The republic., 1851-02-15
The approaching Congressional Election In
Virginia.

Vhe approaching Con8rossioH"A 11AcCNOn IA
Virginia.
The election for members of Congress in
Virginia will take place on the fourth Thurs
day in April. Candidates have already been
announced in several of the districts, and pre-
parations are making for the contest in others.
We have reason to believe that the result is
looked to with unusual interest throughout
the Union. Nor is it matter of surprise that
it should be so, for we regard it as the most inn
portant election that has been held in that
Commonwealth for many years. We refer not
so much to its immediate effects, or to the
mere numerical strength which it is to bring to
parties, as to its moral influence throughout the
country. 1t will be regarded as the verdict Of
public opinion, in that great and leading State
of the South, in reference to the efforts OF the
present Administration to arrest agitation, to
enforce obedience to the Constitution and the
Laws, and to preserve the Union.
| Upon the accession of Mr.. FILLMORE to the
Presidency, the councils Of the nation were in
| the most distracted condition. The elements
least given to dependency could not but par
take of the general apprehension, which was
felt, of civil convulsion, if not of disruption Of
the bonds of the Union, and an overthrow Of
the Constitution. In the South these fears were
almost universal. Mr.. FILLMORE had been de-
nounced in all the slaveholding States as an
Abolitionist; and many good men, misled by
the boldness of the accusations, and the positive
and confident terms in which they were made,
were inclined to fear that his tendencies at least
were in that direction. Distrust was the con-
sequence, and every one saw that the destinies
of the Union were, to great extent, in his
hands. If he proved unequal to his position,
and threw the weight of his influence into the
scale of the sectional agitators, disunion and
civil war were inevitable. We all remem
Der with what profound interest every move
ment of the new PRESIDENT was watched.
Every thing depended on the position he might
assume at the outset of the Administration.
time for deliberation. Every one saw and felt
that in the existing condition of the public sem
timent of the non-slaveholdng States, it re-
quired no small degree of moral courage in a
northern man to march up with an unfaltering
step to the discharge Of his high constitutional
duties. The Fugitive Slave bill was the turn
ing point in the controversy. If that bill failed
to become law, all was lost. The South had
taken her position, and announced that to be
an indispensable feature in the great system Of
compromise and conciliation. This position she
was determined to maintain. The members Of
both Houses knew this to be the fact, and that
on its success or failure depended the issue Of
| Union or Disunion. 8
| Fortunately for the country, the bill passed
both Houses of Congress, and was submitted to
the PRESIDENT for his sanction. That the bill
was in many respects imperfect and defective,
all will admit. But it was no time to cavil
about details. The principle of the bill was
derived from the Constitution, and rested upon
| tho Constitution as it came from the hands Of
our fathers.
What trying position was this for the PREs-
IDENT to be placed in AS man Of ordinary
sagacity, he must have seen that his refusal to
sanction the bill would have made him the idol
Of northern agitators, and placed him at the
head of great and powerful party; whilst, on
the other hand, his assent to il would draw
upon his head unmeasured denunciation. If he
had been an ambitious man, in the ordinary
sense Of the term--a man who preferred his
personal interests to the welfare of his country,
what field was here presented for the gratif-
cation Of that master passion Of the human