Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1856-08-14

You will recollect that Mr.. Fillmore, prior to
his recent visit to Europe, abandoned the
Whig party and became a member of the
former of these organizations, which boasted
that it had risen upon The downfall of the
Wing party, and which proclaimed that the
corruptions Of the Whig and Democratic par
ties constituted the necessity Of its existence.
! You know that he and Andrew Jackson Don
elson have been nominated by this party (not
by the Wing party for the Presidency and
! Vice Presidency, and you will admit that the
principles of prescription because of religious
opinions, and other reputed tenets of this new
| party, are in direct antagouism with the prin-
ciples of that good old Wing party to which zoe
are still attached, and which has been abandon.
ed by Mr.. Fillmore. 1t is not my object in re-
ferring to these facts to deny to the American
party, since the secession of its abolition adhe-
rents, a fair claim to nationality; nor to deny
4 the patriotism and virtue of Mr.. Fillmore, nor
! his eminent qualification for the Office of Chief
\ Magistrate. But do deduce from them the
! necessary conclusion that, as Wings we owe no
1 party allegiance to Messrs, Fillmore and Donel
son, members and nominees Of the American
party. deduce the conclusion that, as Wings
we are are not only at liberty, but that as pa
tros we are bound, by every obligation to our
country and posterity, to throw aside, on the
one hand, the feelings of hostility which Mr..
| Filmore's desertion of our party would be cal
cuated to engender, and, on the other hand,
| to forget for the time our former battles with
! the Democratic party, and to ask ourselves but
one question-aohich of the tioo national organ.
izations offers the best guarantee of success in
crushing out of existence this new and mon
strous sectional party, which threatens the life
ofyour country? / do not propose to examine
he lafiy pla of ba fxvo
or their nominees to our support. 1t is not, in
my judgment, permissible in the present crisis
to interpose our individual differences of opin-
| ion upon minor questions. II is sufficient for
| US to know that the election of either national
| nominee would secure the Union and the only
| question permitted by patriotism is, whether
our support of the one or the other would more
certainly prove successful?
But before | proceed to this inquiry having
shown that no political allegiance to Messrs.
Fillmore and Donelson will interpose to pre-
vent the fair exercise of our judgment on that
side, propose briefly to inquire whether there
is anything to prevent our support of the De-
mocratic nominees, if after investigation we
shall believe that our vote in their favor would
more certainly secure the safety of our country.
1t cannot have escaped your observation that
the political principles upon which the Wing
and Democratic parties have battled for thirty
years, with varied success, have been for the
most part settled by the fat of the people, and
that such as have not been so definitely dis
posed of have been either abandoned by the
one or adopted by the other of those parties;
so that now the representatives of the people
in the halls of State and Federal legislation
are found indiscriminately advocating and op-
posing the same principles and measures. Not
only is there no principle of political antago-
nism which should prevent Wings and Demo.
Gratis acting together for the benefit Of their
common country, but it is confidently submit
ted that npon the only vital question, that
which now agitates and endangers the country,
the two parties fully accord. The Whig and
Democratic platforms upon the slavery ques.
ton in eighteen hundred and 6fty.two were
identical; and, there being no Wing nominees
before the. people, it might be suggested that
consistency would rather require than oppose
the support of the Democratic nominees by
Wings. The controlling inquiry to the patriot
now recurs, tohich Of the taco national organi-
cations can by his cote be made most certainly
successfully
Every Maryland Wing will be bound by every
tie of duty to vote as his judgment shall de-
eide this question.
1t may not be immaterial to observe that
throughout this broad land any votes which
will not be cast by national conservative citi-
zens and it is to be regretted that in this crisis
that vote should be divided between tco ma
tionat candidates, whilst the entire anti-na-
tional vote will be concentrated upon the Sec
tional nominee. To Judge Of the relative
strength of the two national organizations it is
unnecessary to trace minutely the origin of the
American party. 1t is sufficient to bring to
your recollection that it was originally COM
posed, North and South, of the dissatisfied
members of the two old parties, and that in tne
|. North its original members were chiefly those
who opposed the conservative principle upon
the slavery question avowed in the platforms of
the two old parties. 1t must not escape your
recollection that upon the nomination of Messrs.
Fillmore and Donelson large majority of the
Northern delegates seeded from the conyen-
tion, declared their intention not to support
those nominees, and subsequently united in the
nomination Of Mr.. Fremont. This separation
Of the sectional from the national portion of
the American party has occurred In every
Northern State in the Confederacy. deduce
from these facts the nationality of the supper
ters of Messrs. Fillmore and Donelson, and
submit the inquiry for the honest decision of
those to whom this paper is addressed, rhat
non-Sldreholding State can this national branch
of the American party, thus shorn of the larger
portion of its original strength, promise its
nominees? Let the Wings of Maryland pom.
der upon the view of this subject have en-
deavored TO present to their consideration, and
no one Of them will say that a single nom
saveholding State is certain for Fillmore and
Donelson. Time, Think, will develop the fact
that Messrs. Fillmore and Doneson will be left
without an electoral ticket in most of the free
States, and it is at any rate the deliberate con-
viction of my judgment that they will not carry
a single non-slaveholding State in the Union.
If am right, or even approximate the truth
in the view l have taken, it will necessarily fol
low that any conservative vote for the Ameri-
can nominees North will be equivalent to a
vote for Mr.. Fremont, as it will be a vote taken
from Mr.. Buchanan, his only real competitor.
1t is clear, then, that to the South alone can the
friends of Messrs. Fillmore and Donelson look
for the probable chance Of an electoral vote
and it is to the States Of Maryland, Tennessee,
Kentucky, and Missouri that they profess to
| look with the greatest hone of success IL is