The Winchester weekly appeal. [volume] (Winchester, Tenn.) 1856-1856, 1856-10-24
From the New York Independent.
On which Side is Danger to the
Union!

Union!
Will Democrats, and all who have had
the hardhood to charge Mr.. Fillmore
with being an Aboltionist, read the fol.
lowing article? It's the way he is spo.
ken ofby Abolition papers at the North.
"The supporters ofthe Cincinnati Plat.
form are constantly assuring the public
that the Union will be dissolved unless
Mr.. Buchanan is elected President. At
the same time Mr.. Fillmore. and his nor.
them friends are doing what they can for
the success Of the Platform by crying out
that the Union cannot survive so shock.
ing an event as the election Of Mr.. Ere.
month other words, that the Southern
States will secede from the Union and
will be justified in doing SO, if the only
Southern man in nomination shall not re.
ceive the votes Of constitutional major.
ity.
Some honest men, we dare say, are re.
ally alarmed by these minatory announce.
ments. Others, though neither alarmed
nor influenced by threats Of disunion, and
though believing heartily that they ought
to give their votes for liberty and justice,
even if wicked men should undertake to
dissolve the Union in consequence of
their so doing-may too hastily concede
that the threatened result is possible. Let
US look then at the possibilities and the
probabilities in the case which those an.
nouncements presuppose.
Mr.. Fillmore, as will be rccollected by
those who remember his electioneering
speech a; Albany, has not merely hazard.
ed his reputation as a prophet by predic.
ton what will be IN certain circumstances
He has also compromised what is much
more important to himself and his polti.
cal friends, his integrity and loyalty as a
citizen of the United States, by volun
teerng an opinion that the secession Of
the Southern States in those circumstances
would be justitiable. The same opinion
is generally intimuted by other campaig On
orators and Journalists, who are acting as
he is, in the interest OF Mr.. Buchanan and
the Cincinnati platform. ...
Is it pretended that the election Of Col.
Fremont will violate the Federal Consti.
tuition! Who will point out in that ven
cradle instrument the clause or section
which provides that the slave holding
States shall have a eco on the election Of
a President: or which implies, by the re.
hottest inference, that the e. ectoral col.
leges may not vote for a candidate who
happens to be unacceptable to the slave
holding States? Mr.. Fillmore knows per.
fectly well-and the most stolid numskull
who is expected to vote for the Fillmore
ticket on the 4th of November, knows
that Col. Fremont is as legitimate can.
didate for the Presidency as Mr.. Buchan.
an, and that neither the letter nor the spir.
it of any compact or compromise in the
Constitution forbids the electoral colleges
to vote for Col. Fremont, or forbids any
citizen, Northern or Southern, to vote for
such electors as will vote for him. What
higher law, then, unknown TO the Consti.
tuition, and contradictIng its principles, is
this, Of which Willard Fillmore, the great
patron of the Fugitive Slave law, has
become the exponent? If Mr.. Fremont
shall receive majority Of the electoral
votes, he will be as legitimately the chief
magistrate Of the Union, and the comman.
der.in.che( Of its army and navy, as Mr..
Fillmore was after the death of Gen. Tay.
lor; the constitution ofthe United States,
and the laws and treaties made in con.
formity herewith, will be, as now, "the
supreme law of the land;" there will be
no possible conflict Of authorities, and no
shadow Of a legal pretext for disowning
the government: andyet here we have the
cold blooded Millard Fillmore, whose
words ought tomean something, as well
as the hot.headed John C. Breckenridge,
who may peradventure speak wthOu,
meanina what he says, telling the public
not only that the Sonth will rebel in those
circumstances but that the treason will
be justifable. There can be no secession
from the Union without "levying war
against the United States" and that, as
Mr.. FIJI lmore knows, is something more
than the constructive treason Of which the
poor Quaker was indicted, but not consic.
ted, who stood by and refused to aid in
catching fugitive slave. If that predic.
Al