The true Democrat., 1856-03-25

safety must consist, by elevating men of such sentiments to she first office in the republic, finally in submission to every wrong. We cannot believe that the policy of the south is to kiss the rod that smites us;;' and, lost to every impulse of honorable manhood, must be that man in the south, who can say, after reading the Buffalo letter. VOTE FOR WILLARD FILLMORE:
 The Pretermitted Planks in the American Platform.
 There were several distinct propositions laid down in the expunged twelfth section, on which its claims to nationality were rested:
 First-A pledge to "abide by and maintain the existing laws upon the subject of slavery as final and conclusive settlement of that subject, in spirit and in substance.
 Second-" Congress possesses no power, under the constitution, to legisate upon the subject of slavery in the States wherein 1t does or may exist"
 | Ihi,d-Congress possesses no power under the constitution, to exclude any State from admission into the Union because its constitu- ton does or does not recognise the institution of | slavery as a part of its social system" FOuth-" Congress ought not to legislate upon the subject of slavery within the terrto ries of the United States"
 FJM-"Any interference by Congress with slavery as it exists in the District of Columbia would be violation of the spirit and intention of the compact by which the State of Maryland ceded the district to the United States, and in breach of the national faith.'
 When the American council met at Philadel- phia in June, 1855, the delegates declared it 10 be their highest duty to avow their opinions upon subject so important i'll distinct and un- equivocal terms" In the discharge of this Mgl- est duty they avowed the five foregoing fun damental positions. On these the order went before the country and contested the palm of nationality with the democratic party through out the south.
 At the late national council at Philadelphia the delegates considered it their highest duty or | their best policy to pretermit any direct expres- sion of opinion on any one of these great fun damental and essential doctrines of nationality. The only one on which an nferential opinion is ventured is the second, and in regard to that none but the worst class of fanatics and intidels differ in opinion. As to all the others, we can find no trace of that high-toned nationality of which southern Americans were wont to boast so loudly during the late elections The only pretension to anything approximating to nation ality to be found in the new platform is COIL tained in the recognition of the right of the native- born and naturalized citizens of the United States, permanently residing in any territory thereof to frame their constitution and laws, and to regulate their domestic and social affairs i'll their own mode, subject only to the i provisions of the federal constitution, with the right of admission into the Union whenever | they have the requisite population for one re- presentative in Congress-" It will be seen that < the right of admission into the Unon' is | thrown i'll at the tail of the sentence and is un- accompanied by any declaration which pledges ! the delegates to assert the right" whether ''the constitution of the applying State recognise or prohibit slavery.' The right is conceded in 1 language 50 tmid and halting that it suggests a suspicion as to the purpose with which 1t Is used. An abOiItlOnlSt who maintains as many of them do, that the federal constitution was designed | to contine slavery within the limits of the old States, may construe the language employed as consistent with his doctrine. He can find in | the subsequent action of the convention strong corobOratlon of his construction. The same delegates who adopted this equvOcal decara- ] tiOn of principles declared in the thirteenth section that the repeal of the M ssOuri reStric- tiOm useless and unwSe and afterwards put in nomination for the presidency a candi- date whose early antecedents are in strict mar mony with the abolition view of the slavery question. It would have been hardly possible for the council so to stulhiy itself as to nom- nate Mir. Fillmore after laying down principles in direct conflict with his avowed sentiments It is not impossible that the nomination of Mr. Fillmore was a predetermined thing, and hence +h,++ +l, IL. didate. Takiug the platform and the candidate together, and we can understand why the na- tional features in the twelfth section of the platform of 1855 are pretermitted in that of 1856. If we supply the pretermitted blanks vice presidency, we should restore the expung- ed twelfth section. If we supply them from the antecedents of the candidate for the presi- dency we should append to the platform his celebrated Erie letter, addressed in 1858 to an abolition society in New York, which is as follows:
 Letter of Mr. Fillmore to tue Erie aJo7itionists
 BUFFALO, October IT, 1888.
 SIR:-Gour communication of the 18th inst, as chairman of committee appointed by the anti slavery society of the county of Erie" has just come to hand. You s)licit my answer to the following ntcrrogatories:
 lst. Do you believe that petitions to Con- gress on the subject of slavery or the slave trade ought to be receved read, and respectful ly considered by the representatives of the peo- pie?
 2d. Are you opposed to the annexation of Texas to this Union, under any circumstances, so long as slaves are held therein?
 Sd. Are you in favor of Congress exercising all the constitutional power it possesses to abo- fish the internal slave trade between the States
 4th. Are you in favor of immediate legSla- ton for the abolition of slavery in the district of Columbia?
 l am much engaged, and have no time to enter into an argument, or to explain at length my reasons for my opinion 1 shall therefore content myself for the present by answering ALL your nterrogatories in the AFFIRMATIVE, and leave for some future occasion more extend ed discussion of the subject.
 ,* *
 I am, respectfully, your most ob't serv't
 WILLARD FILLMORE.
 w. MILLS, esq, Chairman.
 The germs of black repubicanism are easily