Fremont weekly freeman. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1850-1853, 1851-07-19
WhEg Resolution.
The late Wing Conventions thus resolved:

| AeeSVkVe05 / nat as tne COMPROMISE meas
ures were not recommended by Wing ad-
ministration, and were not passed as party
measures BY Congress, perfect toleration OF
opinion respecting those measures should be
accorded TO wings everywhere.
The above resolution is an out and out po-
lltical lie, as everybody knows, who reads lhe
history of his country. Although Foote, Clay
and Webster brought forward the Omnibus
Bill, it is well known that President Fillmore
endorsedit from the first. and he and his Cab
met have sustained the Compromise through
out 1t is the leading measure of the pres
ent administration, so considered throughout
the country, and SO acknowledged by them.
On this, Fillmore and his friends plant their
hopes for the succession. To say it is not
W nag measure, is to say that the present ad-
mnstratlon is not Whig. Let the Scott men
repudiate those compromise measures as a
part of the Wing creed, and Scott will'repu-
date them, for if to any political measure he
is committed, it is to the Fugitive Law and
/ kindred acts. ,ss 5 i5
The above remarks originally appeared in
the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and had they not
Deen copied into the Democrat Of this place,
and thus endorsed by it, we should have ta-
ken no notice of them.
Let US see which is correct, the resolution
of the Wing State Convention, or the Plain
Dealer. The records of Congress show
and they seldom lie-that the compromise
measures were introduced into Congress by a
Locofocc, and the fugitive law, especially, by
a member of that party from Virginia, and
that it passed that body by Locofoco votes.
The record speaks for itself The votes are
there. They consist of every Southern vote
l-54 Locofocos. and "a Whigs-and %
Northern Locofocos, and only three Wings,
for it The votes against the law are 5S
Wings snd Free Soilers, and only II Locofo-
cos OF what use is it, then for the Locofoco
party to deny the responsibility of this meas
ure? Only Mres Northern Wings voted for
the law, while there were twenty eight
Northern Locofocos voted for i'll Now we
find that party charging the Wings as being
responsible for its enactment For cool impu-
dence, wilful lying, and disposition to mis-
represent we have not seen any thing for a
long time to equal these Locofoco journals.
And it is a we'll known fact that President
Fillmore preferred the Fugitive slave law as
introduced into Congress by Clay and Web
ster, which gave to fugitives the right of trial
by jury, bu: which was voted down By Benton,
and his Locofoco coadjutors in political sin. 1t
was one of the cardinal principles of the Wing
party-and is yet--that the President should
not use the veto power, unless in his judg-
ment he deemed the measure to be acted up
l on as unconstitutional, and Mr.. Fillmore was
pledged to this doctrine So, when the fugi-
| tive law was presented to him, he had only to
inquire, IS it constitutional? He had the opin-
1 ions of the courts before him, as well as the
constitution, and the opinion of the Attorney
General, and being satisfied upon this point,
he had only to carry out the will Of the peo-
i pie as expressed through their representatives
in Congress, by giving it his signature. Had
he done otherwise, he would have deserved
the just execrations of all good citizens of his
country.
But this law should be looked at in another
light. It will be seen that there were 100
votes for the law, and rs against it, leaving a
majority for it of 81. Now if every Wing who
voted for the law, both North and South, had
voted against it, it would still have carried by
majority of seuen, while on the other hand,
had the Locofocos voted against it, it would
have been Defeated BY majority of forty
eight! And even had these Northern Free
Soilers, such as Gass, Benton, Dickinson, and
other Locofoco worthless, used their influence
against it in Congress, this act would not now
be the supreme law of the land! The Loco
foco party had a majority in both branches Of
Congress. and they are responsible for this
measure, and all the sophstry of the Plain
Dealer and the Democrat cannot convince any
intelligent man to the contrary.
u While the above is the true history of the
slave law, we do not wish to have our posi-
, ton or that of the Wing party misunderstood
/ While we, in common with our party, regret
that this law should have been enacted in its
present Objectionable form, we are still willing
to place it upon national grounds, and treat it
with that respect due solemn act of Congress
), The Constitution guarantees to the South the
/ right to take their slaves wherever they can
find them, and as long as the North expects
: to maintain this Union inseparable, that right
will have to be conceded; but at the same
time the alleged fugitive should have his
=. f,,r
to prove his Freedom, and that right can be
: guaranteed to him in no better manner, than
the right of trial by jury, and reasonable
time to procure counsel and testimony. The
fugitive law should be amended in these re-
spects, and then il would meet our approba-
ton As it is, we shall discountenance all ag-
: itation on the subject both North and South,
; other than a disposition to see it properly
amended, without doing injustice to any part
! Of the country. t.