Washington sentinel., 1856-07-31
From the Montgomery Advertiser.
MIR. Fillmore ON slavery.

Mr. Fillmore ON slavery.
We resume the consideration of Mr.. Fill
more's anti-slavery votes, promising that we
omit, for the present, one in relation to Ierds
as we neglected, in looking over the Congress
sional Globe, to mark the date of it. Indeed
we might well omit all Of them, and merey '
declare that there is not one for the South ever
given by him during his Congressional career
but it affords some degree of pleasure to con.
trast the ability of the Democracy to furnish
evidence of his past unsoundness with the utter
absence of any testimony against Mr.. Buch
anan on the part of our opponents They have
been challenged to produce any vote he ever
gave which would indicate any unfriendlness
to US or our institutions at any period of his
long public services, and it is only by garblinc
facts that they can raise even an inference
against him. They opened on the scent with q
tremendous cry, but the quarry stood at bay
and they returned to their kennel to howl over
their discontinue. We produce votes which
cannot be denied proof which cannot be con.
troverled, of Mr.. Fillmore's anti. slavery senti.
ments, and we ask all men who are sensible OF
the danger that threatens us, to hold him
responsible for the consequences of his acts y
The votes which we have culed and pre-.
sented to our readers already, his friends will
contend, were given under misapprehension
as to the right Of fpetition-that, mised by that,
or contending only for that, he did not in reality
vote against the South or indicate any dspo-
sition to interfere with the question OF slavery.
| NOScitur q sOciis-a man is known by the
] company he keeps, is safe rule to guide us in
determining his position, certainly it is safe
one by which we should be governed in our
conduct towards him when be asks for our
votes to elevate him to position 1f honor and
influence.
| We are not left, however, to construction
of his motives in voting, or an inference from
his associations; he saves US that trouble, and
distinctly shows by his Erie letter that, how
ever much he may have been influenced by his
regard for the right of petition, he was decid-
edly in favor Of the object Of the petitioners,
and had the petitions been received and con.
sidered, would have voted for them as substan-
tive propositions. 1t must be borne in mind,
too, that this Erie letter was written after the
| questions alluded to in it had been the subject
of angry and heightened discussions in the
House of Representatives. 1t was written
pending an election in New York A similar
| one was addressed to other candidates. If it
do not contain Mr.. Fillmore's opinions. it is
evidence that, to secure success, he is willing
TO stntliy his conscience and pander to fanati-
cism. We republish it. There is q portion of
it omitted, we are told. 1t would be well If his
friends would publish it entire in their papers.
We requested one Of them to obtain it for us.
that We might do so; it has never been handed
to US yet:
Letter Of Mr.. Fillmore 10 the A6olitionists.
BUFFALO, October II, 1853.
SIR: Your communication of the 18th inst,
as chairman of a committee appointed by the
nj SIav Of - II. y
has just come to hand. You solicit my answers
to the following interrogatories
First. Do you believe that petitions to Con.
gress on the subject of slavery or 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 the Union, under any circum-
stances, so long as slaves are held therein2
Third. Are you in favor of Congress exert
ing all the constitutional power it possesses to
abolish the internal slave trade between the
States?
Fourth. Are you in favor of immediate le
gislation for the abolition of slavery in the
District Of Columbian
am much engaged, and have no time to
enter into an argument, or TO explain at length
my reasons for my opinion. / shall therefore
content myself for the present. by answering
all your interrogatories in the affirmative and
leave for some future occasion a more extended
discussion of the subject
am, respectfully your obedient servant,
MILLARD FILLMORE.
W. Mills, esq, Chairman.
In the votes we have published, and the
above letter, are found the germs of the present
agitation, and not in that repeal of tie Missouri
Compromise, or the Kansas-Nebraska BILL
Here was the origin Of that fire, kinded by
incendaries, which no efforts have been able
to extinguish, and which now threatens TO
destroy the fabric Of our government And
most strange it is to find that Southern men are
aiding in the elevation of one of the chief in
cendiaries, who applied the torch and fed the
flames with reckless disregard OF the rights of
his countrymen, but cool, discerning calcula-
tion of the benefit he was TO reap from it. Is
it to such a man as that we must 90 for our
policy of insurance.
In less than two months after this Erie Letter,
Mr.. Fillmore had another opportunity Of dis
playing his hostility to slavery, and did not
shrink from it:
TUESDAY, December IL, 1888.
Mr.. Atherton rose and asked leave to submit
the following resolutions:
Resolrcd, That this Government is a Govern.
ment Of limited powers, and that, by the Con-
stitution Of the United States, Congress has no
jurisdiction whatever over the institution of
slavery in the several States Of the Confede-
racy.
Resolpcd, That petitions for the abolition of
slavery in the District Of Columbia and the
Territories OF the United States, and against
the removal Of slaves from one State to another.
are part of plan of operations set on foot
TO affect the institution of slavery in the seve-
raj States, and thus indirectly to destroy that
institution within their limits
Resolred, That Congress has no right to do
that indirectly which it cannot do directly
and that the agitation Of the subject Of slavery
in the District Of Columbia, or the Territories.
as a means, and with the view Of disturbing or
overwhelming that institution in the several
States, is against the true spirit and meaning
Of the Constitution, an infringement Of the
rights of the States affected, and breach of
the public faith upon which they entered into
the confederacy.
RESOLVED, That the Constitution rests on the
broad pr,po,pla IF aoroI,tu