New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-02-14

duty.
And now let US consider the ground
assumed by Senator Beekman and his back
ers to Justify Wing participation in the
conspiracy to defeat an election.
No one will pretend, no one does pre-
tend, that acquiescence in what are now
called the Compromise Measures or Ad-
iustment' has at any time before the last
nine months been recognized as standard
of Wing orthodoxy. On the contrary all
the Resolves ever passed, the declarations
ever put forth, by our successive Wing
State Conventions, so far as they bear on
this point, have looked the other way. The
President elected in l843 was notOriOusly
adverse to these Compromise Measures
even when presented in shape far more
acceptable to the North than they ulti-
mately assumed; his Cabinet was opposed
to them; and it is now scarcely eight
months since we were severely, publicly,
repeatedly lectured by men in the CONT
dence of the White House for Opposing
the Wing Administration" because we
thought such portion of these ComPro-
mise Measures as referred to the New
Territories were more favorable to the Free
Soil cause than anything that could reasona-
bly, be expected in case they were defeated
Wherefore we thought they might better
pass. The Fugitive Slave Act since passed
had not then single Wing supporter in
the Free States, so far as we know; and
even after Gen. TaylOr's decease, the Mem
Der of Congress who is now its most vocif-
erous champion, ran out of the House to
evade the responsibility of voting upon it.
But Gen. Taylor suddenly died in July
last: Mr.. Fillmore succeeded to the Presi-
dency the Measures of Adjustment were
worried through Congress Piecemeal, after
the Omnibus containing most of them had
broken down; and now unqualified support
of them, Fugitive Slave Law and all, Is
imposed as a test of Wing orthodoxy
Have we sunk so low as a party that what
was esteemed heterodOx eight months since
is now the very touchstone of Wing prin-
ciple, the first qualification for lofty trust
at the hands of Wing Legislature
Our Wing State Convention at SYRIA
cuse said No; our Wing candidate for CO.
vernon said No to Mr. Granger, and No in
his Message; three-fourths of our Wing
Members of the Legislature say No. But
Mr.. Beekman and a small minority say
Yes; No man is Wing enough for US
who is not publicly pledged to sustain the
Fugitive Slave Law And the twenty
Wing Members who say or think this are
deemed entitled to override and constrain
the action of the eighty who think other
wise
We have large Wing majority in
the Legislature, three -fourths of whom are
averse to any Endorsement of the Fugitive
Slave Law. Repeated attempts to in
dorse it have failed, until the thing is
plainly seen to be impracticable. But
there is U. S. Senator to be chosen; and
the small minority seize upon this election
and hope by it to coerce the majority into
subsection to their will. Z" You shall in
dorse the Fugitive Slave Law" is virtual
ly their position, q" or Hamilton Fish shall
not be chosen Senator" And because the
majority will not surrender, the election Of
a Senator is defeated. Now if there is
anything in the Constitution and laws
which exempts a minority from the per-
formance of an imperatively prescribed
and essential duty because the majority
will not pass such resolves as are demand
ed of it on a totally different subject, we
have never yet seen it.
The majority have offered and done
for harmony's sake all that reasonable men
could ask. They have consented to waive
any expression of opinion respecting the
questions at issue, and this offer has once
been cordially accepted. But for the in
reference of mischief-makers not of the
Legislature, this would have obviated all
further difficulty. They have also, in de-
signaling HAMILTON FISH for U. S. Sena-
tor, given an earnest of their willingness to
concede much for harmony's sake. Mr..
Fish is, by birth, education, fortune and
disposition, eminently Conservative and de-
voted to the Union; he is the personal as
we'll as political friend of the President !;
and there is not one among the demagogues
now cOnspiring to defeat his election who