The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1851-08-18
From The Richmond (VG.) Republican.
The Administrations.

If any thing could surprise in politics it would
be the attempt of some of the opposition journals
of the South to represent the Administration as un-
worthy the confidence of southern people, and UNI
faithful to the Constitution. Ii is even charged
that the President has made q surrender to the
Sewardites of the North, in the platform which the
Wings of New York have erected, wherein they
concede the right of discussion to those who, de-
prived of the privilege of talking would find poll
tics bore and life itself a burden.
When this objection comes from the Calhoun
wing of the Democracy, we have to say that, even
if the President responsible for the surrender
of the so-caled right Of discussion, it is right
which they using more freely than any other
set OF men in America. They consider il perfectly
proper for them to rip up and assail the Compro-
misc in every conceivable manner, and even to
dissolve the Union on account of it, They are es-
topped by their acts therefore, from any con-
domination of northern agitation-an agitation
which springs from the same with their
But whether the objection come from the Calhoun
wing or the old line of Democracy, we deny that
the President has made any surrender There ia
no standard by which to try any than his
ACTS and by his acts are willing that Mr.. Fill
more should be tried. He has given his official
sanction TO those measures of Compromise which
have been accepted by the great body Of the Wings
and Democrats of the South a ratification of
the guarantees of the Constitution and has declared
in his message that he regards the measures of the
Compromise ''6nal adjustment" He ia OPP
posed wholly and unequivocally to any attempt to
disturb the Compromise. The Fugitive Slave law
can neither be repealed modified during his
Administration. The Administration stands on the
platform of its acts and the solemn declaration
the message and by these it is prepared 10 stand
or fall.
Talk about Surrender" then, is both idle and
unjust Mr.. Fillmore, like his predecessor, 90
YER surrenders" The abstract right to talk and
scold even conceded to the enemies of the Union
both North and South, could alter or affect the
noble position of the President. "Rail on; thou
canst not rail the seal from off my bond" The
Presidents position is on the platform of the Con-
atitution and the laws, and until, by act of
his contradcting all his former acts, he comes
down from that high eminence, he cannot be &C
cuse1 Of "surrender."
We again repeat what the common sense and
common observation of every candid man will rea-
Oily concede that the only infallible standard by
which to try public or private man, is his acts.
Loud professions of peculiar sanctity never in
crease the confidence of discerning men in the
character of an individual, but rather produce
pcion and distrust The man who, without os-
tentation, leads life of integrity, is the man in
whom people trust. So with politicians. We have
had "northern- man with southern principles"
but his southern principles turned out to be south
''poiGge' for which he sold himself readily
as Esau sold his birthrght, and then, like Esau,
repented of his bargain, and sought to kill the
brother who had saved him from political starvation
Now, we will not initiate the bgoted and unchari-
table spirit in which the Democratic journals assert
~ heir ia cbar Of
southern property when it is well known that the
Wings of the South own as much slave property as
Democrats, and therefore equally interested
in its security Here is eastern Virginia, for
ample, the great saveholding section of the State,
in which the majority Wing. But we admit
that southern Democrats faithful to the South.
Nevertheless, ii cannot be denied that the last De-
mocratic administration, and that southern De-
mocratic administration, if tried by the result of
it's policy and by its own acts, did not prove itself
as reliable guardian of southern rights as the
Wing administration by which it was succeeded.
The Democratic administration acquired the half
of Oregon, but it signed territorial bill for the
new acquisition containing the Wlmot proviso.
It signed another territorial bill containing the
Wimot proviso. Bet did ever anybody hear from
the friends of that administration that it had made
a % surrender to the Wilmots of the North We
colony of northern soldiers and agriculurists
was planted in California byColonel Stevenson,
which colony, might easily have been antici-
paed, has proved the nucleus of free State the
Pacific. And why is it that the Wimot proviso
not applied to that and other new Territories
Because it struck down under Wing admin
istration, which is accused of ''surrender''
by those who surrender in the signature of
bills containing thatvery proviso by southern
Democratic President The same Wing admins
tration has given its sanction to the most stringent
Fugitive Slave law passed since the foundation of
the Government, and has declared that it regards
the Compromise containing that measure
"final adjustment" The southern Democracy
alt to the skies the northern Democracy, because
thirty of their representatives voted for the Fugi
tive Slave bill; yet they profess to have conf
dence in the President who, fearlessly facing the
hurricane of northern sentiment, made that bill
law.
Let US judge the Administration by its acts.
The man who has exhibited in his deeds exalted
moral courage, enlarged patriotism, and unswerv
ing fidelity to the American Constitution, deserves
to be trusted and not only trusted but admired, by
his countrymen.