the interna slave-trade States
he stood committed, in the judgment of all unpreu-
diced and reasonable men, .aboktionia 3 the rik
est stamp. He appealed to the Whig people to con-
slider these facts seriously and solemny, for their
dearest interests were stake and not to vote for
them. ...t -...-. s..ht. - ...'
At O'Clock Mr.. Kerr rose to reply but it was
any thing but reply. He exhausted three -fourths
of his time in pronouncing eulogiums upon General
Taylor, and in endeavoring to prove him mo-party
candidate. He said Gen. Taylor had won hisEheart
that he could live and die for him; that he did not
support him as a mere military leaders, thathe was
like aaIinofon and stood Washinofon,s.- Mad.