Washington telegraph., 1852-10-27
HILLSBoRoUGH, n. g., |
SUpJcInber 4. 1897. {

w hig candidate for the Vice Presidency
HILLsBoIoUGH, II. c.,
6rptcnber 4, 1872.
! GENTLEMEN [ gratefully acknowledge
! your favor of the Goth ult., inviting me tc
mass meeting of our political friends il
that part of the State at Statesville, on the
10th inst, in honor Of the nominees OF the
Wing Convention at Baltimore for the Pres
idency and Vice Presidency of the United
States
You are pleased to add that this assem-
blage has been appointed at the site of the
old Statesville Academy, not very distant
from the place of my birth, and whittier !
was sent, when first left my parental home,
to pursue that course of education which
was to determine my destiny in life and
that the friends of my youth, and associates
and acquaintances of maturer years, will
be there in large numbers to offer me a
friendly greeting.
Few events, | beg to assure you, could
afford me more qualification than to comply
with this fiattering and cordial invitation-
1t awakens recollections dear to my heart,
and adds the charms of personal friendship
to political appreciation. Confidence has
been SAID to be plant Of slow growth
After life: now past meridian, and far
nearly twenty consecutive years connected
with public affairs, it is to me refreshing to
be reassured that as regards myself it is yet
fresh and unbroken in the soil where it first
took root
You likewise suggest that the occasion
will be an appropriate one to vindicate the
great man with whom | am associated in this
election from charges of hostility to the
South, and infdelity to the Compromise Of
the last Congress.
1t is one of the shallowest and common
est devices of party to find out what is most
odious or dstasteful TO the prevailing senti-
ment OF a country, or section, and impute
that to its opponent. This charge of favor
iuS abolition, h~;.3 ,..l-~ - ;,,tlrrnrna
has been standing accusation at thc South
against every Wing candidate for the Presi-
dency for the last sixteen years. 1t was
alleged agrinst Harrison, whose competitor
has been The abolition candidate for that
high station-against Clay, whose success
ful competitor approved the Oregon Terri
torial bill, inh biting slavery therein--a against
Taylor, whose rival declined to vote for
the Fugitive Slave law, because it did not
provide a jury trial for the returned fugitive;
in the Federal courts, Of course. 1t was
alleged against Mr.. Webster, so long as he
stood d chance for the nomination and his
most patriotic speeches. advising acquies-
cence in the Compromise, were garbled and
criticised to substantiate it (; and it was free
ly imputed to Mr.. Fillmore by the opposi,
ton press of this State, even after he had APP
proved all the Compromise measures, and
had issued orders for the execution Of the
Fugitive Slave law by military force, if oc-
casion should demand it. And had he or
Mr.. Webster been the nominee of the con-
vention, instead of Genera. Scott, there
would have been, so far as regards this OBJ
lection, if we may judge OF the future by the
past, but, the change OF name. The tale
would have been repeated, and probably with
more emphasis. While the people Of the
South will be vigilant and firm in the MAIN
tenance Of their just rights, [ trust they will
be misled by no idle clamor After an az
itation, Of many years on matters connect
ed with slavery, there has been an adjust
ment, in which am persuaded the mass
of the American people has acquiesced.-
The authors and friends of that adjustment,
[ am sure, will be the last to reopen the con-
troversy.
SO far as may depend on me, the charges
against General Scott to which you refer
have been already negatived, and that in a
manner indicating d stronger conviction on
my part than any reasoning can employ.
Bound to North Carolina by every tie of in
terest and affection which attaches other men,
| am under the additional obligation of graf
itude for the highest honors repeatedly be-
stowed.-If | could consent to compromit
her interest or honor, in matter vital to the
South and the Union. by any combination
or association adverse to her, l should be un-
true, not merely to the impulses of patriot
ism, but to the instincts OF nature. When,
therefore, | accepted the nomination for the
Vice Presidency, (Which your delegates in
the convention will bear ME witness [ had
not sought,) knowing what principles had
been declared by a convention, and that
General Scott was my associate for the Pres
idency, by that act [ proclaimed my conf
dence in him more emphatically than | can
now do in words | had known him famil-
iarly for twelve years, and was intimately
associated viii lam during the most trying
period of compromise, when its fate was sus-
pended in doubtful scales. | knew that he
had been the friend Of these measures when
they stood in need of friends; that indie
pendenty of his illustrious services and
worldwide fame, which will place him in
American history side by side with Plu-
tarchs men in the republics of antiquity,
and which forbid any petty sectional or fac
tious views to be entertained by him. he was