Republican vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1857, 1856-05-24

ATE, DeIore lie acteu, eoPeeIdny DIS d ie . 10
lature to possess himself of ali The inior'
nation, and listen to every argument thai
can be adduced before he gave final
VOTE" Can he stultify himself now, after
such declaration3 Are we TO iufer, that
when he was acting under the RESPONSE
bility of an oath, he voted and acted upon
this momenteus subject, without examin-
ing the effect, extent and consequences of
his Opinions The change, II any III his
sentiments on the authority Of Congress
over the question IF slavery in the States,
could not have taken place before 1911,
for we have already shown tina, before
that PERIOD, he has officially asserted the
existence of that authority, by mass of
votes, which have been cited and 1t could
not have taken place after 1871, up to
/ 848 because, we have shown that in the
interval, he voted ON number Of occa-
sions IL favor Of the very principle he
now denies. The fair and reasonable
construction then is that he played real,
conscientious part in this matter, up to
the presentation of his name to the people,
as candidate for the Vice Presidency,
and that then commenced a system.of derrc-
cation and extennatlon on his part. which
we have proved to be contraGicted by his
concurrent career, as public man. The
Gayle letter itself is susceptible of iEcon-
sistent interpretations, and has been used
Tor one purpose at the South and another
at the North. He says, while in CongIes:
che took occasion to state in substance his
views on the subject of slavery in the
States" The substance was, that | re-
garded slavery as an evil, but one which
the national government had nothing to
do. Is there no covert purpose, no Turk
ing design in all this Is il not TO induce
the people OF the South TO infer that slave.
ry is a subject with which the general
government haze pothing to 10 :" but il
this should be used asainst him, i'll the
North, then he can contend, he tteant
FIN TIE STATES" This has actually been
the case.
We have new traced Mr.. Fillmore from
1885 to 1913. when candidate for the
Vice Presidency. II will be our object
hereafter to follow him, as a pulic man,
from that period to the present time 10
consider fully his action on the .compro-
mise measures his position as a candidate
for the Presidency 1852: the influences
which brought about his nomination at
the Philadelphia Convention IN 1856; his
present attitude before the country, and
especially the South. To carry out this
plan. we have mass OF materials, but
we NAV. perhaps, forbear to continue the
discussion until we see what positions Mr..
Fillmore takes, if any. in his letter ac-
Icepting the nomination rendered him.
That, however rust depend Upon cir
cumstances, which it is not necessary now
to anticipate.
So far, we have contented ourselves
with abiding by Mr.. Fillmofe's own re-
corded declarauons, aad drawing, what
seemed 10 us. fair deductions from them,
or insisting uron the plain and obvious
meaning oil his own words. We have
thus grouped together, in one view, all
the legislative acts and opinions OF Mr.. f.,
while he renamed in The service Of tie
country. up to the period when he sue
ceeded TO the Presidency by the death OF
General Taylor. BRIDGE CITY.
WHEELING. May, 1856.