Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1850-12-20
Position of the Administration.

party, the responsibility of the Fugitive Slave Law
Foremost among those who have made these repre-
sensations is the Boston Atlas In recent letter
from the senior editor of that paper at Washington
he comments upon article in the Republic, which
treated of the Massachusetts election and condo nm
ed the support of such meu as Zezo Scudder, the
wing candidate for Congress in the 10th District
After stating that the Fugitive Slave Law can never
be popular at the North, and that it may perhaps be
tolerated, the Atlas Editor says, that if the Republic
intends to place the Administration upon that law,
per Sc, and draw line which shall exclude those
from the wing party, who do not sustain it, he will
find the party in the North conveniently small and
exclusively select He proceeds to give his views
of the position of the administration as follows:
''The Administration did not make the law. 1t
was made by Locofoco Congress. Now that it is
law, the Administration, from prudential motives,
may not wish to have it disturbed. The country is
in disturbed state. 1t might open all the slavery
issues again, and, after expanding the whole session
in discussing them, no good would RESULT
''Ths we have the best Of reasons to suppose is
the position of the Administration. They desire
peace, and they have the wisdom to see that peace
cannot be obtained by denunciation. As the ques-
ton is put by the President in his Message under
stand ii to be of the nature of truce, suspension
ofhosttles, upon the basis of matters as they now
stand. Like many other truces, it may result in Civ
ing permanent quiet, and lasting peace Certainly
it will give time to rally the patriotism and kind feel
lngs OF the nation, which Is so much desired on all
hands. Action may be suspended, although the
opinions ofmen may remain the same.''
On the receipt of this article at Washington, the
Republic, which our readers all know is the recog-
nized organ of the Administration, took the matter
In hand. In the commencement of It's article it
says; ''we never undertake to speak the views of
any man or set of men WITHOUT THE WARRANT
OF THE AMPLEsT AUTH0RITY." 1t proceeds to
show that It's views of Massachusetts politics al d
opinions sustained by the Boston Courier and
Advertiser which, it afrms, have the confidence of
the wings of the North, with the Atlas, and have
equal authority to speak in their behalf, and then
raps the Atlas pretty severely on the knuckles for
pretending that Fillmore and his cabinet are not
thoroughly in favor Of the Fugitive Slave Law. 1t
speaks for the administration (not ''without war
rant ofthe amplest authority'') follows:
s'The Administration has put itself upon the re-
cord in the matter of the Fugitive Slave Law, and
the measures of the late session of Congress, in
manner too married. and decided TO admit of ana
question TO its position The alGs regards the sla
very issues as in a state ofsuspended animation and
believes that the deceu ashes of the late fires con-
ceal the sparks that to light future CONGREGATIONS
We do not read the PRESIDENTS Message with
the eyes of the Alias So far from understanding it
TO suggest mere sstruce''-a suspension of hos
tIities am armstce to give ant-slavery agitators
an opportunity TO recruit their strength-we have
thought it employed words strong as the language
furnishes to convey the idea of fnality and ultimate
adjustment. The President distinctly states that he
considers The measures III question to have been sre
qured by the circumstances and condition of the
country aecessary to allay asperities and ami
moslties that were rapidly alternating one section of
the country from another and destroying those fra
terna sentiments which are the strongest supports
ofthe Constitution The President ayows his be-
lief that large majority of the people IN the main
approve, and are prepared, In all respects to sus-
tain those enactments. To remove all doubt or pos
sble cavi to his position the President distinctly
states that he considers them in 'sprincipIe and sub
stance. a FINAL SETTLEMENT ofthe dangerous
and exciting subjects which they embraced and
as forming, in their ''mutual Dependence and con-
merton, system of compromise the most concilia-
tory and best for the entire country, that could be
obtained from conflicting sectional interests and
opinions" IL terms, the President recommends an
"adherence to the adjustment established by those
measures" as furnishing ''frm, distinct and legal
grounds which he nyokes his countrymen TO rally
upon and maintain
Is there anything in all this that looks like the
contemplation Of ''truce" merely-or a ''tempo-
rary supension of hosties 20 Is such the interpe-
taton to be put upon language which has called forth
from one end of the country to the other such warm
and Universal approbation' Have the American
people been applaudng the sentiments of the Presi-
dent, under the impression that there was something
in them substantial and reliable, and have they all
the while been mistaken and misled? Sure we
are, if there words in the English language which
could convey the idea of permanence and stability in
the pachcaon measures, and the willingness of the
Administration TO TAKE THE ENTIRE RE-
SPONSlBiLITY FOR THEM AS THEY STAND,
those words have been selected and employed by
President Fillmore in his Message
Thus we have, from the government paper itself,
in behalf of the Administrations under special af-
fmaton of its authority, the most open, explicit,
and emphatic avowal that can be placed on record
Of the entire responsibility for the Fugitive Slave
Law, of concurrence in its provisions, and deter
mnaiion, as a fundamental principle, to sustain it
Z" to the bitter end" Hereafter, the man who at
tempts TO cheat the people into belief thai the Pres
dent and his Administration are not cordial friends
Of the law, will stand branded as an arrant knave
Indeed, no man, with common discernment, COM
mon Attenuation, and common honesty, needed this
new ayowal from the Republic, to satisfy him of the
the Presidents position, to induce him to repre-
sent it fairly.
The insidous course of the Atlas, on this question,
is deserving of the seyeres apprehension. In the
cle already quoted il processes to think that the