The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1856-08-05
"A TRIED MAN"

harping about Mr.. Fillmore being I" tried
man."
When and how "tried :" Was it while
he was in Congress There We admit he
was tried" and " tried'' more than fifty
times, and was always found voting with
Giddings, Slade, and the other ultra fana-
tics of the North in favor of every aboli-
ton measure before Congress, during the
whole period he was in that body.
Was Mr.. Fillmore ''tried" while he was
for brief period the accidental President
IT so-how We will tell the reader what
kind of ''trial' he had there. There
were but two cases presented to him for
trial" First-the Compromise bills, one
of which (the fugitive slave billy he thought
unconstitutional, and would not sign las Mr..
Crittenden, his Attorney General, proves
by his letter in to-day's paper,) until the
Cabinet by a WRITTEN instruction had ex-
pressed themselves in favor of his signing
it! He labored, it is evident, to hatch up
some excuse for refusing to sign that bill,
although it was coupled with two or three
other bills which the abolitionists had as
was severe trial. notwithstanding it was
part and parcel of Compromise" be-
tween the North and the South! A law
made under plain and imperative injunction
of the Constitution, and part of a "compro-
MISE" was sought to be set aside under the
plea of its containing some unconstitu-
tionaL proviSionS,' and law which at length
received his signature only by his "oyercom-
ing long cherished prjudices!! What sort
of Compromise" would it have been,
without the fugitive slave law! No COM
promise at oil. The North, already with
three -fourths of the pretended "Compro-
MISE" would have had the whole of 1.-THE
South none-And yet, Mr.. Fillmore had
I" constitutional objections" and long cher
ished prejudices to ouercome," before he
would consent to sign it! Such was one of
the trials his Accidency had, while Pre-
sident.
How was it with his other trial." while
President! He was asked to pardon out
of the penitentiary two abolitionists sent
there for stealing a ship load of negroes
from Washington. And to this he yielded
without any constitutional scruples, and
without any sacrifice of ''long cherished
principles
Here then, we have shown what sort of a
''tried man" Willard Fillmore is. There
was nothing but the two cases alluded to,
to test his a5olitionism, when he was Presi
dent, and these only go to confirm the truth
of previous impressions and records. Elect
him President, and send up bills for his sig
nature, abolishing slavery in the District
of Columbia, the slave trade between the |
States, slavery in the new territories and |
States, in favor of restoration of the Mis-
souri, or some other restrictive line, and all |
the other abolition schemes which he has |
at some period or other avowed himself in |
ia vor of, and then we would have "a tried |
man." We, for one, have no hope, that Mr.. |
Fillmore would veto any of these measures. |
He has deliberately declared that he is in |
favor of all of them, and at the same time
declares that he is opposed to the exercise
Of the veto power except in cases plainly
It can with as much pro-
Driety be maintained that a man Il: honest
who has never had a chance to be dishonest,
as to maintain that Willard Fillmore, by his
acts as President, is ''a tried man" on the
slavery question. We repeat, that there
we're but two acts there to try him, and on
both of these his abolitionism was plainly
exhibited.
If the people want "a tried man." let them
AXE JAMES BUCHANAN. He has been tried
n every aspect of the slavery question
md always been found acting and voting
n favor of the South against the mischiev-
,us schemes of abolitionism.