The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1853-07-19
e. PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL.
SSS& S&CIIARLESTON, Nov. Sth, 1850.
The Hon. Mitlard Fillmore,

ttsss CHARLESTON, C Nov. sth, 1850.
10 The Hon. Millard Fillmore,
President Of Tie U. S. States:
( Honorcd and Respected Sr:-Ac-
Etuatedtby Il sincere love Of country,
and all earnest desire for the pcrpctui-
;5ty ofAmericnn Union, | venture to ad-
dress you OH the imminent pcrils that
now menace the catastrophe Of our
Republic. fear that the Northern
people, and that even you, honorcd Sir,
5dotnot fully appreciate the dangers
that beset us. Tat you may know
what reliance to place upon my tcsti-
Fmony, permit me to inform you who
Lam, and what my position in this
community. ! have long been, through
good report and through evil report, 3.
member Of the National Wing Pyrty.
& Personally, am scarcely known to
you, having had but single interview
with you, when, with my family paid
my respects to you, at the White
House, in August.last. To Mr.. Web
.steT,s however,, your eminent Secretary
Of State, | am very well known, and
Ito him you can refer, if necessary. 1t
is proper that should further state to
you, that am among the few, the
mere handful in this State, who have
labored, and laborcd in vain, to recon
scile the people to the recent Congress
Ssional adjustment Of the slavery qucs-
tion, and have incurred only suspic' on
J; and odium for SO doing. have ever
regarded, and still regard, our national
Union rs the great and paramount III
tcrest Of both North and South, and
would deplore its DISSOLUTION as the
greatest of calamitics to our country
and to the world.
Having thus stated TO you who am,
and what arc my position and views,
now proceed to give you my tcsli-
mony on he present alarming state of
public affairs. That testimony is that
the Union is now III the most imlni-
nent peril, nay, may say, almost on
the eve Of dissolution. In this city
+ and State, the ftaling of nationality,
the sentiment of Union, is utterly cx
5tinguished-so alicnatcd is popular
feeling from the Union, that, with al.
mott entire manimity, and among all
classes, disunion is openly advocated
and earnestly desired. Not only IS dis
union no longer deprecated as an evil,
butt is eagerly coveted as good So
diseased is the public mind, on the
subject, that to abuse the Union and
cry aloud for its destruction is the high
way to popularity-whilc to breathe
"A whisper in its favor is to invite hos
%tility, denunciation and insult. The
press is nCenaclcd and opinion is no
longer free. AS uumistakcablc proofs
4sot this unhappy condition of thing*,
4 would point YOU to the fact tia,
McSS*'s* has been rewarded with popu.
lar honors for patrioticnly throwing
up his u. S. Attorncyship, and that no
one can be found to fill ,hc vacancy
that Gs*s:%S our Collector, has been
vilifed and denounced for daring to
raise voice ofpatriot warning against
disunion, and that such men rs PSs::**;ff 3 >:
amd B@*Ss* are silcnccd, under the
: conviction that it is utterly impossible
TO stem the torrent, and that the effort
1 to do SO would only result in self:
martyrdom and at the same time only
aggravate the mischief. The people
OF this State are not only ripe for dis
union, and ready and anxious to 90 of,
if they can get any other State to Join
them; but it will be a work of the
greatest difficulty to prevent this State
from taking the decisive step of scpar,
ate secession, in the confident cxpccta.
tion that, i'll the present Justly excited
and eXasperated state Of the Southern
mind, any effort Of the General Gov
ernment to cocrce her, by land or by
sea, will rally her sister Southern
States to her defence and rescue, and
result in, what she araently desires, a
Southern Coniodcracy. The States, to
the south and southwest OF us, are yet
far behind us i'll excitement and irrita-
Stion, but the movements, at the North,
against tha fugitive slave bill, are
daily tanning the flame, and, if not ar
rested, may soon put Georgia, Ala,
banaa, md Mississippi, and perhaps
Florida, in full sympathy with South