Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1856-09-27


Buchanan and the South.
The advocates of Mr. Buchanan at the South
pertinaciously insist that he is safer man TO
trust, on those questions in which the South
are so deeply interested, than Mr. Fillmore
These men purposely and carefully hide from
the public view those measures of 1860, as in j
corporated in the Utah and New Mexico acts
of that year, which contain the true principles
of estate equality" and Of " Congressional
non intervention" for which the whole South
contend and in which the conservative men
of the North have acquiesced We have, on
several occasions, exhibited the principles on
which those measures were based, and we
again, in our last weekly ISSUE under tho head
of ".Squatter Sovereignty" presented the i'm
portant provisions of those Territorial acts,
which Mr.. Fillmore urged his Congressional
friends to adopt and which he approved as
President, on the 9th day of September, 1850.
We said then, and we now repeat, that those
acts contain the true basis on which our Ter
ritorial legislation should be placed.
1t has never been denied, that when Mr..
Fillmore entered public life, at the age Of thirty
years, as the representative Of one Of the west
ern districts Of New York, he entertained opin-
ions in common with oil persons of Northern
birth, adverse to thejustce and policy Of extend
ing African slavery into Territories then free
That man, born, reared and educated in the
far North, who, with no personal knowledge of
the practical workings of Southern institutions,
should on reaching manhood, avow himself in
.faoor Of African slavery, would be set down
by every intelligent Southern man, as a dema-
gogue. The influence of birth, education and
training, upon the political opinions of all
men, is as well known and as universally APP
preciated, by intelligent men, as the influence
of climate upon the productions of the earth.
We know from our own individual experience,
the effect Of those in1uences--we came from
the North, at the age Of twenty, to Virginia,
with opinions formed under those influences.
Nor could we have believed at that date,
that any change in our opinions on this sub
ject could be wrought--and get, within ten
years thereafter, we were the owner of dozen
slaves-our MOTORS had been corrected by OBJ
servation and practical knowledge and we
reached the conclusion, which is not yet
changed, that there is no eyil, moral social or
political, an african Slavery. These are our
individual opinions, and for which we alone
are responsible. Our own experience has
therefore taught us, that no man should be
held responsible, in maturer life, for opinions
formed under sectional and local influences
But when man has had ample opportunities
to examine all sides of political questions Ito
see local institutions in their practical work
ings,--to read, study and ponder upon the
machinery of our State and Federal Govern
ments--to learn the obligations imposed upon
him as "a citizen of the United States"-then,
If he remain sectional in his opinions, be is
unworthy of public trust.
Influenced by these Vows, we have never
been disposed to charge James Buchanan with
being an enemy to his country, because at the
age of thirty, he opposed the administration Of
James Madison and denounced the war Of
1912. We have never been disposed to accuse
him of being political incsndia,y, because in
1919 he was one of committee which, at Ian
caster, Pennsylvania, reported resolutions re-
questing the Representatives. Congress from
Pennsylvania, to prevent the existence Of
slavery in any of the Territories or new States
which may be erected by Congress- Both
these things Mr.. Buchanan did The denounced
Madison and the war of 1912, and he soos one
of committee in 1919, who drafted resolutions
ofthe above import and in the above language.
But he was young man then--his Judgment
was governed by sectional influences, and
whilst we mention these things, we give them
simply passing notice. Del a
Grant, then, for the sake Of the argument,
that Mr.. Fillmore, at the same age wrote that
celebrated Erie letter" which constitutes the
whole amount Of objection to him with the
Southern advocates Of James Buchanan
Suppose we go even furtherY Suppose we
were to admit contrary to the fact, that,
when Mr.. Fillmore was elected Vice President
in ls4S, he was still of the opinion attributed
to him at an earlier periodG President Taylor
died in 1850, and Willard Fillmore became