The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1851-10-16
WASHINGTON, d. G.
CORRESPONDENCE OF THE ERA.

head OF the FRA of the 2d instant MIR Editor
which has not failed TO attract very consider
able interest in all who have read it in this par
of the country IL was written evidently. wit
care and gives candid view of the condition
and prospects of the two leading parties in tn
country but still | do not see all the points Sc
forth in that interesting article in the sam
light in which you view them. 1t is not, how
ever, 40 much my present purpose to point on
wherein we differ. as TO give you some Ne,
England facts which are destined to have quit
an influence upon the coming Presidential COZ
test vet we know the Land Of the Pilgrims
has not 80 much relative strength in Pres
dental election now a. it had "A half of Ger
fury ago. Her influence will be important i
the next Wing National Convention as the en-
tire slave States will 90 against the favorite can
didate Of the North, and yet they cannot deiea
him unless four. at least of the New Engan
States can DE induced To 90 with the South
The great effort Of the present time here. wit
the friends of President Fillmore and Secretar
Webster, is TO secure delegates to the Conyen
ton nOmmally in favor of Mr. Webster, bu
really to vote in the Convention with the South
Upon this point we are TO try strength an,
upon the result OF the contest i'm this stage q
Presidential movements, depends the success O
the Wing party Ii General Scott shall DE sup
ported in the National Convention by the dele
gates from New England. his nomination vii
be certain, and If nominated, his election vii
be certain. This every Free Soil man in this
part of the country admits this every Wing
and every Democrat admits The Democrats
do not expect to carry single New England
State against Gen S. and yet they do not fear
but they can carry half of New England
against any other candidate whom the Wings
can put on the course.
We consider the contest among the Wings
for the candidacy rs entirely between President
Fillmore and General Scott with the chances
six 10 one i'm favor of the latter Here the
Whig, are for a new candidate almost to n
man ~ they 20 for no reelection to the Presi-
deDcv and they view Mr. President Fillmore as
y;vtgsil- '>vmg had the advantages Of term
and besides aA tins General Scott was the
'--5 t21albaic 49, ~. (irpr4pi aJ ivl IN f',r
last National Contention, while no one thought
of or voted for President Fillmore for the Pres-
dpnc,. While thousands of Wings will never
give their votes to re-elect any man who has
held the Office of President thousands and tens
of thousands Of Democrats will vote for General
Scott Wing though he may be. whenever they
can vote directly for him As a matter of
course General Scott will not give his influence
IN favor of the doubtful policy of writing let
ters just on the eve of elections to define posi-
tons. His friends ask and expect no such thing
at his hands The Presidency must seek him,
not he that In the days when men were ele-
waited 10 the Presidency somewhat in consdera-
ton Of past services and the high moral char
actcrs they had uniformly sustained, no defining
tf ~ T,la Il
were asked Washington needed no such aids
to obtain the votes of the people nor did the
immortal author Of the immortal Declaration
Of Independence The people are looking to
General Scott to restore the old order of things
in these matters and if in this matter of de-
filming positions just on the eve Of elections, he
does not dlsappoint them, then, certain am
they will not dlsappOint him As friend to
his country his position has been often defined
on many a battlefield in the war of 1912. and
in bringing his country out Of trouble Mt n
much later period His talents no man ques-
tons Is is Slavery alone that asks for the de-
fnng Of positions. Years ago General Scott
defined his position upon that question, and he
should not now change II word he then penned
Others may write what they please he has
nothing to write at the bidding of those who
seek to mjure his good standing
Everybody understands President Fillmore's
position upon the Slavery issues now before the
country, and those who approve of them will
be ready to support him, as the Slavery issues
are almost the only issues in which they seem
TO feel the least interest save the issues of Of
fce-oGce-o6icet
As yet no candidate has been named by the
Democracy, whose position is equivocal upon
the controlling question Of the day They have
all gone out of the way there is none that
standeth right among them, no, not one. Gen
eral Houston is the best of them all, and he is
of Teas! Messrs Butler, Buchanan, Cass
and Douglas are with the South in all issues
where she has interests distinct from. or in op-
position to- Northern interests and rs Il mat
ter Of course, we expect the South to 90 for
them, if the Wings select any candidate except
President Fillmore; and with him, even as a
candidate, the Wings cannot expect much of
the South, when the South can vote for one of
her natural allies mt the North But it
must not be forgotten that General Harrison
received Northern votes enough, and more than
enough 10 elect him. in 1870 and to-day Gen
eral Scott is stronger in the free States than
General Harrison was in October, lS39-two
months before the meeting of the Wing Con-
yentOn ut Harrisburg. of that wear General
Harrison received the electoral votes of five of
the six New England States in 1910, and Gen
eral Scott can have them all in 1852.
The Free Soil Wings in the free States great
ly outnumber the Fugitive Slave Law Wings
and will control nearly every delegate from the
free States in the National Convention. There
Is an improvement exhibiting itself in the
Democratic party at the North; and were there
any one prominent man of that party ms free
from the control of the South as is General
Scott he would receive a handsome support in
the next Baltimore Convention As matters now
are, all the Northern Delegates who are in
clining to be right will give their votes in the
Democratic Convention for General Houston.
IN preference to either General Cass, General
Butler, Senator Douglas, or Mr. Buchanan
They will prefer liberal Southern man to an
HbJcrGi Northern man, knowing that the for
mer would he more inclined to do well by the
North than would the latter Houston would
be elected against almost any other man than
Scott, while against him he would make no
Roadway at the North The Presidency is
deemed too much. by many, to be added to the
$4,000 600 and $4,000 square miles of terri
tory gwen 10 Texas last year, 10 nav her for
procuring war with Mexico. which war cost
the country Sl7OOOOOOO But as Texas ha.
been humorcd in all she has asked, thus far
by the Democracy, there is no knowing how
much further she is to be humored by the Same
party for party purposes
/ have thus far alluded onl " to the two lead
ing parties in the country, as from one or tn,
other of them must come the next President
and yet | know well there is another party
whose rapidly growing Importance in the free
States Is exertlng very powerful inhuenc,
upon the movements and character of both q
the other parties, and which will soon contro
the leading actions of both parties, or else ex
cced either of them in numbers in almost ever,
one of the free States Even in the next Presi
dental contest it will outnumber the Demo
cratic party in two of the New England States
and should the Wings support MIR Fillmore fol
President it will outnumber the Wing party