The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-08-07
A CHAPTER OF CONTRADICTIONS.

A CHAPTER OF CONTRADICTIONS
Among the numerous class of time-serving
politicians which the last twenty years has pro-
duced. we believe that there is not one who
presents record of grosser inconsistency than
Willard Fillmore. True, Mr.. Buchanan has
also boxed the political compass; but he has
taken wider circuit of years in circumnaviga-
ting the world of party politics; and, for the
last twenty-6 years or so, he has pretty con-
sistently, as far as he has been able, kept the
ship of State on a southwsrdly tack. He may
have veered little, unwittingly, on the subject
of Slavery prohibition in the Territories, at one
time insisting upon the maintenance and ex-
tension of the Missouri Compromise line, and
now insisting that its abrogation was right and
proper, and essential to the existence of the
Union; but in either case he has been actuated
by sincere desire to please the South, and to
aid the cause of Slavery extension. The period
of his hostility to Slavery, and of his devotion
to Federalism; of his efforts to prevent the ad-
mission of Missouri as slave State, and of his
bitter antagonism to the Administrations of
Jefferson and Madison, is so far remote in time,
that his present friends and supporters are
willing to give him the benefit of the statute of
limitations.
But Mr.. Fillmore's sins are of a more recent
date. He belongs to the present generation
Mr.. Buchanan to the past. The former has
come upon the public stage since the COM
mencement of the Anti-Slavery agitation; the
latter is an antediluvian. Mr.. Fillmore COM
menced his political career as an Abolitionist,
and fought the Slavery aggressionists manfully
here in Congress-, for some years. Mr.. Blu
chsnan, though born to an Inheritance of Anti
Slavery sentiments, conquered his prejudices,"
and was among the first to bow down and wor-
ship the Moloch of Slavery.
We know little of Mr.. Fillmore prior to the
year 1888, when he gave the following reply to
an Abolition society of Western New York:
BUFFALO, October II, 1888.
SIR: Your communication, as Chairman of
Committee appointed by the Anti Slavery So
| ciety of the county of Erie, has just come to
hand. You solicit my answer to the following
interrogatories:
| First. Do you believe that petitions to Con-
gress, on the subject of Slavery and the slave
| trade, ought to be received, read and respect
fully considered, by the Representatives of the
people? ~
| Second. Are you opposed to the annexation
of Texas to this Union, under any circum-
stances, so LONG AS SLAVES are held therein?
Third. Are you in favor of Congress exer.
cising all the constitutional power it possesses,
| to abolish the INTERNAL SLAVE TRADE BETWEEN
THE STATES?
| Fourth. Are you in favor of IMMEDIATE legis-
lation for the abolition of Slavery in the Dis.
trct of Columbia?
am much engaged and have no time to en-
ter into an argument, or to explain at length
my reasons for my opinion. shall therefore,
for the present, content myself by answering
ALL your Undergraduates in the AFFIRMATIVE,
| and leave for some future occasion q more ex-
tended discussion of the subject.
| Very respectfully, WILLARD FILLMORE.
Without going into tedious details, it is suf.
6cient to assert roundy, without qualification,
that, during his whole career in Congress, ex.
tending from 1887 to l843, Mr.. Fillmore stood
side by side with Mr.. Adams, Mr.. Giddings,
and Mr.. Slade of Vermont, as the uncompro-
missing opponent of Slavery aggression. On
every question involving Slavery, which --osA,
his votes will be found recorded, yea or nay,
with those of Messrs. Adams and Giddings.
After the expiration of his term of service in
the House of Representatives, Mr.. Fillmore was
elected Comptroller of New York; and we hear
nothing more of him until October, ls47, when
Wing Convention, at Albany, nominated him
for the Presidency. That Convention attested
the popular opinion of his position on the Sla-
very question, by unanimously adopting the
Wilmot Proviso. They commended their can
| didate in an address which contained these
words: "UNCoMPRoMIsIEG HOSTILITY TO THE
EXTENSION OF StAyLRY. No MORE TERRITORY
| rs OUR wATcHwoRD, UNLESS 1T BE FREE. We
present you sound, good men, who pERsoNArE
these principles"
Let it be remarked, by the way, that this
Wing doctrine Of l84s ia identical with the Re-
publican platform of 1856. Mr.. Fillmore was
elected Vice President, with the full under.
standing, North and South, that these were his
principles. They were the principles of Daniel
Webster, repeatedly expressed on several occa.
sions during that and the following year and
they were the principles of Henry Clay and the
Wings of Kentucky, expressed in mlder
form In his speech, and the resolutions adopted
| at Lexington. But this en- PEASANT.
The death of General Taylor, by placing Mr..
Fillmore in the Presidential chair, put to proof
his Wanted opposition to Slavery. He could
not resist the ip,perious demands of the South,
and signed the Fugitive Slave Law, which he
subsequently admitted was rather against his
conscience. he however took novel method
of overcoming his scruples. He submitted the
question of constitutionalty to Southern Pro-
Slavery man, his Attorney General, Mr.. Crit.
tenden, who very easily satisfied the conscience
of Mr.. FILLMORE, who no longer hesitated to
give his assent to that odious and infamous
enactment. The whole course of President
Fillmore was in strong contrast with that of
Congressman and State Comptroller Fillmore.
He turned out of Office all the Free Soil Wings
of New York, who had obtained places under
General Taylor, and put in their places men
who, like himself, had conquered their preiu.
dices."
Since the expiration Of Mr.. FiIlmore's Presi-
dental term, he has, until recently, been quite
mum on the subject of politics. He went abroad
in the midst of the excitement consequent upon
the proposition to repeal the Missouri Compro-
mise, without giving any public indication Of
his opposition to that nefarious measure. His
friends said that he was opposed to repeal, but
that he was equally opposed to its restoration
He was for ac4uiescing in the measure, wicked
though he regarded it, simply because it was
un tait accomp1i, . deed done. Such is, we